Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

Pictures with Grandma before saying goodbye!
We had a great time with Brian's family when they came in town a week ago. We all went to Movies in the park down the street and saw "Wizard of Oz" We also spent a day at the waterpark and car races in the evening. Brian, the kids and his dad spent all day Monday in Chicago. (I had to work) They did a lot of fun stuff at Navy Pier and even went out on a sailboat. Of course they forgot to take the camera with them!
We'll see you all again in October for Cassy and Chris's wedding day in Disney!!!

Is anybody out there???

I noticed when I wrote my last post that it was number 115 since I started this family blog one year ago. That's a lot of photos to view and a lot of stories to type. So it made me wonder who reads this out there. Many of you I know because you leave comments from time to time. (thanks we all love to read the comments) And them some of you... eh hem... read but never leave comments. So to celebrate the one year anniversary of our family blog... I was wondering if EVERYONE who reads our blog could leave a comment this time just to let me know you're out there.

I hope everyone enjoys checking up on us to see what's happening in the lives of the Sandoval Family.

Thanks for reading!

Let's go GNO!

It's that time of year again where Brian and Austin spend their Friday nights going to prep football games. Madison knows that when they go to football games that means it's Girls Night Out (GNO) for us. We both really look forward to spending those evenings together. We made a list of all the fun things we plan to do this year.
First on the list was to get spa pedicures. This was Madi's first time getting a pedicure. I told her not to get use to being spoiled like that because it is expensive to pay for two pedis. My friend gave me a gift certificate for mine (thanks Sue) and so that helped with the bill. We sat in a massage chair for 15 minutes while we waited for them to start and I think if Madison wasn't there talking to me the whole time I would have fallen asleep.
It was so beautiful and relaxing in the spa. Madison was done before me and she just walked around the spa singing Hannah Montana's song "Girl's Night Out" I kept telling her she needed to stay quiet because people were trying to relax, but they all seemed to be very entertained by her.
I opted for the french tips while Madison chose pink and blue mixed.
Then we went shopping at Old Navy to pick out PJ's for our slumber party together. We planned to make cookies when we got home from our pedis and shopping trip, but we were so tired we just fell asleep watching a movie instead.

Next week we're off to the roller rink!!!!

Uh... what did I do wrong?

Aren't sunflowers suppose to be at least 6 feet tall? Madison and I were so excited to plant this one in our yard this year. Unfortunately it's only about a foot tall. Very cute, but not what we were expecting.

Back to School

The kids were a little more excited about going back to school this year since they aren't new to the school anymore.
I can't believe my baby is in second grade this year.
Here's the whole crew walking to school on the first day.
Austin, Jordan, Madison and Taylor!

Happy Birthday Brian!

The kids were so excited to surprise Brian with the birthday cake they made for him.
This picture was actually taken at 8am right before Brian went to sleep from getting off the midnight shift. Nice healthy breakfast we had that morning.
Make a wish!

New York City

We had an amazing time on our vacation. There were over 400 pics on my camera so I'll try to keep my posts as brief as possible. This was the view of Manhattan from our hotel room. We did everything from Times Square, Central Park, Chinatown, Statue of Liberty, Yankees game to eating at the largest McDonalds in the world. The kids swam in the hotel pool every night and then we'd crash and wake up the next day and do it all over again.

NYC 2008

We packed up the van and left our house about 9pm Thursday evening.
The kids were sleeping by 10 pm.
At 3am we made our way to Pennsylvania and stopped for gas and bathroom break.
I woke up around 6ish to this beautiful sunrise. I was so amazed by the beauty of Pennsylvania and New Jersey Mountains. I brought a book and Sudoku puzzle book with me for the car ride but never even opened them. The scenery was breathtaking.
Brian and Austin bunked together this night and I couldn't stop laughing when I woke up that morning and found them sleeping the same way.

NYC Misc.

This is my favorite sign in Times Square
Madi sightseeing on the top deck of the bus.

Brian and the kids waiting at our bus stop to take us into the city. The bus stop was a 2 minute walk from our hotel and brought us all the way to Manhattan just two blocks from Times Square.
Madison thought it was very cool that a street had her name in the city.

Statue of Liberty

It was strange to be standing there on Liberty Island looking up at the Statue of Liberty that we've seen so many times in photos or tv etc.

We're waiting to catch our ferry. See her in the background?
Not exactly what you want to see see when you're visiting Liberty Island. 15 police officers and their bomb sniffing dogs came running in while we were eating our lunch on the Island. They actually were on our ferry on the way back to Manhattan so we found out that a man had barricaded himself in the mens restroom. Not something to take lightly.
View of the city in the background.

Ground Zero

We talked to the kids about 9-11 before leaving for vacation because we knew we wanted to visit the site of Ground Zero. Austin was 4 years old at the time and said he remembered me crying and holding him and Madison in the backyard looking up in the sky for planes. I was shocked that he remembered that from so long ago. Madison has no memory of it at all.
The Freedom Tower is under construction so you can't see very much. It is scheduled to be completed by 2012.
It's strange to be walking around the city with building after building and then you turn a corner and it's just a couple blocks of empty space.
NYC kids made a ceramic tile to represent every person killed in the WTC that day. They are displayed on a fence that surrounds a church in Manhattan.
This is a sphere that was located in the plaza of WTC Towers for 30 years. It was obviously very damaged after that day but they managed to retrieve it and have it on display near Battery Park.

NYC Misc. Pics

If you watch the David Letterman show then you know who this guy is... Rupert Jee. I wrote down the address to his Hello Deli before we left on vacation hoping to stop there for a sandwich because I figured that would be the most "famous" person we'd meet.
If you watch The Today Show on NBC then you may have saw us in the background either Saturday or Monday morning. It was fun to watch them taping segments and be in the background waving. Brian, Madison and myself were on TV Saturday morning, and Brian and Austin were on TV Monday morning.
We bought a 48 hour pass for Double Decker bus rides that allowed us to hop on and off as much as we wanted to for 48 hours. It worked out perfect that we had that as our transportation for 2 of the days we were in the city, plus we learned a lot of history and fun facts from the tour guides. It seemed like Madison fell asleep everytime we were on the bus for more than 20 minutes. The kids liked sitting on the top deck, but sometimes it was so hot we opted for the air condition of the lower deck.
Interesting how they park vehicles in Manhattan.
We decided not to go up in the The Empire State Building since we've already been there done that with the Sears Tower many times.

Central Park

Central Park was not at all what we expected.
Beautiful trails, ponds, fountains, playgrounds and even a zoo. We even stopped to watch a street show that two guys were putting on.
We forgot we were in the middle of NYC when we were deep into the trails until we came to this bridge and saw the buildings in the background.
Everything was just beautiful.

Yankee Stadium

Yankee fans for a day!
The main reason for our trip to NYC was to watch the Yankees play in Yankee Stadium before it is gone.
Despite the fact that it was 91 degrees outside and we were in the direct sun, it was tons of fun for us all. The Yankees won 14-9. There were several homeruns and one grand slam.
The New Yankee Stadium is almost done.
It was exciting driving up to the Famous Yankee Stadium.
Brian and the kids with our tickets.
We got there early to look around... but before we knew it the bleachers were packed.