Friday, August 28, 2009

Holt's 2nd Birthday Party


Today was Brooks' little buddy Holt's 2nd birthday party. We went to Holt's house to play with our regular Friday playgroup and then the Coppell Fire Department brought a fire truck and an ambulance over for the kids to see. OMG! The kids were in heaven! The boys were all yelling, 'truck, truck!' and getting so excited. Brooks is really into trucks right now so this was such a fantastic treat for him. I had been telling him all week that we were going to see a fire truck today.



The firemen/women and paramedics were super nice and fun with the kids. They got to see the ladder go up and down, sit in the big fire truck chair (Brooks got up there at least four times!) and walk through the ambulance.



What a fun birthday part! Thanks so much to Holt, his mom Dawn and the Coppell Fire Department for making our morning so much fun. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLT!!!

Watch Out!

We keep telling Brooks that he better watch out and be nice to Colt because one day he is going to be bigger than him! Well, Colt isn't bigger than him yet but he is learning how to play rough. They were both in the pack n play the other day and Colt wanted the fish that Brooks was chewing on (since Colt chews on fish for teething Brooks has to also - jealous much???) so he went for it. Brooks started laughing and I had to pull Colt off. It was pretty funny!

So Busy!


Colt turned 7 months old on August 23rd. Where does the time go??? He is such a busy boy and already pulling up to standing AND cruising the furniture. This kid is ready to go! He loves to play with Brooks' toys now and has a great time crawling through the tunnel to get in and out of the ball pit. The boy is always moving and he is ALWAYS doing it with a smile on his face and his mouth open wide. It is so cute!

Hanging Out at Nana & Poppy's House


Brooks spends the night with my parents every Friday night because I have my long training runs early Saturday mornings. It is easier for Alex to handle just Colt in the morning and it is a treat for my parents and Brooks.

After my morning run, Colt takes a nap and then we head up to my parents to swim and play for the day. The kids love playing at their house and they play fairly well together. Brooks has his own room and it is filled with all sorts of fun toys for he and Colt.



Swimming in the pool is no doubt the highlight of the day! Colt has really taken to the water! They are just too sweet :-)

Friday, August 21, 2009

Big Boy Bath

Colt in his big boy bath - SO HAPPY!

Climbing the Trees

Brooks loves the trees. He can't climb into them yet but he has fun sitting and playing in them.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Sisters in NYC

My sis and I decided to take a 4-day girl's weekend in NYC for some delicious food, shopping and fun. We had an incredible time! I always have a great time when I visit New York but the trip is different when you go with your husband vs. a girlfriend or sister. You do different things and you talk about different things.

We asked for lots of food recommendations from friends (thanks to everyone!); however, we didn't use any of them! We picked all our own restaurants and did a fabulous job at it I must say. Our first night, we had an amazing Thai dinner at Ritz Asia, outside on the street in Greenwich Village. We ate dinner at Giovanni's in Little Italy, which was also fantastic! You can't really go wrong anywhere you eat in Little Italy. We decided to dress up a bit our last night and go somewhere a little nicer. We chose a quaint Spanish restaurant in Tribeca called Flor de Sol. The ambiance was charming, the food and wine were superb and the service was top notch. It was definitely my favorite of the three.



The rest of our trip was filled with the best NY style pizza, watching street performers, LOTS and LOTS of walking around the city and through Central Park, visiting little cafes from movies for coffee and dessert (Cafe Lalo from You've Got Mail and Serendipity; something a husband won't generally do), window shopping at all the stores we couldn't afford (Prada, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany's etc.) and then shopping where we could afford - Canal Street! We even saw Celine Dion shoe shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and I saw a 5 carat engagement ring for $487k at Tiffany's - it was BEAUTIFUL, but REALLY, who buys that???



Every time I have been to NYC I go to Canal Street to buy a knock off purse. Normally there are dozens of Asian men and women coming up to you on the street asking if you want to look at Prada, Coach, Chanel etc. purses. They walk you forever until you come to an alley, then a back door and about 5 flights of stairs before you enter a hot and steamy room the size of your closet which is filled with 20 other women. This is so they do not get busted by the cops. Now that I carry a diaper bag 24/7 I don't need a purse but my sister did. So we were walking along Canal Street and sure enough we were approached MANY times; however, there were no dark alleys or back doors or small rooms. They have now moved their underground, "secret" purse selling business to minivans - YES, minivans! There are dozens of minivans lining the streets. The vans are gutted and lined with shelves of purses. You go into the minivan (if you are not claustrophobic, of which I am, so I couldn't squeeze in there), sit on a stool across from the seller, and look through purses. I stood patiently outside many minivans until my sister found her Chanel and Gucci purses she had been looking for. This mini van business is very new b/c I was in NYC with Alex in November '08 and they were still selling from those tiny little back alley rooms.



I had to get a picture of the Abercrombie and Fitch models standing out in front of the store. They were hot, of course, and their bodies were nice to look at! We visited the Columbia campus briefly and what a walk up to the library! We also ran into a guy selling Obama, McCain & Palin condoms on the street. Each one of them has a saying on the front which I found very amusing:

OBAMA - "Hope is NOT a form of protection*" (*Hope flavored)
McCAIN - "Old but not expired*" (*Wrinkled for her pleasure)
PALIN - "When abortion is not an option*" (Hockey mom approved)



The entire time we were in NYC it was around 95 degrees with no breeze. We were walking 7-8 hours a day and our bodies hurt and we were so tired of being disgusting and sweaty. So, we took a rickshaw ride through Central Park our last day there. We walked the park one day and thought it would be fun to have someone else take us around too. Of course we stopped by all the movie spots and my favorite spot, Strawberry Fields! I go here every time I visit the city. I am a huge Beatles fan and Imagine is my absolute all-time favorite song every written. It is the most beautiful song I have ever heard and I still get goosebumps each time I visit John Lennon's memorial.



Dylan's Candy Shop was our last stop before we headed back to the hotel to catch a cab to the airport. I am not a big candy eater but we had heard about this candy store that was supposed to be unreal. Let me tell you, it is crazy full of candy. It is three stories of every type of candy, chocolate, fudge you can think of - a dentist's worse nightmare! They had bin after bin after bin full of candy for the very low price of $10.99/pound - WHAT??? $10.99/pound - that is crazy!!! And kids were filling bag after bag and their parents thought it was great. Yes, I am the boring and mean mom who doesn't allow her 22 month old to eat sweets but come on - this was insane. Anyway, this place even had some VERY old school candy like the dots on paper (gross) and candy cigarettes (really, is this a good thing to sell to kids still?). We found a very funny mint tin which read, "Please enjoy a mint, since your breath smells like butt!" Genius!



So, our trip was a success! I got to sleep in for the first time in a long time and spend some quality time with my sis - FUN TIMES!