The best neighbors in the whole wide world

Meet our favorite people in Battery Park City - and just our luck, they happen to live in our building to. The WWs are a whole lot of fun and we simply love hanging out with them and their kiddos. Madeline is in love with their little boy, Hamish. Sometimes she will fall asleep at night saying his name over and over - sweet little girl. Before Christmas we got together to make gingerbread houses with the kids so much fun. And sorry to say that, Carlin, but we kick you guys' little butts. Competitive, me? not at all :D

Guess which one is our house? Heck yeah, the one on the left :D

Love this picture...

...that Soaz took of Madeline and me at Jerry's house in Flagstaff. I love this little girl so much.

A little Christmas cheer

Being in Arizona, it felt like we were a thousand of miles away from Christmas. But as soon as we arrived back in NYC, we were reminded (by the lovely weather) that winter was here and Christmas not so far off!

So we got our Christmas tree this weekend and decorated the apartment a bit - we didn't go too crazy since we're leaving again in a week and 1/2.

We also spent Saturday afternoon with Carlin, Magnus, Hamish and Flora drinking hot chocolate and decorating cookies with the kids. They did an awesome job decorating my dala horse :)

So looking forward to going home for Christmas!!

Under the Tucson sun

Last but not least in our Arizona trip, we spent a week in Tucson. It had been four years since my last trip to Tucson, and I fell in love with it all over again the minute I got back to town. Granted, it's easier to fall back in love with Tucson when the temperature isn't burning hot!

I wanted to show my little family the beauty of the area, so we went on some adventures. I love the desert, I love the Saguaros, and we had to go to Sabino Canyon - I used to go running there all the time when I was a student at the U of A....it's also where I caught Valley Fever, not my fondest memories of being in Tucson, but sill - it's a lovely place!

It was so chill to be in Tucson, to have a car and be able to drive around everywhere we wanted. I'd completely forgotten how much more laid back people are out West - I miss it!

Since Troels had to go out to San Francisco for 3 days while we were in Tucson, I spent a lot of time with the girls and it was so nice to have this little vacation with them both. We did lots of things.

Like, spend time a the public phone booth. What? We're New Yorkers, we have to stay connected - what if someone major happens on Wall Street?!

We hung out in the Miller's backyard, drew with chalk on the sidewalk and played with dolls. So proud of the picture that Olivia made of me :) She's turning into quite the little artist these days!

We went to the zoo. I had never been to Reid Zoo and was really pleasantly surprised! In NYC, we have two choice: go to the Central Park zoo, which is pretty small, or go to the Bronx Zoo, which is super big. Reid was just the perfect size, and the girls had such a great time!

And we had ice cream. Lots of it. no don't ask, I probably couldn't count how many times - I don't hav enough fingers for that.

Many of my salsa dancing friends in Tucson also had babies at the same time that I did, so we had a few play dates so the kids could all meet up. These are pics form our playdate with little Jacob, my friends Laurel & Noah's son. What a cutie he is!

And talking about my salsa dancing friends, it was probably my favorite thing about coming to see them. Like Gerardo and Lupita, and their little baby girl Gali.

Being to see them and catch up on life while sipping a glass of wine. I Can even describe how happy that made me. Oh - and we had a party, and I danced...without hurting my knee! I danced and I smiled ear to ear!

 Really, it was a good trip. It was a GREAT trip. Now I hope it's not another four years before I can go back! Thanks for everybody in AZ for such a great time :)

Grand Canyon

On the way down....so far so good ;) 

I wasn't able to hike the Canyon because of my knee still being a little weak from the surgery - plus, someone had to "volunteer" to hang out with the girls...but Soaz took such awesome pictures of their hike that I had to share. Also to remind my hubby of this unforgettable experience - right hun? ;)

I did it, biatch....

Oh wait...did someone just fall asleep on the rock on the hike up? :D

Nancy waiting at the top with beers. Troels can't no more :D

I left my heart in Sedona

While we were in Flagstaff, we drove to Sedona - it's only a 45-minute drive - and spent the day in the Red Rocks. If you've never been to Sedona, go! I mean, go, run, fly - it's worth every minute of your time, really. Probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

We arrived in Sedona at about 11am - and what do you think we did? We sat down our pretty little behind at the terrace of a restaurant and ordered margaritas. Yes. That's how we roll. And we had a brilliant time. Soaz got the love potion margarita - duh :)

Movember in full force.

We strolled around down - the pace of life is so nice there compared ro people always rushing in NYC. Total disconnect.

These two pictures by Soaz.

We stopped for ice cream. I got some prickly pear ice cream - yum:)

The colors were just amazing. The red of the rocks again the blue blue sky, the fall Arizona trees in all shades of green, yellow and red. Breathtaking. The girls had to soak it all in. We drove around town, stopped by a creek to enjoy the coolness of the water - it was heaven. Soaz snapped these lovely shots of our little family!

And to finish this beautiful day, we took a little tour in one of the Pink Jeeps that I always saw driving around Sedona when I was around. The jeep took us on a dirt road all the way to the rim of one of the red rocks, right as sunset. The view was just stunning.