Return from the land of Lego

Rather jeg-lagged today as I basically spent the last 24h awake, in meetings, roaming airports and on planes. ( I did catch up on some movies as those are how I watch them these days, on the plane, the plane.)

But I had to share the cuteness that is the girl, who was obviously thrilled with the latest "Mom guilt" purchases that came her way this time. (Oh, the brilliance of marketers who continue to keep the parent pocketbook-challenged.)

(When leftover Lego Star Wars and Spiderman no longer cut it...)

And on the controversy, why can't we all just be Friends?

NYC Trip Report continued: Of kicks and toys and American girls

Wednesday was the day set aside for SHOPPING! Only NOT for me - it was time for the kidlets!

The one passion the boy shares with his mom is his love of hats and SHOES! (With all these amazing post-Christmas sales I've been tossing the shoeboxes into recycling and keep my new purchases at the office, in case my husband notices. Shhhh, let's keep it a secret!).

I had promised the Boy a new pair of kicks for his size 9 men's feet (not kidding - he's not even 12 yet!) We thought that Macy's would be good place to start, and given that it wasn't too far from Times Square, another shopping mecca, we headed into tourist land first thing after breakfast. I had scoped out the subway route, but with a family of 4 it made sense just to hop into the nearest yellow cab. We lucked out - we got a clean non-stinky hybrid for our ride downtown.

We didn't luck out so much at the department store - although I'm continually amazed at my son's growing preference for neon bright apparel. The wooden escalator was cool though:

We decided to head into the thick of Times Square to continue our search - but we got hungry (and cold) again very quickly. So we stopped in at the Hard Rock for lunch -we don't normally like the chains when vacationing, but the NYC resto was actually quite good. You can't beat a good burger on a freezing day.

With our stomachs full, we continued on our quest for the perfect shoes. Thank goodness for the girlie that Toys R Us, complete with indoor ferris wheel, presented itself right next to the shoe store.

Lady Liberty in Lego glory...



Barbie, Barbie everywhere...



I still find this Toys R Us more impressive than FAO Schwartz. Maybe it had something to do with the hot chocolate:



Little G wanted make some small purchases, but I told her we were saving up for our visit with the American Girls. That promise and the cookie kept her content. In the meantime, the boys found fancy bright blue high tops - a great NYC souvenir for the boy.

The thing I love about Manhattan is that it is so walkable. From Times Square, the American Girl Store was but a few short blocks away. I'd never been exposed to the American Girl experience - and that's exactly what it is. When I first heard of this phenomenon, I found it a little creepy that the doll could be dressed exactly as its girl owner. On top of that, there was enough experience to occupy four floors - complete with restaurant, doll salon, pet shop ... I knew we would drop some coin once we went through the door. And this was heavenly for a 7 year old girl:



It took us a little while to settle on which doll was our mini-G, but we did it. I had to promise that if we were to go to Chicago I would arrange for an American Girl salon visit for mini-G - $12 for braiding is a little steep ( I offered to do it for $5 but it didn't cut it). When we left the building it was already quite dark and we decided to head back to the hotel. We were actually turned down for pickups by a few yellow cabs before we finally lucked out. Didn't think a cabbie would ever refuse a fare but I guess this was NYC. I guess with so many people hailing cabs they have the luxury of being picky.

At home base, the boy decided he wanted to check out the Urban outfitters across the street - cannot believe that he can actually fit some of those fashions. Hilarious that the boy noted that one of the sales guys was wearing majorly low, I'm talking down to his knees, low-riders. The boy noticed the boxers, but did think it was rather silly. We did score on a couple of cute striped T's for him, though.

Picked up some juice, fruit, yogurt and salmon and bagels for next day's breakfast - and headed back to our UWS headquarters.

For dinner we went around the corner Asian - Fusha West. Amazing pan Asian food and despite the look of the lounge once you enter, it was quite family friendly. We had sushi, tempura, soup - all with a little bit of a twist. We girls enjoyed it - see our shiny happy faces.








(Yes, that is a sari that was fashioned for Mini-G by the fabulous Bigger G. She's still an American girl under all that, after all, the US is multi-ethnic, isn't it? I suppose we should look for some mukluks for her, after all she's now in Canada, eh?)

And that was Wednesday. We didn't have too late a night, as Thursday would be our last full day in the city. So much more to do and see.

There's always time for a pint...or three

Here we are in February and I still owe you a couple more posts about NYC.

I got sidetracked by a sojourn in the land of rain, sheep, more rain and green landscapes, where delicious deep, dark brew floweth.

There's nothing like a Guinness poured in the land of Guinness...


Breweries and all things brewing hold a very special place in my heart, for the brewing industry is where I found the man I would eventually marry (awwwww, so saccharine, I know, but really, it is where it all started...).

Seriously, though, if you ever get to Dublin, you must visit the Guinness storehouse. It is quite the experience.

This was my second trip to Dublin since September and this time I caught up with an old friend. Don't know if I've ever mentioned that a high school pal of mine has lived in Bermuda for about 20 years. And despite many conversations during which I discussed that I woulda, shoulda, coulda stayed with him and his family while he was a bonafide Bermudian resident ...do you think that I ever made it there?

Sigh.

But I did hook up with him in cold, wet, rainy Dublin where he relocated about a year ago. Oh well, it's the friendship that counts, right? It still amazes me sometimes these bonds that we have in life, and some relationships that last so long despite where life takes us. I can still see us bopping around to Rick James' Superfreak during our suburban high school dances (which was so heavily sampled in MC Hammer's "Can't Touch this", that I can't even remember which came first sometimes). And here we were, having coffee in Dublin, talking about kids, widowed mothers, company downsizes and job changes. We didn't realize it at the time, but life was really quite simple when we were teenagers. Where were we again?

Oh, yeah, Dublin.

Here are some shots of lovely Dublin doors...




Pretty Dublin garden...


Shopping Grafton street (and yes, I did buy a couple of cute outfits)


Not a lot of time to do much outside of work, but I always make time for shopping!


Hopefully if there is a next time for me to go again, it will be a wee bit warmer.


*****

Update on recent obsessions:

1/ Downton Abbey. Love. Managed to watch all of Season 1 on the flight, 3 episodes there, 4 episodes back. Mary and Matthew ("Rachel and Ross" of Masterpiece theatre); Anna and Bates - the drama, the suspense! Season 2 doesn't start in Canada until April. Gaccckkk! Cannot. Wait.

2/ Fitness. Despite feeling a little silly, my latest gym obsession has gotten me pumped enough to purchase these...


Yes, indeed I went there. And my husband is now afraid, very afraid.

A Day at the Museum

I'm on a roll here, aren't I? At this rate I'll post more times in one month than I did all of last year. Not a bad thing, given that last year seems mostly a blur at this point!

On the Tuesday morning, we left the hotel a bit later than I had anticipated. Against my better judgement, I had given my family a bit more credit than was due. I'm a bit of a slow study that way ... or maybe an optimist. You can tell me.

I did a lot of surfing to plan for this trip and tried to book as many tickets ahead of time as possible. (A major tip: I visited this website, "broadwaybox", where you can find discount codes for many NYC attractions, broadway and offbroadway shows.) From our previous experience at the AMNH, there were lineups galore if you waited to purchase tickets onsite. So I booked ahead to make it easy upon arrival - I would just have to visit their ticket kiosk (like an ATM) - swipe my credit card and prest0, we'd have the tickets. The problem with that is that at time of booking, you have to decide on the scheduled timing for any shows that you'd like to include in your package. I made the executive decision that we would make the 10:30 AM showtime no problem given that it should only take 10 minutes to walk from our hotel to AMNH.

Surely this would give us plenty of time - we were in NYC and although there was so much to see we'd still have time for a leisurely breakfast, no?

No. Not so much in reality. Seems I'm still the only morning person in this family. We left the hotel by 10 minutes after the hour, giving us barely any slack to pick up the tickets (yes, I still had to get those) and figure out where the space show was in the HUGE building. And of course we went to the wrong spaceshow first! I hadn't anticipated an early run - I suppose it could be seen as a fringe benefit, but not necessarily when you're not in the mood for a workout. In the end, we did make the show (and not that it was worth it- if it's the Whoopi Goldberg narrated space show, just skip it).

(...here's another lesson - although it might seem a little easier traveling with school-agers versus toddlers - ie. no diaper bag, no lugging around food/bottles/ strollers ... there is now more baggage of a different kind. A lot more negotiation is involved when you're dealing with whining about leaving beloved Cartoon network and the TV shows that we don't normally get at home. And also not helpful - a husband who is not a morning person and who would prefer some deservedly extra shut-eye. The mother/wife a.k.a . Me in this scenario just feels like a caged animal in the hotel room, as she's usually the first up and itching to do NYC in short order. By 10 AM I've already been up for more than a couple of hours and stir-crazy is putting it mildly. I wish I were a runner ... now that's an idea for next time...)

Rant over. Let's move on. The AMNH was wonderful - again. We had actually seen the "Night at the Museum" a second (or maybe 3rd time now) over the Christmas break, so it was amazing to see some of these things live.

That's one big canoe...

An origami tree

The squid and the whale (have you caught the movie? You should.)

Hall of "water dinosaurs" according to the girl

Our gracious hosts...

Most of the rest of the visit was captured on video, so the shots here weren't really representative of the amount of ground we covered. By about 1:30PM the kids were tired and hungry, and the museum had gotten rather crowded. You probably need at least 3 days to see everything at the AMNH rather than just 3 hours. But we were all museumed out.

We headed out into the frigid temperatures - and yes, even for us Canucks, it was very cold on that Tuesday. After a bit of arguing as to the best place to eat with the kids (another note to file - hungry is not a good state for this family)... we settled on a French cafe "Nice Matin" which is the restaurant affiliated with another hotel I had looked into staying at - The Lucerne, which also has kitchenette facilities. I had the most amazing sandwich there and the kids were happy with their meals - it was a welcome respite from the crazy frigid wind.

It was really too cold and late in the day for the family to do anything after getting back to the hotel. Well, you guessed it, except for the Momster - who decided to walk a few blocks down to the Upper West Side's Century 21 location. After all, I had to buy a couple of hats for me and the girlie - it was so darn cold! But yes, I scored again with Betsy Johnson ("Mommy are those spiders?) and Velvet Tees; and a great Calvin Klein dress for work.

For dinner that night everyone was still tired and seeing as it was so cold, we decided just to have dinner again at the Viand Cafe. Nice and close - and a perfect end to a long and busy day.

Agenda for Wednesday? Times Square and shopping - only this time not for me.

Friday Fragments "I'm Back" edition

Don't forget to check out the home of glorious Fragments( Mrs. 4444)

***I've got a few more posts coming regarding my NYC trip, but in the mean time here we are with some fragments.

I haven't done this in a loooong time, so glad to be back. I didn't realize how much I had missed blogging - looking back at previous posts over the holidays I realized that this space is where I've described so many amazing things about my life, my family, everything around me - things that made me laugh, cry, and think. Blogging doesn't seem to be the "it" thing to do anymore [(not sure that it ever was ;), but yeah, since you're reading this you know that we're still the cool kids, however old school this may be...]. It's incredible to me, though that I've been doing this for over 6 years now, and a lot of what has happened and changed is captured right here. And I really missed my bloggy friends.

***My husband bought me a Kobo Touch for Christmas. Well, more like I bought it as I couldn't decide what I wanted before hand- thought about Kindle Fire while in the US, but it's not available yet in Canada, and I worried about support, and access to the ebooks etc...So I stayed Canadian.

Since I'm now in a book club and reading things outside of work, it seemed like a good idea. So now I'm pumped with my Kobo and hot pink book cover - and at a loss for what to read! I have the "Virgin Cure" by Amy McKay sitting on my bedside table but I'm looking for something a bit more uplifting at the moment. Any suggestions?

***** The girlie tried gymnastics camp over the summer and I think she's discovered her passion. I can't believe the strength in that petite little body of hers - especially her pipes! With her little toothpick arms she works those bars incredibly. She's asked (and been asked by the gym teacher) to be moved up a level. I'm not sure if she's good enough for competition, but I guess we'll see.

Between her and her brother's intense soccer schedule, it may just do us in. But when you're a parent you can't not explore when your kids show such a keen interest. Regardless of how much stress it will add to our daily lives - that's what I signed up for when we had the kids, isn't it?

***** It's Chinese New year weekend coming up. We're getting together with my Mom and brother (sister will be away) on Sunday, New Year's Eve, for a family lunch. I'd forgotten that the 22nd will also be the 3rd anniversary of my Dad's passing.

Three years. That went by fast. I still "see" him sometimes whenever I see a fellow with a Kangol cap on. Dad, you were so cool.

***** I was driving the boy to his soccer game last Saturday and forcing him to talk to me - (backgrounder - apparently he doesn't talk much to his Dad in the car, and Ian asked me whether he's the same with me. To which the boy replied: "I always talk to Mom in the car, Dad. She FORCES me to, bullies me with questions so I have to answer back!" Hey, no apologies for trying to keep in the loop with my kid).

So back to the car. I was talking a bit about my week because the boy wasn't sharing too much about his. Then I started talking about my Dad and all that he accomplished in his life, how proud I was of my Dad after I found out what he did, and how proud he should be of his Grandpa (and how proud Grandpa would be of him). Yadadadada. While I was chattering away, trying to engage the boy, he cut through it all and said,
"Mom, can we just stop talking? This work stuff is just BORING!"

Can't blame him. The boy is just 11 years old, and coaching him as if he's a first year MBA student. Good job, Mom.

*****
Have a great weekend, all.