City sidewalks, busy sidewalks...

You know how you can build something up in your mind, and then when it actually happens, it is a huge disappointment? Well this was not one of those times.  My sister's trip up here for the most part went along without a hitch!  Her flight was on time, she hopped in a cab at La Guardia like a pro, and as if by magic showed up in our lobby.  Seriously, it was like seeing an apparition.  It was the longest I had gone without seeing her, in perhaps, ever.  The girls missed her so much and like any good auntie, she did not show up empty handed.  They absolutely loved their new, red "Gingerbread" jammies and unicorn slippers, and I may have had a few little cold weather treats for her as well.

It's safe to say that we utilized every single second of her trip to our advantage.  In a way, I was treating it as an extension of my birthday celebration.  I even shoved her out the door that very first night; just a tired mom of two and a pregnant girl out on the town - thrilling!  First I took her straight to Lincoln Center and we ate sister-sister enchilada meals from Rosa Mexicano.  I know, I know, bring her all the way from Texas and serve her Mexican food, but it made it feel like old times, except I was the only one drinking a margarita.  She is a huge aficianado of restaurants with ambiance, so I knew she would not be disappointed.

Next, we headed downtown on the number 1 train and walked over to Rockefeller Center.  As we walked along the streets she noticed the vast difference between the Upper West Side and the area near Times Square.  This was more what she pictured New York to be.  Three hours in and she has already taken a plane, taxi, train and walked the NYC streets.  There is a certain energy as you move further downtown - streets are more crowded, people seem to be walking faster.

It was so much fun seeing the Christmas sights for the first time with her.  With two little ones, it is not exactly easy to have a nightlife!  On the way to Rockefeller Center you pass Radio City Music Hall on 50th Street.  There is a giant tree in front of the theater and this is where the Rockettes perform in the Christmas Spectacular show.  Apparently, everything we were doing was very "New York Christmas" and I was soaking it up.  A few blocks later and we were at the famous tree and ice skating rink.  The tree was gloriously tall and the streets were essentially bustling for all intents and purposes.  I think we were reenacting scenes from the song Silver Bells: "City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style, in the air there's a feeling of Christmas."  There literally WAS a feeling in the air! Even the street vendors were blasting Christmas music on their radios and at Rockefeller there was spontaneous caroling going on.

As we took selfies and craned our necks to see the very top of the tree, we walked around to see what I will describe as the walk of angels.  Christmas angels line the paths headed to both the tree and the ice skating rink.  When the space began to feel overly congested, we headed over to witness the Christmas lights in front of Saks 5th Avenue.  I had no idea we would be surprised with a lights show on the building.  It was truly breathtaking, as Carol of the Bells is blasting through the speakers, you can just stand across the street and get a front row seat to the show.  Apparently, we were not actually that special, because I think it plays every 20 minutes this time of year, but it still made for a memorable and festive experience.

The next day, Meredith and I took Scarlett to an adorable little restaurant called Alice's Tea Cup.  It is self-described as a whimsical tea house, and children are given fairy wings and sprinkled with "fairy dust" upon arrival.  It was endearing watching Scarlett enchanted with the process, getting to drink water from a glass tea cup and order a purple frosted cupcake.  Of course, monitoring the tea cup was probably the main theme of the meal, but it was all worth it to see her eyes light up and little hands carefully cradle the tea cup.   The age of three is a wonderful time when you can begin to actually take a child somewhere without constantly worrying about having to use about one thousand napkins and bring special water cups and bibs with you in your purse. 

Later in the day, we decided to venture out to Central Park's Wollman Rink.  This experience, while photo-worthy was not quite as pleasant.  We took the whole gang along, and unbeknownst to me, Savannah was starting to get a bad cold on top of teething (getting her molars - no fun at all).   Mind you, she did have a tantrum worthy of any two-year-old in front of countless spectators at the rink - back-arching, sobbing, mindless running around - SO MUCH FUN - good thing there was absolutely nowhere to sit.

However, despite all of that, Scarlett had fun trying to ice skate with her Daddy and looked pretty cute doing it, too.  Savannah and Trey had to leave early, leaving Meredith and I with Scarlett and a half-empty double stroller.  On the way home, a random girl on the subway had the nerve to whisper a comment about "it's a free country" (regarding the stroller) and I quickly nipped that in the bud.  After the night we had had, I had a zero tolerance policy on sarcasm from strangers.  In restrospect, I can see what a fun time this rink might be with a group of adults and no toddlers, maybe even a non-sick baby during the day.  Alas, we try to do too much, but I have to applaud us for trying anyway!

The main event of the weekend had to be seeing the Nutcracker, which I consider a family tradition, with my sister.  Once a dancer, always a dancer, as we dreamed of our dance past lives...sigh.  The David H. Koch theater is truly a beautiful venue and you really can see the stage from every seat.  However, this did not help the fact that about fifteen minutes in, two extremely large boys (they looked about 18) sat down in front of us.  Isn't that always the case?  What in the world were they doing there???  We kept giggling about it because they looked like two high school football players, complete with North Face jackets, jeans, and buzz haircuts.  But to quote my subway heckler, it is a free country.  Maybe they like the ballet?  Maybe they were enriching their cultural lives?

Sadly, all good things must come to and end, and the exact afternoon Mere left, Trey also left on a business trip...and the girls started getting really sick.  Having sick children in a two-bedroom apartment is no joke.  Between keeping things sanitary, children occupied, medicated, entertained, I was ready to have a break.  Sickness gets in the way of everything, especially this time of year - parties, church services, activities we want to do.  However, our main focus had to be getting them well, and the extra cuddles don't hurt from my little sickies!  I just all hope we can stay well enough to get home for Christmas.  I will be ready for family time, central A/C, garbage disposals, driving, and a little southern hospitality so I can brave the Spring in NYC.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I haven't written in a while, but maybe that is a good thing.  I think we, as a family, are settling more into a routine.  We are now three months in the Upper West Side, five months in NYC.  We have our church, our gym, some new friends, and we are getting into a little bit of a rhythm.  And let's face it, that would be a really boring post!

We finally had to bite the bullet and sell our car, but before that, for one last hurrah, we headed out to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  I really knew absolutely nothing about that area, other than the obvious stereotypes suggested in the cheesy Smirnoff "Tea Partay" YouTube video: popped collars, MV (Martha's Vineyard), snobbiness perhaps? Thankfully, one of my friends from the DC area had a little guidance for me, as in a good town to stay as a family with kids called Hyannis.  We stayed in a Marriott - four people, one room - yay! The great thing about little kids is they think everything is amazing and they don't care about the number of stars a hotel or restaurant has - they are easily impressed.

Mixed emotions at the beach

That being said, Hyannis did not disappoint, every restaurant, beach, or shop we came across was adorable, almost like out of a movie set.  The town was manicured and historic, apparently where the Kennedy's vacationed.  I'm sure they stayed at the Marriott, too. ;) Our hotel was clean and newly remodeled, about ten minutes from the main drag and the public beach.  We kept explaining to Scarlett, our little Texan, that we were going to a cold beach and since we were there in the off season, it may as well have been a private beach.  We were the only crazy people out there in our rain boots running around in the sand.  I'm not sure Savannah quite gets the concept of a cold beach being fun, but we can work on that.  One of the most amazing places we visited was the Chatham lighthouse, which basically appeared to be the edge of the world.  Although it was windy and freezing, the sky and sea were the most brilliant blue color, in juxtaposition with the white lighthouse and white beaches.  The view was definitely worth the drive.

Since this was the first trip we had taken just the four of us, it had special significance for us.  I think that Trey and I wanted to prove to ourselves we could survive and plan the whole thing ourselves.  Minus some fleeting car sickness for Scarlett and a pack of wild turkeys parading down the freeway on the way back, it went pretty smoothly!  Just in time for Thanksgiving, I think these turkeys knew what laid ahead and were getting out of town...impending death.  We couldn't understand why our GPS wasn't showing any traffic and yet there was another delay getting back to the city.  Lo and behold, the cars were slowing down to check out these birds, which were giant by the way.

A few weeks later, it was my thirty-second birthday and then Thanksgiving was upon us.  We opted to stay in town for the holiday.  There is something really magical that children add to each holiday, including birthdays: the way their eyes light up when you have a birthday cake, help you open and pick out gifts, and want to be naturally generous to those around them.  Although the restaurant lost our reservation at our little family dinner, we still made the most of it, and it was a really great birthday.

32nd Birthday Celebration

I am not really a huge parade person, I'm not sure what it is, but maybe I don't see the point?  Does that make me a cynic? I hope not, but I have to say, once again, New York did not disappoint.  Although we opted out of the actual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, we went to a "smaller" (HA!) event the night beforehand where you can see the balloons being inflated for the following day.  For the Texans out there, imagine the crowds of the Houston Rodeo, and actually a similar cattle driving-esque barricade system.  We did bring the double stroller, which was tough to navigate, but I am glad we did with the time it took to get to the actual floats.  Scarlett was asleep halfway through.  I have to say, the floats were really amazing up close, and enormous when they were lined up so close to the buildings, multiple stories high even on the ground.  They almost resembled giants that had been tied down, the way they were harnessed in huge nets.

I think the excitement of Thanksgiving Eve wore us out, so Trey and the girls enjoyed the parade on television from our comfy living room and I worked to not destroy our Thanksgiving meal!  Let's be honest, I come from a long line of women who can cook, so I felt a lot of pressure to get it right!  I think for my first go at it, it was a success - everything was edible, all the parts were there, we ate at a normal hour.  Scarlett even helped a LOT with the preparation of the food which was a sweet moment.  She really loves helping in the kitchen and I love her company.

We felt honored that we were also invited to a "friends"-giving after our dinner for dessert.  Now, getting an uncooked cobbler down ten blocks is a bit more complicated than one would think.  About one block in, I felt something dripping on me.  It was the dish I was CARRYING...GRRR.  Cornstarch might as well be GLUE because my black jeans suddenly looked acid-washed.  Trey got the duty the next nine blocks.  He did a much better job, but definitely got an arm workout on the way.

Then, the very next morning, Christmas began!  I definitely have the OCD (obsessive Christmas disorder) - Trey refused to let me decorate until the day after Thanksgiving.  He likes to keep his holidays compartmentalized, which probably is not very shocking.  So I leapt for joy when he agreed to go purchase my very first REAL tree (that I can remember...sorry Mom and Dad).  It is really incredible and the Christmas tree stands are the cutest things.  About every three blocks, the tree vendors are lined up, and you can go select the tree of your choice.  Because Trey had to accommodate my OCD, he had to go to a tree stand about ten blocks from us (and carry it home), but I was really appreciative!!!  I am a little worried about having to water the thing, as I don't have the best history keeping anything other than human beings alive.  I'm sure Trey will remind me to water it...

Our tree is on the second story

In other news, I had a wonderful visit from my old co-worker in NYC this week which really recharged my batteries, and tomorrow my SISTER is coming!!!!!!!!!  SO excited to see her.  This is the longest I've ever gone not seeing her!  WITHDRAWAL!  I can't wait to do Christmas-y things together.  Christmas is really wonderful here.  Did I mention I love Christmas? #itsthemostwonderfultimeoftheyear

I will have to teach her about the dangers of texting and walking, avoiding those "Sunday walkers", dogs that pee directly onto the sidewalk, NYC organization techniques such as stroller hanging, putting bedroom dressers in the living room, and our constant game of Tetris to not trip over things.  Good thing we are used to close quarters!  Excited to see that teeny weeny baby bump, too!

My two snuggle bunnies with our REAL tree :)

And P.S. We caught the mouse...