New York! New York!

Where do I start? First, there's no describing the overwhelming feeling I had when I stepped out of my Super Shuttle onto the streets of Times Square. Completely amazing and really quite intimidating. Second, I think NY has to be one of the coolest places to visit, I can't believe it took me so long to finally get there.
So, here's a run down of the trip. We went to a show the first night we were there, Thursday night. We saw Little Mermaid (mostly because we got discount tickets) and it was okay. Our seats were crappy (almost at the top) and we thought it was a little too kid-ish. I would recommend it to anyone with a daughter, but other than that, I would say skip it. I wish we had seen West Side Story or even Lion King. I would've totally seen Wicked but my sister has already seen it twice so that was out. But that's ok, there's always next time. On Friday we went down to Battery Park to do the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island thing. We were told to get there early, which we didn't and told to dress warm, which we kinda did, so we were a little cold and had to wait in a long line for tickets and a long line for the ferry. We employed the divide & conquer trick, and that worked great. My sister stood in the ticket line while I stood in the ferry line. It was a lot of fun and cool to learn all about Ellis Island & immigration. I didn't realize that Ellis Island was for "steerage class" immigrants only, and that the first class immigrants were able to be processed for entry into the US on the ships they came in on. For me, it was a very poignant illustration of the class system that existed back then and made me really understand so much more what these people were seeking in America. Then we went over to the financial district and ground zero. Ground Zero is now a construction zone as they are building the new (sure to be breathtaking) memorial. We stopped at a discount store (Daffy's) and did some shopping and by the time we got over to St. Paul's chapel it was closed. So we headed up to Soho/Nolita and found this great Mexican restaurant (El Portal) a friend recommended. It was great!!! This lady next to us was impressed that tourist were able to find the "best mexican in the city". We felt cool! Haha! After dinner we wandered around SoHo but I think we were a little confused because we found Little Italy but couldn't really find the heart of SoHo. It was dark and we were getting tired so we took a cab back to the hotel. It's so funny to go from SoHo to Times Square, COMPLETELY DIFFERENT feel! I swear you need sunglasses even at night in Times Square, so bright & so many people. On Saturday we headed up to Rockefeller Center, did the top of the Rock which was great & went to Magnolia Bakery for yummy cupcakes (the red velvet was one of the best things I have ever eaten!). Then we walked up to Central Park and wandered around there for a while enjoying the gorgeous weather and beautiful flowers (the weather was great the whole time). At first I was bummed that there wasn't more green on the trees but the tulips, lilies & dafadills were so pretty & those are only in the Spring so I was happy I got to see all those. And the cherry blossoms, so pretty! Then we headed back down to St. Paul's chapel and up to another discount store called Century 21. It was this huge store with people & handbags everywhere! We were in there for hours and completely lost track of time! Then we headed back up to SoHo again and found this cool Italian restaurant (I can't remember the name) with yummy pizza & bread. I was so starving by the time we sat down to eat I don't think I hardly taked the whole meal, just shoved food in my mouth as fast as I could. I loved the whole area of Soho, and wish we could have had more time to explore the area more. I think I could spend days there just exploring. After dinner we went back to the hotel, cleaned up and then went to Serendipity for dessert and loved it. We got back at like 2 am and were exhausted!My sister left Sunday at noon so I spent the afternoon doing last minute gift shopping & wandered around some street market. Then walked over to Bryant Park, got lunch and hung out for a bit before my shuttle picked me up. Although I was anxious to get home to my family, I really did not want to leave. I actually really enjoyed just wandering around by myself watching all the people & stuff. It was so awesome. I am already planning my next trip!It is definately one of the coolest places I have ever been. I was amazed at all the buildings, how tall and close they all are. When I was driving home from the Las Vegas airport I thought how small Las Vegas seems now compared to New York. It seems like this tiny little city and all the hotels seem so small compared to the huge skyscrapers in NY. I loved all the old buildings & architecture, you definately don't get that out West. And I was actually surprised at how friendly & helpful most people were. 3 1/2 days is definately not long enough to even scratch the surface. There were a bunch of things we just didn't have time for which just means I'll have to go back!
Finally, I just have to say that I had the most incredible time with my sister. She is so much fun to be around and is always making me laugh to the point of peeing my pants. I think part of the reason we didn't get to as many things as we could have was because we had so much fun talking and just hanging out. And really, I could've done that the whole time! Thanks sis, for being such an inspirational person to me. I love you!!

Recipe of the Week

This sounds so delish!! Anything with avocado, mango & cilantro, bring it on! Bonus: Pretty simple ingredients & prep!

Avocado-Mango Chicken
Ingredients
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons adobo sauce (from canned chipotle chiles)
2 limes
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4 oz each)
1 large mango, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons sea salt
4 white-corn tortillas

Preparation
Mix Worcestershire, soy and adobo sauces with juice from 1 of the limes in a bowl. Place chicken in a sealable plastic bag and pour in marinade. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine mango, avocado, cilantro, onion, salt and juice from remaining lime in a bowl, then refrigerate. Transfer chicken and marinade to a baking dish and cook until tender and no longer pink, approximately 20 minutes. Remove chicken from oven, place each breast on a plate and top with 1/4 of salsa. Serve with 1 tortilla each.

My Little Boy Is Growing Up.....

Last week I took Kellin down to his soon to be new school for kindergarten registration. He was very excited and curious about his new school. I, on the other hand, entered with hesitation and disbelief that my little Kellin will soon be walking the halls amongst so many BIG kids. It really freaked me out. As I sat there filling out the paperwork, I kept fretting over the idea that he will be riding on a bus, alone, to and from school everyday. I hated the bus when I was a kid. All kinds of things are said & done in the back of the bus...I remember! And just to think that he will have to get on and off the bus by himself and find his way to/from the classroom has me paranoid. What if he gets lost? What if some stranger comes up to him? Can I really trust the public school system with my child? Ok, so maybe I'm being a tad melodramatic here, but seriously, it's a big step for me, and him of course. I think that's why they do the kindergarten registration in March...to give the first time moms 6 months to get used to the idea. I think I am the most worried about the whole playground/friends issue. Worried if he will make friends, if he will get teased or picked on, or if he will pick up bad behaviors from other kids. I know we all went through it, and for the most part we all survived (not without scars though). But up until this point I have pretty much been able to control what he is exposed to, what he is influenced by and he has been pretty protected from all of that stuff. It's hard to let go of that control and trust that what we have taught him in these short five years will stick with him as he is around so many different kids & influences. In preschool they are so protected, no older kid influence, no under-paid stressed out & frustrated teachers, just happy teachers & well-behaved, respectful kids (for the most part). This is going to take some getting used to...
On a related note, as I have been trying to get used to this whole idea, I have noticed Kellin really growing up. Just over the past month or so he has seemed to mature in certain ways. He will offer to set the table for dinner, offer to clean up Ethan and get him out if his high chair, and even make his bed in the morning without me asking him to. He seems to be grasping more mature concepts, understanding things more and able to reason through stuff. He is full of questions about everything from why does it rain to where does our poop go when we flush the toilet. Up until recently, he has been a huge fan of Little Bear & Franklin, Maggie & the Ferocious Beast and other shows on Noggin. It seems now he is requesting Batman, Spider Man, Ben 10: Alien Force and other more grown up boy shows with more mature concepts & themes. I have been screening them to make sure the content isn't too mature. I'm not a big fan of the fighting in the shows, and it's hard to find that balance between allowing him to grow up & keeping him innocent. Well, I think that's enough for now...I'm sure I will have more to write about in regards to this in the coming months.

Recipe Review

I made the Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti on Thursday night and got mixed reviews. First, I didn't realize it would be such a challenge to cut open the squash - pretty much like carving a pumpkin so if you make this be sure you have a really good serrated knife. I think it took me 15 minutes to finally get it cut if half! Second, the recipe says to cook it for 45 - 1 hour, but I think it definately needs at least an hour to cook (I did 50 minutes and it was cooked, but could've been more tender). I used zucchinni & yellow summer squash and that was delicious with the spaghetti squash. Kade wasn't a huge fan of the tomatoes (but he's not a big tomato guy anyways) and as for the kids, well I wonder how many vitamins & nutrients are in one bite (because that's all they tried of it)! Overall, Kade & I really enjoyed it, but in the future I think this would probably be a really good side dish rather than a main course. I think it would be perfect with one of those roasted chickens from Costco - just to add some meat/protien to the dish. By 9 pm, both Kade and I were hungry and had to snack on some lunch meat from the fridge. Oh, and I really wished I had bought the ingredients in time to make it for April Fool's Day, I could totally see some fun possibilities there! Maybe next year...