Parental Practice....

A couple of weeks ago, Matt and I had some weekend overnight visitors that gave us some great insight into parenting.  While I feel I get quite a bit of practice on a daily basis, Matt is not quite as well versed. :)  

Since a picture is worth a thousand words (and I am so behind on my blog, I can't really think of what to write right now) I will let the photos from the weekend speak for themselves...

We started the weekend off with a little photo shoot using the photobooth program on our new computer.  Couldn't you just eat these little munchkins up?!?

After the first couple normal shots, we decided to take it up a notch and utilize some of the amazing features the iMac photobooth has to offer.

The comic book

Black and White, for that formal look we were going for.

Sepia...gotta love that old fashioned look!

The Andy Warhol for the artistic types!

And my personal fave....the ghost family!!

It's amazing how much time you can kill by sitting in front of a computer and taking picture after picture of yourselves!

Once our photo session was over, we headed out toward our activity for the day...the Central Park Carousel!  We packed up a lunch and some snacks and the five of us took the bus over to 86th and 5th Avenue to enter the park.  We made a little pit stop on a big grassy area right around 79th street to eat and run around a bit.

Me with my three little buddies!

The FOUR kiddos of the day!

Me and Patrick

After lunch, which consisted of peanut butter and banana sandwiches for me and Patrick and hot dogs for Matt and the girls, we kept making our way.  We made another little stop at the famous Balto statue and of course had to have our turn at climbing him, along with every other person in CP that day!

Ali, braving Balto all by herself :)

30 streets, 6 avenues and 2 hours later, we finally made it to the carousel.  The long journey was definitely worth the trip for this much anticipated destination, which by the time we got our tickets and made it through the line, was about 3 minutes of horse riding bliss!

Charlotte riding her steed side-saddle

Patrick, me, Ali and Charlotte

The littlest buddy and his baby horse :)

After our rip-roaring ride in the middle of Central Park we started heading back home, but not before climbing some rocks, sliding on the giant marble slide near the zoo or getting our icecream fix from Mr. Softee!

When we finally made it back, we had a delicious dinner of NYC pizza and watched a blockbuster hit, Alvin and the Chipmunks, before it was time for bed.  While Matt and I could have fallen into a sound sleep in about 3 seconds, exhausted from the day's activities and not to mention the at least four miles we walked with 3 little ones, the kiddos had other plans.  After a wonderful reading of "The Octonauts and the Only Lonely Monster" by Matt, all five of us attempted to lay together in our full-sized guest bed.  Not quite so successful!  Everyone kept giggling and tickling and kicking and rolling over until finally the girls decided as exciting as it would be to sleep with Matt and Patrick, they would prefer to sleep in my room with me.  So, next thing I knew, I was nestled between two little sleeping beauties with no pillow.  I finally wiggled my way out of bed in search of another pillow and found Matt and Patrick asleep in the guest room with their heads at the foot of the bed and their feet at the head of the bed...so cute!  I stole one of their five pillows they were holding hostage and nestled my way back into my middle spot.  I finally fell asleep around 2:30 am, and a mere 4 hours later was awaken by the sweetest little Ali voice. 

We spent the morning in our apartment watching Sunday morning cartoons, eating cinnamon rolls and taking more pictures on the computer!

 

Can you tell I'm just a little bit sleepy in these?!? ;-)

We finally surrendered our three little buddies to their parents on Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day wandering around, just the two of us.  As much fun as it was to spend so much time with these guys, I think it's safe to say, it'll be at least a few more years 'til we add any little ones to our family (sorry mom).  But until then, I'm sure we can borrow the Dotson trio anytime we need our fix!