New York City

In my "Food, Fun, and Family" post I mentioned forgetting to pack the digital camera for our second day visit in NYC. We ended up buying a disposable camera (for $11...which I thought was a rip off) and developing the pictures the old fashioned way. The pictures didn't turn out as good as we had hoped, but at least they will help us remember some of the things we did. Here are some of the highlights.

NYSE

NY Pizza

Our Budding Little Capitalist

Times Square

Fall Fun

When we moved into our home, one of our 4 retired neighbors said,

"You can tell you are in an older, retired neighborhood because the trees are fully grown."

We definitely live in an older neighborhood. We have 4 huge trees and 10 smaller trees between our front and back yards. In fall, the trees translate into...

A lot of fun!

And, a lot of clean up!

One of my friends mentioned paying her daughter a penny for every leaf she picked up. I would love to have a penny for every leaf I picked up!

Food, Family, and Fun

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday! Who doesn't enjoy good food with friends and family? We were able to spend the holiday in New Jersey with my Aunt and Uncle.


I would not recommend traveling North on I-95 the evening before Thanksgiving. Google Maps said the trip would take 5 hrs 19 min. It took us 7.5 hours! Luckily the trip home wasn't that long.

With my Aunt and Uncle living so close to NYC, we were able to go into the city a couple of times for some good 'ol city fun. We went in to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We did not arrive 2 hours early as is recommended and so our view of the parade was 2 blocks back and looked something like this...

I realized the huge crowd the parade draws must have something to do with the reason the huge balloons were added to the parade. We were only able to see the balloons from where we were standing and they passed by rather quickly. Shrek, in the picture, caught us off guard; hence the banana in Daniel's mouth and the water bottle in my hand. Does any other parent of young children know a good trick to get their children to look at the camera?

On the way to Central Park we passed a respected news outlet.

Central Park was crowded as well, but it was a great stop for Daniel. The weather was unseasonably warm and we were able to have a little picnic before heading back for the Thanksgiving feast!

We really enjoyed spending one on one time with my Aunt and Uncle and appreciate their kindness. We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful Thanksgiving.

You'll have to stay tuned for the details of the rest of the trip. I forgot to pack the digital camera for Friday's trip into the city and so we bought a disposable camera to document Friday's excursion. Now I have to get the film developed the old fashioned way. I think I mentioned my gratitude for digital cameras in my previous blog. I have to second that again!

Anticipation

On Monday we get to find out if we have a boy or a girl cooking in the little oven. We asked Daniel what we should name the baby and he said "Odelay" so that's what we've been referring to it as. He knows that there is some type of connection to tummy's and baby's but I don't think he really gets it. Occasionally he will lift up his shirt and say "baby?", pointing to his tummy.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

As this is the week of Thanksgiving I wanted to list some of the things I'm grateful for. I'm extremely grateful for my family, friends, and beliefs. All those things top my list but don't make for a very interesting blog. So here are some of the many things I'm thankful for.

• A good pair of running shoes
• A washer and dryer (any mom can appreciate this, but after living without a washer and dryer for 18 months in Brazil, I would rather go without a car)
• Nerds who go crazy over things like this...and then buy them!
• Quicken
• The way your hands smell after you peel an orange
• Digital cameras to take pictures like these....
• 
  
• The beach
• Books (I am finishing up Alan Greenspan's book. I highly recommend it, but I get excited about economic stuff)
• Classical violin music
• Disposable Diapers (Especially Pampers because they are the only ones that don't leak for us!)
• A lawn mower that saves us hours of racking time
• A warm shower
• Austin, TX
• This ridiculous video clip Christian found because Daniel is into Buses!
  
• My electric toothbrush
• My new tile kitchen floor

Waldo and Pinky

Daniel has never been a huge sleeper, but on one rare occasion, I walked into his room and found him like this...

Even Waldo pajamas don't get Daniel excited about sleeping...

Besides the child, there is one other thing that is consistent in both pictures..."Pinky". It is the pink and brown blanket that Daniel does not go to sleep without. When I was a kid, my mom had a white, silky blanket kind of like pinky. It was the most comfortable blanket to sleep with and my siblings and I would call dibs on the blanket.

When my mom and sister were visiting this summer, we decided to make each sibling their own silky blanket. I chose the pink and brown fabric for myself. Daniel has since adopted the blanket and now I find myself needing to make a more masculine silky blanket for him. That is my next project, but I'm afraid switching the blue silky blanket for "pinky" is going to be difficult seeing he is awfully attached to "pinky". He even asks for the blanket by name!

Ode To My Husband

He woke up Saturday morning,

Looked out at the rain,

He wanted to jump back in bed
To forget about the upcoming pain.

Instead he put on his shoes
And loaded up the car.
He drove us to the starting line
So we could run real far.

The 8k was a fun event
And he ran just fine
But he decided while running,
He better train next time.

I am one of the most uncreative people, but I had to give a shout out to my wonderful husband. I am an avid runner. I usually sign up for a couple of races each year. Christian is NOT a runner, but usually signs up for a couple races each year. This is how the process works...

Tara: "I'm going to run ___ in a couple of months from now. Would you like to run it with me?"

Christian: "What is the shortest distance race available on that day? I'll run that one and actually train beforehand."

Fast forward a couple of months...

Christian: "What are we doing next weekend?

Tara: "Running the race."

Christian: "Oh. I guess I better start training."

Fast forward a couple of days of no training....

Christian: "My goal is to finish."

Somehow he always does (finish) with no injuries and soreness. I know the only reason Christian signs up for the races is to support me. I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband who not only runs races, but bends over backwards so I can pursue my little dreams. He is so supportive and encouraging in my whimsical projects and jumps in to bail me out when I get stuck. I'm grateful for his objectivity. His ideas and opinions help me experience life more fully.

We also have the greatest little fan who cheered for both of us at the bitter cold finish line. I have the greatest family!

It was so fun to run with Kathi, Sara, and Brent. Also, we are SO grateful for our great friend Elissa who watched our little fan for the whole race.

We all finished!

Fall in Virginia

It seems like I am the last person to jump on the blogging bandwagon. I finally caved to the online pressure. Now I have started, I wish I would have jumped on earlier. My two-year-old has so many blog-worthy incidents each day...plenty of stories to entertain all our friends and family who we wish we could catch up with more often. Enough of the courtesy welcome to my blog and on with the good stuff.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I think every season is my favorite...except for the last two months of winter. There are so many fun activities in the fall that make saying good-bye to the swimming pool a little easier. Here is a recap of some of our favorite family fall outings.

Air and Space Museum


Local CAT Store
The owners let us sit in every single truck! This was more than a dream come true for Daniel.


State Fair
Daniel was a little hesitant to ride anything at first, but by the end of the night I was sick just watching him ride around in a counter-clockwise circle ride after ride after ride.


Hayride, Pumpkin Patch, and Maze


Apple Picking
We picked 30lbs of apples this year! A new record!


Monticello
These three pictures were just too cute to not put up.
I think they capture Daniel's personality so well.