Mother's Day 2024

 The days leading up to Mother's Day were so crazy busy for us that I'll have to get to all those things later. 

Jason, Kyle and the grandparents went to church Sunday morning, while JR and I were speedily making our way home from Dallas.  Reed was in Chicago, so this was the group picture before brunch for 2024.

And the family picture minus Reed (and of course, my daughter Chloe).

The boys (which means Jason) got me a new door mat as my old one was completely worn out! 

And Kyle got me this pin, so he's sitting in the favorite child position.  

I put it on my jean jacket, and I think it looks perfect! 

Guess Who's Back

 It's going to be a long summer. 

Our Boots and Our Bling

 Jason and I had a boots and bling event to attend last night, and oh small detail, we were chairing it. 

I wore my bling on my boots, and Jason wore his bling on his belt by wearing Kyle's FFA showmanship buckle, although I don't think you can see it in this picture.

We took lots of pictures, but none of them seemed to be on my phone, so all I have are these.

The ladies at our table.

And waiting for valet after the evening was over.

Jason had to give a speech while I stood next to him and smiled.  He did amazing, as he always does.

We also got to show off our two-stepping skills to a George Strait impersonator who had a few people fooled into thinking he was the real George Strait.

 Believe me, I'd be posting pictures of George and me instead of Jason and me if it had been the real George. 

NYC- Wrap Up

 So here are the rest of "all the things" we saw.

We saw the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.

And the Empire State Building (that's it in the middle behind us)

We went to Central Park

And got a hotdog and a pretzel. The pretzel was terrible.

We went to Chinatown and Little Italy and ate both Chinese food and cannolis.

We got ourselves an official "New York slice". Which is what Jason and I both called it reciting the line from The Office when Michael Scott goes to Sbarro in Times Square.  And in true family fashion, JR asked if we "went to Sbarro in Times Square".

We ate a New York bagel. 

And we had a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the restaurant where I saw Jon Bon Jovi.

NYC- Pop Culture

 As you can imagine, being on a tour of NYC with me is answering a lot of questions about TV and movies.  Where did Seinfeld live? Where do the Real Housewives live? 

So our tour guide figured out really fast what I actually wanted to see on our tour. 

The Friends apartment building. 

Was there ever any doubt I would want to see this? 

The Plaza 

And because my husband is literally perfect he said, "I was thinking The Plaza in June" as we were getting our picture made...of course referencing the romcom masterpiece, Sweet Home Alabama.  

And guess what just happens to be down the street from The Plaza? 

You guessed it! 

We rode up and down the escalator like we were announcing we were running for president, and the only things we even bought in NYC were from the gift shop!

Then we saw Rockefeller Center.  No giant Christmas tree or ice skating, but I got to see it, and the outside of the Today Show. 

And we went to see the Broadway version of one of my all-time favorite movies, Back to the Future.  I absolutely love Back to the Future (so much so that I hate Back to the Future 2 and 3) so I was worried my expectations might be too high. But I really, really enjoyed it.  They changed 1 or 2 things from the movie, but it is so, so good and made me really happy.  The guy playing Marty was doing it like Michael J. Fox, and he was excellent. 

And for the best Pop Culture sighting of all....I walked down the stairs behind Jon Bon Jovi.  I noticed his hair before anything else, and literally thought to myself, "Huh, that guy's hair looks like Jon Bon Jovi's".  Then when his security guard almost knocked down one of the girls in our party, we realized oh, that's because it is Jon Bon Jovi! 

NYC- Stock Exchange

 So this wasn't Jason's first bell ringing, but it was mine, and I really had no idea what to expect. 

They were ringing the bell in celebration of their 70th anniversary.

They took us upstairs where they did a little presentation, we had breakfast, and we took pictures.

Then they took us down to the floor.

The bell is right in front of the CNBC guys.

They lined up and took more pictures

And I got a photo op

And then they go up to the balcony where they ring the bell

I'm so short I couldn't get a good picture of them up there, but here's the video of the big ringing. 

And then the market is officially open.

It was a super cool experience, and it felt like a lot happened by 9:30 in the morning! 

NYC- Takeaways

 So I left on Thursday to meet Jason in NYC so I could see him ring the bell at the stock exchange on Friday.  I've never been to New York, so here are my takeaways from the weekend. 

1. I was really excited about going and was a total dork and took pictures from the airplane.

2. Speaking of the airplane, I was cold from the time the airplane landed until we got back to Houston.  I had no idea it was going to be so cold and windy! Here I am wearing 2 coats! I have on a leather jacket underneath my overcoat and I was still freezing. 

3. TV and movies led me to believe everybody was going to be more fashionable.  I didn't see one person dressed up.  If fact, we went to a Broadway show and I left my coat on the whole entire time because 1. I was cold and 2. I was embarrassed that I was overdressed. 

This is what we looked like. 

Everybody else at the show was wearing sweatpants and leggings.

4. I felt a little like country come to town as I kept thinking "it's just so big". 

The buildings are really tall, the streets are really narrow, and there are long lines for everything.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, and it's not like I've never been anywhere before.  Maybe time has softened my memory, but it seemed way more crowded than Beijing, Hong Kong, or Tokyo.  We walked down to the Bull of Wall Street and here's the crowd around that. I mean, it's just a statue of a bull. 

Jason wanted us to get a selfie with it, and you can't even see it!

5. And last I'm putting this here because I don't know where else I'll put it.  We went to the 9/11 memorial and museum.  It was absolutely heart wrenching, and I was on the verge of tears the entire time.  It was just so, so sad. 

But, we definitely saw all the things we were supposed to see and ate all the things we were supposed to eat, so I will get to those in the coming days!