Hi all,
As promised, here is a video of Max walking. Very cute.
Today we are putting the boys into the emergency childcare at work and Lyn and I are going Ice Skating in Central Park, then lunch somewhere nice followed by Avatar in 3D at the Imax cinema. In the UK you can only use the work childcare if you're at work, but here it's different. It should be a lovely day and we're very excited!
Hope you're all having a great Christmas week!
Lots of love,
Tom
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Max's 1st Birthday!
Hello everyone,
It's all snowy, cold and beautiful here at the moment. New York suits snow, especially with all the twinkling christmas trees and lights. We went to Central Park today and it was magical. We saw people trying to sledge down snow covered rocks in a canoe. Then they tried unsuccessfully to drag it back up to the top again. I love snow. It seems to bring out joy and nutters! I have to say though, the snowmen in Tooting Common last year completely thrash the Central Park ones.
Last Wednesday was Max's 1st birthday. To mark the occasion, Max started walking on the monday before. He looks very proud of himself and gives himself a round of applause each time he walks. On the morning of the big day, we played with Max's new toys and balloons, went swimming and then went into town to meet Tom and Paul for pizza. After lunch, Paul took us to a brilliant toy shop where children are allowed to play with the toys. There is a huge piano there from the Tom Hanks film 'Big' that children are encouraged to play on. Sam bought Max some building bricks and then we went home and played a bit more. I think Max had a fun day. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.
Calv and Isa came to visit the weekend before and we had loads of fun. We went out and played Beer Pong again. Then we went to a restaurant where a guacamole expert come to our table and prepared it in front of us. It was almost like performance art, but we had a huge incredible bowl of guacamole to show for it. Calv, Isa and Tom went to a huge local derby NFL game between Philadelphia Giants and Eagles. Isa got loads of great photos of topless fat blokes when it was -4 degrees. Big thanks to Isa who kindly imported, stamped and posted all our christmas cards, meaning for the first time in years our friends and family got Chrismas cards.
We're really looking forward to Christmas in New York, but I'm going to miss everyone back there in Blighty and those of you in Oz. I feel a long way away from you all.
New York doesn't hold back on celebrating holidays and Christmas is no exception. So, I'm sure it's going to be an experience. Sam and I went to our local fire house's christmas party a couple of weeks ago. It was for the firemen's and Sam's families. We felt very honoured indeed.
Sam and Max are decidedly unconvinced by Santa which is a shame beacause he's everywhere here. He came to the lobby in our building. When Sam saw Santa, he needed to keep a good distance. One of the much less scary elves, threw Santa's sack of toys to Sam, so Sam would not need to get too close. Max was braver until Santa laughed. Then Max screamed and Sam was rooted to the spot with fear. The next evening, we were in Little Italy and there was some kind of drunk Santa convention which didn't really help Sam and Max's opinion of the celebrated man in red.
We've put some new photos on our flickr site. We'll put a video of Max walking very soon. Have a lovely lovely christmas. We miss you all very much and will be thinking of you.
Lots and lots of love
Lyn, Tom, Sam and Max (now 1!)
It's all snowy, cold and beautiful here at the moment. New York suits snow, especially with all the twinkling christmas trees and lights. We went to Central Park today and it was magical. We saw people trying to sledge down snow covered rocks in a canoe. Then they tried unsuccessfully to drag it back up to the top again. I love snow. It seems to bring out joy and nutters! I have to say though, the snowmen in Tooting Common last year completely thrash the Central Park ones.
Last Wednesday was Max's 1st birthday. To mark the occasion, Max started walking on the monday before. He looks very proud of himself and gives himself a round of applause each time he walks. On the morning of the big day, we played with Max's new toys and balloons, went swimming and then went into town to meet Tom and Paul for pizza. After lunch, Paul took us to a brilliant toy shop where children are allowed to play with the toys. There is a huge piano there from the Tom Hanks film 'Big' that children are encouraged to play on. Sam bought Max some building bricks and then we went home and played a bit more. I think Max had a fun day. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.
Calv and Isa came to visit the weekend before and we had loads of fun. We went out and played Beer Pong again. Then we went to a restaurant where a guacamole expert come to our table and prepared it in front of us. It was almost like performance art, but we had a huge incredible bowl of guacamole to show for it. Calv, Isa and Tom went to a huge local derby NFL game between Philadelphia Giants and Eagles. Isa got loads of great photos of topless fat blokes when it was -4 degrees. Big thanks to Isa who kindly imported, stamped and posted all our christmas cards, meaning for the first time in years our friends and family got Chrismas cards.
We're really looking forward to Christmas in New York, but I'm going to miss everyone back there in Blighty and those of you in Oz. I feel a long way away from you all.
New York doesn't hold back on celebrating holidays and Christmas is no exception. So, I'm sure it's going to be an experience. Sam and I went to our local fire house's christmas party a couple of weeks ago. It was for the firemen's and Sam's families. We felt very honoured indeed.
Sam and Max are decidedly unconvinced by Santa which is a shame beacause he's everywhere here. He came to the lobby in our building. When Sam saw Santa, he needed to keep a good distance. One of the much less scary elves, threw Santa's sack of toys to Sam, so Sam would not need to get too close. Max was braver until Santa laughed. Then Max screamed and Sam was rooted to the spot with fear. The next evening, we were in Little Italy and there was some kind of drunk Santa convention which didn't really help Sam and Max's opinion of the celebrated man in red.
We've put some new photos on our flickr site. We'll put a video of Max walking very soon. Have a lovely lovely christmas. We miss you all very much and will be thinking of you.
Lots and lots of love
Lyn, Tom, Sam and Max (now 1!)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A Third of a Century
First of all - happy sort of birthday to me. Today I am 33⅓ - a third of a century!
The week after we got back from Arizona was Thanksgiving, which meant a day off work and a national celebration. On Thanksgiving eve I got off work early and we all went to the "Macy's Inflation Celebration". On Thanksgiving there is a huge parade, paid for by the department store Macy's, which has lots of huge balloons of cartoon characters, which are controlled like puppets from below. The day before they fence off a few roads to blow the balloons up. It was extremely overcrowded, but there was a real buzz in the air, and people had traveled for miles to see the inflation and then the parade the next day.
On Thanksgiving itself we got up and watched the parade on television. Paul came round and I made some pumpkin pie and we ate that with hot apple cider (non-alcoholic), which I had heated up with cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and rum for the adults. Yum. After the parade we watched the (American) football, another thanksgiving tradition, and played with the kids. Paul headed off, and in the evening we went round to the parents of one of Sam's friends from pre-school. We had been hoping for a Thanksgiving invite and were really pleased when it arrived two days before the day. We ate lots of food and drunk lots of wine and had a really nice evening.
This weekend we had Anna & Phillip to stay, which was really nice. On Friday we put the boys into the childcare at my work and Lyn, Anna & Phillip spent the day going round art galleries in the Village, getting their hair cut and eating and drinking. It sounds like they had a lovely day. On Saturday we lazed around in the morning and then went to the Christmas market in Union Square, but the weather was horrible, so we found ourselves a nice pub and had a great dinner, washed down with Pumpkin beer. After lunch we went to Grand Central station, where there is another Xmas market, and then walked to the Rockefeller Centre. By now the rain and turned to snow, and it was beautiful seeing the huge Christmas tree in the snow, while people ice skated below. We then headed back to the subway via Times Square, which is always crazy but the snow gave it something extra.
By Sunday the clouds had gone and it was a beautiful cold crisp sunny day. We walked along the river down to the bottom of Manhattan and had a lovely Italian lunch, before getting the ferry across to Liberty Island to look up at the statue. The ride on the boat was nice, but the most special thing was looking back at New York from the island. We can see the statue from our apartment, and to look back and see our tower as part of the Manhattan skyline was great. Have a look at the photo here. It's the smaller one right in the middle that has a square on top. That is one that we need to crop, enlarge and frame. It's amazing to think that the Statue of Liberty was taller than any of the buildings in New York when it arrived here. Now there's not many shorter....
Anna and Phillip left yesterday and Calv and Isa arrive tomorrow, so we have another fun packed weekend coming up. Christmas is fast approaching and we need to buy a tree and some lights soon. Hope you are all well and looking forward to the festivities.
Best wishes,
Tom x
The week after we got back from Arizona was Thanksgiving, which meant a day off work and a national celebration. On Thanksgiving eve I got off work early and we all went to the "Macy's Inflation Celebration". On Thanksgiving there is a huge parade, paid for by the department store Macy's, which has lots of huge balloons of cartoon characters, which are controlled like puppets from below. The day before they fence off a few roads to blow the balloons up. It was extremely overcrowded, but there was a real buzz in the air, and people had traveled for miles to see the inflation and then the parade the next day.
On Thanksgiving itself we got up and watched the parade on television. Paul came round and I made some pumpkin pie and we ate that with hot apple cider (non-alcoholic), which I had heated up with cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and rum for the adults. Yum. After the parade we watched the (American) football, another thanksgiving tradition, and played with the kids. Paul headed off, and in the evening we went round to the parents of one of Sam's friends from pre-school. We had been hoping for a Thanksgiving invite and were really pleased when it arrived two days before the day. We ate lots of food and drunk lots of wine and had a really nice evening.
This weekend we had Anna & Phillip to stay, which was really nice. On Friday we put the boys into the childcare at my work and Lyn, Anna & Phillip spent the day going round art galleries in the Village, getting their hair cut and eating and drinking. It sounds like they had a lovely day. On Saturday we lazed around in the morning and then went to the Christmas market in Union Square, but the weather was horrible, so we found ourselves a nice pub and had a great dinner, washed down with Pumpkin beer. After lunch we went to Grand Central station, where there is another Xmas market, and then walked to the Rockefeller Centre. By now the rain and turned to snow, and it was beautiful seeing the huge Christmas tree in the snow, while people ice skated below. We then headed back to the subway via Times Square, which is always crazy but the snow gave it something extra.
By Sunday the clouds had gone and it was a beautiful cold crisp sunny day. We walked along the river down to the bottom of Manhattan and had a lovely Italian lunch, before getting the ferry across to Liberty Island to look up at the statue. The ride on the boat was nice, but the most special thing was looking back at New York from the island. We can see the statue from our apartment, and to look back and see our tower as part of the Manhattan skyline was great. Have a look at the photo here. It's the smaller one right in the middle that has a square on top. That is one that we need to crop, enlarge and frame. It's amazing to think that the Statue of Liberty was taller than any of the buildings in New York when it arrived here. Now there's not many shorter....
Anna and Phillip left yesterday and Calv and Isa arrive tomorrow, so we have another fun packed weekend coming up. Christmas is fast approaching and we need to buy a tree and some lights soon. Hope you are all well and looking forward to the festivities.
Best wishes,
Tom x
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