July!

July has been a busy month for us, but lots of fun! I can’t even remember everything that has happened since my last post. Not having internet at our house has delayed my blogging a lot. So now I’m writing in Word and cutting and pasting posts when I get the chance to get to Josh’s work without the girls to use the internet. Let’s start in chronological order.

Dawn came to visit in June for almost a week (well, a whole week after she missed her flight back home :( It was great having her here as always. We were adventurous and took the girls to the Central Park Zoo. What a trip! We were troopers, lugging the double stroller up and down the stairs of the Subway. It is a great zoo… just big enough to do in one trip and still have enough energy (barely) to make the 1 ½ hour trip back home on public transportation. Here are some pictures we took at the zoo. We didn’t get a ton because someone was always holding Macy and the other running around after Aylah. Aylah liked the zoo but wasn’t too enthralled with it. She was more interested in climbing in and out of her stroller. Her favorite was the cow… go figure. I told her we’d show her lots of cows when we go to Michigan next month. Aylah watching the turtles swim around.

There was a group of people from our old church in Lansing that came for a week-long mission trip. It was good to see people. We only knew about 4 people in the group. It was really strange to see people that we knew in “our world.” We have this whole life that none of them knew. I think they had a good time here. We ended up having dinner with them a couple nights.

I’m not sure if some of you saw the news last week… Jersey City was on the national news. There was this huge shooting that happened only 1 block from New City (our old apartment). 5 officers were shot, one has died and it looks like the others will survive. The police were tracking 2 people who were involved in stealing a car and a shooting a month earlier. They got a tip that the people came outside early in the morning to move the stolen car for the street sweeper. So they got there early to set up a perimeter, but the people came out earlier than expected.. The 2 suspects pulled up their clothes to expose assault rifles and shots were exchanged (in the green grass area across the street from New City where I would always see the old men peeing) and then they ran back into their building. Next the police evacuated the buildings on the street and about an hour later went into the building to get the suspects. Their door was broken down, more shots fired around 7 AM and the 2 suspects were shot and killed. Deborah was on her way to New City since summer camp starts so early. She hit the police barrier and couldn’t go any further. She said that she heard the last round of shots fired. How scary! The streets were shut down for a long time, there was police tape everywhere and little evidence markers all over the street. The street, Reed St., is known for its drug dealing, etc. and has the name Smack Alley. I walked down the street to use it as a shortcut a couple times when we first moved here but got a weird vibe from it and didn’t feel safe so I have avoided it since. So that was a crazy part of our week.

Josh’s best friend Ryan and his wife Heather and 2 girls Ivy and Auburn came to visit for a week. 8 people in our apartment for a week… woah! But we did it and it wasn’t near as squishy with all those people as we thought it would feel. Our girls loved playing together. We had 4 girls ages 4 and under. We went into the city with them on Sunday and went to Central Park. The girls played on the playground, we had a picnic, and then went to the Zoo again. Aylah was still more enthralled with her stroller, but spent quite a bit of time looking at the polar bear. She’s crazy, that girl :) We’ll go back to the zoo maybe in a year and she’ll probably like it more.

A picnic in Central Park with the Schuts!

Shaded up and ready for the sun.Aylah loves playgrounds with tunnels, especially the ones at Liberty State Park.Aylah and IvyAylah and Mommy on the Hudson River at Liberty State Park.Josh and Ryan at the park. Rub a dub dub, three girly girls in a tub.

July 14th was Josh’s 27th Birthday! We celebrated the weekend before. We went into Manhattan and walked the Brooklyn Bridge over to Brooklyn. We went to a very yummy pizza place and then to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and walked back across the bridge. By then it was dark out and we got to see the skyline all lit up. It was so much fun to go without any kids and it was very pretty! Sometimes Josh and I forget how much we like to spend time alone with each other since the girls are always with us… we need to get out more without them. Here are some pictures from our night. The Brooklyn Bridge was so cool. I would definitely recommend it if you come to New York! The view from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.I made this delicious chocolate cheesecake for Josh on his actual birthday! MMMM!! Allison Dowell I thought of you :) I'll have to make it again soon. I put some strawberries and kiwi and shaved white chocolate on top!

July 23rd was our 4th Anniversary. Josh and I were talking and we both agreed that it seems like a whole lot longer than just 4 years ago that we got married. Probably because in that time we’ve had 2 kids, moved across the country, Josh got his Masters, and I worked for 2 years teaching. We had a good night at home with some Chinese food, a bottle of wine and some strawberries I dipped in chocolate… yummy! We are going to do our big celebration when we go to Michigan. My mom and dad are going to watch the girls for a night so that we can go back to our Bed and Breakfast we stayed at the night of our wedding. It should be great to be kidless! It will be only our 2nd night away from the girls in 2 years. Like I said, we need to get out more!

Here is a girl update:

Aylah is talking a ton lately and comes up with new things every day. She is now exactly 3 feet tall and weighs 33 pounds. She is in the 90th + percentile for her age. Her friend Ruth is only 3 months younger than her and Aylah is a whole head taller than her. Aylah still loves music! She has recently learned her ABC’s and busts out singing her ABC’s at the most random moments: in the car, when she is getting her diaper changed, while she is playing, in the stroller, at dinner time, in the bathtub. She also does this thing where she sings along to every song, even if she doesn’t know it. She’ll mumble along through the words and then when the end of a verse comes and a note is held she will listen to the word and say it and hold the note in an off-key voice. It’s funny! She is still in love with Macy. Yesterday she came in to the room after she got up and said, “Macy wake?” I said, “Yup.” “I go see her.” And she turned around and ran off. I laughed. This morning we were eating breakfast and Aylah said, “Mmmm, fowers!” “Yea! Aren’t they pretty? Daddy got those for Mommy.” “So nice!” Aylah responded. I laughed again.

Macy is the most smiley baby ever. She rarely cries and is very laid back. She is sleeping from 9:30PM to 6:30AM, which makes me feel like a more normal person again. She is 16 ½ pounds and is the size of a 6 month old. The doctor said we just have tall genes in our family. She is rolling over one way and has almost figured out how to roll the other way. I lay her down to sleep and by the time she wakes up she is on the opposite side of the crib b/c she moves around so much. She loves her exersaucer and Bumbo seat that helps her sit up. Here are some pictures and videos of our girls from the the past month.

Macy loving her stroller ride.
Aylah on the swings at Central Park.This girl loves to smile! She smiles the biggest for her Mommy.
It has been a while since we posted some Aylah dance moves. We just wanted you to know that shes still got skill!




No children are hurt in this video. I know, it seems like someone will but I've just learned to go with it. Macy loves Aylah and I'm all about the girls playing together.... with supervision of course.

I’ve been feeling a little sad the past couple days because one of my good friends that I’ve known for a long time, Allison, (she was in our wedding) lost her Mom to cancer this past week. It is really hard to know that she is in Michigan and that I can’t be there for the funeral, etc. It is one of the hard realities we have had to face numerous times over since moving. When it happens I always question us being here. It is hard to be away from family and friends, but in the end I have to remind myself that God has us here for a reason and that I know if we moved it would be against His will for us. Keep Allison and her family in your prayers, please.

Well, that was super long but I hope you enjoyed the pics. and update. We will be in Michigan from August 5th-August 17th. We are doing our drive through the night again with both girls. Should be interesting how they both do. We haven’t been to Michigan since Christmas and the last time we drove through the night with Aylah was last October. Our little Saturn is going to be packed to the limit! I’m thinking that its life is limited before we will need a bigger vehicle.

If you made it this far, you can consider yourself a committed Dornbos update blogger :)