NYC 2010

Joe and I spent Columbus Day weekend in New York City while Ian stayed home with Grandma H. and his Aunt Emily. We did a lot of walking and our feet were definitely ready to come home, but we also had a lot of fun. Here are some of the highlights.

Friday morning we took an Amtrak train from DC to Penn Station, then spent the afternoon walking around the financial district. We saw Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, the construction site at Ground Zero, and took an afternoon walk along the Hudson River and Battery Park.


Friday evening we went out for a fancy dinner at Le Bernardin, where we had a seven course tasting menu that included octopus, lobster, and carmelized white chocolate, complete with a wine pairing for each course. The wine was great but the food didn't live up to our expectations. We did, however, get to see the restaurant's famous chef Eric Ripert talking to NY Senator Chuck Schumer in the dining room so that was pretty cool.

After dinner we walked through Times Square and visited the world's largest Toys R' Us (but poor Ian didn't get a souvenir).


Saturday we spent the day walking. We toured Chinatown, ate breakfast al fresco in Little Italy, and sampled grapefruit margaritas featured on Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate.



We took a break from walking to take a water taxi tour around the southern tip of Manhattan.


We rounded out the afternoon with a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and some delicious pizza at the famous Grimaldi's.


After a long nap, we braved the subway to Greenwich Village, where we hopped around to several bars and restaurants and had some delicious food and wine.


Sunday we had a picnic in Central Park, toured the Museum of Natural History, and did some window shopping in midtown.


Sunday night we met our friends Sam and Roy for dinner and a visit to Top of the Rock, the observation deck 67 floors above Rockefeller Center.


Monday we ate some NY bagels for breakfast and attempted to buy a fake designer purse in Chinatown before catching the train back home. We loved New York but next time we have a child-free vacation we'll spend it lounging on a beach because now we're exhausted!

Garage Door: Before and After

We finally replaced our wooden, rotting, squeaky, very blue garage door with a quiet, insulated, cream-colored one. We think the house looks so much nicer.

Before


After

Fall Festival

We spent Saturday with some friends at the Cox Farms fall festival.

Not so sure about this hay business


Ryan is king of the mountain while Ian does his best farmer impression


Throwing rocks in the pond


Lots of fun on the train






Sliding with Dad


Again again!


Picking a pumpkin

Spoon Feeding

In this first video, Ian demonstrates the two-handed spoon technique. He's got the scooping part down pretty well but can't quite steer the spoon to his mouth without the help of his other hand.



In the second video, Ian puts the spoon in his left hand and seems to be able to get it to his mouth much more easily, but he has some trouble scooping food.



Still a ways to go before he's a spoon master (notice he's wearing most of the berry applesauce on his face and bib), but this is a great start!

Another photo taken by a friend, and too cute not to share.

Early Signs of Fall

Thanks to Hurricane Earl, Fall made a brief appearance in Virginia this weekend. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to a winery for a picnic with some friends. Ian got decked out in some of his new Fall clothes and had a wonderful time practicing his walking all over the fields. He played with his friends and even a few dogs, since the winery is dog-friendly.



This picture was taken by our friends, who have a much fancier camera than we do.

Uh oh

Someone finally figured out how to use the dog door.

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