May 2009- Philly, Rachel & Butterflies

Amazing Race TV show - season finale 14. The contestants and Phil Koeghan (host) were are the hotel to watch the Season Finale. What an incredible night! Phil is so great. He had just finished a bike ride from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean (3,500 miles and 42 days) to raise money for MS - he raised $400,000. Below is me, Phil, and Jeff (Marriott PR).

Phil and the contestants of the Amazing Race.

Me in the kitchen at Lombardi's Pizza - Little Italy - first and best pizza in NYC!

You can build your own muppet for one $120 at FOA Schwartz in NYC. I could only afford this picture - but very cool!

Rainy day at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary at the Headless Horseman bridge - scary! Run Rachel Run!

Philadelphia for Memorial Day 2009 - Traditional Philly sites - Liberty Bell with Indepenence Hall in the background.

Across from the Residence Inn, we stayed in and Love (JFK) Park is a great public art display of giant sized "game pieces". From our hotel room on the 20th floor we had a fantastic view of the clock below William Penn on the City Hall Building and the big game pieces. We were so excited to finally play on them. Below is the wheel barrow from Monopoly. That looks heavy - even without Tessa in it.

B-1: Is that your winning BINGO number? Those are some big BINGO chips!

Look at all those giant game pieces from Bingo, Dominos, Chess and Parchesi - this kids are pretty cute too!

That is one big iron! I wish the girls could iron - can't have it all... In the back (tan building just to left of light colored City Hall) is our hotel - amazing renovated art deco bank building.

LOVE sculpture in Love Park with my Love - it is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

How sweet are they? They want to wade in the fountain at Love Park to rest their tired feet from walking all over the Zoo - but they were soaking wet after an hour and a half of being in the fountain - kids - what do you expect? They played tag with other kids they met in the fountain. They found their own pool when the hotel did not have one...

The Philadelphia Zoo ROCKS!!! It is the first Zoo in America - 150 years old! They have over 1800 species there - a few that are only there and in San Diego. It was amazing! (we did not ride in the balloon...)

The children's petting zoo - That bunny is sure checking out that carrot... Good thing the carrot runs fast.

"Never smile at a Crocadile... They were exciting to find an animal they could ride together on the Rain Forest carousel. It was beautiful!

Tessa was in love with the Peacocks. She said she had never seen one before - I am pretty sure they have them in Boise. She thought there was only one in the zoo and was amazed how we saw them all over the zoo. Finally she saw two and realized there were more than one... She is so cute!

Creepy gross - king cobra are much more nasty than the pythons. There are tons of people bitten by them every year in India - this should tell you something... Tessa is pretending to be a Cobra- that is also her puppy impression...

On top of a 1950 "Big Bus" double decker tour bus of Philly with the City Hall in the background.

ALBANY - NY state Capitol. Dagny has wanted to show us Albany for months ever since she went on a tour there for her field trip. She is learning so much about NY history - it has been great for is all - since Joel and I know Idaho history - NY goes much further back. The Capitol Building is the most amazing building I have ever seen. I cannot believe it was built with public money - $25 million in 1899 after 42 years of construction. Built at the same time as the White House ($11 million). Teddy Roosevelt stopped construction and many of the stone works were never completed. Everyone should see it. The Empire Plaza we are standing in is incredible to see as well!

Orange County Choppers (we live in OC) - we did not realize there was a popular reality TV show on from our area. The motorcycles are incredible - all should see them! All sorts of themes - very amazing! Good thing Rachel knew about them...

Rachel and I visit the Sleepy Hallow Cemetary. This is the grave site of Washington Irving - the Author of Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetary - Andrew Carnegie grace site.

Lyndhurst mansion - home of Jay Gould - overlooking the Hudson River - WOW especially in the rain...

Rachel and I visit West Poitnt millitary academy. Absolutely beautiful!

Girls grow butterflies from caterpiller we get from 4-H. Dagny had three that we set two free one was injured - we still have him, and Tessa's we set one free - the other one has deformed wings due to the plastic cover in the show box - fell on him when we were in Philly - after a day we realized he was still alive and we are taking good care of the cripple butterflies includine one that got stepped on at the play ground at PineTree.

Dagny with her chrysilas.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Our first Easter in New York, brought the kids to the sad realisation that they would not be with all their cousins and friends for egg dying and hunting. We stamped some invitations and a invited a few friends over for an Easter party on Saturday before Easter. It was cold and rainy, but we still had fun. The girls and mommy stuffed eggs with candy, toys and of course quarters (Gibson family tradition). Daddy and mommy hid the eggs on the main level of the house prior to the friends arrival. They hunted eggs, dyed eggs and had snacks.

Below is Tessa with her very best friend Dristin.


Dagny proudly proclaims that this is the perfect shade of green for an Easter Egg.



What creativity shown by Tessa through many techniques of dying, hand painting and adding color with a sponge.

Happy Easter 2009! April 12, 2009. The Easter bunny was too kind to the Lytle Ladies. Although the weather was chilly and rainy, the egg and present hunting was fantastic in the house. The family spent the day watching the DVDs given to the girls from the Easter bunny, eating a great brunch and then a traditional Turkey and Ham dinner. The best part was staying in our pajamas all day!

Hooray - spring has finally arrived to the Hudson Valley! Sunny and temperatures in the 70's. We sure missed eating outside! On April 19, we went to Bear Mountain State Park (6 miles from our house towards West Point). We had a picnic by the lake and then went to the zoo overlooking the Hudson River. There were even bears at the Bear Mountain Zoo - they are truly the locals here. The zoo has trails through the trees with great views of the Hudson.

The zoo has several little museums on the property. The girls were "recruited" to join the continental army. They passed all the tests to join - they can see, hear and have five fingers (they were not that picky back then - of course their was no pay, food or uniforms for joining) - they were just not 14 though. They still learned to fire a musket. They were given a replica button to show they were in the NY regiment of the Continental Army. Hopefully they do not get called to serve any time soon - their musket skills could use some work. Plus they are pretty whiney when they have to sleep on the ground and do not eat regularly.

Joel and Gwen at the zoo, with the Hudson and Bear Mountain bridge in the background.

Dagny and Tessa are in 4-H. The last week of March was the public presentations for 4-H. Dagny did an amazing power point presentation on Italy (her school teacher is of Italian decent). She spoke in front of a judge using her power point about Italy. She received an "Excellent" rating, blue ribbon, and certificate for the great job she did.

Tessa is a Cloverbud (5-7 year olds in 4-H). Her presentation was called a "Fun Talk" and not critiqued like Dagny's. She spoke to the judge about Giraffes. She showed pictures of the family at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL feeding the giraffe. She also brought "Katie" the stuffed giraffe she got in Florida. The judge told her how great she did with remembering so many giraffe facts and speaking clearly and confidently. She received a rainbow colored ribbon and certificate for participation.

Girls Weekend in San Antonio

Pre-40th birthday celebration for Gwen in San Antonio, Texas. Being so far across the country from her family and friends, Gwen wanted some "girlfriend" time - something she is really missing in NY. We tried to pick someplace in the middle of NY and ID - that was warm the last week of March (Spring break from school in Boise). San Antonio was the winning location. Gwen had been to San Antonio for three work conferences, and it looked like the perfect place for a girls weekend. It was a first trip to San Antonio for Mom, Christine, and Raelin. Gwen's mom and sister Christine flew in from Boise; Raelin (Gwen worked with her at the Shilo Inn 20 years ago - we were 10 - hee hee) flew from Salt Lake and Aunt Joyce drove in - she currently lives in Austin, TX. We had a wonderful time shopping, exploring, eating, visiting and laughing. The 80 degree sunny weather was perfect for eating outside on the RiverWalk. Christine was determined that all the girls should get tatoos. We settled on the Henna tatoos which last for three weeks and have no needles involved. Below is a picture of all of us after we got our tatoos. What an incredible weekend!

Globetrotters, Skating and Delaware - Oh My

February 13, 2009: Free tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters at MSG (that is New Yorker for Madison Square Garden - which Dagny has pointed out is circular and not a square at all). They were great courtside seats. The girls were rather concerned that they were being made to go to a basketball game (we are not a very sporty family), but they were very entertained by the Globetrotters and got their mini basketballs autographed by the players. After the game they wanted to continue to dribble in the hotel - bad to be thrown out of mommy's hotel....


Due to a overbooking by Mommy - Family friend and NYU grad student - Laura took the kids to the Globetrotter game and Gwen and Joel went to see Phantom of the Opera (hooray for a date night).



Congratulations on passing Ice Skating Basic 1. The girls got ice skating dresses to start Basic 2 class. They are so excited, but say their legs get cold - plus their jackets cover most of the outfit - but they look like pros.





March 14, 2009: We took a weekend trip to Delaware (everything is so close in the East Coast). We could not even get to Pocatello in 3 hours in Boise and here we have been through 3 states and close to several others.

We stayed at an incredible Courtyard by Marriott in Newark, DE (kids loved the pool). We went to see an actor friend from the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Of Mice and Men at University of Delaware.

We were excited to see signs for Spring there - mini red tulips. Cozy bear has been in many pictures with Dagny - all over the country - over the past ten years...




One of the great things about having kids - is you can finally get your pictures taken as a couple.

Who knew Delaware did not have a Capitol Building? After a brief (Dover is not very big) drive around town and not being able to find the Capitol, we asked at the museum to find we were looking at it across the lawn. They call it "Legislative Hall". We got our picture with it for proof of being to the Delaware State Capitol in Dover. Dover makes Boise look bustling with only 32,000 people. We did drive by Dover Downs - it is huge! We thought it was for horse racing, but also at the museum discovered it was NASCAR. We learned a few things in Delaware - it was a good trip!

February 2009 and Orlando Florida

February 18: We looked out the window to see the largest snow flakes we have ever seen. Tessa state, "I've got to get some of those on my tongue" and ran outside - too cute! While she was outside she made pictures in the fresh snow in the driveway.

Grandma Becky gave the girls puzzles of NYC - they are proud to get this one done with a little help from daddy.

Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay as we visited the Tiger exhibit.

The Scorpion rollercoaster. This was Tessa first upside down roller coaster.

Face painting of the Unicorn Masks.

Very friendly giraffe named Cupid eating from Dagny's hand. They have purple tongues (so they don't get sun burned) that are 18 inches long.

Tessa feeds Cupid lettuce from the back of a safari truck in the Serengeti Experience at Busch Gardens.

The family is getting ready to get on the truck to go on safari in the Serengeti Experience at Busch Gardens to see Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos, Antilope and much more.

Posing with a Budweiser Clydsdale horse at Busch Gardens.

We met Kristy and her son Ryan at Busch Gardens. She was in the Air Force with Joel. They live in Tampa and have had Busch Gardens season passes for 13 years, so they were great guides of the park.

The kids picked Magic Kingdom for the Disney park they wanted to go to. Tessa has a CD (now on her iPod) of Disney Theme Park music, so we were challenged to go on the rides with the music - it was probably the only way to get her on the Haunted Mansion (she said it was not as scary as she thought - but is concerned about the ghost hitch hiker. She even tried Space Mountain even though it had no theme song and was in the dark. Dangy and Joel went on Space Mountain nine times. We loved watching the fireworks at the end of the day.

We loved the Shamu show at Sea World. The girls took tons of pictures of the show.

After spending a fun filled two days at Sea World with lots of shows, feeding the dolphins and riding the amusement rides - we got to see the Shamu show. A great way to end our time in Sea World.

It was great to be staying at our timeshare of 12 years. We know our way around and are very comfortable there. They have made many improvements and expansions over the years, including this water park with lazy river. The kids enjoyed the pools even though most days were in the low 50's.

Pool activities at the pool included line dancing, which the girls enjoyed participating in.