New York

Last weekend, we found ourselves in New York. We got a call from Mark telling us about a business trip to NY so we quickly changed our plans. After a few long hours in the car we took a little break and hit New Jersey's high point. Check out this monument!

The big "hike" to the top of Jersey.
Mr. Smarty Pants...finally stands still for the camera but closes his eyes.
He ran away for the first family photos. Then, we tricked him with the self timer light..."Ooooo, look at that Lucas."
Then Mommy closed her eyes but I still love this photo. You can see Axel's intent stare. He watches Lucas and won't pay attention to anything else if he's close by. Pretty cool to see their bond already developing. Well, that, and FEAR! We are still pretty sure Axel is half afraid of Lucas and half in love with him. However, Lucas is the only one who can really make Axel laugh out loud. I love it. I forgot how fun a 4 month old is.
Hiking down, love those cheeks!We then headed to The Gunks for a little climbing with Uncle Mark. We didn't tell Lucas about meeting up with Uncle Mark. HE WAS SO EXCITED and half confused when he first saw Mark. If only I had my camera at the pizza place.

Copperhead snake...yikes! We kept our distance and our eyes peeled all day for anymore.
The Gunks offers great multipitch climing which Mike and I loved doing before kids. It's nearly impossible to do it now unless someone like Uncle Mark is around and willing to baby-sit. It was a real treat to do a couple climbs with Mike. I think Mark got his fill of the boys pretty fast but what a trooper to help us out. Thanks Uncle Mark!The bugs were bad so Axel stayed cozy in his tent for most of the time.
Lucas kept busy catching caterpillars (about 15 of them), building pretend fires and making friends.
The rock can be very steep but has big, happy holds. Right here, Mark is going over a big roof.
Gearing up!
Yep, even Lucas got a chance to do a little climbing.
Such a big boy!
Wow, a photo of Mommy climbing. It was so much fun!
And another.
Daddy too.
Another roof..."Send it Daddy, send it!"
NYC: We drove into NYC early morning to meet up with my step-brother Brian. He lives in Brooklyn and works in downtown Manhattan at the Apple store. Boy, what a different life it is in the city of all cities. We only had a few hours to maximize fun so we hit the Empire State Building, B&H Photo, Central Park, lunch with Brian (yummy seafood) and then a quick trip over the Brooklyn Bridge before heading home. We could have spent a week with the amount of things to see and do in NYC. However, for our first time there, we were pleased with what we did.

Empire State Building
There are a lot of buildings down there!
Driving over the Brooklyn Bridge. If you look close, you can see the Statue of Liberty.
On the Brooklyn side and then the camera battery died. We were lucky to get these few shots in the city milking the battery. Next time we go, we'll be armed with TWO strollers and a FULL battery in our camera.
It sure is fun to explore out East. Our next adventure: Washington D.C. this weekend!