Disney - Magic Kingdom

Today was our first day at Disney and we headed to Magic Kingdom. We were there by 9 and packed a lot into 5.5hours!

We met Mickey, Minnie and Buzz. We went on the Buzz ride, Astro orbiter, speedway cars, Aladdin magic carpet and the Under the Sea little mermaid ride. We watched a dance party parade (where Ethan met Woody during the dancing). We squeezed a good amount of stuff into the day and then, with two very tired boys, headed home around mid afternoon.

January.... February...

Been quiet on the blog but not in reality so thought I would play catch up!

Had a good trip home at Christmas which made us excited to be moving back. Flights are now booked for June 21 and a c2week road trip up the east coast in advance. 

We started January with a trip to the Thomas show at the Botanical Gardens. It was fun this year as both Ethan and Joshua were mesmerized.

We survived Ethan's first filling without any tears. The special kids dentists here really are impressive!

Winter has been kind weather wise in comparison to the previous two. We've had a storm one weekend which the boys enjoyed. Ethan was particulary skilled at snow shoveling!

I'm training for a half marathon. It's definitely more interesting training with kids in tow. 4 runs a week are done with either the single or double running stroller and then on a Satutday I get to run on my own. Remarkably I'm only two miles down on the training plan due to weather so have done well! Here are my partners in crime.

Here is my other partner in crime, after his first (and last) 5 miler with me (he slowed me down). Now on my Saturday morning 'alone' runs he does the first two miles with me, I drop him home and then finish the rest on my own.

We had a family day out at the American Museum of Natural history in Manhattan which was good. Somewhere we wanted to take the boys before we returned home.

We have continued to have lots of fun with our closest friends out here. These kids will miss each other a lot when we move.

My friend Caoihme and I have done our first babysitting swap so Matt and I had a good lunch date last weekend which was a rare treat.

We've had a few unexpected visitors. Matt's friend from school Matt Gouveia stayed one night as he was here for work. And his cousin Moira came up for the afternoon from her trip to the city.

We even managed a park play date this week in unusually warm winter for February!

All in all a good couple of months for winter. And on Saturday we're off to Florida!!

Flights are booked...

We return home Tuesday 21 June!!

The Polar Express

PToday we went to Kingston NY to ride The Polar Express. Based on the book, it follows the main themes and plays out the story. Hot chocolate and cookies are served. The waiters dance. Santa joined the train and met all the kids and gave them silver bells. It was a lot of fun. Here's the photos:

Ethan's first dentist trip

So Ethan had his first dentist trip today. And boy, do American kids dentists know how to operate!

We went to a place called 'Rye Smiles'. It had a mini movie theatre (popcorn shaped) in the waiting room along with games consoles and lots of toys.

The dental hygienist was amazing with Ethan. He got to choose his sunglasses and his flavour of toothpaste. They had a tv screen for him to watch above his head. She explained Mr Tickle (the brush) and Mr Thirsty (the sucky thing). He got to pick goodies from a treasure chest at the end, got a favorite character themed toothbrush and stickers. Oh and a photo memento!

Unfortunately he needs a filling so we'll be heading back sooner than I'd like. And I'm not sure how realistic the advice is to floss daily (I consider brushing his teeth daily a win!). But it was an amazing service and Ethan was incredible.

I honestly don't know how he'll visit a normal dentist in the UK now!

Here's a picture of him and his glasses.

Advent adventures

The Christmas tree went up on Saturday and our advent adventures started today.

I've decided to do an advent book box, a new book each day (all Christmas/winter themed, this isn't as expensive as it sounds because I'm going to pack them away and reuse them again for several years!) plus they get a little bit of chocolate each in their calender.

The elf had also arrived again. He's here to have some fun with us and help get ready for Christmas. He puts the chocolate in the calender each night and delivers the books. You can follow his adventures below and I'll check back in with updates.

Thanksgiving weekend

Our third and final Thanksgiving long weekend.

We opted to go out for lunch to a favourite Italian on Thanksgiving so it was a fairly quiet day. Although it was preceded by a trip to the emergency doctor after Joshua spiked a high fever overnight.

On Friday we went into Manhattan and watched the 'Radio City Christmas spectacular'. A bit of a NY Christmas institution. Amazingly Ethan sat through a 90min show, Joshua and I made 50mins and that was only because he slept for the first 25! Ethan also met Santa.

On Saturday we had a quieter day at home. Although a great swim lesson for Ethan as he managed to swim the width of the pool without swim aids for the first time. And we put the Christmas tree up!

On Sunday we went to a Christmas fayre (where Ethan got to ride the train) and then Ethan and I went to the local theatre and saw a Curious George production.

We really enjoyed having the long weekend at home and having lots of family time together. Despite Joshua being sick and cutting molars we still managed to have a great time. Photos below.

Lunch... 

Meeting Santa

Cleaning Daddy's car

The Christmas fayre

Seeing Curious George