sister-cousins

we went to NJ for lenee's birthday last friday & ended up staying over almost a week. 

the weather has been insanely nice and we went to the playground every day! it's not even summer yet and i feel all played-out! so hopefully you don't get tired of play ground pictures.

so the sister-cousins (what i call belle & leila) hung out every day! they're so cute together. they have a sister kind of relationship, but they're cousins. 

this was the day we babysat leila, while her parents were working. 

ahhhh!! messy hair!

 

then they found a ditch of dirt and stayed there till it was time for lunch. 

they were so peaceful and quiet playing there. aris was laughing saying thats where they bonded most.

then we left for lunch and ice cream.
thanks for trusting us with leila, lenee! we'll take her anytime ;)

march birthdays

A lot of march babies going on! 

First was Gavin's birthday...was held at 'Fun City' with all his friends!

can't believe he's 7 already.
belle's favorite thing about him is that he reads to her every time she asks him. sweet!!

 who doesn't love chocolate cake?!
 but while everyone was having cake and ice cream...belle discovered a room where all you do is build a bunch of mr. potato heads. she was too busy there. there were bumper cars, mini golfing, a train ride, a playground, laser tag, & n arcade....but this was belle's fave. making potato heads (with her dad of course).

 this is for Gav. since he loves Star Wars n all!

 Till next time Gav! ;)

then last week was my sister's birthday & this week was my brother's. so we went to my sister's favorite, cheesecake factory.

 love going there on a weekday afternoon! no waiting longer than 5 mins.

 belle always orders chicken tenders with sweet potato fries.

 my mom ordered this & left it in the middle for everyone??

 finished & waiting for my mom to come out of the bathroom.

 of course my dad wanted a family picture before we go. (look at belle's pose) hahah!

we were imitating belle's pose. ha haaa.

also, today happens to be Lenee's! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEN! today will be the only day i won't be mean to you about eating sweets. haha! have a blessed fantastic day.

& if you also happen to be a march baby, greetings to you as well!

museum diary

i know i disappeared for a month. simply because i was camera-less cause i sold my old slr. (you know this blog would be lame without any pics!) my dad was on vacation for weeks and when he came back, i've been borrowing his camera till we get another one later on. so thank goodness for my dad. haha

and to make up for lost times, i have a post full of pictures!! too much i think.

when i saw it was 60+ degrees out last thursday, we had to take advantage.

belle & i hopped on a LIRR train to the city to visit the museum of natural history. we met with aris, & my cousin.

 she fell asleep towards the end of the ride.

 not a fan of how loud the subway is.

when i mentioned of visiting the museum earlier in the week, she got sooooo excited.
really excited. just like her dad, she's into that stuff.
we've been visiting every year...and i might even say i'm kind of tired of it already.
but belle looooves it more &  more.

i wanted to take a picture of her standing on top of the shell like what she did last year. but she just sat there and had a little mermaid moment.

 

her favorite was the ocean part & the dinosaurs

she loved these things. don't even know what they're called. but she spent A LOT of time on it. i think she went to every single one we passed by.

while aris & belle played with the booth things....my cousin & i were playing on his ipad. 

 belle's favorite dino...triceratops.
she was watching about them on nat geo wild. she said, "look mommy!"
me: oh wow, a dinosaur.
belle: yeah, it's called triceratops.

after the museum we were starving. we went to shake shack across the street and got the best mushroom burgers ever!!

 while waiting for our food outside, belle played with a dog. he was sweet.

we brought our food to central park and walked to the fountain location & ate there. twas so nice!

 i think they're renovating the fountain so there's no water. belle played there instead.

 "come on it's time to go!"

 "noooo!"

 took a lot of convincing. but she eventually came out.

 it was starting to get chilly and her nose was running. had to take a blow-your-nose break!
 then she was playing again.

it was a realllly nice day. a great family day with heidi! haha
 and the weather this week is going to be just as good (or even better)!!! spring is here & i'm real happy about that. that means lots of places to go & see!