Memorial Day 2008

Happy Memorial Day 2008...a few days late!

We had our friends Jason, Janna, and their new addition, Nathan, over for Memorial Day this year. Natalie was very interested in anything Nathan did, and kept saying "ahhh, cuuute...ahhh, cuuute" when looking at him (I am not sure where she learned this).





Natalie does not only like Nathan, but I think she has a crush on Jason. I know she is only 2, but it is so funny to watch her around Jason. She loves taking his hand and dragging him around the house. And, being the good sport that he is, Jason lets her take him all over the place. I have heard that if your daughter likes men it is because she has a very good relationship with her father...so I am going to stick with that.

Any Holiday calls for special clothes. Natalie wasn't interested in wearing the scarf until Kristin told her that it was a Cinderella hat that she wears when she is cleaning. Instantly, the hat was no longer an issue and she wanted to keep it on for the rest of the day.



We had a typical Memorial Day...grilling out and eating too much. We made burgers and hot dogs, go figure, and Natalie had her own hotdog. What is it with kids and processed food??

We did buy a watermellon, but we didn't eat it because we were too full on Memorial Day. So, yesterday, we broke it out, and let's just say it was an instant hit. We didn't know if she remembered having it last summer, but I don't think that it mattered. She literally ate more than I did. She had 3-4 slices of the stuff.



My sister's blog, which is linked on the side of this page, Hacienda del Hirst, has a tribute to my grandparents for Memorial Day. I think that she did a great job, so I don't want to repeat everything that she said, but our family is very thankful for all of the servicemen/women in the armed forces and their families. We are very proud of all our veterans and especially our family members. Amoung them are my dad's parents, my grandfather on my mom's side who is no longer with us, and both of Kristin's grandparents. THANK YOU!!

Philly

Today we decided to go to downtown Philly and check out the historical district. We went there a few months ago with Mara and Kyle, but we only stayed for a few hours. This time we decided to come and take a tour of entire area on one of the "tourist" type tours...our choice was the Duck tour, which took you through the Philly historical district via land and through the Delaware river on one of these:



The tour guide explained that Philadelphia has the most historical sites in a 1 mile square than any location in the country, and I believe it. In our 70 minute tour we drove past Independence Hall, the home of George Washington, the Liberty Bell, the original Upper and Lower houses of Congress, Betsy Ross' house, Penn's Landing, the first US residential street, the first US Capital, etc. Needless to say, I don't think Natalie appreciated the history very much. She was enjoying just riding a bus/boat.

After we got done with our tour, we hung out around Independence Hall because they were going to have an official hot dog eating contest. Natalie and I posed for a picture:



The winning person, "Humble Bob" (who is the world's 6th highest ranked competitive eater), ate 38 hot dogs in 10 minutes. We stood there and watched this guy inhale all these hot dogs...bun and all in these 10 minutes. Here is a picture of him holding the trophy:



I couldn't believe what I was watching when he was eating, it was unreal. I did some rough math, and he probably consumed 9,500 calories in 10 minutes...that is nuts!!!

I will leave you with 2 pictures that I took by Independence Hall. It is a Memorial Day display for all the PA fallen soldiers in the war. Here is the first shot, facing Independence Hall, and the second one is facing away.

NYC or Bust!

On Friday, we drove up to New York City to go to the Yankees game. They were playing the Mets, and it was going to be a great game. We checked into the hotel around 4, hung out for a little bit, and then headed to the game. It was raining at the time, but we thought that it might clear up for the game. We were staying near Time Square, which is south of Central Park by 10 blocks or so. The Yankees will be playing in Yankee Stadium one more year ("The Stadium that Ruth Built"). It is located in the Bronx, which is just north of Manhattan.

We decided to take the subway to the game, which was a first for Natalie and Kristin in NYC. Here is a picture of Natalie and me waiting for our train to get to the station:

Just after this picture was taken, Natalie was looking onto the tracks, and started saying, "mommy, mouse...mommy, mouse...mommy, mouse" and I didn't know what in the world she was talking about. At first I thought that she might be talking about someone wearing a Disney shirt, referring to Mickey Mouse...but alas, she wasn't talking about a figurative character...she was talking about a factual character walking on the subway tracks below us...a good ol' subway rat!

The next thing Natalie noticed, and loudly pointed out to us, was the trash on the tracks. We had to keep reassuring her, "yes, Natalie, there is a mouse, and trash, on the tracks."

We then got on the train, with numerous Yankee and Met fans. Natalie spent most of the time on the train in her mom's lap, and telling everyone about the mouse and trash:



After changing trains once, we made it to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It was still raining, but we went ahead and went into the stadium. We had tickets to the Sony Lounge, which was an overpriced bar and buffet, but hey, it was out of the rain. While we were eating supper, they cancelled the game.

So, we fought the crowd again, and got back on the subway, headed back to Time Square. We decided to get a picture of us in Time Square:



We made it back to the hotel, and got some rest, because Saturday was going to be a long day.

We started the day with walking towards Central Park and got side-tracked by the M&M store. We picked out some pink candies just in case we needed them later in the day. Natalie wanted to stay in the stroller because there was a 10 foot M&M character in the store (she was a little too scared to get out of the stroller).



Once we made it to the park, we wanted to walk around and take a few pictures. Natalie got to play in one of the playgrounds that is part of the park.



I took a picture of Kristin and Natalie walking in the middle of the park:



Natalie was very interested in the fountain in Central Park:



We then started our journey out of Central Park, but not before taking a few pictures with a famous bridge:



This is the view if you turn around:



Here are a few more pictures we took while in the park:





Before going any further, we needed to get some lunch. We walked a few blocks down to a diner near Carnegie Hall called Lindy's, famous for their cheesecake. After splitting a sandwich, we decided to taste-test their cheesecake. As you can see, we though it was "okay".



Before:



During:

After:



We then got on the subway, and headed to the south side of Manhattan, which is the Financial District, and just across the Hudson River from the Statue of Liberty. By this time, Natalie was sound asleep:



We boarded a water taxi:



They took us up the Hudson River, down near Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, up the East River, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and then back to Battery Park.

Here is a picture we took of the Statue of Liberty:



This is the view of Mahattan from the Statue of Liberty:



We are now back home, and exhausted. Natalie didn't want to go to bed tonight, she thought that the party should continue. It was a busy day, but I am glad we were able to go.

Landon

No, My's!!

Okay class, can everyone say "Terrible Twos?" (it isn't that bad, but it is the only thing that can explain the rest of the blog).

I don't have any pictures to go with this blog entry, but I wanted to share Natalie's three favorite phrases these days:

"No, My's"

Natalie uses this one when she puts her kung-foo death grip on anything she has that someone else wants. This morning it was her pajamas that we were trying to take off and replace with her clothes for the day. She also uses this phrase to protect her toys from other kids. When using this phrase, she likes to repeat it over and over again until she gets her desired result...or lands herself in time-out, or gets herself a spanking.

"No like it"

Written words do not accurately represent how this is actually spoken by Natalie. It is more like "noooo liiikit, nooo liikit, nolikit." Half the time Kristin and I have to bite our lip because we want to laugh, but it will only encourage the behavior (or so we are told). I would love to laugh at this everytime she says it, because it is hillarious! She says this when she doesn't like something.

Example:
Landon: "Natalie, are you ready to take a bath?"
Natalie: "No like it."

Kristin: "Oh Natalie, let's go play in the basement."
Natalie: "No like it."

The last phrase is "No, Daddy, Stop" (with her her hand out in front of her like a traffic cop).

She uses this one when we do something she doesn't like. She used this one just right as I am typing this because I wouldn't let her play with a picture of her from Disney World. I think she got this one from watching Diego, because they learn to tell the monkey's "Freeze Bobos" with their hands out.

I guess it is called Terrible Twos, but I wouldn't trade these moments for the world.

Landon

More Birthday Cake

Based on the request from G-Dad, Kristin baked Natalie a chocolate cake for her to enjoy at the house for her "real" birthday (her party was a week early). Tonight we had the cake, 2 days after her birthday so Grandma could be part of the celebration.

Natalie has started to get good at using her fork and spoon lately, but there is just something about cake and toddlers...nothing can really prevent a mess from happening. As you can see from the pictures, she had a great time.

Because it was Mother's day, I decided to take a few pictures with Mom and Grandma as well.

Enjoy...

Natalie trying to blow out the candle:

Finger licking good...

Gardening with Grandma

Natalie had a blast with Grandma today. We started the day by going to church and then out to eat for Mother's Day. We ate at Ruby Tuesday, which is in the same parking lot as Lowe's. So after lunch, we headed to Lowe's to get some plants for our front porch. Grandma has the greenest thumb that we know, so we had to use her talents while she was in town.

After naptime (which was a short 30 minutes today), we headed outside to do a little work. Grandma bought Natalie some Dora gardening gloves:



Natalie soon ditched the gloves and decided to grab the nearest tool she could find, which was a weeding tool. I selfishly hoped that she already knew how to use it:



Grandma, Kristin, and Natalie worked on getting a few plants in pots and then showed them off to me:

Video from Natalie's Birthday

Here are a few videos from Natalie's birthday party. Sorry if they are a little long...

Natalie Turns 2!

Well, Natalie is officially 2 now! We celebrated her birthday in style last week with a Dora party. If we thought that she had enough Dora DVD's and toys before, she REALLY has quite the collection now. She absolutely loves all of her new toys, and has been playing with them non-stop for the past week.

Natalie had several friends come to her party, which was held at Tumbleweeds, a local toddler tumbling business. All of the kids enjoyed running around for a couple hours, and then filled their stomachs with sugar so they could go home and continue the fun.

Here is a link to all the pictures that we took during the party: link

There is one more picture that I want to include on the blog, which is a picture of Natalie's birthday cake:


Kristin was brave enough to make the 'Dora Cake' at home, and I think that it turned out wonderful! It was tiring enough just to watch her make it, I can't imagine what it was like to actually do all the work. Although, I did get to participate in the cleaning of the kitchen, which one could argue was half of the "fun". I guess Kristin has set the bar for the next birthday party...I can't wait to see what disney/noggin/nickelodeon/etc. character will be Natalie's favorite in a year!

I feel like a stranger to my own blog, and it is hard to believe that it has been a month since I have posted anything on it. Life still continues to go at lightning speed here in Philly. We are excited that it has started to get warmer, although it has been in the 50's all week and rainy.

Kristin's mother Terri is in town from Iowa this weekend, so hopefully I can post a few more times while she is here.


Landon