Rewind – Thomas Turns Ten

Thomas turned 10 on May 19th, but since my camera was missing, I didn’t get any pictures on his birthday. It has taken this long for me to get the pictures from my mom’s camera.

There is a reason why you should write things down when they happen, because I don’t really remember what we did for his birthday. I was hoping that the pics from my moms camera would jog my memory but I have just looked, and there are a total of 5 pictures of Thomas with his cake – that’s it.

So here is what I do remember. . .

Even though it was

against my motherly instincts,

I let Steve buy Thomas a Pellet/BB Gun. We laid down the rules and set him loose in the backyard to shoot at paper targets taped to a piece of plywood propped up against the fence. He was very good at following the rules, though it wasn’t long before he was out shooting soda cans and army guys.

My mom and dad came for a visit and they brought their dogs. Thomas loves them and he spent most of his time outside playing with them.

We had chocolate cake with strawberries and ice cream. It was too good and I couldn’t stay out of it. It’s really not a good thing that we have a birthday to celebrate 8 months out of the year – I will forever be snacking on cake.

Even though his birthday was on a Tuesday, we celebrated it on Monday because we had a special Enrichment activity/challenge on Tuesday that I  absolutely  couldn’t miss.           

 

Thomas is pretty easy going.
He tries very hard not to laugh when you tickle him, but we know his weak spots. He hates it when you pretend that he is a girl, but he acts like it doesn’t bother him.
His nickname is Lou because one day I was calling him Tommy Loulou to tease him and it just stuck. He has always been cuddly and loves to curl up in a blanket even in the summertime. He has a hard time keeping his showers short and could stay in there for hours if we let him.

Hopefully your Birthday wasn’t too boring Thomas – we will have to have a fun one next year.

Henry Turns Two

 

Henry’s birthday was on June 30th. It was not the most fun birthday for him, because he was sick. He woke up with a fever, and slept most of the day. Steve came home with presents and that made him a little happier, but he was in no mood for cake.

Since Hannah and Jack had both been diagnosed with Strep Throat, Henry didn’t have to go to the doctor on his Birthday. They just called in a prescription for him.

He did not want to blow out the candles, and he did not want to eat his cupcake. I wish I could say the same for me, I ate enough cake for the both of us.

He felt better the next day, and decided to take his new bike for a spin. He also got a new baseball bat and ball, but I didn’t get a picture of him playing with them. We are also going to take the money that Grandma sent and buy him some new pants, because he has obviously grown out of this pair.

This picture was only taken 2 months ago, but now with his haircut he looks so much older to me. I wish I would not have had it cut so short. Henry is a handful, but I have no idea what I would do with out him. He makes us all laugh. I don’t want him to grow up. I do want him to stay out of the sugar bin though.

Happy 15th!

Well, we are back from our trip and we had a blast. It’s good to be home, though, not good to have to do all of the laundry that needs to get done. We have gone to NY many times, but this is the first time that we have ever taken pictures - at least good pictures anyway.

This trip started out with Steve heading off to Florida on Wednesday to leave Jack with his grandparents while we were away. Wednesday was sort of a downer day for me – and I didn’t really want to do anything to get ready to go.

I put off cleaning and packing until late and finally headed to bed just after midnight. There was no sleep for me though, because Henry woke up with a nasty croupy cough and a high fever, and didn’t really go back to sleep until about 5 am. By then it was time for me to get up and get ready to go. How awful I felt leaving him home with my Mom while I ran away to play.

Steve and I met up at the NY Airport on Thursday and headed right for the Pizza place - we were starving. It took us a couple of tries, but we finally found the right Famous Original Ray’s to eat at. Really, I don’t know if it is just because we are always starving when we go here, but It is truly the best pizza I’ve ever had.

We were supposed to go to the top of the Rockefeller Center but the weather wasn’t great, and there was zero visibility up there so we rescheduled for Saturday. You can’t really see it, but the top of the building disappears into the misty sky.

On Friday we decided to walk around downtown. Across the street from Ground Zero was St. Paul’s church and there was a small cemetery in the yard. Apparently this church miraculously survived 9/11. Some of the gravestones are more than 200 years old.

Next stop Grand Central Station for lunch. There is a huge food court downstairs with way to many things to choose from. I went for a chicken sandwich from a place called The Chirping Chicken. My sandwich was not really a sandwich at all – just a flat chicken breast marinated and grilled up, served in a folded pita bread. Topped with lettuce, tomato and a little mayo, it was delicious. Steve and I agreed that you don’t come across pita sandwiches very often, but I will be picking up pita bread next time I head to the store.

Later it was the Yankees vs. the Mets. This was our first visit to the new Yankee Stadium. We were sad that the old one is no longer in use and will be torn down. The new one was very nice though, and we hope to make it back many more times in the future.

I had to throw this pic in, because I enjoy watching Jeter play. This is him warming up before the game. It’s amazing how far these guys can throw the ball.

The Yanks were set to lose the game in the 9th with a score of 7-8. Jeter was on second, Tex was on first and A-Rod was up – pop fly to shallow right field. The Mets second base man was right there and all of the Mets fans in the stadium were on their feet cheering . . . until the guy dropped the ball – oops. The Yankees Win! But it was bittersweet because they really lost.

Our night ended with a trip to the top of the Empire State Building. This is the second time I have been up there, and I have to say that I don’t love it – even at midnight it was way busy and there is not a lot of room. Also, at night there is not too much to see, just the lights of the city. It’s just one of those things that you can say you did.

Saturday morning we headed up to the Top of the Rockefeller Center and had a great view of the Empire State Building.

Also, Central Park. It amazes me how big it is and how it’s just smack dab in the middle of this huge city.

I recommend The Rock over the Empire State Building. The only thing was that we couldn’t really get a good shot of the Chrysler building, For that you need to go to the Empire State Building.

We had lunch at Lombardi’s – the first licensed pizzeria in America. Located in Little Italy. It was pretty good pizza, but the breadsticks were awful. Little Italy and it’s neighbor Chinatown are the place to go for souvenirs at half the price they are elsewhere. I always shop here first – even for scarves and handbags.

Thanks to the hotel concierge, we had dinner reservations at a place called Gallagher's. This was supposed to be our nice anniversary dinner, but it was quite a disappointment. I guess we should have specified that we wanted to go to a nice restaurant. This was possibly the worst steak house we have ever eaten at. With the exception of the Apple Pie, the food was not good and the service was worse. Things got a little brighter as we were walking from the restaurant to the show, a group of about 20 naked cyclists rode down Broadway in some sort of protest – ewww.

Later, the night improved greatly as we thoroughly enjoyed the musical Wicked. We are sitting in front of the set, but you can’t really see it. It was amazing. Please Note: It was humid and windy while we were there, so that no matter how good my hair looked in the room, there was no hope for it when we got outside.

After church on Sunday, we headed to the Park for a lovely stroll. Or so we thought. When we got there, the park was partially blocked off because of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Who knew it would last over 4 hours.

This is Times Square – we try to avoid it at all costs – way too many people in one small area. Makes me so I can’t breathe.