HELLO HELLO! This week involved arriving home, spending time with my darling daughters and trying to get back in shape and ready and organized for Fall.

After a week away, I couldn’t believe how big Annaliese and Marielle had gotten. They’ve been taking soccer camp up the street next to the river, and love it. Annaliese has even wanted to stay on for an additional tournament each week… I’m happy that they’re spending most of the day outside, which doesn’t always happen when you live in an apartment.

We did have one rain day, though, which made for a lot of cozy time with our stuffed animals in the kitchen! This funky new sleep mask from Mommy’s plane ride added some extra relaxation.

That morning, the girls filled these gorgeous jewelry boxes with their ponytail holders and other little trinkets. Sent from a close family friend who has now moved far away, the boxes were covered with pictures of them that had been lacquered on among lovely colors.

Mommy went back to some of her old habits right away. Like grabbing coffee #2 of the day before the morning was half over. I usually opt for a latte but the brewed decaf coffee at this place around the corner is so yum that I went for that too. Once I figured out to ask for extra cream heated up, I was in heaven.

Here’s my big girl at camp pick up after her tournament.

On the walk home, I appreciated more than before the New York architecture and monuments the city has to offer. Too often, I fail to take note because I’m so wrapped up in our little life.

P.S. Check out this awesome fellow behind Annaliese playing soccer with his little guys. Go Dad!

Marc and I headed down to the Lincoln Center to catch the new Woody Allen movie and then an ice cream. First time in over a year we saw a movie together in a theatre!

Here’s the sunset over Lincoln Center that night ….

And that’s about it. I’m back to my weekly to-do list since our summer adventures are wrapping up and real life is setting in. Since Lachlan and Beckett arrive home on Monday with the three Italian friends with whom they’ve been doing an exchange, I’ll be juggling 7 kids now for two weeks (Hedley is away at camp until the end of the month). So my to-do list is a little more ambitious than usual because it involves taking the kids all over the city of New York. There are so many sites we’ve never managed to see so Carpe Diem!!

Hope everyone else has a rocking week and LMK what is on your summer bucket list as the season winds down so we can share inspiration.

Sending love,

Melissa

Oh, and here is the to do list:

Visit:

Statue of Liberty

Ground Zero and new museum

Empire State Building

East River Ferry — heard it’s amazing and can take you to many stops in Brooklyn

Metropolitan Museum

Trying to score Yankee’s game tickets

???? Please WEIGH IN if you think there is a biggie missing from this list in terms of what to see in New York City with kids

Other goals:

Sign the kids up for Fall activities, plunge into registration forms — what joy — ha ha

Get back in shape! Aiming for yoga 2x week and hope to walk a lot with the boys

Watch episode 2 of The Roosevelts with Marc (a Ken Burns documentary) — we saw Episode 1, amazingly inspiring.

Figure out what my Fall bookclub book is and buy it and read it!

And here’s a little simple healthy tip for the end of summer: get a tube of your trusted sunblock, put it in a ziplock bag, and carry it in your bag. I try to apply sunblock in the morning by rarely re-apply and by early afternoon, you really need it. So keep it on your person, just like you might do with a water bottle. I like Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunblock. Paraben-free, it has never let me down. I use it on the kiddos too.

And finally, the quote of the week:

xo Melissa

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