November and Thanksgiving

Here are the boys playing in their favorite massive leaf pile that we walk by on our way home from school!

This was November 18, and it was warm enough to picnic!

We were so proud of our Lewis this month! He colored a picture for a coloring contest at Daddy's work, and he won for his age group!!! We were so proud of how hard he worked. We took a quick trip to Daddy's work one day so that we could see his picture hanging on the wall!

 

A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, Lewis and I went to a really fun classical music concert for kids. It had a cute little story line about an Inspector trying to detect the melody in a highly ornamented piece. Lewis really enjoyed it! He got dressed up all by himself for our date. I loved taking him to the concert (at Richardson Auditorium at Princeton) and showing him where Mommy often sings. And, we both enjoyed the show...and some ice cream afterwards!

Now for Thanksgiving!
We had a Mommy's birthday/Thanksgiving extravaganza in New York this year!
For my birthday present, we got tickets to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Nothing could have been more fun than getting to go with my boys!

We prepped Lewis and Beau with some clips of the show online so they knew what to expect, and they were really excited!

The whole thing was a huge adventure for them! We took the train into the city - awesome. Then we took a taxi cab to the hotel - amazing. The hotel upgraded us to a really nice, big room when they saw the kids - wonderful. And then we went to the show.

These boys were absolutely mesmerized. They were just spellbound! They loved every single part!
Afterwards, we got to meet one of the Rockettes and sit on Santa's lap.

In fact, it was so much excitement that Beau had a major melt down when we had to leave. He wanted to see ALL of the dancers, not just the one. Nothing we said or did helped, so we eventually left with him screaming. He cried for about 8 blocks and then fell asleep in the stroller. Phew!



We tried Junior's for lunch. It had been rated NY's best cheesecake last year, and we thought that would make for a nice birthday cake option. It was fun...but the food wouldn't get a best rating in our book!

After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we headed off to see the parade balloons being blown up around the Museum of Natural History. That was fabulous! We had read that it can be packed. Perhaps the drizzle kept the crowds away, because it wasn't at all. The boys had fun seeing the balloons up close.

Mike and I put two very excited little boys down in the hotel and hung out for a while in the lounge, munching on crackers and cheese and sipping hot cocoa. Then we went to bed and slept really well for about 4 hours. After that, Beau was up! I don't know if he was confused or not happy to be sleeping his crib tent or what, but we could not get him back to sleep. Of course, he woke up Lewis. Then Mike and I attempted to doze by handing over my phone. It worked reasonably well! 

We bundled up, grabbed some breakfast from the lounge, and headed uptown to the parade. 

It was good fun, and we're really glad we did it! The boys loved seeing the floats and balloons. And, they could see some of the people on the ground being perched up on our shoulders. Beau, who is now in a bit of a Mommy or just an equal-opportunity parent stage was having a Daddy morning. We couldn't convince him to get on my shoulders, so I had Lewis on me for the whole time. It was worth it, but really painful! (He weighs 45lbs, and probably 50 with all of the layers and gear we had on! Beau weighs 35...that would have been just a bit nicer!)

We watched most of the parade and then headed to the train station. The timing had to be just right so that we could get home in time to put the turkey in!

Our friends Gwen and Baxter Oliphant came over with their daughter Lucie. (They had also been at the parade in the morning, so we were on the same schedule!) And, Mike's friend Melvin from the Young Men's program came as well. The food was delicious and we enjoyed the company. The kids had both napped well in the afternoon, but after so much excitement, they were wired! The last hour of the evening was about the loudest I've experienced! 

I have become a complete Christmas junkie. :-)
We start singing carols in October, not counting Away in a Manger, which is Beau's favorite song that we sing every day. We also have a tradition of cutting our tree right after Thanksgiving!

Friday morning, we were off to our local Christmas Tree Farm. We have cut our tree there every year since living here. It's a low-key, family run place, and we love it. Mr. Carlson (pictured below) bought their property 36 years ago and started planting. The boys helped us pick out a tree. Lewis brought his measuring tape to be sure the size was right, and Beau brought his shovel to dig the tree up. And, of course, there were chocolate chip cookies after we cut the tree!

We had a really fun family walk the next day behind Kunkel. It culminated with throwing sticks across the frozen pond. Good fun! We got some sticks to skid all the way across the ice to the water. And, some big ones to break the ice. Here is Daddy getting some love from Beau as he carries him for part of the walk.

Thomas Take Two

Since June when we visited the "Real Thomas" in Lancaster County, the boys have talked about it as their favorite thing ever.
What was your favorite thing at school today, Lewis?
Well, we played on the playground and did construction, and my favorite thing was seeing the real Thomas.

Night, night, Beau!
And, Mommy, I have one more question. I want to go on the real Thomas, and I want to ride the real Thomas again.

(Passing a corn field...Beau says...)
Oh, is that where the real Thomas lives?
(We live near a lot of corn fields...I hear this often!)

(Lewis)
Mommy, is that the road to Pennsylvania? I want to go on the road to Pennsylvania and ride the real Thomas.

They are so cute! They have literally talked about seeing the real Thomas at least every other day since June. It obviously left quite the impression.

Some things are probably better enjoyed just once, and then you can bask in the memories. But, we decided that this one might be worth repeating! So, we secretly bought tickets to go back to the "Real Thomas". On a Saturday morning the week before Thanksgiving, we got the boys ready in the morning and packed them in the car, telling them that we had a special surprise. Once we were pulling out of the driveway, we told them...real Thomas!!! They were pretty stunned, and then pretty excited!

It was a wonderful day trip!
We took in all of our favorites at the venue...the crank cars, the puffer-belly train, the big crank car, the open-air cars, seeing Sir Topham Hat, and of course, riding on the real Thomas!
It was a little windy and chilly, but also not quite as crowded as in the summer. (Mike did offer to go back and warm up the car for us about 10 times! He does not love the cold!) The boys loved it. They still seemed rather stunned and spent quite a bit of time taking it all in. But, with a little more familiarity, we also were able to see more of their excitement and enthusiasm this time. Just that alone made it worth the second trip!

 

 

 

 

 

After finishing our time with Thomas, we headed to the Amish Market to sample goodies and pick up a case of pickled beets. They're amazing! We had just run out of our previous stock! We also picked up soft pretzels and some whoopie pies...when in Rome...or Bird-in-Hand, in this case.

Before heading home, we went back to see Thomas pass by a few more times. This time, we introduced the boys to leaving coins on the tracks for Thomas to flatten. Good fun!

It was a really memorable trip!

P.S. I should mention that Mike's mustache in this post is from what he grew for "Movember"...an effort to bring fundraising and awareness to men's cancers. Mike walked down the runway at work with the full facial hair package. Then he shaved it down for our little outing. It is now gone.