Today was quite a day and I just had to post a couple of videos.
First, we got L a new pair of shoes today. She's outgrown her shoes (unbelievable) and I found these shoes at a local store. They are called Squeaker Sneakers and we had a friend who had some and they're great for keeping track of your daughter in a crowd. It does sort of make you stick out but... we sort of tend to stick out anyhow. :o)
Are you wondering if L likes her new shoes?
We also have recently started playing the DVD to the They Might Be Giants album, "Here Come the 123's." Uncle Kyle and Aunt Lisa gave it to L for her birthday and we've listened endlessly to the CD but hadn't watched the DVD before. I think that L likes it. She's figured out how to turn on the DVD player and tries to switch the tv to DVD although she can only reach the channel down button so we're safe from that for now. Anyhow she begs (in every way she can) to watch this video.
... and here's what she does:
(I do hate it when I dance so hard I fall down)
See you Monday!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Weekly Update
Hello Everyone!
I can't believe it's been less than a week since I updated. I don't know what it is exactly but it seems like it's been much longer. We must have had a full week I guess!
L keeps amazing me with how old she is. Just yesterday we were getting ready and I asked her, "Can you put your binky in your bed?" I was assuming that she wouldn't and that I would take it from her and put it in her bed for her (we are down to binky time at nap and bedtime only!) but she walked over to her bed, took her binky out, and placed it on her blankie. Brad and I were both surprised. She's also started sitting in chairs. We took her to Pottery Barn the other day and she was happy to sit in the small children's chairs and look at a book. She looked so much like a little kid.
We do have a small chair at home. This rocking chair is one from Brad's father's childhood and it's been largely ignored by L until now, but this week she's become obsessed. She sits in it almost anytime we're in the kitchen together.
I just really have a hard time believing that she is this big!
When I am working in the kitchen and L is not sitting in her chair she is often playing under the butcher block in the middle of the room. It's very cute.
(She sure does love milk cartons!)
Saturday night was our annual Christmas party for our Sunday School class. We arrived just a little late, but had a really wonderful time and ate tons of great food.
We played a game at the party using stickers. L's favorite game at the party was taking this sticker off and putting it back on. She started playing with me, but ended up playing the same game with Laura and Carole before the night was out.
I hope everyone enjoys their week and we'll see you soon!
I can't believe it's been less than a week since I updated. I don't know what it is exactly but it seems like it's been much longer. We must have had a full week I guess!
L keeps amazing me with how old she is. Just yesterday we were getting ready and I asked her, "Can you put your binky in your bed?" I was assuming that she wouldn't and that I would take it from her and put it in her bed for her (we are down to binky time at nap and bedtime only!) but she walked over to her bed, took her binky out, and placed it on her blankie. Brad and I were both surprised. She's also started sitting in chairs. We took her to Pottery Barn the other day and she was happy to sit in the small children's chairs and look at a book. She looked so much like a little kid.
We do have a small chair at home. This rocking chair is one from Brad's father's childhood and it's been largely ignored by L until now, but this week she's become obsessed. She sits in it almost anytime we're in the kitchen together.
I just really have a hard time believing that she is this big!
When I am working in the kitchen and L is not sitting in her chair she is often playing under the butcher block in the middle of the room. It's very cute.
(She sure does love milk cartons!)
Saturday night was our annual Christmas party for our Sunday School class. We arrived just a little late, but had a really wonderful time and ate tons of great food.
We played a game at the party using stickers. L's favorite game at the party was taking this sticker off and putting it back on. She started playing with me, but ended up playing the same game with Laura and Carole before the night was out.
I hope everyone enjoys their week and we'll see you soon!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Weekly Update
It's been the sort of week where we had lots of living to do. The week sort of just flew by. After weeks of traveling and being sick, it was the perfect week. We had several regular playdates and meetings. L and I both enjoyed getting back into our regular routine.
We had our 15 month (yes, 15 months, can you believe it?!) doctor's visit. L is 22 pounds and 31 inches tall. I can't believe how she's growing. I always think that she's going to be heavier than she ends up being. I thought she was definitely 25-26 pounds at least, but I guess she just feels that heavy. :o)
She also now has 14 teeth. While we were visiting Mawmaw and Pawpaw it started and 6 new teeth are now all in. L looks sort of funny actually with all those teeth. Everyday I am realizing how much she looks like a little girl now instead of a baby.
She's also starting to act like a little girl! When I went into her room yesterday morning she was holing her milk, dropped it on the floor and said, "uh oh!" The scene repeated itself all day yesterday and it's now her new favorite thing to say. I have to say it's very very cute.
I hope that everyone has a good week in this very crazy time of year.
Only a couple of photos this week. See you next week!
We had our 15 month (yes, 15 months, can you believe it?!) doctor's visit. L is 22 pounds and 31 inches tall. I can't believe how she's growing. I always think that she's going to be heavier than she ends up being. I thought she was definitely 25-26 pounds at least, but I guess she just feels that heavy. :o)
She also now has 14 teeth. While we were visiting Mawmaw and Pawpaw it started and 6 new teeth are now all in. L looks sort of funny actually with all those teeth. Everyday I am realizing how much she looks like a little girl now instead of a baby.
She's also starting to act like a little girl! When I went into her room yesterday morning she was holing her milk, dropped it on the floor and said, "uh oh!" The scene repeated itself all day yesterday and it's now her new favorite thing to say. I have to say it's very very cute.
I hope that everyone has a good week in this very crazy time of year.
Only a couple of photos this week. See you next week!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Update from before Thanksgiving
Whew! During my last post, when I chronicled our adventure to NYC I told you that I'd be back soon with the stuff that happened BEFORE we went to NYC. My power cord is now replaced and the photos that were being held prisoner on my dead laptop have been freed!
I hope that this isn't too much like Memento. (of course, by that I just mean confusing because it's in reverse chronological order, not that this is going to be a psychological thriller) (and I love that movie, btw, if you haven't seen it you should!)
The week before Thanksgiving, L and I headed to my parent's house for a week of family time. The trip was interesting...
About a week before the trip, L and I were both sick. We had sore throat, runny nose, cough, fever... L got it first and then shared it with me (it is nice that she's sharing, right?). We spent nearly a week in the house, but that doesn't mean that we didn't get some good photos!
We got L some crayons and a giant coloring book a while ago. She thinks that they are better for chewing on than for actually using, but she did actually make a mark on the paper and was proud of herself. She then went back to eating the crayons, but hey... it's a start!
While we were stuck in the house L got a bit creative with toys. She found the "tupperware" drawer in the bottom of the buffet. Mawmaw and Pawpaw also have a drawer nearly exactly like this, so this continues to be one of our favorite activities.
I remember a time when sunglasses would stay on L's face. This time last year, we'd put her sunglasses on and there they would stay. She'd grin and look cute. Now, we're lucky if they don't come off as soon as they go on. So it surprised me when L kept bringing me these sunglasses that she'd found in her toybox. She clearly wanted me to put them on her, so I did, and then she'd take them off and then want them back on. Who knows what goes on in a toddler's mind?!
Back to our trip to Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house...
We left early Saturday morning to go to the airport. Brad dropped us off, sad to lose his ladies for a week, and L and I headed through security and onto the plane. I will say that it's so nice that as she ages she needs less and less. I will also say that she still needs a lot of stuff. I decided not to take the stroller (CRAZY) because I didn't want to have to haul it through security with the carseat and the bag and everything else. It was crazy. I was crazy. BUT... L had a really fantastic time. L loves airplanes and she had the best time watching them take off and land while we waited at the airport.
(signing airplane)
My parents, my sister Mary and cousin K picked us up from the airport. We stopped for a bite to eat and headed to my parents house. On the way K let me take photos of him making adorable faces.
We wanted to stop for a drink and Mary told K to "keep his eyes out" for the restaurant.
I don't remember what this face was exactly, except cute.
Whenever we travel, L has a terrible time sleeping and so we ended up sharing a bed for part of the time we were gone. It was very sweet and I was nervous that L would want to continue after we got home, but I guess it turns out that she loves her bed as much as I love mine.
The trip turned out to be interesting. Sunday I woke up and knew I had to go to the doctor. I had a sinus infection and started on my antibiotics. Wednesday L woke up with some suspect diapers. After many doctors calls visits and an extra visit to the ER, she ended up with a bad ear infection with a reaction to the antibiotic causing her to throw up. It was a rough end to the trip. L and I stayed one extra day and luckily, she did not throw up or have a poopy diaper during the entire trip home, which was worth changing the flight to the next day. My biggest worry was that she had basically gone an entire week without eating solids and several days without drinking much liquid. A couple of days after we got home, she resumed her normal eating habits and she's been eating tons of stuff since.
It was good that she had plenty of people to love on her.
We're glad to be home now and enjoying getting back into our routines. I'll update you on this week's happenings on Monday. See you then!
I hope that this isn't too much like Memento. (of course, by that I just mean confusing because it's in reverse chronological order, not that this is going to be a psychological thriller) (and I love that movie, btw, if you haven't seen it you should!)
The week before Thanksgiving, L and I headed to my parent's house for a week of family time. The trip was interesting...
About a week before the trip, L and I were both sick. We had sore throat, runny nose, cough, fever... L got it first and then shared it with me (it is nice that she's sharing, right?). We spent nearly a week in the house, but that doesn't mean that we didn't get some good photos!
We got L some crayons and a giant coloring book a while ago. She thinks that they are better for chewing on than for actually using, but she did actually make a mark on the paper and was proud of herself. She then went back to eating the crayons, but hey... it's a start!
While we were stuck in the house L got a bit creative with toys. She found the "tupperware" drawer in the bottom of the buffet. Mawmaw and Pawpaw also have a drawer nearly exactly like this, so this continues to be one of our favorite activities.
I remember a time when sunglasses would stay on L's face. This time last year, we'd put her sunglasses on and there they would stay. She'd grin and look cute. Now, we're lucky if they don't come off as soon as they go on. So it surprised me when L kept bringing me these sunglasses that she'd found in her toybox. She clearly wanted me to put them on her, so I did, and then she'd take them off and then want them back on. Who knows what goes on in a toddler's mind?!
Back to our trip to Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house...
We left early Saturday morning to go to the airport. Brad dropped us off, sad to lose his ladies for a week, and L and I headed through security and onto the plane. I will say that it's so nice that as she ages she needs less and less. I will also say that she still needs a lot of stuff. I decided not to take the stroller (CRAZY) because I didn't want to have to haul it through security with the carseat and the bag and everything else. It was crazy. I was crazy. BUT... L had a really fantastic time. L loves airplanes and she had the best time watching them take off and land while we waited at the airport.
(signing airplane)
My parents, my sister Mary and cousin K picked us up from the airport. We stopped for a bite to eat and headed to my parents house. On the way K let me take photos of him making adorable faces.
We wanted to stop for a drink and Mary told K to "keep his eyes out" for the restaurant.
I don't remember what this face was exactly, except cute.
Whenever we travel, L has a terrible time sleeping and so we ended up sharing a bed for part of the time we were gone. It was very sweet and I was nervous that L would want to continue after we got home, but I guess it turns out that she loves her bed as much as I love mine.
The trip turned out to be interesting. Sunday I woke up and knew I had to go to the doctor. I had a sinus infection and started on my antibiotics. Wednesday L woke up with some suspect diapers. After many doctors calls visits and an extra visit to the ER, she ended up with a bad ear infection with a reaction to the antibiotic causing her to throw up. It was a rough end to the trip. L and I stayed one extra day and luckily, she did not throw up or have a poopy diaper during the entire trip home, which was worth changing the flight to the next day. My biggest worry was that she had basically gone an entire week without eating solids and several days without drinking much liquid. A couple of days after we got home, she resumed her normal eating habits and she's been eating tons of stuff since.
It was good that she had plenty of people to love on her.
We're glad to be home now and enjoying getting back into our routines. I'll update you on this week's happenings on Monday. See you then!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
New York City!
Hi everyone!
I'm sorry I've been gone for a few weeks! I went to visit my parents for one week and then Brad, L and I took a trip to New York for Thanksgiving. It was a really great time! I promise to get those photos from Mawmaw and Pawpaw's up soon. They are stuck on my computer and my power cord has completely puttered out. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of early next week.
Anyway... onto our awesome trip!
A week or so ago Brad caught something on tv about the giant balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. He suggested we go to NYC and catch the parade in person, so we decided to go! It was so much fun!!!!!!
We arrived late on Wednesday and mostly just went to the hotel and crashed. L was so overtired and having the toddler crazies. The hotel had two rooms, one with the bed and one with a couch and tv and L was running between them over and over and over... We were relieved when she finally crashed on our bed. We were planning to get up super early and she wasn't going to get a real nap on Thursday. We ordered some room-service pizza and tried to sleep ourselves. It was hard! We were so excited!!
Thursday morning we got up around 6:30. We stayed in New Jersey because it was considerably cheaper without being too far away (we could see the city from our hotel) and the ferry was located right outside our hotel door. Since it was a holiday the ferry wasn't running until 7:00, and L wasn't going to last too long before the parade started anyway. We dressed in long underwear and lots of layers, but it was still cold. You can tell that we were very excited, because we rode on the top of the ferry into the city!
We caught a taxi to the northern end of the parade route. Many of the streets were blocked off to pedestrians (who didn't live in the buildings), and the first one we found allowing spectators was our viewing point. The news said that there would be about 3.5 million people (that's 70 times the population of our hometown!) and I think that they were all on the street where we were watching. We arrived around 8:00, an hour before the parade started, and we were probably around 50 yards away from Central Park West (the parade route). It was very crowded at that point, but as the hour ticked by more and more people crammed their way onto our street. Here is the crowd looking toward the parade route from where we were. Luckily, we had a really great spot right next to a building with a ledge. We were able to prop ourselves up against the building and see.
We decided not to take our stroller into the city, which was a VERY good idea. We certainly would not have been able to get to our spot for the parade with it, and L actually enjoyed riding on daddy's back (and sometimes front).
Here they are making faces at one another.
We took lots of photos of ourselves and each other waiting for the parade to begin.
(what better place to watch a parade than on your daddy's shoulders?)
There were also times when we got bored of waiting.
(I was maybe secretly hoping that she would scream and cry and all the people would move to another street :o). She didn't cry very long though.)
Here is a crowd view looking behind us.
And... just when we ran out of photos to take of each other, the parade started! I have to say that it was pretty awesome to see the same floats and balloons I've loved since I was a little kid. It was too much fun!
After a little while, we decided that we'd had enough of being sardined in with everyone and we decided to walk around. As we'd come in, we'd seen the street where the balloons were lined up to wait their turn in the parade. As we walked up that way, we realized that the barricades that were up earlier had been taken down and we could walk right up to the balloons and look at them. This was far more interesting to L anyhow.
There were still enough people around that she didn't want to be put down, though.
We found it to be hilarious that the streets were lined with these huge helium trucks. I mean, it makes sense, but it's funny!
We were planning on having lunch at a diner near time's square (thanks Laura, it was so awesome!) and so after a quick trip to starbucks, we started walking that way. When we got to Columbus circle, we'd caught up with the parade (and tv cameras!) and so we had to stop for a while anyhow. L had fallen asleep on her daddy's back and so we watched some balloons pass and sat on the steps of the Trump something or other. We decided that this was a MUCH better place to watch the parade than where we had been. Next time we're watching from there!
After the parade ended, we kept going south on Broadway to get to the diner where we were having lunch and passed the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Brad and I used to talk about how we were going to go to New York to see Dave sometime, and maybe we'll really do it, but this time just seeing the theatre was good enough for us!
We got excited when we realized that looking down Broadway we could just start to see Time's Square and the HUGE billboards. What can I say, we are really just crazy tourists at heart!
We ate our Thanksgiving meal at Ellen's Stardust Diner. It was so amazing! The waitstaff all sing and provide entertainment throughout the meal, and occasionally sing to individuals too. L needed to be changed while we were there, and they had no changing tables in the bathroom (my only complaint) and while I was changing L in the sink a woman from the table next to us popped her head in and said, come and look what they are doing to your husband. L still had her pants on and I peeked out and a waitress was singing to Brad. He was the deepest shade of purple that I have ever seen and I am so disappointed that I didn't get any photos! It was so hilarious, his head was down and he was clearly trying not to make eye contact, which was of course just encouraging the waitress to keep singing to him. It was awesome! I didn't get any photos of our meal there, actually. I'm not sure why I didn't, it was certainly a highlight of the trip!
After our bellies were stuffed we kept walking. Our plan was to end up at Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, but we wanted to walk through Time's Square first. We were not disappointed! The streetlights had been removed (for the parade we're guessing) and the streets were blocked off so that the utility workers could replace them. This ended up great for us because we were able to walk freely around as much as we liked.
Growling:
With a little cropping, this next one would have been our Christmas Card photo if L's eyes weren't closed. Oh well!
We then caught a taxi to Battery Park. The traffic was awful (nothing we aren't used to, really) so we had some time to sit in the car on our way. It was sort of nice. When we got to Battery Park we were able to go straight to the line to go see the statue since we had purchased our tickets online. There were tons of pigeons there and while we were in line, I spent my time ducking and hiding from them, and L spent her time watching and enjoying them.
Pigeon footprints:
After going through security we made it onto the ferry.
It was really cold, but L didn't seem to mind at all.
On the island itself, we walked around the perimeter exploring and taking photos.
Brad had a wonderful time playing with his longer lens.
L enjoyed some time to get down and run.
The sun was starting to set as we walked around the far side of the island and back to the boat to go back to the city and ultimately back to our hotel.
We didn't get away before L gave us her best impersonation of the statue.
As we continued around we got a great view of Ellis Island.
We headed back to our hotel. Although there were tons of restaurants open in the city, we were unable to find anything open near our hotel and the concierge was gone. The hotel restaurant was serving a special Thanksgiving menu, and so we got roomservice again. It was fun to sit in bed and eat turkey and stuffing and L was so worn out that she went right to sleep. We watched part of the incredibles on tv and went to sleep before 10:00.
Friday morning we planned to sleep in just a bit before heading out, but L had other plans. At 7:30 she was ready to go, so Brad went down to the bar and got me a diet coke and L some milk. I pulled myself out of bed and we packed our things and loaded them into the car before going into the city for the day's events. We got to the ferry before the boat and had time to take a few photos.
We took the 50th Street bus from the ferry to Rockefeller Center. When we got off, we were right across the street from Radio City Music Hall. That's on our list with the Dave Letterman show. We'll get to go sometime.
Only a couple of blocks away is Rockefeller Center and the ice rink that we see on tv so often. We didn't arrive until 9:55, but we did get to see just a glimpse of David Gregory.
It's sort of cheesy, right? :o) It was so much fun though. While we were checking out the tree the camera did show that area, so we might have been tiny dots, but I sort of doubt it. We did see Barry Manilow's people packing their truck to leave, but that's as exciting as it got.
After our brush with fame, we checked out the ice rink and tree in more detail.
I was hoping that this one would be a contender for that Christmas Card photo, but L was just not interested in smiling.
After exploring Rockefeller Center we walked up fifth avenue toward Central Park. We saw lots of landmarks and shops along the way.
St. Patrick's Cathedral:
We stopped in a small cafe for some pastries and hot chocolate and then headed into Central Park.
We had a pretzel and hotdog in the park and then decided to walk to the Empire State Building.
It was Black Friday so there were tons of people. It's a great thing that L was so excited to see them. She was waving at everyone we passed and saying "hi" even if they didn't see her.
I had to take a moment to look at the American Girl store. I don't know that I'm entirely comfortable with the dolls now but when I was about 10 all I wanted was a Samantha doll. They only had three characters back then, and only three books for each character, but I read all the books and Samantha was my favorite.
We'd seen this popcorn on the food network (yes, we are really big nerds) and stopped in for the mix. It was awesome.
After we got to the Empire State Building there were plenty of lines to stand in to wait to see the observation deck. We actually got to skip a few lines because of our stroller, which was really awesome, but there were plenty of lines anyhow. I was worried that L would get bored and cranky, but she was really happy the whole time we were there.
The observation deck was windy and cold, but it was worth it. The view was AMAZING.
L was still feeling very merry when we got up there and the first thing she decided to do when I picked her up was try to steal my hat.
We left the Empire State Building and grabbed some dinner before leaving town. It was a great trip! I think our legs are going to be sore for awhile, but it was so worth it. I promise to be back with a weekly update soon. Hopefully my power cord issue will be resolved!!!
See you soon!
I'm sorry I've been gone for a few weeks! I went to visit my parents for one week and then Brad, L and I took a trip to New York for Thanksgiving. It was a really great time! I promise to get those photos from Mawmaw and Pawpaw's up soon. They are stuck on my computer and my power cord has completely puttered out. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of early next week.
Anyway... onto our awesome trip!
A week or so ago Brad caught something on tv about the giant balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. He suggested we go to NYC and catch the parade in person, so we decided to go! It was so much fun!!!!!!
We arrived late on Wednesday and mostly just went to the hotel and crashed. L was so overtired and having the toddler crazies. The hotel had two rooms, one with the bed and one with a couch and tv and L was running between them over and over and over... We were relieved when she finally crashed on our bed. We were planning to get up super early and she wasn't going to get a real nap on Thursday. We ordered some room-service pizza and tried to sleep ourselves. It was hard! We were so excited!!
Thursday morning we got up around 6:30. We stayed in New Jersey because it was considerably cheaper without being too far away (we could see the city from our hotel) and the ferry was located right outside our hotel door. Since it was a holiday the ferry wasn't running until 7:00, and L wasn't going to last too long before the parade started anyway. We dressed in long underwear and lots of layers, but it was still cold. You can tell that we were very excited, because we rode on the top of the ferry into the city!
We caught a taxi to the northern end of the parade route. Many of the streets were blocked off to pedestrians (who didn't live in the buildings), and the first one we found allowing spectators was our viewing point. The news said that there would be about 3.5 million people (that's 70 times the population of our hometown!) and I think that they were all on the street where we were watching. We arrived around 8:00, an hour before the parade started, and we were probably around 50 yards away from Central Park West (the parade route). It was very crowded at that point, but as the hour ticked by more and more people crammed their way onto our street. Here is the crowd looking toward the parade route from where we were. Luckily, we had a really great spot right next to a building with a ledge. We were able to prop ourselves up against the building and see.
We decided not to take our stroller into the city, which was a VERY good idea. We certainly would not have been able to get to our spot for the parade with it, and L actually enjoyed riding on daddy's back (and sometimes front).
Here they are making faces at one another.
We took lots of photos of ourselves and each other waiting for the parade to begin.
(what better place to watch a parade than on your daddy's shoulders?)
There were also times when we got bored of waiting.
(I was maybe secretly hoping that she would scream and cry and all the people would move to another street :o). She didn't cry very long though.)
Here is a crowd view looking behind us.
And... just when we ran out of photos to take of each other, the parade started! I have to say that it was pretty awesome to see the same floats and balloons I've loved since I was a little kid. It was too much fun!
After a little while, we decided that we'd had enough of being sardined in with everyone and we decided to walk around. As we'd come in, we'd seen the street where the balloons were lined up to wait their turn in the parade. As we walked up that way, we realized that the barricades that were up earlier had been taken down and we could walk right up to the balloons and look at them. This was far more interesting to L anyhow.
There were still enough people around that she didn't want to be put down, though.
We found it to be hilarious that the streets were lined with these huge helium trucks. I mean, it makes sense, but it's funny!
We were planning on having lunch at a diner near time's square (thanks Laura, it was so awesome!) and so after a quick trip to starbucks, we started walking that way. When we got to Columbus circle, we'd caught up with the parade (and tv cameras!) and so we had to stop for a while anyhow. L had fallen asleep on her daddy's back and so we watched some balloons pass and sat on the steps of the Trump something or other. We decided that this was a MUCH better place to watch the parade than where we had been. Next time we're watching from there!
After the parade ended, we kept going south on Broadway to get to the diner where we were having lunch and passed the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Brad and I used to talk about how we were going to go to New York to see Dave sometime, and maybe we'll really do it, but this time just seeing the theatre was good enough for us!
We got excited when we realized that looking down Broadway we could just start to see Time's Square and the HUGE billboards. What can I say, we are really just crazy tourists at heart!
We ate our Thanksgiving meal at Ellen's Stardust Diner. It was so amazing! The waitstaff all sing and provide entertainment throughout the meal, and occasionally sing to individuals too. L needed to be changed while we were there, and they had no changing tables in the bathroom (my only complaint) and while I was changing L in the sink a woman from the table next to us popped her head in and said, come and look what they are doing to your husband. L still had her pants on and I peeked out and a waitress was singing to Brad. He was the deepest shade of purple that I have ever seen and I am so disappointed that I didn't get any photos! It was so hilarious, his head was down and he was clearly trying not to make eye contact, which was of course just encouraging the waitress to keep singing to him. It was awesome! I didn't get any photos of our meal there, actually. I'm not sure why I didn't, it was certainly a highlight of the trip!
After our bellies were stuffed we kept walking. Our plan was to end up at Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, but we wanted to walk through Time's Square first. We were not disappointed! The streetlights had been removed (for the parade we're guessing) and the streets were blocked off so that the utility workers could replace them. This ended up great for us because we were able to walk freely around as much as we liked.
Growling:
With a little cropping, this next one would have been our Christmas Card photo if L's eyes weren't closed. Oh well!
We then caught a taxi to Battery Park. The traffic was awful (nothing we aren't used to, really) so we had some time to sit in the car on our way. It was sort of nice. When we got to Battery Park we were able to go straight to the line to go see the statue since we had purchased our tickets online. There were tons of pigeons there and while we were in line, I spent my time ducking and hiding from them, and L spent her time watching and enjoying them.
Pigeon footprints:
After going through security we made it onto the ferry.
It was really cold, but L didn't seem to mind at all.
On the island itself, we walked around the perimeter exploring and taking photos.
Brad had a wonderful time playing with his longer lens.
L enjoyed some time to get down and run.
The sun was starting to set as we walked around the far side of the island and back to the boat to go back to the city and ultimately back to our hotel.
We didn't get away before L gave us her best impersonation of the statue.
As we continued around we got a great view of Ellis Island.
We headed back to our hotel. Although there were tons of restaurants open in the city, we were unable to find anything open near our hotel and the concierge was gone. The hotel restaurant was serving a special Thanksgiving menu, and so we got roomservice again. It was fun to sit in bed and eat turkey and stuffing and L was so worn out that she went right to sleep. We watched part of the incredibles on tv and went to sleep before 10:00.
Friday morning we planned to sleep in just a bit before heading out, but L had other plans. At 7:30 she was ready to go, so Brad went down to the bar and got me a diet coke and L some milk. I pulled myself out of bed and we packed our things and loaded them into the car before going into the city for the day's events. We got to the ferry before the boat and had time to take a few photos.
We took the 50th Street bus from the ferry to Rockefeller Center. When we got off, we were right across the street from Radio City Music Hall. That's on our list with the Dave Letterman show. We'll get to go sometime.
Only a couple of blocks away is Rockefeller Center and the ice rink that we see on tv so often. We didn't arrive until 9:55, but we did get to see just a glimpse of David Gregory.
It's sort of cheesy, right? :o) It was so much fun though. While we were checking out the tree the camera did show that area, so we might have been tiny dots, but I sort of doubt it. We did see Barry Manilow's people packing their truck to leave, but that's as exciting as it got.
After our brush with fame, we checked out the ice rink and tree in more detail.
I was hoping that this one would be a contender for that Christmas Card photo, but L was just not interested in smiling.
After exploring Rockefeller Center we walked up fifth avenue toward Central Park. We saw lots of landmarks and shops along the way.
St. Patrick's Cathedral:
We stopped in a small cafe for some pastries and hot chocolate and then headed into Central Park.
We had a pretzel and hotdog in the park and then decided to walk to the Empire State Building.
It was Black Friday so there were tons of people. It's a great thing that L was so excited to see them. She was waving at everyone we passed and saying "hi" even if they didn't see her.
I had to take a moment to look at the American Girl store. I don't know that I'm entirely comfortable with the dolls now but when I was about 10 all I wanted was a Samantha doll. They only had three characters back then, and only three books for each character, but I read all the books and Samantha was my favorite.
We'd seen this popcorn on the food network (yes, we are really big nerds) and stopped in for the mix. It was awesome.
After we got to the Empire State Building there were plenty of lines to stand in to wait to see the observation deck. We actually got to skip a few lines because of our stroller, which was really awesome, but there were plenty of lines anyhow. I was worried that L would get bored and cranky, but she was really happy the whole time we were there.
The observation deck was windy and cold, but it was worth it. The view was AMAZING.
L was still feeling very merry when we got up there and the first thing she decided to do when I picked her up was try to steal my hat.
We left the Empire State Building and grabbed some dinner before leaving town. It was a great trip! I think our legs are going to be sore for awhile, but it was so worth it. I promise to be back with a weekly update soon. Hopefully my power cord issue will be resolved!!!
See you soon!
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