Radio City: The Spirit of Christmas

There is no better way to get into the spirit of Christmas than a trip to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!  It was a fun train ride in to the City with new Christmas clothes and lots of anticipation of a fun night!  We walked up Fifth Avenue from Grand Central and immediately felt the Christmas cheer on the streets!  I love the Christmas windows and Saks is always especially festive with their glowing snowflakes that adorn the entire facade.  



Then a trip through Rockefeller center is enough to put any Scrooge in the gleeful spirit.  The white angels that line the walk were all aglow and the massive annual tree was not yet lit, yet it's presence was enough to put you in awe.  I love the story of where the tree came from this year when I heard it on the radio last week.

Radio City is such a gorgeous building and the Swarovski chandelier provided a warm welcome in the lobby!  



The kids were giddy with excitement as we approached our seats.  

Wesley's got his ticket, he's ready!

They loved all of it.  My favorite was the Rockettes as the toy soldiers and of course their chorus line kicks.  Their precision is impressive!  While the show is altered a little each year to keep the interest up, I always look forward to the living Nativity that concludes the show each year.  It's an inspiring spectacle that reaffirms my faith in the Christmas story.  Thanks for keeping Christ in Christmas, Radio City!

***note:  there is no Luke on this trip.  He did not meet the age requirement for a stress-free trip ;-)

Thanksgiving: Central Park WEST style!

Is there any better way than to spend Thanksgiving watching the parade above the balloons with dear family and friends?!  Ok, maybe with MORE of our dear family and friends, but we have had the ulitmate in NY Thanksgivings for the past 4 years watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade from our friends' balconies.  

Camera out the window shot!

Central Park West-2008

The parade is a wonderfully spectacular event full of color, excitement and grandeur.  For those who have never witnessed it in person, a trip to NYC at Thanksgiving-time is a MUST at least once in a lifetime!

We trekked in the night before and had a blast trapsing around our old haunts.  It was so great to eat at Ollie's.  I LOVE the Sesame Chicken and Moo Shu Pork.  The kids think their egg drop soup is the best around!  Oh, how I've missed our house account at Ollie's and their fast, efficient delivery!

Then we joined the throngs of people getting a sneak peek of the blowing up of the balloons the night before.  I remember going a decade ago when it was really a non-event!  You just went and walked around and were amazed at the size of the balloons up close and talked to the balloon handlers.  Now, there are mazes to get through to even watch!  There were even printed indication signs and police barricades galore so it's turned into a full event in and of itself!

A trip to Pinkberry was not missed despite the near freezing temp and Pinkberry was once again adored by the kids!  They have grown to love the tart frozen yogurt creation as much as I do!  Luke entertained the customers while dancing to the tunes playing. Sophia had a gleeful smile as she finished the last bite and Wesley licked the cup clean!  Bliss.

Then back over to the Eastside to stay at our friend's pad!  It was actually soothing to sleep to the sounds of the city that night. (garbage trucks, street noise and the whooshing sound of the buildings--what is that sound?)  What a great night's sleep!

We had a wonderful day of parade watching, great food, even better friends and just plain Thanksgiving tradition!  The balloons were larger than life as usual and the colors parading down Central Park West were so vivid and striking!  There was a pink and orange dance team that was so eye-catching with their swishing pom poms!  The kids loved seeing the Bolt balloon and Santa bringing up the rear, of course!

Bow Bridge, Central Park

The Park was spectacular at mid-day!  The weather was nearly perfect and the mood was cheerful!  We went to our favorite spots by the lake and the Bow Bridge and then made our way over to the Bethesda Fountain area where the same entertaining Afrobats were starting their annual show.  They chose Wesley to be their token cute kid to earn them even more money and gave him his street name, "White Chocolate" and afterward they shared a little of the profits with him.  He was thrilled!  The did a stunt and jumped over him.  It was so cute and one that Wesley will remember for a long time!

Afro-bats @ Bethesda Fountain with "boy with stick" aka White Chocolate--LOL

White Chocolate returns with $1.25--woo hoo!

Dinner was outrageously fabulous prepared by Varan, an Israeli chef.  He went over the top with so much this year.  There were 5 different toppings and spreads for the cast iron baked corn bread, and sausage galore stuffing, extremely moist turkey and wonderful fixings.  Wow!  I was so full that I actually had to pass up pie this year!  

Diane & Chef Varan

Wesley led a "what are you thankful for" discussion and he reminded us that his two favorite holidays are what hit the top of his list: Halloween and Thanksgiving!  Sophia was thankful for the earth and Evan for family.  Me, I'm thankful that we've had this great family tradition of spending Thankgiving in a warm and gracious home these past four years and the good friends that have been such wonderful hosts!  These traditions are part of the tapestry of our life!

It's been a crazy year of ups and downs and health and sickness for all at the Thanksgiving table, but what I went away with this year is... wow, we are all blessed with so much, what are we going to do with those blessings to shape our lives and impart to others? What great lessons we have learned this year and what even greater lessons do we have to look forward to next year!

Let us all be thankful.

My little bike RIDERs!

All excuses aside.  This was the week my daughter would finally be taught how to ride a bike!  I knew she was ready and the process took about 20 minutes.  Interestingly enough, she did best when Evan and I weren't watching.  (or she didn't think we were, at least!) I knew she was ready and that she could do it, I just needed to find away to make her BELIEVE!  I was pleased with the results!  Wow, my little post September 11th baby has sure come a long way!  She's growing up fast!

Then my garage saleing talent this week yielded some wonderful finds:  the most important to Wesley being a brand new Trek bike trailer that attaches to Evan's bike.  He was giddy with excitement as we got it installed!  He was so thrilled to do our 3 road loop over and over again.  Daddy got quite a workout and Wesley had an eternal smile!  Pure joy!

Yay for bikes!  I can't wait until we find a way to get me and Luke in on the action!  The infant seat we have doesn't fit any of our bikes.  We'll figure something out.  Until then, Ride ON!

Mother's Day Bronx style

Mother's Day was a very good day!  The morning was started with one of my favorite grown-up breakfasts--crepes and lemon curd & cinnamon sugar.  Then I was presented with some darling adornments picked out by my kids--some flower earrings and a turquoise color flat bead necklace. (Thanks, Evan, you're getting better every year!) I even got a mid-morning nap in!

We started a very humorous tradition a few years ago in that we spend Mother's Day afternoon on City Island at the end of the road at a place called Johnny's Reef Restaurant.  It's like a combination of Coney Island Boardwalk and the New York Stock Exchange Trading floor. (I'm not kidding!  You have to experience it on a busy day!)  It's really the antithesis of what most other people's Mother's Day's version is, but our family loves it.  Evan said he just couldn't wipe the smile off his face the whole time we were there.  The funny part is that it's mainly DEEP FRIED Seafood and all of you that know me, know I'm not a fan of any sort of seafood, yet, their chicken is good and the atmosphere is like no other, so I'm good with it.

We really stood out!

The "dining room"

All in all a great Mother's Day!  I felt honored and once again I cherish my kids, especially when they don't whine at me all day!

30 seconds at a time...

...so, many of you know about my tv shoot with Current TV featuring Curly's and Trash Talk Media as a stay at home mom.(still yet to have its final edit)  Our next publicity stunt is today's NY Times Home section.  Well, actually it's not necessarily a stunt because they came looking for us as did the tv shoot.  Our kitchen was featured in the Times today.  The kids made the final cut where they are making pasta by hand at the counter.  Suzanne, the NY Times shutterbug was at our house for an hour and a half on a Saturday snapping shots of every angle and corner of our kitchen including the knobs, the drawers, the fridges, us, not us, the doors, the hinges, the spices, the breadbox, the baskets of fruit, the counters, well, you get the idea, don't you? (I could go on!) I have been so curious to see what made it to ink.  Congratulations, Wesley, Sophia and Evan's world famous fresh pasta!  Here's the story!  Slowly, we're making up our 15 minutes of fame...30 seconds at a time!

***As a side note, our picture made it to press, but wasn't included on the online version.

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Testing...

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