halloween and the big apple!

i've been trying to run the new york city marathon for many years now - thankfully, 4th time was a charm!  in addition to getting pregnant twice, the race was cancelled due to hurricane sandy in 2012 less than a week before we were scheduled to travel there.  while i was excited to finally check this off my bucket list, i was pretty exhausted from training and life in general.  needless to say, i'm so happy it is finally over!

while overall the trip was a lot of fun, the weather was amazing and we took home some great memories, there were a few things that we didn't anticipate:

1) halloween was the the day before my race, so we had to do some trick-or-treating with the kids.  the  natural history museum, which we typically love, was way too crowded and i literally was worrying about my tired legs for the 6 straight hours i was on my feet!

2) while taking the subway is so convenient and hills are non-existent, all the subway stairs and walking was pretty tiring for 3-year-olds so we had to endure more complaining that originally anticipated.

3) the time change sucked! all three kids didn't end up going to bed until 9:30pm every night, and they usually wouldn't settle down unless i laid with them.  so no evening relaxation with john, wine or the tv (hardly a vacation!).

4) thank goodness stores are open 24 hours.  the dry air made jacks have coughing fits in the middle of the night.  i would dump jacks on the pull-out couch with john in the living room, and one night even john couldn't take it, so he headed out at 3am for cough syrup.

5) except for central park, nyc is pretty much all cement which, for a crawling baby, is not ideal.  she was usually in the carrier or stroller on much of our adventures, and even i (who celebrates germs and dirt!) cringed when she had to play on the floor of random restaurants.

6) we were so tired from being out and about all day that every night we were back in our hotel room by 6pm.  this also gave lyla some time to crawl and play on a soft surface.

7) we lasted 5 nights in a hotel and never had to do laundry!!!  this miracle (or achievement?) was a shocker.

sheila took the kids to see all the local houses with cute
decorations before we left for our trip

getting into the spirit of halloween!

they even had a little halloween party at the park before we left

the kids (aka sheila) made me a cute sign!

getting ready for new york!
(ugh, should probably add "clean garage" to my to-do list)

waiting to board the plane - let's do this!!

giving the lady in front of her a head massage

lyla is on the move...
another 2 years before we can fly in peace

we got to our hotel in the evening, so ordered pizza asap

first full day in nyc...we were quite the spectacle downtown

the kids were (whiny) troopers as we dragged them to pick up my race bib

this was about as fun as it looks

next up, trick-or-treating!

the newest pellegrini superhero

we celebrated halloween at the natural history museum,
which was fun but horribly crowded

they were extremely pleased with
9 pieces of collected candy

lyla passed out from all the fun...
i probably should have been in the stroller resting too!

coffee break to get warm and get off our feet

they had a blast swing dancing on the street

the hot cocoa obviously went straight to their heads!

the entire family joined me in carbo-loading!

5:30am (eastern time!!)...ready to get this run over with

bye bye, manhattan....hello, staten island
(the marathon takes you through all 5 boroughs)

off to brunch and then to watch the race

they were posted at mile 25 and waited patiently

thank goodness these two are content to sit and do nothing for hours
(i heard john allowed them some bathroom breaks)

they finally got a glimpse of their mom!

i hobbled over to starbucks to meet the gang for a celebratory drink

we then hopped on the subway to make our way back to the hotel

people were very kind in offering us their seats,
but unsurprisingly jacks chose to stand

john was typically holding or pushing at least
two children at any given time on our trip

after a much needed shower and change of clothes,
i strapped on lyla and off we went in search of dinner

happy with bellies full of burgers, fries and milkshakes from shake shack

these two got lots of snuggles in on marathon sunday

monday morning my vacation finally began...
we were off to have some fun!

first stop - toys r' us!  thankfully, we didn't stay long,
 but had to ride the ferris wheel (the biggest waste of $20!)

at least they had a fun time

ok, fine...we all had fun going around and around!

lyla got a tutorial in remote controlled cars

jacks HAD to ride thomas

we found a gourmet market and couldn't pass up the most beautiful donuts

we headed uptown to explore central park...
they were completely mesmerized by the sight of squirrels

livi refused to move and insisted john bring the potty
to a location with prime squirrel viewing 

swinging for days

it was so easy to hang at the park and enjoy the beautiful scenery

the three amigos in action!

best buddies

we brought the stroller for lyla, but ended up using it
almost exclusively for the twins

the pellegrini five in one picture - a rare sighting!

we covered a lot of central park in search of the carousel!

our little explorers

morning story time in the hotel

waiting for the slow pelle girls

it was fun wandering around on our last day and
 seeing where nyc would take us!

and it took us straight to more squirrels!
(she's quite obsessed with critters)

lyla got to check out a new tunnel

which turned out to be a great place to take pictures

miss lyla boo

someone's got a grumpy face

all packed up from the park and we're off

within 2 minutes, she was out!
poor thing did not have a single nap in a crib 

perfect time to stop for an amazing cupcake

this is how we all felt

waiting for the train

our last subway ride (don't tell jacks!)

stopped to watch street performers
on our way back to the hotel

you don't see these colors in san francisco!

we got side tracked about 50 yards from our hotel

we couldn't resist some patio seating on the pier

getting cleaned up for our flight back home!

after waking at 4:30am and flying 5+ hours,
we were all exhausted, even after naps on the plane

this little girl didn't sleep a wink on the plane...
turns out she can binge-watch shows just like her mom!