Thanksgiving 2010 : Part 4!

Ah, we're almost done with the Thanksgiving posts and then we can move on to the fun of December! So, the final days with the family in the city were just as good as the first days, although I think we were all starting to get a bit tired. We planned to go to my church on Sunday morning, but we were dragging Saturday night and decided maybe a slow morning inside was what we really needed. Dad and I did make a run that morning to Magnolia Bakery and got a box full of cupcakes for everyone - yum! We went over to Jen's to have a leftover turkey lunch with everyone. Dad and Brian actually had to fly back to Dallas that afternoon so they could get back to their jobs and the real world. The ladies and kids stayed until Wednesday...the first day they could get flights using miles. Mom & Beth went to see Next to Normal on Sunday afternoon (it's the best musical I saw all year - loved it! It's closing on Broadway and hitting the road - if it's coming to a theater near you make sure to go see it!) I spent the afternoon with the boyz. We tried to have a quiet afternoon and let Shep get in a real nap since he had kind of been napping on the go most of the trip. It's hard to get Ryder and Beau to be quiet, but Beau did sleep for a while and I got Ryder to lay quietly on the couch watching an ice skating show in preparation for our ice skating excursion that evening! The quiet didn't last long though and soon it was a wrestling match on the living room rug, which woke Shep up and chaos ensued for the rest of the afternoon. Jen's apartment always seemed big to me until I was there with 3 small children....the walls closed in on us!

When mom and Beth returned home, we bundled up and took Ryder and Beau to Bryant Park to ice skate. This was not on the original itinerary for the week, but Ryder had seen several rinks around the city and kept begging to go. We had fun, but it was a lot of work for Beth and I and we did not last long. Neither boy had skated before and they were a little frightened.  We basically had to skate behind them hold them up by their arms the whole time - it was a work-out!

Beau showing off his new shark hat and gloves.

Everyone was impressed that Ryder scaled the back of this

little penguin in order to stick his head through the hole.

Somehow, Beau couldn't figure it out...even in one at his own height! 

 Beau didn't mind hanging out on the ice when my arms got tired of holding him up.

 First time Ice Skating - check!

I didn't get to see the family too much on Monday and Tuesday since I was back to work. Beth brought all the boyz to meet me for lunch on Monday and we decided to go to a Cuban restaurant around the corner. There are not good restaurants near where I work in mid-town, so it's always kind of a let-down in this city that has such amazing ones. I warned Beth that it wasn't that great of food, but she wanted to try it anyway. Ryder loved this place! He got a turkey sandwich and a mango smoothie and ate. it. up. The next day at lunch, he asked to go back again - hilarious!

I did take Tuesday morning off work so that I could help get the kids down to Macy's Santaland for their picture with Santa. I had never been to Santaland before and it was a bigger deal than I even expected. It was also the perfect time to go - weekday early in the season...no line! There is a whole little wonderland filled with elves, Christmas trees, trains, and other decor that you walk through before you actually get to Santa. Shep was not so fond of Santa, but Ryder and Beau enjoyed it. 

 This is a picture of a picture my mom had printed from her camera.
We need to just crop everything but Santa and Shep - hilarious!

  The official Macy's picture

In the chaos of Shep's screaming, Santa never even spoke to the boyz.

We encouraged them to go back and at least tell Santa what they

wanted for Christmas.  Beau was too scared, but Ryder went.

After Macys, we met Beth's friend Mary Carmen for lunch/brunch at Community Food & Bakery on the UWS. This restaurant is a hidden gem I recently heard about. It is owned by the same people who own Clinton Street Bakery, which is awesome and where you can always expect a 2-hour wait for a table. Community serves the same blueberry pancakes that Clinton is so famous for (and were featured on Bobby Flay's Smackdown). However, there is no wait at Community! It's great. And I got the pancakes and they were good, but the syrup they come with is amazing! And Beth enjoyed catching-up with her college dorm neighbor!

Mom and I took Mindy to dinner at Alice's Tea Cup on Tuesday night. I've gotten to meet all of Mindy's family so I wanted her to meet at least mom. We had a good time and Alice's is always soooo good!
Beth, mom and the boyz continued to keep busy while I was working. Some of what they conquered...

- Museum of Natural History
- Haircuts at a cute kid's salon in my neighborhood
- Riding the ferris wheel at the Toys R Us in Times Square
- Cookies from Levain - the best in the world!
- the tree lighting at Lincoln Center....they said it was a bit of a let-down. For some reason they didn't light the big beautiful tree they usually have and had a much smaller one this year.

It was such a great nine days! Went better and we had more fun than I even expected. All in all, there were very few stressful moments, no one got tired of each other, we all had time to see and do the things we wanted, and the family didn't seem to mind being away from home for such a long period...although, I'm sure it was nice to get back after 9 days! I am so very thankful that I have wonderful friends who helped us out by letting us use their apartment, eating meals with us, and babysitting the kids and thankful to my church for letting us borrow a pack-n-play so the Mac's didn't have to lug one in for Shep. I can't wait until we do this again!

Celebrity Sightings!

I've had some random celebrity sightings over the past couple of months and don't think I've blogged about any of them (and sorry if I have and these are repeats! or if you've seen them on my FB status updates and this is old news!). I've got to document this stuff somewhere! Someday I'd like to put together a running list of every celebrity I've seen - sounds like a big project. I've recently decided that I either a) have a really good eye for celebs or b) have really good luck when it comes to sightings. Most likely it's both. I seem to have them more often than anyone I know. Anyway, my latest include:

- Alec Baldwin. I saw him crossing my street on my way home from watching marathoners in the park in early November. I didn't know it at the time, but did a little research and learned that he lives a couple blocks away from me. Everyone seemed to notice him that day and there were a lot of people out and about and they all stopped in their tracks to stare at him.

-- Jason Priestly.  We took my nephews to see Santa at Macy's after Thanksgiving.  On our way out we ran into Jason, his wife, and children who had also just seen Santa.  I saw him and once he had passed, I alerted my mom and sister and they went chasing after him so they could get a sighting, too!

-- Kevin Bacon. On a brutally cold day in December, I left my apartment early before work to run down the street to the dry cleaners and pick some stuff up. As I climbed the few steps from my building to the sidewalk, I realize someone is about to pass by on the sidewalk. I say hello before I realize who it is...Kevin Bacon! He smiled and kind of muttered hello. He looked terribly miserable. It was very cold that day and I think he was just concentrating on getting around the block with his dog as quickly as possible and back inside to the warmth of his home.

-- John Lithgow. A couple of days after I ran into Kevin, I rode the subway home from work with John. He's tall.

-- Dean Sheremet. Who, you ask? You know, LeAnne Rimes ex-husband. I think it is absolutely hilarious that I recognized him immediately and without doubt. This is where the good-eye thing comes into play! My friends and I walked into Cookshop for brunch on Monday (MLK Monday - no work!) and as the waitress seated us, we passed by Dean seated at another table. I whispered to my friends that I had seen him and I think they thought I was crazy. I recently read an article about him and his new fiance and knew they were living here in New York so I guess that is how I was able to recognize him. I pulled up a picture of Dean and his lady on my blackberry and showed it to the girls and they agreed that it was definitely both of them sitting at the table. So funny!

Thanksgiving 2010 : Part 3

After the parade on Thanksgiving, we all went back to Jen's place (where B&B and fam were staying) for lunch. Her place is bigger than mine and actually has a dining room table! It was definitely the best place to share a meal together. We decided that with the time and space we had, it wasn't worth it to cook a big meal so we didn't. We had one of the famous Greenberg Turkeys from Tyler, TX shipped to Jen's that week and then we had very minimal sides...mom whipped up some delicious roasted squash and a salad. For dessert, we had a couple of store bought pies. It was probably the most low-key Thanksgiving meal we've ever had and that was perfectly fine.

We stopped by Starbucks after the parade.  Ryder

tried a sip of my iced Chai and wouldn't give it back!

I think he could be Starbucks' first child model.

Late in the afternoon, we all left for a bit of an excursion. First stop? The NHL Headquarters! Mom and dad had seen the office before and B&B were jealous, so I had the whole family added to the security system so we could all go up and explore my office.

We bundled Shep up in his Dino fleece to brave the cold temps!

Entry to my floor.  Notice Beau sleeping in the back of the stroller.

Beth thinking, "You really have to sit at this desk all day every day"?

Ryder, "Ew. Really?  All day?  Boring!"

Shep had fun exploring!

Beau, clearly ecstatic that he woke up for a photo op.  And with
wrapper evidence that we raided my co-workers candy drawer.

Drawing pictures and  our names in the Ice Bar!

Main entrance to the office.  The boyz striking their best hockey poses.

The Mac fam got put in the penalty box!

After the office stop, we went to see the Rock Center Tree and some of the decorations along 5th Avenue. At that point, we were all about to crash from the early morning wake-up so we called it an early night and went on back to our respective homes.

Family pictures at Rock Center!  Unfortunately the tree was still not lit yet.

Windows at Saks.  Lady Gaga wore this dress!

Buster working to get the boyz on the train.

A family singing Christmas Carols in the subway station on Thanksgiving night.

Friday and Saturday were more fun-filled NYC days. Mom, dad, and I got a late start on Friday while B&B got crazy and took their clan to Century 21 (they totally regretted it and I told them that if I had known they were going there I would have insisted they not. That store is always crazy, but on Black Friday?! Yuk). We met for lunch in Brooklyn at Grimaldi's for some good pizza. I'd taken mom here before and she loved it so I thought dad and everyone else would enjoy it as well. We did! Great pizza in a fun environment. We got there right when it opened so we had no line to wait in - perfect!

Strike a pose.

There's nothing to it.

Vogue.

From Brooklyn, we went to lower Manhattan to catch the Staten Island Ferry. The boyz had to see the Statue of Liberty up close! And the boat ride is always fun with great city views.

We all took a bit of a breather in the afternoon because the adults had a big night out! We hired my friend Katie to babysit and I got free tickets for all of us to the NHL suite to see Michael Buble. He was at our New Jersey arena, but it's pretty easy to get to. Beth and Brian had seen Buble before (in fact, they'd seen this exact concert in Dallas), but they love him so that is why I got the tickets. He's not someone I really listened to before at all, but I actually really enjoyed his concert - we had a lot of fun!

Saturday brought 2 separate excursions. Mom and Beth went on the West Village Food tour (I'd already done it - so fun!) I wanted to take the boyz to see the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Gardens. This is the one Christmas thing I had never done that I've wanted to do for years and taking the little ones seemed like the perfect time. My dad and Brian thought it sounded pretty cool, too, so we all went. The Botanical Gardens are far north in the Bronx and it is easier to get there on a real train from Grand Central Station. The train show ended up being a bit of a let-down. The line was atrocious (even though we had bought tickets ahead with an assigned entry time). It's kind of hard to be in a line with a mob of people with 3 little kids, but we somehow survived. The train exhibit was neat and had replicas of many famous NYC landmarks - I liked that. But the train show in Dallas at NorthPark is pretty cool and this really wasn't any better.

Waiting for our train in Grand Central.  The boyz are easier when

waiting for things these days.  They're always up for a game of

eye-spy or rock-paper-scissors.

Silly poses.

The Botanical Gardens are really pretty and I'd like to get back there in the springtime!

Train conductor on stilts!

Ah, another Statue of Liberty!

St. Pat's.

All the famous BMW bridges were represented (Brooklyn-Manhattan-Williamsburg)

Thomas the Train was there, too!

Shep was released from the stroller for a bit

Yankee Stadium!

All the famous buildings... Empire State, Chrysler...

Central Park Gazebo

Love Beau's face in this one.

After viewing the trains, we grabbed lunch in the cafe - it was very cold that day, so we had chili! From lunch, we decided to check out the Gingerbread Adventures exhibit. We couldn't really figure out what this was and it was not very organized so we didn't end up doing the activities, but it was in an area of the Gardens that is for kids. There were rocks to climb and a maze made out of bushes.....Ryder and Beau loved it and ran around for quite a while before we had to head back to catch a train back to the city.

Getting a little bit rowdy at lunch!

We had a great family dinner at OTTO. I love that place...so fun to try different foods and eat family style. We had pizzas, pastas, and a couple of their veggies. It was all great! And because that restaurant is so loud and crowded and busy, it was a good place to take the three wild ones.

Mom, dad, and I had a date with Katie on Saturday night to see Driving Miss Daisy. I used to love that movie when I was younger and it was really fun to see the play - especially with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. We were all pretty tired by that point, but we still enjoyed it!

Saturday was day 6 with family in town and we were 2/3rds of the way through. One more post on our final 3 days coming up!