The High Line

Yesterday Matt, Ethan, Susie and I went into Manhattan to walk The High Line (http://www.thehighline.org).

The HL now appears on the NY must do tourist attractions but having opened in 2009 is the new kid on the block and therefore none of us had done it before.

It's a public park on a disused freight train line, it's about a mile in length and runs down the west side of southern manhattan connecting three districts.

We managed to visit on a sunny day, the weather had crept into double digits for the first time in ages. It's definitely a cool thing to do, it's good to walk through the city at height, you get a different perspective of things and it's also an innovative way to create space in a congested city.

Photos from our visit attached.

The week in photos

Last weekend Will and Charlotte stayed with us. It was a pretty chilled weekend, was great to have them to stay and Ethan loved having their attention. Here are the guests themselves on our pancake/waffle trip to the diner.

Then it snowed again lots. Winter Storm Pax (they all have names) hit and Ethan and I had two back to back snow days.

Here's the snow.

And here is the result of the avalanche off our roof that ripped off our drain pipe:

As we were stuck at home Ethan and I did two rounds of baking. Here is him baking his banana, raisin and oat cookies:

 

And here is him enjoying the banana cake we cooked the following day:

The boys chilling:

Yesterday we went into Manhattan to meet Will and Charlotte again. Lunch, cocktails and a walk through Times Square.

A day of firsts

Tuesday was a day of firsts.

Play school

We hosted our play school group for the first time. I joined an attachment parenting group through meetup.com through which I have subsequently  joined a playschool group. We (myself and four other Mums plus toddlers) meet every Tuesday morning. We take it in turn to host and organize the activities.

The group is great. It adds more structure than a play date and more focus on the children and their development. A high level of commitment is expected from the mums.

We start with a welcome song, sing other songs, then have the activity followed by free play, a snack, a story then the closing song. My chosen activity yesterday was around building and balance and we provided tangerines and raisins as snacks. All in all a great session which Ethan is really enjoying.

Library

We finally joined the library in Mamaroneck and Ethan checked out his first three books which we have already read.

Shoes

I took Ethan to Millers of mamaroneck, it's a toy/bike/clothes/shoe shop for kids and also measures feet. It won't surprise you to hear he is smaller than the smallest size but luckily only by half a size so he now has his first big boy shoes.

Ice cream

We (well I was) were missing our afternoon ice cream from holiday so we visited the local ice cream parlour for the first time and had home made ice cream. Yum!

Two toddlers

I babysat Lucy, one of Ethan's friends, for 1.5hrs while her Mum went to an appointment. So I had two toddlers for the first time on my own. And we survived!

So a day of lots of new firsts. This week is also throwing up more firsts, it's our first week with two snow days (so far) with both Monday and Wednesday seeing all Ethan's activities cancelled. And later in the week we have out first 2014 visitors when Will and Charlotte arrive on Friday :-)

Winter sun in Mexico

We've just got back from a week in Mexico. Thought we'd share some photos.

The chefs - Ethan developed a (strange) obsession with chefs while away (accompanied his obsession with birds). Every time he spotted one the level of excitement was astonishing. Every meal time he had to go and say hello to all the chefs. On two separate dinners they made him his own chef hat. Here is the first.

The cocktails - one of the benefits of all inclusive is all day cocktails. This was definitely a highlight for Ethan but not so for Mummy who had to order all her cocktails 'virgin' so he could share. One afternoon I went to the spa to come back to this, it turns out Daddy was not so keen to share and got then to make him his own baby versions of his:

Unusually for us we were quite sociable on holiday and made friends with a couple from New Jersey and even had dinner with them twice. This is Ethan and their four year old son Lincoln. They walked round the restaurant one night hand in hand. Lincoln kept trying to reassure me I could leave him to look after Ethan!

Fun at the beach

The crocodile

Ethan posing in his Toms

First hot dog 

Waiting for my dinner

The posers

And sleep...

Drive through banking

How cool is this!

Superbowl 2014

Pre-game

Superbowl. I think it may be the biggest event in the US after Thanksgiving. Event probably downplays it. It's an institution.

It's Seattle Seahawks vs Denver Broncos. It kicks off at 6.25pm at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey (very thankful we landed at Newark yesterday otherwise travel would have been a nightmare!)

We've decided to support the Seahawks based on the fact Matt has a big client in Seattle and has been there twice in the past few months.

Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are playing at half time and it appears that even commercials that are aired for the first time are highly anticipated.

We know nothing about American Football. So took to Google to find some helpful links:

http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/beginnersguidetofootball

So come on the Seahawks. We're not watching Sons of Anarchy for this. It better be good! One thing I expect is it will be long, Matt has just said 'oh it's only 4 15 minute quarters', Lets see what time it actually finishes...

Post Game

The Seahawks smashed it 43-8. Which is particularly impressive given they are the strongest defensive team and the broncos the strongest offensive team (I've learnt something).

Reviews of the game:

Matt - 'Good fun, good game I enjoyed it'

Me - 'Bruno Mars was amazing'

So that's our first Super Bowl over with.

Bruno's holiday

We have been very lucky to find a great place for Bruno to holiday while we're away. It's called Paws and Play pet resort (http://pawsandplaypetresort1.reachlocal.net/). Coincidently I met the wife of the owner at a newcomer's club playgroup as their little girl is a month younger than Ethan. Not being completely confident about the place he'd stayed at Thanksgiving I decided to change.

There's lots of emphasis on play which is great. You can choose your play package to suit your dog's needs. And they upload photos to their facebook page each day so you can see your dog playing:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paws-and-Play-Pet-Resort-Training-Facility/232901800080731?fref=ts

Plus Suzanne (the owner Matt's wife) also sends me updates on Bruno while he's there which is great. Bruno comes home happy and tired which is great to see.

And he got a great report card while he was there!