Monday, December 9, 2013

The Big Apple (and one Big Pretzel)

Angus got his first REAL taste of the great American classic, the Road Trip. My brother and I spent MANY hours in the back of several quite uncomfortable cars growing up. I didn't so much recognize the discomfort at the time, only because I was not aware that in the future, there would be a revolt  against making kids actually entertaining themselves on car trips. So, while my brother and I were forced to read, listen to "Phantom of the Opera" for the 96th time, or indulge in the ever-so-popular license plate by state game, kids today have it far cushier.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Christopher, Angus and I drove up to NY on Friday to meet my brother and his family. Well, Christopher drove and I, on the way up, entertained everyone with my singing and, on the way back, distracted Angus from melt-down. Because it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, we thought we might get lucky with traffic. And the way up was great - very little traffic and a smooth trip, including Angus sleeping for a solid 3.5 hours. The way back? Not so lovely, given that a fairly major snow and ice storm whipped through about an hour into our trip. So a normally 5-hour trip took more than 8, with poor Christopher driving the entire way. But, since he'd smartly had winter tires put on before we embarked on the trip, we were ok. I can't begin to count how many stalled cars and accidents we saw, though...brought back lovely memories of the drive back from Deep Creek Lake the previous Christmas (when I, yet again, avoided driving myself).

But the trip itself was great - NYC itself was of mixed success, simply because trying to navigate 5th Avenue on a Saturday morning near Christmas was, apparently, akin to wading upstream through a crowd of World Cup fans post-victory. We finally arrived at a café near Rockefeller Center, a bit worse for the wear, and Angus met his cousins, Nathan and Olivia, and my brother and his wife, of course. His only cousins on my side. Nathan and Angus got along quite well, though Olivia didn't seem to be as sure of this new face in her life. :) It was great to see them, and we walked around NY after indulging in some major slices of pizza. We did try to get into FAO Schwartz, but there was a longer line there than there was at Studio 54 in its heyday. We soldiered on in the cold, and Christopher and I warmed ourselves up with some large street vendor pretzels. Completely worth the overly-full feeling.

We then met again the following morning in Greenwich, where we were staying, for breakfast. The service at the restaurant left a little to be desired, but it was kid-friendly, and we were able to almost get a picture of the 7 of us as requested by Grandpa. Of course, we stayed with Christopher's brother and wife in Greenwich, which was great.

I somehow knew my brother would beat me to the punch blogging about our weekend. My excuse is that our trip back was longer ;).
Nathan being shy at the beginning of the day. He warmed up quickly :).

Olivia the cheerleader!

Angus and uncle

Sort of group shot

Breakfast

Bath time!

Lunch. Not a bit of pizza left!

Angus with his aunt.

We made a mean posse

Several people asked us if Angus's jerry-rigged bottle holder was a legit product.

Our morning Greenwich run

Angus's first rest area

Beginning of the snowy ride home

Monday, December 2, 2013

Turkey Day!

Despite not being able to fully take part in the feast (I say fully because we did give Angus some mashed sweet potatoes, which he loved), Angus seemed to enjoy his first year of Thanksgiving festivities. In typical fashion, I was extremely ambitious in the amount of food to be prepared, but thanks to Christopher slaving away at the cutting board for hours on end and everyone else more or less staying out of my way (yes, I have turned into a kitchen controller, are you happy, Dad??), we were able to get a pretty solid feast on the table by about 2:30. Christopher's brother and sister-in-law came down from Connecticut, and my friend and her husband joined...all the way from Silver Spring. There was a ton of food, but we made a solid dent in the smorgasboard, and Angus fell asleep sitting in my lap for much of the meal. He then stayed up until almost 10, chattering away and being passed around like a party favor. All in all, a successful Thanksgiving, I think.

Now on to Christmas, my true love. In addition to a fairly successful present-buying trip yesterday, we also got a tree. Christopher then spent about 6 hours stringing up the lights outside. While we aren't the first in the neighborhood with the lights (we're the 2nd), he outdid himself this year, so it'll be bad Christmas music, hot chocolate, and pine needles in our house 24/7 for the next month :). I do love buying presents for others, but surprisingly, I've only bought Angus two toys. I don't want him to become a spoiled child who expects mountains of presents at Christmas and birthdays, and let's face it, he's too young to even know what the hell a present is. I can't be held accountable, however, for what grandparents do.
These pictures are a bit out of order, but I took Angus to the National Building Museum in DC for a "play date"with my boss's daughter this weekend. He looks pretty fascinated by her. I guess he likes the older women :).

Post-meal pass-out with my friend's husband.

Molly hamming it up in front of the buffet.

Lovely stain on your shirt, Kate. Is that spit-up, gravy, or some other Angus-related delight?

What?? You talking to me??

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Angus was very fascinated by the wreath.