New York - Day 2

This year we decided to try a show. We got tickets to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. Let me just say that the show is very appropriately named. It was indeed spectacular! We all loved it.

Before the show we ate breakfast at a little deli near our hotel. Though the bagels were roughly the size of her head, Abby managed to eat the whole thing. That's my girl!

Mmmmm bagel!


At Radio City Music Hall before the show. Abby truly loved the whole show.


Ready to check out the rest of the city!


Only in New York. :-) We were in search of a bathroom when we found just that. Charmin has a public bathroom in Times Square. While waiting in line, patrons are entertained with a very addictive song and a stage. Charmin employees clean each bathroom after every single person while other employees dance on the stage. It was the most memorable bathroom experience.

Abby slept while we were waiting in line but woke up in time to join Olivia and Katy on the Charmin stage. Here the girls were dancing for all those waiting in line.

Dancing on stage can be tiring business. :-)

We walked to Macy's to see this year's window display. I definitely liked this year better than last year. While walking we noticed a LOT of police officers. There were even more outside Macy's. As we were leaving, I asked one officer what was going on. He got a very sheepish look on his face and replied, "Um, it is a demonstration against police brutality". We found out the next day that Al Sharpton had been at the rally.

We stopped by Bryant Park and bought the girls hats. We got asked more than once if they were triplets. :-)

Abby and Olivia laughing down 5th Avenue.

Before dinner we went back to Central Park. We stumbled on a Santa convention of sorts. Apparently the only qualification to attend was some kind of Santa attire. There were thousands of Santas and most of them were in various stages of inebriation. We all got creative explaining this to three 3 year olds.

After dinner and ready for bed.

New York!! Day 1
In December 2005 Abby made her first trip to NYC. The week before Christmas that year we met our friends Julia and her daughter Katy and Amanda and her daughter Olivia. People said we were crazy because at the time all three girls were just two years old. We had an absolute blast and decided to make it an annual trip.

So this year we again set out the week before Christmas and headed to NYC and we again stayed right in Times Square. It was another fantastic trip! It was so much fun to see the girls together again.

Walking down 8th Avenue Abby and Katy held hands from their strollers. They were so happy to see each other.

Swinging in Central Park

Dancing in Central Park

Riding the carousel in Central Park

And riding the real thing. Last year we also did the carriage ride through Central Park and had the grumpiest driver known to mankind. This year was just the opposite and our driver even pointed out places where movies were filmed.

First ice skating

Before Christmas we met Kris, Avery, Dawn, and Alec at Centennial Park to go ice skating. It was one of those really cold mornings but it was also beautiful. The kids were all very excited about putting on ice skates. For Avery, the excitement kind of stopped there. :-) She and Kris went around one time. Abby and I went around two times. Alec and Dawn made it around multiple times. When we first arrived and I saw the sign said you could skate for 90 minutes I just laughed.

She looks like a little professional skater doesn't she?

Abby truly did great on the ice. She fell a few times but got right back up.

After ice skating we went to CNN Center and found a Christmas tree where the kids exchanged presents.

As you can see, they had a great time!

Christmas Cards
Taking that one perfect picture for the family Christmas card can be a comical event. One happy, giggly girl plus one happy, silly dog equals lots of out takes. I thought the out takes were just as cute as the chosen picture.

Christmas Parade
I took Abby to the Atlanta Christmas parade. We rode the train downtown and Abby loved that as much as anything. :-) It was a beautiful, cold day - perfect weather for the event at hand. We found a nice section of curb which provided us a very close-up view. Abby's favorite part of the parade? Every single marching band. Yes, that's my girl! She did, however, express great concern every time a band marched by because the dancers/flag corp/twirlers had on no coats and very little clothing. The giant balloons were pretty cool too. I really dug the Grinch balloon but Abby favored the Coca-Cola panda drinking Coke. And she has never even had Coke.



Yay parade!!

After the parade and lunch at CNN Center, we decided to hang out at Centennial Olympic Park for awhile. It warmed up a lot that afternoon and the park was all decorated for Christmas.

The day after Thanksgiving
I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. All the family, food, and time off work but none of the stress of holiday shopping. We went to Rome for the day. My mom cooked a delicious meal and for those of us not cooking, it was a very relaxing day.

My mom spent a few days with us after Thanksgiving. We even braved the shopping crowds of Black Friday. It wasn't too bad actually. I was expecting much worse. We also put up our Christmas tree. Abby loved looking at all the ornaments and decorations. She also loved reading all her Christmas books. And, like last year, our tree is definitely ornament heavy at the bottom of the tree. Just as it should be.

The Pink Pig
One of the great Atlanta Christmas traditions is the Pink Pig. I have the best memories of riding the Pink Pig when I was a kid and now I get to take Abby to ride. Last year was Abby's first time riding it. The train looks different from when I was little. It used to be a monorail train with a cage. They have the old train displayed now and I get claustrophic just looking at it. Today's train is a regular train. Abby loves it. Abby even has her own little Priscilla Pig courtesy of our friend Vicki. Abby has slept with Priscilla every night since she got her.



Waiting to ride the Pink Pig!



When you go before Thanksgiving you can still snag the front seat! After Thanksgiving, the lines to ride are LONG.



Here you can see the original train behind Abby. Like I said, it is like a case of claustrophobia waiting to happen.

That's Entertainment
That's Entertainment was on PBS this afternoon. I turned it on for the music but Abby was fascinated with the dancing. She especially loved the tap dancing.

Zoo
We are members of Zoo Atlanta and go there a good bit. It is such a great place for kids to run and Abby is generally good and tired after each time we go. This day was just perfect fall weather and we had so much fun.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

And finally, Halloween
This year we went trick or treating with Abby's friends Isabelle and Roman, or should I say that Mrs. Incredible went trick or treating with Superman and Mickey Mouse.



The trio prior to the candy.



Later Abby and Roman dressed up in boas, high heels, and fancy glasses. It was the funniest part of the whole night. They stayed dressed like this for a long time too. We decided Roman looked like Elton John.

Abby and Lucy
Each night after her bath, Abby gives Lucy a big good-night hug. On this particular night there were lots of hugs for Lucy and Lucy reciprocated with lots of kisses for Abby.



They love each other!

More Halloween
Yikes - I can't believe how long it has been since my last update. We have definitely had a lot going on.

This year Abby helped me carve our pumpkin. It turned out really cute. She didn't care a lot for scooping out the pumpkin insides but she did love the toasted pumpkin seeds I made.



Pre-carving...



And after the deed is done.

Burt's Farm
Last Saturday Abby and I met Avery and her mom at Burt's Farm in Dawsonville, GA. It is about 1.5 hours north of Atlanta. We drove up that morning and once again, it was the most beautiful day in Georgia. Abby was so tired from her school fall festival that she slept pretty much the whole drive. There is nothing better than a drive in the Georgia mountains as the leaves are changing.

There is a very fun hayride at the farm and we did that first thing. I kind of thought it would be a 5 minute ride but it was actually a nice long ride and was really fun. They even had a place with talking pumpkins. They were kind of evangelical pumpkins, something I never in this lifetime thought I would see. I was not quick enough with the camera but suffice it to say that those pumpkins had me laughing.



Checking out the hay.



Riding on the hayride. It was actually very comfortable!



How about this one?



They loved the wheelbarrow!



Success!! Both Abby and Avery picked out very pretty pumpkins!