Trip #3: Leininger Reunion!

The ONLY bummer about my trip to NYC was that it corresponded with Tommy deciding to go to Ogden with Dane and I had to miss the trip. Since I was going to be gone for the weekend, and his sister Lindsay and her kids were visiting Ogden from China for the week, he decided it would be worth the trip to fly out there with Dane to give him the chance to play with his cousins and for all the siblings to get to see each other. I was having a great time in New York but I was so jealous knowing that everyone was there! Tommy kept sending me cute pictures of all the kids together and telling me how happy Dane was to be there, and I was so glad that they were able to go and that Tommy wasn't afraid to take Dane with him by himself. Tommy didn't even bring a camera with him, because he knew lots of people would be taking pictures all weekend, and these are the pictures I've gotten so far from Melissa.

 Tommy had wanted to bring some presents for the kids from Texas, and he found these scorpion lollipops that everyone thought were hilarious. I kept getting pictures of kids sucking on the scorpion lollipops all weekend.

It seems like they spent a lot of time swimming--at the pool and at the splash pad!

One morning, they went on a little hike and built a campfire for all the kids. They had a blast with the fire. Dane kept telling me about the fire when he got back, haha. 

Oh man, such cute boys together! I love these two--such mischief makers together!

The whole gang swimming together at the pool.

Dane and Jaxon with Papa.

Tommy could not stop talking about how cute little Maddie was when he got home. And Dane was the same way. Just a few days ago, he started talking about "Baby Ma-ie" and really wanted to go see her. 

There are apparently more pictures of the Leininger cousins all together, which I can't wait to see, but this is the one I have for right now. All six Leininger grandsons together--and so cute! L-R: Leif, Zach, Asher, Joel, Jaxon, and Dane. I LOVE getting these kids together and so glad they were able to get such a good picture. 

Seriously, Dane has been SPOILED ROTTEN the last two months getting to see all of his cousins and aunts and uncles multiple times. And he has seriously loved every second of it! He absolutely loves getting to play with other kids and this is just the best way to do it. I really was so glad that Tommy decided to go out there, because they both had such a good time getting to hang out with all the other Leiningers.

Trip #2: WKWWL takes New York

A week after getting home from Austin's homecoming trip, Tommy and I both packed up again and flew out--but to two different places! My roommates and I had had this crazy idea for a reunion trip this summer, and we decided back in January that we would all try to get together in New York City for a long weekend. We weren't sure who would be able to make it, but we picked a weekend and told everyone to buy plane tickets if they could. And lo and behold, seven of us were there! Three of our old roommates already live in New York, while another four of us flew into town. We all crashed at Sarah and Alec's apartment, and Sarah was our official tour guide for our New York sightseeing trip. I was lucky because Tommy hadn't started his new job yet (he started the DAY AFTER we got back!) so he just kept Dane with him the four days I was gone (and I'll post about what THEY did while I was gone after this). 

And oh, man, it was an absolutely AWESOME trip. Kind of like a family reunion, where the main attraction is getting to see people and catch up, but then you schedule in fun activities on the side--and our fun activities were many of the touristy awesome NYC things you have to do. But the best part was definitely getting to talk to these old friends and catch up all together as a group. I've made lots of great friends since leaving Provo, but there's something awesome about those friends you've lived with and who know your whole family backstory and everything about you. So it was a great boost of socializing and deep talks that I needed before plunging into being the new girl here in Texas for the next little while. 

Our set of roommates (there were two apartments of us that all counted each other as being all roommates together) had a blog together where we would post funny stories or funny pictures and things when we were living together, and the blog was called "We Know What We Like." So we call our group of friends WKWWL, and this trip was definitely WKWWL takes New York! Here are the best pics from the weekend. 

First thing we did was we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. 

I should mention that Carly is about six months pregnant and she was such a trooper with all of the miles and miles of walking we had to do while we were there! 

We all got matching NY shirts for our boys at home.

Rique is super high class and is managing a camera store for her company in Soho (or I think it's Soho. I really don't know anything). We dropped in to see her in her element while we were walking around. 

Sarah and Rique, wearing matching shirts.

The bull on Wall Street.

That evening, we all went to the 9/11 Museum. It was super heart-wrenching and depressing to go through, but of course very touching as well. This is by the one tree that survived the two towers falling on it. (Not sure why some of these pics aren't rotated..)

The fountain monument for the two towers.

And we ate at Shake Shack together! Yes, it was delicious.

One really fun thing we did was shopping in Chelsea Market, and Sarah took us to this booth that makes lockets and charm bracelets. We all ended up getting necklaces together, each with something special. I got a locket (which I still need to put a picture in) and a long charm that has Tommy's and my anniversary date on it. So cute!

Also, free 7/11 slurpee day!

Some NY pizza! Could not WAIT!

One of the BEST things we did was going to see NEWSIES! Tommy and I went to see it when we were in NYC for Sarah's wedding, but it was far and away worth it going to see it again. It was totally fantastic. So glad we did it.

 After seeing Newsies, we walked out onto Times Square and could not even MOVE because it was so jam-packed with people. It was so insane! None of us really felt like we wanted to go back after that!

We saw the temple a few times, and were thinking about going to do a session but never actually made it.

 My other favorite thing--riding bikes through Central Park! It was absolutely fantastic! Hands down the main thing I've wanted to do the last few times I've been to New York and it just hasn't happened. It was perfect and oh so fun.

 We also went and got cookies from Levain Bakery--definitely worth the trip.

And some of us got pedicures to help our feet after all that walking!

At the end of the day, we went up to Kylie's apartment high up on the Upper West Side (or East Side... again, like I said, I don't know anything, haha) and were amazed by the view from her roof. It was PRETTY AMAZING and awesome. 

And then, in honor of us all being together again, we had to have a little dance party on the roof together.

Seriously, THANK YOU to my friends for all of us working this out and making it there. It was definitely a highlight of this summer for me. Who knows when we'll be able to manage something like this again--so I'm so glad we were able to manage this when we did!