Our Labor Day mom's group party was held @ the Dr. Phillips Splash Park. It's such a great park but just a bit far for us. Cristiana had a great time hanging out with her friends, especially Amelia but was not particularly interested in getting wet. She did really enjoy the dry playground once we left the splash area.
Our last full day in NY, we headed to the Museum of Na
tural History and enjoyed 2 cool live animal exhibits that were on display, butterflies and reptiles. Cristiana kept trying to get a butterfly to land on her, but when one would fly near her she would cover herself. It was very funny. Cristiana's uncles Anthony and Cristopher were able to join us as well and ofcourse she loved every min. with them. She held their hands and ran around like a nut. She's so cute with them. Our final exhibit was to visit the pacific statute that is shown in the Night at the Museum movie. The boys kept saying one of the lines from the movie "Dum..dum, want some gum..gum?" and Cristiana of course repeated it and thought it was hilarious.
Our trip to the airport the following day was bit hectic, we had lost our licenses, and though my friend Toya e-mailed us a copy of our passports, we didn't have anything authentic. We did undergo a much thorough check than all the rest of the passengers but it went quicker than we expected and were able to catch our flight on time. I thought Cristiana would sleep during the flight since we intentionally flew during her nap time, but of course she didn't and actually fell asleep as soon as the plan landed in Orlando. Great timing Cristiana! New York was lots of fun and a great experience for Cristiana since she met so many new family members.
Our final days were spent w/my sister in the city. I was really worried about the city noises keeping Cristiana up, but she was a champ, slept right through them and even feel asleep on the subway on our way back from the zoo. We had a great time visiting the Central Park Zoo (didn't get many pictures, since my sister brought her camera but left the battery at home). The landscaping is great and the kids zoo is very cute (little hideouts and cubbyholes to take pictures in and even some animals to feed). After Cristiana's nap that day which began in the subway, don't understand how she falls asleep and stays asleep with the loud sounds of being underground in the subways, but you drop a pin at home and she's up, we headed to Times Square, mostly to visit the huge Toys R Us they have. Cristiana had the opportunity to pet one of the police horses that were hanging out in Times Square, she was VERY excited about this. Then she saw it! THE BIG TOYS R US with the HUGE Toy Story 3 display (which we plan on taking her since she loves Toy Story, especially Buzz). Inside this store, they have a really cool ferris wh
eel, each car is themed as a specific toy, like one car is made out of Legos, another one is the little red coupe all kids love, there's a barbie convertible, and few others. Cristiana rode with Papi on Scooby's Mystery Machine. Papi said she had a great time, but the ride was rather long and was ready to get off when her ride was over. We explored the store and she LOVED every min. of it, from playing with the puppets (it was very funny) to playing with the HUGE Thomas Train track (we literally had to peel her away from that), to visiting the Babie section which is inside a 2 story live sized barbie house. She did not want to leave the store!
Here's 2 video's of her feeding a cow and enjoying the penguins @ the Central Park Zoo, make sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before playing the videos.
On Sunday we headed to Six Flags in NJ w/my sister and her hubby. Our original plans were to take Cristiana to Sesame Place but unfortunately due to colder temperatures, the water rides were not operational leaving us with only 1/2 of the park for the same entrance fee. With a heavy heart we opted for Six Flags, which actually turned out to be a great idea, since to my surprise, they had like 4 kid areas spread out around the park with great rides and playgrounds to enjoy. Though we spent most of our time riding the rides w/Cristiana, which she will ride ANYTHING you put her on (such a 
thrill seeker like her parents!), the adults still did get to enjoy 2 really great coaster, one called Kingda Ka, which is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the WORLD! This coaster reaches 128mph in 3.5 seconds and soars to 456ft high in the air. Lines for all the rides were thankfully short and I think Cristiana had the best time of all us, riding 9 rides and riding 2 different carousels 3 times total. She also had some time to show off her dance moves during the Looney Tunes show we watched (see video). We also enjoyed the driving Safari. Most animals are free roaming and you get to enjoy them up close and personal (we saw up a giraffe's nose from our sun roof and even had an ostrich peck at our car's side view mirror.)
Our NY trip had lots of fun adventures and crazy sleepless nights. We started off with a bit of a cranky Cristiana since we woke her up to leave for the airpor
t. We flew Jet Blue thinking it would make the trip easier since they have little personal TVs for everyone, but unfortunately because they only show Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network which Cristiana never watches and the satellite connection of the TVs dropped quite a few times, it did not help. Monica had lent us a portable DVD player, but of course we forgot to charge it before we got on the plane. We arrived in NY and she met her Abuelo (Jaime's biological father) for the first time and finally decided to take a nap on the way to their house in Floral Park. Woke up as soon as we got there, which clocked her for only a 30min. nap, but what we didn't realize was that this would set the stage for her naps for most of the trip. Cristiana met her uncles (5 and 7 yr olds Antony and Cris) and LOVED them from the get go. Every night was a struggle because she preferred to play with the boys instead of sleep, but our first night there, she must have also felt a little uneasy because she would NOT let me put her down in her Aerobed and finally fell asleep with us on our bed with her arms wrapped around my neck with no release in sight!Since Cristiana is a crazy sleeper, I did not get much sleep that night either. Following day we went to visit Jaime's mom near Rockaway Beach, where Cristiana was able to meet some additional family memebers (on Jaime's mother's side). We enjoyed a walk on the beach with Abuela #2 (which was quite nippy) and some fun in a park. Cristiana finished the day off eating dinner with her uncles and being as crazy as ever with them (pictures of her wearing the red shirt and crazy hair). On Friday we ventured off to the Lincoln Science Center with my sister. Cristiana had a great time playing in their kids area and really enjoyed the wind simulator they had (a hose with air blowing out) as well as the giant balloon wand. On Saturday we were on the road most of the day. We first ventured off to meet more of Jaime's family (on his dad's side) in White plains and then back to Rockaway for Jaime's cousin's baby shower where again Cristiana met even more family. Though our time at the baby shower was short, Cristiana had a blast dancing to great spanish music (see video).
So we leave for NY tomorrow and I have FINALLY finished Cristiana's babydoll carrier. She loves to bring her everywhere and I figured it would be easier for all of us if she had her in a back or front sling carrier. I had no pattern or measurements for this thing, just did it from pictures of others I found on-line and my own personal improv. It has many design flaws and after doing it I realized the various EASIER ways I could have done it. But anyways, it works for the most part and serves the purpose I intended. Cristiana seems to like it and hopefully it will help keep her happy and excited about out trip.
So, the heat has finally arrived. Seems like we went from winter straight to summer but along with the heat comes the water play. This weekend I pulled out Cristiana's pool and she had a ball! She kept crawling around it and saying "mommy..I Swimming" it was really cute and she looked adorable in her bikini.
On Friday we met up w/Monica, Amelia, and Jason @ Sea World. The girls were able to watch the Shamu show this time and I've got to say it was a HUGE hit w/Cristiana. She was SO excited through the entire show, dancing, clapping and squealing like the little girl she is. It was so cute! The girls enjoyed the penguins, sea lions, dolphin nursery, the sand box, and the tea cups again. My budding Biologist even had to chance to meet a large snail mommy saved from being trampled on in the pathway. It was a great day and the girls ended it with a Shamu ice cream bar (thanks Jason and Monica) and you can see how much Cristiana enjoyed it with the picture in the slide show.
On Tuesday, our weekly play date made it back to the Splash Pad in Winter Park. Yes, the days are getting hot (high 80s low 90s) and it's great weather to let the little ones play in the water. Cristiana was so excited to play and jumped right into the water. Last year when we would play here she was very cautious and always needed me around, but this time she walked right in and had a ball. The girls had a great time playing together and the weather, as I mentioned, was perfect for water play.
One of my best friends from back home, that I've known since middle school, came up with her sister's family for a Disney visit. I hadn't seen her in almost 5 yrs., so I was very excited to see her and to introduce her to Cristiana. We had a great time roaming around EPCOT and Cristiana took a liking to her right away. We did a whole bunch of fun things in EPCOT that we wouldn't normally do and skipped out on some due to Cristiana's "dark" issues (Figment and Honey I Shrunk the Audience).We actually stayed most of the day and surprisingly enough, Cristiana was in good and high spirits the entire time, except for on the way to the car ofcourse.
