Scarecrows

     In the final stretch of fall crafts, I thought it was time to make some scarecrows.

 I gathered up all of the needed components for the scarecrows.

  I decided that it was time to let the big boys start to do their own gluing, so I let them have at it. 

 As you can see on the brown paper, JT was heavy handed with the glue stick.

 I did the gluing for Ella and Mason. They got to do the "pat-pat" technique of placing their parts.

 JT and Finn working on the hair/straw.

 Placing hair required much concentration.

 The shirt buttons also caused much thought and careful placement.

 JT and Finn also drew the face on their scarecrows.

4 unique scarecrows!

I wonder if they would scare these birds away? This is from a store near our home. In the fall there are thousands of these birds in our area.

Dot Painting

     A fun, easy, and creative artwork project for the kiddos. 

 Just dabbed various colors and amounts of paint on their papers. Had different brushes for them to select from, and let them go!

 Mason was quite serious about his painting.

 Ella took a backhand approach at first.

 Mason must have been very focused as he was sticking his tongue out.

 JT and Finn painting. 

 Finn always looks so serious when we do our projects.

 JT checking out Finn's work.

 I love seeing how they each used different methods of making their project.

 Love JT's little boy hands at work.

Four unique and beautiful paintings!

Random NYC

     To wrap up the never ending NYC blog posts, here is the final entry. Randomness! Photos I wanted to blog about, but somehow didn't warrant their own post. So they all find a home here in Random NYC.

On the way back to the hotel after the boat tour, we got to take a double decker open top bus. So much fun! A perfect self shot of the happy couple.

Being in a double decker bus, I discovered if I really wanted to, I could easily grab a traffic signal at any given moment.

Also got to see some serious plant lovers in a random building. That is a TON of palm hanging out of the window!

Taxis galore! I'm not sure which are more dangerous- the resident taxi drivers or the people who walk and literally cross mere feet/inches in front of vehicles in the street against the green light. People here don't like to wait for very long.

Unprepared John as I snapped a photo as we headed into the subway.

Unprepared Victoria standing in front of a massive Loft store. Ann Taylor and Loft have been my recent favorite stores to shop in, so this bright sign was a natural magnet for me.

Some of the best/closest shots of the Chrysler building.

A beautiful hotel that flanked one side of Bryant Park. The gold features really stood out against the dark brown building.

New York Public Library. The outside was grand and gorgeous!

Wrapping up the trip with these 4 photos offered to us for purchase from our boat tour. Instead of shelling out $, I snapped photos of the screen. You can see how much John and I really got around the city with these backgrounds- ha ha! 

     While the trip to NYC was brief, we had a fantastic time. There is so much to do and the city never seems to sleep. I feel like I just had a taste of what the city has to offer and hope to go back sometime to see even more. 

Bryant Park

     One of the little gems we found on our trip was Bryant Park. This charming park was just a few blocks away from our hotel and we often passed by when walking to/from places. It has a lot to offer in a small space- shopping of unique crafts, clothing, food, and drink, ice skating, merry go round, an area for playing board games, and plenty of spots to sit and relax under the beautiful trees.

 All of the stores are made of clear walls with a forest green frame. A single store can be as small as average bedroom, guessing 8x12/15? There were a few double size stores that had more foot traffic.

These gorgeous trees frame the outer perimeter of the park. I'd love to know what kind of trees they are. If anyone knows, let me know.

There were several clever store names. When John and I went into this store, there were no bald men to be found manning the store ironically. Perhaps Max was busy making chocolate?

 Lindsay would love this store!

 Little girls enjoying their huge pickles. Look at the shirt they were selling. I was on the list on consideration for souvenirs for Lindsay.

 William Bryant- who the park is named after. I loved the huge mums surrounding the statue.

 The ice rink in the middle of the park. It looks like this is a season feature as there were people still setting up some of the signs and seating for the ice rink.

A beautiful fountain in the middle of the park, but toward the front entrance. In the right corner you can see a store that John and I found the most delicious kettle corn ever. For most of the time we were in the park, we kept smelling the most enchanting scent. We even went as far to ask a local merchant what that smell was who directed us to the popcorn store. There were at least a dozen different varieties of popcorn ranging from savory to sweet. We decided to buy a caramel bag and it was the best popcorn I have ever had. John and I kept calling it crack popcorn because it was hard to stop eating it. Not sure what was in that popcorn, but it tasted so good eating under the trees at Bryant Park.