The Big Apple!!

On Saturday Alison and I left on a 4 1/2-day excursion to CT and NYC. We had a lot of fun, and now she knows that giant TV's can be placed on the outside of very tall buildings, that M&Ms are actually not a rare commodity, a lot of activity happens underground, and it is not a good idea to touch anything in a city.

On Day 1, we drove to Stephanie's house in CT and hung out with her, Grace and Evan. Alison loved holding the toy guitar and it kinda looked good in her hands! Hmm...

They also have a great playground in their backyard:

After a fun afternoon, she and Kitty Cat were beat!

Then we drove to Kim's house, also in CT, and spent the night playing with Tyler and Connor. Sadly, we were having too much fun and forgot to break out the camera! :(

On Day 2, we drove to New York City for Alison's first trip to the Big Apple! Yay!! I waited more than 2 years to get back there--enough is enough!

We are so fortunate to have a relative--well, more like a very special friend, who invited us to stay with him right in the heart of downtown Brooklyn. He is now well known to Alison as Uncle Jack, and she just adored him, as do I! He heeded our advice to play hard to get upon first meeting her, and it worked like a charm. Within the hour, he had her searching all around saying, "Where'd Uncle Jack go?" when he left the room.

Here are a few pictures that encapsulate their mutual adoration:

While there, Alison experienced many firsts. First subway ride:

First jazz concert, first NYC jazz club:

First time in Union Square:

First street musicians:

First screeching subway car sounds:

First random bale of hay on city sidewalk:

First visit to Times Square! We spent a really fun Day 3 with Rina, whom she also loved immediately:



This is a picture of one of the huge jumbotrons in Times Square.
If you look really closely, you can see us on the video feed right in the middle:

One of the highlights for Alison was visiting the M&M store.
It's one of her favorite treats, and the store kind of blew her mind.




From there we went to Rockefeller Center and watched
the skaters for a little while:

Every time we got to an intersection, she yelled, "The sign is white! That means we can walk."
Here she is, not quite ready to give up the bag of M&Ms:

Uncle Jack gave us a tour of the spectacular views in his
offices in the New York Times building.
In the lobby is an enormous yellow wall that she enjoyed:




Empire State from the 43rd floor:

She doesn't appear to have inherited her mom's fear of heights:

A very bare downtown skyline:

On Day 4, we had breakfast with our friend Wayne
who works at Sesame Workshop, and he gave us a tour
of his offices. Alison loved all the fun cars and characters!











After that we went uptown to have lunch with Linda
(also sadly forgot the camera!) and had our first NYC bus ride:

After lunch we pushed ourselves, skipped our nap,
and went to the Museum of Natural History. It was not
ideal timing, and there was some crankiness, but it was worth it
to see a few of the amazing exhibits:


She drove me crazy, insisting on lugging this heavy bag around...


At the museum, she picked out a rubbery lizard,
now named Lizzy (we're very creative with our names),
and she enjoyed walking her around the house:

The following 3 pictures are of Alison's Time Outs. It could be argued that taking a picture of your child during a Time Out sends a confusing message, but oh well...

This montage is a tribute to all ledges and curbs everywhere. All Alison really wanted to do was climb on every single one. Notice how in this picture she is just happy to be walking on a ledge, paying absolutely no attention to all the trick-or-treating going on around her. People were literally throwing candy at kids, and she didn't even notice once.

Lastly, she learned that the city has many bathrooms available for use whenever the urge strikes. Over the course of the 3 1/2 days spent in the city, she used the facilities in the following places:

Port-a-potty in the back seat of the car on 96th and Madison

The Jazz Standard

Whole Foods in Union Square

Banana Republic in Downtown Brooklyn

Downtown Brooklyn Podiatry office

M&M store in Times Square

Pongsri Thai restaurant

Covington & Burling law offices

Cornelia St Café
Manhattan Diner

Sesame Street corporate offices

Ducale Italian restaurant

Museum of Natural History

Mark Twain Diner in Jackson Heights, Queens

I know it might seem a little crazy to document bathroom usage, but after spending the last 5 weeks of my life potty training a little person, I need to bask in this accomplishment for a brief moment.