Stardate 63007.54 - Transit Museum

On Saturday we decided to take Loren to the New York Transit Museum to see the trains. Cheryl called up the parent of one of Loren's classmates to see if they wanted to join us, and Susan and Ela were able to meet us there. The museum is inside a former subway station, with tracks full of old subway cars, mock-ups of buses, old maps, and historical displays. Loren liked going inside the old trains, but I think she liked the buses the best.





Here Loren and Ela sit together on a train from early in the 1900s.


And here is my personal favorite, the money train. This is the train they used to go from station to station, collecting the money from the machines and booths. A few years ago they went completely over to the MetroCard and there wasn't as much to collect anymore.


Loren liked driving the buses the best, and judging by the lines so did every other kid at the place.



Loren and Ela shared one turn, with one person driving and one shifting gears.


Here is one of the older maps that were hanging up in the varios subway cars.


Overall, Loren (and Ela) seemed to have a really good time at the museum. We went for pizza afterwards, but the pizza was mediocre and the place was really crowded and Loren had a mini-meltdown at the end (she was pretty tired and worn out).

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Stardate 63005.04 - Catching Snowflakes

Cheryl pointed out in the comments from my last post that in reality, she snapped the last picture of 2008 with her new iPhone. It is of Loren trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue on the way to school on the last day of the year.



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Stardate 63004.66 - Last and the First

The photo above is the last picture of 2008. We are driving to NJ to drop off our Christmas decorations for storage in Cheryl's parents' attic. Since my ankle was still sore, Cheryl drove us there and I snapped a couple of pictures of Loren while we were in transit.

The photo below is the first picture of 2009. I took Friday, January 2nd off from work (my client site was closed anyway) and did a bunch of organization around the house in anticipation of the new baby's arrival later this month. Below is what one year of important mail looks like (i.e. mail that needs to be kept). Most bills and statements I now get electronically and store across 3 hard drives--I don't print them out. But some stuff still comes as paper, and here is a year's worth, sorted into like piles. It took be about 45 minutes to do the sorting, but it took over an hour to get everything into the file cabinet (mainly because I had to purge some to fit these piles of paper into it).

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Visit to the UN

As Curt noted in his previous post, my grandmother, my aunt Janice and her boyfriend Steve came in to the city today. Steve had never been to the UN, and Janice hadn't been since her Model UN days (and we won't say what decade that was in), so we decided to have lunch and a tour there. Loren posed for a few pictures to pass the time while we waited for them to walk up from the ferry.




Inside she took in some Buddhist art...


... and the General Assembly.


No, her arms have not gotten freakishly long. She got the shirt for Christmas and it is 2 sizes too big. But she fell in love with it before I had time to hide it away for later.

Stardate 62985.31 - Christmas 2008

This is a long one, so hang on to your hats! We've had some wild temperature swings here over the past couple of weeks. In the photo above Loren gets ready to brave the cold on one of out sub-freezing days. We had beautiful snow 1 day before Christmas, but it rained and hit the 40s on Christmas Eve so it was all gone by Christmas morning.

Below Loren plays with Cheryl's new Birthday present (an iPhone, if you cannot tell). Cheryl finally has found something to keep Loren entertained on bus rides home! Of course, I'll always remember the day we got the iPhone as the day I slipped down the steps in the subway and sprained my ankle. :-)


Christmas Eve we went to New Jersey for the traditional celebration. Loren got to open her stocking from Cheryl's parents while the TV played the Christmas fireplace scene from their fireplaces DVD.

Later, I read a story to the under-17 crowd (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish).


After dinner it was time to open Christmas presents, which was pretty organized--no real chaos or mayhem.


"Bobby" poses with her daughters.


We got home pretty late and still had some set-up to do before Christmas morning. The kitchen in the picture below, for example, required over 140 screws. But for the first time in my adult life, we had Christmas Day at home--just us, with no travel and no visitors. We spent most of the day playing with Loren and all her new toys.



Loren also got some GeoTrax additions, but didn't want to connect them up to the large set (yet).

We stayed in PJs for a large portion of the day, although Loren had to try on her 2 princess outfits she received. Below I read a new book to her (and you can see that my ankle is still wrapped). Cheryl got me the cool holiday PJ bottoms!


Here is Loren's other princess dress, and she is alternating putting warm and cold water on the princess doll (it makes her clothes and hair highlights change color).

It was a nice Christmas and Loren seemed to really enjoy it. Today (Friday) Bobby, Steve, and Janice are in the city for a visit (they are off with Cheryl right now, as I am still not terribly mobile). They are going to swing by the cream puff place before they come up to the apartment since Friday is cream puff day!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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Stardate 62982.65 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

More photos to follow later...

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Stardate 62973.63 - Why me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

"Why me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

That was what I exclaimed when I was a child and during a mock sword-fight with my cousin Justin I backed up, lost my balance a bit, and set my hand down on top of a very hot wood stove. You could see a hand-print on the stove for months afterward, as I believe I lost a very thin layer of skin. I repeated this mantra for hours (days if you believe my cousins). Well, on Sunday we decided to get out of the house, run a few errands, take Loren to Grand Central for the laser show, and swing by Cheryl's office to move the last few items out of her old office and into her new office (right next door to her old office). Well, 2 out of 3 got accomplished.

First, we went to the AT&T store where (for Cheryl's birthday) we got her an iPhone. We thought we'd lost her phone Wednesday night at my company holiday party, and between the time we realized we couldn't find it and when we actually found it 24 hours later, Cheryl had done some research on line and had decided that she'd really like an iPhone to replace it. I think she was a bit disappointed when we found the phone, so we decided that for her birthday (I had not gotten a preasent other than flowers for her yet) we'd get her an iPhone. So we did, and she loves it! I'm having some gadget envy right now, I must confess.

Then, as we were walking down the wet, slushy stairs to the 4/5 train I had Loren's hand in one hand, and 2 umbrellas plus the iPhone bag in the other hand and suddenly slipped. I was wearing ankle-high snow boots and I'm not sure if they helped or hurt but I slid down several stairs as I tried to quickly release Loren's hand (successful), grab hold of the handrail (partially successful), keep from smashing the AT&T bag (successful), and keep my foot from folding under my leg (partially successful). As I stood up I realized that my ankle hurt like hell and I couldn't put any weight on it. I hobbled down the stairs and after a few minutes realized it was not getting any better.

So Cheryl and Loren went on to Grand Central without me as I hobbled back up the stairs and hailed a taxi to take me home. It turned out that there was also a train display there, and Loren fell in love with it.


Meanwhile I elevated my foot and watched New England crush the Cardinals while I tried to figure out if my ankle was broken or just horribly wrenched. I'm going to call the doctor today to see if I need to come in to have it checked out. I can move around the house slowly today, and the swelling has gone down, so I'm hoping it is the same basic injury I did to my right ankle about 10 years ago or so playing racquetball. It hurt less this time (left ankle this time), and the swelling was less so I'm hoping it is just a bad sprain.

So I'm working from home today. What a great way to start the holiday week.

Why me?!? :-)

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Stardate 62969.35 - You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Cheryl and I were in the mood for some comedies so I moved this one up to the top of the Queue: You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Cheryl did not even remember when this was in the theater, but consented to watch it "for 30 minutes or so" to see if she got into it enough to make it a preferable alternative to just going to bed early.

She watched the entire movie.

It was not great art, and it was not a fantastic movie, but with minimal expectations going in, we both found ourselves snickering through most of it and even laughing out loud a couple of times. If you are looking for something pretty silly and humorous, you could do worse than Zohan. Two thumbs up.

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Stardate 62967.03 - O Christmas Tree

After spending a fortune every year for a tree in New York City that was usually almost dead and left a trail of dry, discarded needles we were still finding months later, we finally broke down and purchased an artificial tree. We figured we'd break even if we use it for 3 years. This year Loren was really excited about getting the tree, and even helped decorate.


Here is the finished product, before we started stacking the presents under it. Loren has been very good and patient about not wanting to open the gifts before Christmas.


Happy Holidays to everyone!!

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Stardate 62964.11 - Cheryl's Birthday Weekend

For Cheryl's birthday weekend, we took Loren to NJ on Saturday and turned her over to Cheryl's parents. Then Cheryl and I, for what is probably our last weekend as just the two of us before the new baby comes, drove to Ocean Grove, NJ where Cheryl had picked out a nice little B&B named the Ocean Plaza. Comment from Cheryl: Actually, this would be our first weekend as just the two of us since Loren was born.


From the town website, "The Year was 1869, and a group of spiritual lay leaders assembled as The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to form and incorporate the town of Ocean Grove. Now New Jersey's finest year-round family seashore resort, this one square mile of natural beauty has welcomed and delighted vacationers, including U.S. presidents, for over a century. On Ocean Grove's tree-lined streets is the largest assemblage of authentic Victorian architecture in the nation."

After we got checked into our room, we took a walk around town. We so rarely go somewhere without Loren, and therefore neither of us brought anything to read with us. While we were in town we picked up some chocolates for Loren and Cheryl's parents, and 2 books for us to read.

The Great Auditorium:


Some of the original beach cottages still stand.


The scenery was quite spectacular.


And if you walk a few blocks north, you reach Asbury Park where the scenery is not quite as nice.


After the sun set it was quite cold and we returned to our room for a leisurely couple of hours reading our books. For dinner we made reservations at Bia in town (easily walkable from our hotel). The food was really good, although the pace was a bit leisurely. I had scallops and Cheryl had short ribs. Altogether a really enjoyable experience. Another comment from Cheryl: "Leisurely" is Curt's diplomatic way of saying SLOOOOOOW. But the food was excellent.

We returned to the room and read some more before falling asleep. I was up around 7 and Cheryl slept in a little bit. We ate breakfast and then checked out. On the way back to Cheryl's parents' place we even stopped and did a little Christmas shopping.

Loren was great for Grandpop and Grandma, and Cheryl and I had a very relaxing 24-hours together. Cheryl actually did all the work in selecting the place and the town, which was an interesting choice because even though it is only 30 minutes or so from where she grew up, she had never been there.

Two thumbs up on the Ocean Plaza, Bia, and Ocean Grove!

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Stardate 62933.12 - Last of Thanksgiving

They are the pictures that keep on giving! Here are a few more shots from Thanksgiving in Virginia.





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Stardate 62920.3 - Thanksgiving, by Mom

Here are a few photos Mom took at Ginger's place in Virginia during Thanksgiving day.




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Stardate 62917.64 - Thanksgiving, by Dad

Here are some photos my Dad (Granddad) took over Thanksgiving and e-mailed to me. Dad came down from Richmond for a few hours on Friday to visit with us. (My Mom posted pictures to Kodak Gallery and while you used to be able to download lower resolution versions from their site, they seem to have disabled that ability. I'll have to ask her to e-mail me a few of them and I can post some here.)

Here we are around the dining room table...


And here Loren and I walk with our walking sticks down to the creek.


And here Loren practices throwing things into the creek.


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