Christmas in NYC

Last weekend we headed to NYC to visit my brother and sister-in-law and celebrate Christmas with them.  It was great to be able to finally make it work!  I am ashamed to say they have lived there for 3 years?  I think?  And we've never gone up.  But we piled into my parents' car early on Saturday, and made our way to the city.

Now this is going to sound crazy, but thank goodness for construction vehicles!  Traffic was actually very light, and we made it there in record time, but there were plenty of trucks along the side of the road for Robby to gleefully shout at.  So, driving went smoothly, kid was happy, all was good.  We stopped at a park on the way to brunch, and Robby had a ball, as it was the perfect size for him.  AND we saw a bunch of trash trucks on the walk over.

After we went out to a delicious brunch where Robby was NOT so good (stealing everything on the table and screaming at frequent intervals), we had tickets to go to Ground Zero.  Sara volunteered to go back to the apartment with the little man, to see if he would take a nap.  This was the most brilliant move ever.  While the memorial is truly sentimental and beautiful...it was POURING rain and quite cold.  We didn't spend all that long there admiring it.  Robby never went to sleep, but they had a good time.

After hanging around their apartment for a bit, where gifts were exchanged, Robby incredibly generous and indulgent aunt and uncle told him we were going to go to FAO Schwartz where he could choose any toy he wanted.  (This was AFTER he had already opened gifts!)  Not surprisingly, lil man found himself in front of a wall of trucks murmering, "Wow...wow...wow..."  I just about died laughing.  He chose another trash truck, and they have been on constant rotation ever since.

The last stop was a DELICIOUS Chinese restaurant, Joe's Shanghai.  Robby actually did pretty well here, even though he had been up since 6, not napped, and it was already 6 again.  He pigged out on absolutely everything, and was less picky than his father.  ;)  Really, the only difference was that Robby loved the dumplings, where-as they're not really Chris's thing.  We wrapped up dinner around 7:15, made our way to Penn Station, and caught a 7:50 train back to Philly.  And...Robby still did not sleep.  We got onto the train, and he started to MELT DOWN.  I'm sure the passengers in our car were entirely not thrilled.  Fortunately, it only lasted about 5 minutes, and then he was good the rest of the trip.  But, it did mean he watched a lot of Curious George on the iPad.  At 9:15 he FINALLY passed out across both our laps for 45 minutes.  And then screamed the whole car ride home from the station (about 15 minutes).  We were so nervous that he would be up when we got home, too, but he fell asleep quickly...though it was 11pm!  It was a LONG day for a little guy, and he really did very well.  Thanks Jim and Sara for a great trip!

Oh, and it's my birthday.  :)  

Merry Christmas!

Yeah, yeah.  Jumping on the bandwagon many days late.  Christmas was really nice this year...other than everyone had a stomach bug.  We fortunately missed Christmas day itself, but it's been an interesting week.  My immediate family had it the weekend before while my in-laws were here, my in-laws got it ON Christmas, but were no longer at our house, and my parents got it after.  Fun times.  It was a good week for Robby to be out of daycare, for sure!

 

Earlier this month, we went to see Santa...and that didn't go so well.  Well, Robby did a GREAT job in the hour and 1/2 line.  But he flipped out when he saw the jolly old elf.  Chris wouldn't let me get the screaming one, so there's just a sad face.

 

Robby got all sorts of practice with presents.  On both Thursday and Friday, he got to open presents at daycare, and on Friday Santa was there again!  Robby was actually the only one in his class that was brave enough to walk up to Santa to get his present.  Lots of new, wonderful books!

 

Saturday he was a total slug, as was Chris.  There was lots of cuddling on the couch, book ended by lots of clean-up from illnesses.  The real mess didn't come until Sunday, though, while Chris's parents and my parents were there.  Thank goodness, actually!  I had gone up to settle Robby since he had been screaming and refusing to fall asleep.  I picked him up, holding him, rocking back and forth.  He settled, laid his head on my chest, and then projectile vomited all over me and the entire room.  It was lovely.  I still haven't finished cleaning out those shoes.  But Mrs. P was a huge help.  And Chris gagged a lot while scrubbing the floor and carpet.

On the way to church.  I was the sick one here.

 

Surprisingly, while my in-laws got him many great toys, the fire truck scared him because it moved, and the cell phone was the HUGE hit.  It can record your voice and plays music.  He carried that thing around all evening.  And it terrified us as it would randomly ring loudly without prompting.

 

My in-laws left Monday, I got sick, and thank goodness there were people to entertain Robby.  Church was interesting, as I really didn't feel very good, but Robby did as well as could be expected.  It really isn't the most child-friendly parish.

 

By Tuesday, Robby had the opening presents thing DOWN, but even he couldn't finish it all in one sitting.  He had a grand ole time tearing into everyone's gifts.  The hit of the day was the trash truck from my parents, and he's developed the cutest little routine of picking up the trash, then insisting that everyone in the room waves "Bye" to the trash truck, driving it in a circle, then starting over.  I need a video.

 

It was fun finally being at an age that at least the presents excited him.  Next year I hope he'll understand more traditions, and more of the meaning.  For now?  It was still great!  And as Chris said, "At least the dog didn't bite your eye this year."  I have such Christmas luck, don't I?

 

Christmas 2011 & 2012



Longwood Gardens

 Here we are, a couple weeks into January, and I'm doing posts from a month ago (well, December 23rd).  The Christmas season just gets too busy with all the activity, and visitors, and I end up missing posts.  And, I don't want to lose the pictures, so you're getting it now.  I know, it's selfish of me.

I know Robby looks uncertain here, but he did such a fabulous job!  We were at Longwood Gardens from about 1pm until 6pm or so and he just was an absolute joy while we were there.  The ride home was something else, but I'll discuss that later.  

Longwood Gardens is impressive generally, as is their solar field (which, the man in the picture above might have had something to do with), but it is truly beautiful at Christmas.  They both decorate interior areas with Christmas trees and seasonally appropriate plants, but then the entire property is lit up with thousands of lights at night.

We lucked out with a beautiful day, that was only a bit chilly, and my parents were able to make it back from visiting my brother and his wife in NYC to go with us.

Some of the less traditional displays delighted me.  Yes, this area was red and green, and filled with Christmas trees...but in a fountain?  Who would have thought...

I wish I had a view of the this entire conservatory, but this fountain had 8 or so trees in it alone.

Longwood was built by Pierre DuPont, in the early 1900's because he wanted to preserve the trees that had been planted their.  The gardens, and residence, were extravagant additions, though.  We found ourselves speculating on how massive a fortune it must have taken to import all the various species of plants in one room that we were in alone.  

This was the first time that Robby had truly seen trains, and now he is becoming more enthralled with them, even craning his neck up to watch the one circle over the dairy department at Wegman's.

Obviously, the boy wasn't going to let go.  He was afraid someone might steal his vantage point!

Yes, this is a GINGERBREAD HOUSE.  There were a few that represented each of the buildings on the property.  I can't imagine the effort that it took to make them.

I also loved that there were seasonal touches to each of the rooms.  This was the greenhouse dedicated to roses, but it contained hundreds of decorative stars (that I can't think of the name of for the life of me, even though we always had one hanging in front of our house...) hanging from the ceiling.

Probably my favorite "tree"

There was also an outdoor train display that we looked at before heading in to eat dinner and wait for it to get dark enough for the lights to turn on.

Robby amazingly never napped (again, eluding to the car meltdown in out future), but LOVED dinner in this cafeteria-style restaurant that we were in.  He had just been introduced to turkey, and happily ate bits of it out of my sandwich.  He was his usual charming self, squawking back and forth with a child at another table.

Once it became darker, the brilliant light displays stole the show.  Unfortunately, Christmas lights are really darn difficult to take pictures of!

I tried, but you'll have to imagine for the most part...

As we made our way out, of course, that's when Robby chose to fall asleep.  He slept for about 10 minutes, which is just long enough to make him think he is refreshed, without actually doing anything for him.  We get to the car, and BAM he's awake.  Not even 5 minutes into the drive home (which takes 45 minutes), he starts to lose it.  We stop, let him eat, and hope that his mood will be improved.  No such luck.  TOTAL MELTDOWN.  He SCREAMED the entire ride home.  My mother insisted that I let her switch seats and try and calm him down, when I had given up and was just letting him go.  Of course, she was no more successful than me.  When my boy gets going?  There is NOTHING you can do other than get to your destination.  And hope that there is no permanent hearing loss.  We made it in record time as Chris found the shrieks motivating, and, of course, the second we get home, he's a prince again.  What can ya do?

Anyway, a great place to visit, and I'd highly recommend making it there if you can!

Our Christmas Card

Ok, everyone's doing it.  We actually had a few different Christmas cards, but here is one of them.  I don't really feel like this is all that representative, since the photos were taken on October 22.  Isn't it crazy how much a baby can change in just two months?!?!?!  As always, thank you Stephanie with Lighthouse Studios Photography (I'll see you Thursday at Marie's!)

Christmas Decorations

Again, apologies for being so quiet, but things continue to be hectic.  On to the post.

Honestly, Chris usually does most of the decorating around here.  This is one area that I am not so Martha Stewart-like.  But he does a fantastic job.  There are small areas where I have hang-ups, so they end up being my job, though.  Such as ornament placement.  But we all have our quirks.  Right?

I also help with the all-important task of baby-distraction.

Chris also did a great job in other rooms, and on the outside, but I don't have the pictures right now.  This is still an improvement over complete silence, right?

And...I'll give you an out-take of a little Santa shoot we may or may not have done.

Robby helping to decorate:

Finally, I leave you with the most unintentionally brilliant part of our decor.  The tree is covered in giant jingle bells, which Robby finds IMMENSELY entertaining.

Friday 5 (or 9): My Dream Christmas Wish-List for the Lion

Honestly, the Lion is very well provided for, but here are some fun items that I'd place on his dream Christmas list:

CLOTHING

1)  From Vicarious Clothing, paying homage to the Office:

2) Our moose obsession continues: Bullwinkle Hat from CutieHats

3) I just think all little boys should wear Oshkosh Overalls

TOYS

1)  Organic Cotton Teethers Veggie Crate from Uncommon Goods

2) Xylophone from Hazelnut Kids

3) Wooden Toy Cars from Little Wooden Wonders

Miscellaneous

1) Music Classes

http://www.littlestmusicmakers.com/

http://www.kindermusik.com/

2) We have an activity center he stands in, but these are cool: 

Bright Starts Tropical Fun Around We Go! Activity Station

3) ABC Alphabet Foam Floor Puzzle Mat from Amazon

***Disclaimer, I may find a million other things I'd prefer and/or not want to take up the space with any of it between now and Christmas.  ;)

Finally, a Christmas Overview

If you think my break is due to the "blizzard" we're experiencing...you'd be sadly mistaken.  Here in the western suburbs of Philly, we only got about 6".  Although, that's what shut down London for so long, right?  All the snow meant for us was that we left Ohio EARLY Sunday morning (we're talking about 4:30 am ya'll), and drove back in time to beat the "onslaught".  We both still went in to work the next day.  Though, the roads were pretty empty.

Ohio was lovely.  They had a coating of maybe 4" of snow on the ground.  It was just enough for Harper to go, "Oh, yeah!  I remember this stuff!"  And promptly turn into insane-o-pup.  We went to the tennis courts at the middle school a couple of times so that she could chase her ball, and she just thought it was the absolutely most exciting thing she had ever experienced.  That, and, even though she usually has the nose of...well...something that can't smell, she decides to track everything once there's snow on the ground. 

Alright, below are going to be some pictures of our walk on Christmas Eve.  That were taken with our broken Canon Rebel.  It will allow you to take manual focus pictures either 1) With a flash or 2) No flash and INSANELY slow shutter speed.  So...I'll show you some of each, and you can experience the torture. 

Lovely, isn't it? 

Harper thoroughly enjoyed  Christmas morning, too, and insisted on helping open presents.

Yes, she received an Ohio State football, and the Lion got an Ohio State onesie.  Chris was not so thrilled, and immediately called his mother to tell her she had to help balance the sports attire that our child will be wearing.

Finally...visions of the "blizzard". 

Oh, no, she wasn't enjoying herself at all.  Just a little more than poor Chris.  Who wouldn't let me help him shovel.  Sometimes this pregnancy thing is alright.  ;)