Big Apple Birthday

My brother Tim & his girlfriend Kerin graciously hosted us for my Big Apple Birthday Weekend! It was so nice to see them and get a taste for their city lifestyle. We were also able to see my good friend Teresa from college who now lives only 1.8 miles away from Tim! Teresa’s birthday is two days after mine so we also go to celebrate with her!

We arrived in Rego Park, NY in a cute little neighborhood where Kerin’s family lives.

We met Tim there and left our car to head into the city by subway. We were very excited to ditch the car and start our adventure! Tim lovingly nicknamed me the “Urban Sherpa” because I was all bundled up and had my backpack full of clothes for the weekend. This was a term that we ended up using quite a lot. We walked towards the subway and Tim pointed out that the station was directly below a strip club with the perfectly funny name “Wiggles”. Haha! We had a giggle over this.

First stop was to Tim’s apartment on 37th and Madison. On our way there we passed in front of the Empire State Building which is right near where Tim lives! We dropped off our stuff and peaked around Tim & Kerin’s cute little loft apartment and then stepped back out to the streets. Kerin was still at work and Tim wanted to take us on a little walking tour before we all got ready for my fun birthday dinner. We went over to Rockefeller Plaza to see if the Christmas Tree was still there, sadly it had been taken down earlier that day. We also swung through Grand Central Station which I thought was the nothing less than GRAND and which we frequented while we were there. We also made our way over to see Tim’s Law Office Building, Dewey & LeBoeuf. Now I can picture where he will be most days.

Since we still had some time to kill, we grabbed a beer at a place that Tim knew we would love called The Ginger Man. This place had sooo many yummy beer varieties, and a very comfy lounge area too. Since we just beat the happy hour rush we were able to get a pretty great spot to sit and chat a while.

Tim’s sweet girlfriend Kerin arrived home from work with cupcakes from Crumbs Bake Shop. She brought 4 different kinds so that I could choose what I wanted. She even had candles and they all sang happy birthday to me! It was the best! I decided we needed to each try all of them because it was only fair considering how delicious they all looked, so we cut them in half and had ourselves a little pre-dinner cake! Hey, it was my birthday after all.

Then took a cab over to the West Village for dinner at a place called NINJA! And, yes it was as awesome as the name sounds. I highly recommend it as a very fun place to eat in NYC. We entered a tiny, dark waiting area with a hostess in front of an elevator door. As we entered the elevator the hostess said to us… “Watch out for Ninjas!” I was extremely excited. Getting out of the elevator a man dressed in black Ninja outfit jumped out and I of course screamed. He led us into the “Ninja Castle“!

We had an awesome booth seat reserved and we started our night off with a Hanzo Sake Tasting!!  :)

The Ninja waiters were awesomely entertaining and the food was out-of-this-world. We even had a table-side magic show with cups and balls that was too good for us to figure out, even when he was a foot away from us! Kerin got Ninja’ed by some guy sticking a sword at her through the window above them and we all had to shout “Hiii-YA!” when we helped turn a real Ninja Star into a Chocolate Ninja Star dessert.

As if all the fun we had at Ninja wasn’t enough, we then hit the town and went to a place called Sushi Samba 7. The place was cool and had some nice Latin Beats.  Kerin kindly informed me that it was featured on Sex in the City. (these things excite me)  We all split a Cocktail Tree… I always knew money grew on trees, this thing was pricy but fun nonetheless. You only turn 29 once!

What a fun birthday it was!! Thanks to Tim, Kerin and Brian for making it so special. I even had a voice message from Colin and Isabelle with their little voices singing me Happy Birthday! It made me shed a tear for how cute they are to remember my birthday and call. I am a lucky step mom and I love them so very much.

Although we stayed up until nearly 5am enjoying each other’s company,  Brian and I were both awake by 8:00am and decided to venture out to find breakfast and let Tim and Kerin sleep in. We had plans for brunch later, but brunch in NYC means 1-2pm. I swear no one there is up before 11am on the weekends. It was a nice quiet time to walk around the streets and familiarize ourselves to Tim’s area a bit.

We found a place for breakfast however it didn’t work out. The waitress gave us coffee, asked what we would like however we were not ready to order yet. She rolled her eyes at us and didn’t return to our table. We finally had to just go pay for the coffee and leave. Wow! NYC must really not be a morning person type of place. So we ventured on to find another place for breakfast. Before we were finished our simple but yummy meal, I noticed a man walking by the window of the restaurant looking in, then he stopped, turned and walked back to come inside. I found this curious and watched him as he proceeded to steal the tip from the table next to us that hadn’t been cleared off yet! He walked right past the waitress and no one seemed to notice but me. I witnessed a CRIME!! aaahhh! In the light of the morning NYC was looking like a much different place than it had the night before. But you take the good with the bad I suppose.

When we got back to Tim’s place they took us up to their rooftop to see the view we had heard so much about. It was freezing and starting to snow a bit but still worth the trip up there. I can only imagine how nice it is to hang out up there in the summer.

We met up with some of Kerin’s friends for Brunch at a lovely place called Le Pain Quotidien. There were 9 of us and we shared a nice light meal together. Afterward we did more exploring with Kerin and Tim and Kerin’s friend Julie. We walked to Bryant Park where there was some ice skating going on. We just missed the holiday outdoor market that they set up there… I guess another time.

I liked the Grace Building and the way it curved at the bottom. Hard to tell from this photo though. So, much great architecture to see in the city!

From there we scooted over to Times Square! Which I had previously been to when I visited the city once before, but there was lots of traffic then. Now it is way more pedestrian friendly.

I definitely gave this kid with the FREE HUGS sign a BIG HUG! Thanks man! Made my day in NYC so much better!

After that we travelled over towards the Washington Square Park which was an area that Kerin and Julie knew well because they attended NYU Law. She told us how lively it is there in the warmer weather and I hope to get back to the city to find out!

We stopped into a little tea shop to take a break and warm up! It was a cute and cozy place with walls filled with really yummy flavors of tea leaves!

We took a cab ride back to Tim’s place and the driver was extra crazy, I almost lost my lunch all over the car, he drove like such a maniac I couldn’t bare to look. Somehow we made it home and were able to relax and order in some delicious spicy Indian food for dinner while we checked out their cool 3D television and watched some Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D! Although we all fell asleep even with our 3D glasses on. Guess that’s what you get for staying up so late the night before! We are getting too old for that stuff.

Sunday came and that meant that it was TERESA’S  BIRTHDAY!

We had grabbed some amazing bagels at Vic’s Bagel Bar where you can mix in all sorts of fresh fruits or veggies and spices to your cream cheese! It was heavenly. I would be sooo fat if I lived in NYC, although maybe all the walking would help even things out.

Then we cabbed it to SOHO area to go check out the Timberland Store and The North Face, since Brian gets some awesome discounts at both of these places now. I used the gift card that Ann gave me for my birthday to purchase myself a new overnight hiking pack from NorthFace and between that and brian’s discount it made it about a $10 pack. I LIKE IT and I can’t wait to use my new pack!! Thanks Annie! We were also able to extend our company discount and get Tim a new winter jacket and Kerin a couple of items as well. Because sharing is caring!

We ate a late-ish lunch at a very nice place called Cask. Lunch gets pushed back along with dinner (9pm) when the day starts at 11am in the city I suppose! Kerin and I had an amazing beet and goat cheese salad. And we had more fun chatting with each other. Tim and Brian seemed to have lots of Brotherly Bonding time this trip! I like that!

From there we all headed towards the East Village and Teresa to meet up before going to dinner. She looked amazing, the city looks great on her!  It was nice to get to catch up a bit before joining the rest of the Birthday Dinner Crew!!

We arrived at Pastis for dinner and ate at a big communal table. I got to sit and chat with Teresa’s new roommate who was very nice. I tried raw oysters for the first time and it wasn’t so bad. Then they brought out a bunch of desserts for Teresa’s Birthday and sang to her. We all passed the decadent treats around the table for tasting mmm.

We were invited along to a super snazzy club after for some dancing, however we had to part ways sadly because we were all too pooped to stay out and party.  NYC just takes it out of you when you try to do so much in one weekend.

The next morning Brian drove us home and I slept most of the way. It was a fantastic weekend!! And we returned home to bowl in our very first league game that night. But more on that later…

 

Hiking in January

The day after New Years Brian and I decided to go for a “walk in the woods” which ended up meaning a hike up the Fire Tower Trail in Pawtuckaway State Park. It was a nice enough day a little windy which made it chilly but wonderful to get out and get some fresh air. There were lots of people out that day with their dogs etc. Starting their resolutions perhaps. It reminded Brian and I just how close and easy to get to that those trails were. And that we should be doing it more often. The fire tower is about a 3 mile trek to the top of South Mt. Pretty easy walk with a heart pumping steeper incline the last .5 mile or so. It was so great to get out and get moving that we decided that this past weekend we would do it again with the kids! With no snow on the ground yet and  it being about 50 degrees on Saturday, we were not about to stay inside the house. The kids had way to much energy that needed to be put to better use than annoying each other.

So we packed a lunch and some water and headed out. We stopped on the way to get the kids some sweatshirts that we saw advertised, so that they would not need their winter coats as it was a bit too warm for them, but too cool for just a couple of layers of long sleeve shirts. And as we all know in hiking you get warm and need to dress in layers. These sweatshirts were adult small so they were a bit big on them but made it all the more cute and they still did the trick keeping them warm. I am sure someday soon I am sure they will fit because these two just keep growing!

 

The first junction we came to we had a kind family behind us and asked them to take our photo at the sign. There are many other trails to explore in Pawtuckaway State Park and I can’t wait to try some new ones but for now the Mountain Trail is where we headed! There are also great Boulder Fields as well as lots of boulders around the trail we hiked. The kids wanted to climb each one, although that would have taken all day so we let them do quite a few and even joined them but we decided we would come back another day specifically to just go rock climbing around and without the goal of hiking to the top.

They are the cutest!

Colin in the sunlight!

Fun on the icy parts!

Beautiful view from the top.

ice crystals!

Our walk back up to the car. The road is shut off for the winter so after our hike we had to climb up a pretty big hill… someone wanted to race… I think I was the winner. What a fun way to spend a Saturday. I love my family.

 

 

Holiday Wrap-Up

So, I noticed today that I never posted anything about our Christmas/New Years. We had a great Christmas season in the new house this year with the kids. We went over to Warren Farm again this year to get our tree although this time instead of looking for a short fat one like we did last year when we were living in a low ceiling basement apartment. We were able to look for the taller ones they had so that we could place it in our high ceiling front room. The kids had fun decorating especially because they got to climb the ladder to reach the top. We had to remind them that the bottom of the tree needed ornaments too!

We also gathered some extra bows to make a wreath out of. Plus we decorated our outdoor Christmas tree in the yard with some bird seed ornaments and popcorn/cranberry garland as well as some lights. The birds really loved it and so did we in making them.

On Friday the 23rd we took the kids to the Palace Theater in Manchester to a production of A Christmas Carol. But not before stoping at Margaritas downtown for some dinner. It was a fantastic show with great dancing and singing and effects and props. Both the kids and Brian and I really enjoyed ourselves. A great way to start the Christmas weekend.

Image above taken from: Parenting NH

Christmas Eve was a blur of excitement. The kids couldn’t wait for Christmas morning. We baked Santa cookies and even wrote him some notes to leave out for him. We played an epic battle of RISK and then headed to bed to try to catch some sleep before an early morning of fun. Sure enough morning came early, presents were under the tree and stockings were filled. Santa had eaten cookies, drank milk and the carrots were nibbled by the reindeer. He also wrote a note back to the kids and this was very exciting and proof that he really does exist!

Mostly this Christmas I took video footage of the gift opening. However I am not going to post those as no one likes the sound of their own voice! But I did have a couple of photos. Colin got lots of legos including these ones here from Grandma.

He also was excited to get started building his new Kinex Roller Coaster.

Isabelle received lots of great things too. Among them was a sewing machine from Santa! Guess he knew that she always wanted to sew with me! Now we can do it together! And Christmas Day we made our first little project together that turned out great!

I received a beautiful handmade shawl from Ann and love the colors and how delicate it is. Very good work mom!

We were all also very excited about the family gift from Santa. A Kinect for our X-box. This will provide lots of active video gaming fun! No pictures of our silly jumping around in front of the TV though haha. Sorry. When all was said and done it was a great Christmas weekend.

The next weekend for New Years Eve, Brian and I had some really fun plans as well. We travelled to Northampton, Mass for a NYE concert put on by one of our favorites Josh Ritter! Northampton was a fun town to explore so we got there early and did just that.

The first 200 people got this neat poster, of course we were sure to get ourselves one.

The show was AMAZING of course and we really really enjoyed ourselves. He even did a little rendition of Auld Lang Syne for us all. Heard here:

 

After the show let out at about 11:30 the street right outside of the theater was filling up with people as Northampton has their own Ball Raising to ring in the New Year. About 7,000 or so people were to come out to see it. Brian and I decided not to stay for the excitement however it was a little too much craziness so we caught our cab back to the hotel.

Here is someone’s photo I found online though for you to better see the festivities:

photo credit: http://littlebangtheory.wordpress.com/

What a fantastic way to start a New Year! I hope that 2012 is a great one for all of us.