New York CityPass!

Oh, my GOODNESS! So, so excited! We made the "big" purchase for our sight-seeing in NYC the other day--we purchased, online, our CityPass Booklet E-tickets through CityPass.com! Really great and conventient way to book stuff like sight-seeing, etc. What we really loved is the fact that it includes such a variety of places on the tickets, and when you turn in the e-ticket voucher you actually receive a booklet of *real* tickets--so no waiting in lines for tickets at the sights! We also loved how easy it was to book this. Very easy online process. And--best of all--all the prices are discounted!! We, of course, are looking to save moolah, so this was a GREAT feature. We're saving as much as 50% off ticket prices for some places, just by booking with CityPass!

Here's what we have on our tickets (we may skip one or two things, but we're going to try to see it all):

--Empire State Building Observatory
--Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises
--Statue Cruises OR Liberty State Park in NJ
--American Museum of Natural History
--Guggenheim Museum OR Top of the Rock
--The MoMA
--The Met

We are really looking forward to this trip. It'll be a very nice little family vac-ay before Neal is "gone-gone" for a long while. We just have to figure out where we're staying, and how the travels are going to play out. Not certain yet on that one!

We recently had our Yellow Ribbon Event with Neal's unit. This was a briefing for family and soldiers in preparation for deployment. It was strongly suggested at that time that we not mention much of anything, and certainly no details, about the deployment process. OPSEC is for safety of both families and soldiers, so on the blog I will not put specific dates, times, or locations. Hopefully the fact that I say he is deploying is okay--I guess I'll find out if this is problematic.

We are amazed that it is already Daylight Savings' Time! Where has time gone? Truly, truly...time flies so very, very quickly. Children grow and change so rapidly, and it is with this that I feel a sense of age. I don't particularly feel older when I think of my upcoming birthday. It is when I think about my almost-one-year-old and my 11+ year old that I think about the passage of time and as soon as I turn around, they are older and wiser and just so beautifully developing and growing and learning and *being.* It is such a bittersweet thing, watching your children grow. You want so desperately and simultaneously to cling to whatever stage they're in while still wanting, yearning for them to grow and develop into just amazing people. You have to learn the fine art, the life-long struggle, to "let go and let God." Otherwise, I believe, insanity will surely take over.

Off to play "Band Hero" with my older son--I'm going to rock some awesome vocals. Fun!