Books on Location

This past weekend I was up in New York with my girls. Molly and I packed a bag of books because we had a plan to visit a bunch of places that are connected to books we have read together. I posted pictures over the weekend to Instagram and Facebook and someone asked if we walk around with a library and just whip out a book and take a picture? 

Not exactly.

Books on Location all started last summer when Molly and I were reading From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It was all Molly's idea. The story is about a sister and brother that run away and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a few weeks. Molly wanted to go visit the museum and see the things that were mentioned in the book. I did a little research, and over the years, many people have done the same thing to the point that the museum actually made a guide of the museum for kids based off of the book. We went in September of 2013 and had a great day exploring all the things that Molly and I had read about.

Then December came, and we always go to NY for Christmas. Every year, we pick a day to go into the city, we see the tree, pick a few fun things to do, and just enjoy the day together. Molly and I happen to be reading The Cricket in Times Square and I said to her we should bring the book and take a picture with it in Times Square. 

And there you have it. It was the beginning of Books on Location. We don't pick which books we will read based off of whether we can take a picture somewhere, but we have had fun with it this past year.

After reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncelllo's Library, Molly got her own library card. 

During spring break, we drove down to Florida. We had finished reading Because of Winn-Dixie and used google map to find one somewhere in Alabama to get our picture.

In May, Molly and I were in NY because her dance troupe performed on the Intrepid for Fleet Week. We packed a couple of books to take our pictures, The Wizard of Oz in front of Wicked which we had seen a few years ago and Matilda, one of our favorite books and musicals.

But when we finished reading The Wizard of Oz, we also made a trip into DC for the day to see the ruby slippers at the Smithsonian…even though we both now know that the shoes were not ruby in the book.

Notice the shirt she is standing next to in the gift shop…and then notice the shirt she is wearing in the next picture…I'm a softy.

After we walked around the museum for about an hour, we ventured out to the mall. I knew there was a carousel there, and yes we both know that Mary Poppins takes place in London and is actually one of the places that Molly would LOVE to go visit someday, but we settled for a picture by the carousel. There is a carousel scene in a park in the book.

After the carousel ride, we walked down to the White House. Molly and I read When Audrey Met Alice. Audrey's mother is the president and she lives in the White House. She is snooping around one night and finds Alice Roosevelt's diary hidden in the floor boards in a closet. Alice is the oldest of Teddy Roosevelt's kids. The books goes back and forth between present day with Audrey to the past with Alice. Molly and I just fell in love with Alice's spirit. She really was quite the character.

Well, after reading When Audrey Met Alice, we had to make a trip to Teddy Roosevelt's house that just happens to be about half an hour away from my mom's house. This was Alice's house before her father became president. We couldn't go into the house because of renovations, but it is in such a pretty spot and we walked around the grounds, went into the museum, and then walked the nature trail to the bay. 

Then on Sunday, we went into the city. We had it all planned out and our books were in a backpack. 

First stop, the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park.

We really had the perfect day, sun was shining, it wasn't too hot or too cold, and Molly was just so excited to spend the morning in the park.

Next stop, the Hans Christian Andersen statue. Molly and I have read a few of his stories. It all started because of the movie Frozen, which is loosely, and I mean loosely, based on his story The Snow Queen. Then we read a few more of his stories and then of course I had to buy the movie, Hans Christian Andersen, with Danny Kaye. Molly has watched it a number of times.

Molly and I haven't read Nightingale's Nest yet. It's a new book and it's on our summer reading list. It is based off of Han Christian Andersen's The Nightingale.

Our last stop in Central Park was to find a place where we thought there should be a statue for James and the Giant Peach.

And as for the enormous peach stone - it was set up permanently in a place of honor in Central Park and became a famous monument. It was also a famous house. And inside the famous house there lives a famous person- 

James Henry Trotter

himself.

Every day of the week, hundreds and hundreds of children from far and near came pouring into the City to see the marvelous peach stone in the Park. 

There really should be a peach stone in Central Park. Molly and I are going to have to write a letter to someone about this.

After all our Central Park visits, we took a cab to Times Square. The book we are reading right now, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When we were in the city a couple of weeks ago for her dance performance, we saw the Wonka section in Toys r Us and knew we would be back with the book.

Our last stop on Saturday was to see Matilda, again. A show based on a book about a girl that loves to read books. Molly knows every lyric to every song, and can sing them with the British accent. Not only is it a great show, it has a great message.

It's about when you think life's not fair, you don't have to sit around and just take it. Do something about it! You are in control of your own story, you get to decide what your story is going to be about. Isn't that great message for little girls, really for us all?

Matilda's mom

Matilda's brother

Matilda's Dad

It reminds me of this saying…

Where will our reading take us next. Well, I'm not sure. We read Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume and it takes place in Tarrytown, NY, right near Sleepy Hollow. Washington Irving's house is there, author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We read Double Fudge by Judy Blume and Fudge and his family visit the National Zoo in Washington DC.

Or this is the pond from Stuart Little. We might just have to read that before our next New York City trip.

So many books to read, so many places to visit.

Matilda, New York, and Bearing Witness to an Amazing Life

After months of crazy schedules and planning our trip down south, I finally have some down time to read and now write. Right now I am reading Carry on, Warrior Thoughts on a Life Unarmed by Glennon Doyle Melton. She writes the Momastery.com blog and I have been following her for over a year. I actually met her one day in the Verizon Wireless store. We were both at the counter waiting to be helped and we started talking about what the right age is for a kid to get his first cell phone. That's my Glennon Melton story. I think she lives in Florida now. 

Anyway, so I was reading her book yesterday and I came to the part where she was at her sister's wedding and she was giving a toast. She said, "My whole life has been about paying attention to my Sister. Everything she has ever learned or feared or dreamed or wondered has been important to me, and so I have memorized it all. I know what she wore every single first day of school since kindergarten. I know she still has most of those outfits. I remember the entire speech she gave when she ran for president of her elementary school, and I remember the commencement speech she delivered at her high school graduation...I am my Sister's biography. I've got it all right here. Recording it all, bearing witness to such an amazing life, has been the honor of my life."

That stuck with me before I went to sleep last night. I do not have a sister but I thought about my children and "bearing witness" to their lives and always trying to find ways to record what they do and accomplish because I don't want to miss a moment. 

I am always trying to find new and easy ways to record our lives. I try to keep up with my Project Life albums. I try to make digital books, I try to record our events on this blog, but it becomes such a huge task to balance living our lives and recording it. I feel that as the mom, I am the keeper of the memories, of creating the memories and then recording them. Just like Glennon knows and remembers all those intimate details about her sister, it is me that knows Ryan got his bear on his first birthday, and that Shannon's baby doll was so loved that we had to duct tape her arms back on, that Timmy would not got to bed without his duckies and when he outgrew them, he moved on to Cubby. I know that Molly was the only one that never used a binkie, and that when she sleeps with you, she always has to be touching your body just to make sure you are there. I know what they were each year for Halloween, what rides they like to go on at amusement parks, and who wrote their name on the basement rug with permanent marker and who wrote their name on the book shelves. So many memories and I don't want to forget any of it. 

So even though Molly and I went to New York to see Matilda on June 9th, I want to record it. Today is June 30th, it is our first full day back in our house after our travels. I have gone over this week's schedule and we are back to basketball games, swim meets, orthodontist appointments, orthopedic appointments, and just regular life in general. But I am going to try to catch up with recording our memories. I read somewhere that there are three parts to making memories, anticipation, participation, and recollection.

For Molly, there was great anticipation to see Matilda. Molly and I read the book together back in February and that is when I saw on twitter that the musical was coming to Broadway. Molly's birthday is March 1st and I was hoping to get tickets for her birthday, but nothing was available. I wanted to have good seats. I started researching and read reviews of the musical in London and they were all great. So we ended up with tickets for June 9th, still a birthday present, but now there was great anticipation. We had a countdown till the big day, We watched videos on youtube, we downloaded the album to her ipod. Molly learned every song and walked around the house singing with a British accent. We watched the movie on DVD that came out in the 1990's. 

Then the big day was finally here! School was out and we were in the car driving to New York. It was finally time to participate and not just anticipate! 

What was great was that my sister-in-law and niece "participated" and joined in the fun. It was a great day! The weather was beautiful! It was perfect! The day after, it stormed and it poured and it was like a monsoon, which made us appreciate our beautiful day even more.

Top of the Empire State Building.

The New York City Library...Molly is my only child that would care to have her picture taken here.

The big moment had finally arrived. We were so excited and I highly recommend seeing it, especially if you have girls. Just yesterday, we were in the Poconos playing mini-golf and a man playing behind us asked Molly if her sweatshirt was from Matilda. It was and so then he said he took his daughter to see it. He talked about how good it was and how great Mrs. Trunchbull was as well as Matilda's father. Ahhh, recollection, the third part of making good memories. We were remembering our favorite parts with a total stranger and he was doing the same with us and it brought a smile to my face.

After the play was over, we still had some New York memories to make. The weather was beautiful and there was energy in New York that day. Our spring had not been a nice one, lots of rain and cold. But this day, the sun was shining and it was not too hot and not too cold. We made our way through Time Square and there was the Naked Cowboy. He is always there no matter what the weather. I love New York. I love the energy you feel as you walk through the streets, I love watching the tourists with their cameras around their necks, I love all the different languages you can hear as you walk from one block to the next, I love that there is always something going on. On this day, the streets were filled with police officers because of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and then the Tony Awards were going on at Radio City. There are all walks of life, one moment you are passing the Naked Cowboy and the next you are passing gentlemen in their tuxedoes and ladies in their beautiful gowns walking to Radio City for the Tony Awards.

The red carpet for the Tony Awards. We didn't see anyone we knew, but it was fun to be there in the crowd with all the onlookers.

Central Park.

New York pizza, she almost ate the whole thing.

Walking back toward Penn Station, the crowds are gone, the Tony Awards are going on inside and Molly sees the marque that reads that Neil Patrick Harris is inside hosting, she loves Neil Patrick Harris.

Still working our way down to Penn Station through Time Square. Molly said that we had to stay there for fifteen minutes because the lady in the Empire State video we saw when we went to the top said if you stand there for fifteen minutes you will see someone you know or see someone that looks like someone you know. I don't think we saw anyone we know but we did see thousands of New Yorkers at 9:30 on a Sunday night soaking in the beautiful evening.

Anticipation, Participation, and Recollection...we did it all.

"Recording it all, bearing witness to such an amazing life, has been the honor of my life." Glennon Melton