Sunday, January 29, 2012

NYC and hiking weekend

After being away from the city for over a month, I was missing it again.  Barbara G. and I were headed to Connecticut last week while the kids were in school, but decided last minute to go to Greenwich Village instead.  Not a bad detour, I must say.  There is nothing like Greenwich Village on a sunny weekday.  
I was bound and determined to get the kids to the city this weekend as well.  Olivia has been begging to ice skate at Rockefeller Center.  Saturday, I planned a trip in to the American Museum of Natural History and ice skating.  
As you can see, butterflies were aflutter.  The museum was hosting a butterfly exhibit and this one decided to hitch a ride around the exhibit.  Nice hair accessory, eh?
Olivia had to resist her famous butterfly 'catch and hold' because signs warned us of touching the butterflies.  Obviously, it didn't work the other way around.  The museum was not our favorite of all time.  It was dark inside and we unfortunately chose a sunny, unseasonably warm day in the city to be inside.  Lest we miss out on sunshine, we bolted to Rockefeller Center for some skating.  Of course, Dave and I had to lug backpacks laden with personal ice skates on the subway and sidewalks.  Hey, that's what parents, I mean sherpas, do!
Zach rocked the Rock!  He skis on his own and skates on his own; don't' slow him down, people!  Olivia, eh, slow and go for her.
All in all, it was a fine day in the city.  It was the taste I was looking for; I'll be back for more!  I have some shows calling my name.
Sunday greeted us with sunny weather, so another hike was on our to-do list.  Dave is a hiking fiend; this is probably our fifth or sixth hike in the last two months.  We headed over the NY state line for this one and a gorgeous lake and fire tower lured us.  Kobe enjoys the hikes most of all, so this one was to say "sorry we left you all day while we were in the city".  He forgave us....
Kobe, shown here, with his favorite member of our family, daddy.

Campgaw skiing

A little sibling competition during our recent ski outing. We were there until the slopes closed. We are so happy the kids love the sport.

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Location:Mahwah, NJ,United States

Sunday, January 22, 2012

A late January snow...

As January settled in and we learned to deal with the sun going down early, our hobbies took center stage.  Olivia moved her new art easel to the kitchen/sitting area to take full advantage of the flat screen and the fireplace.  That's my girl.  Although, I could skip the t.v.  Mommy loves a blazing fire.

Zach, above, shows off his new Georgia Tech sweatshirt that Aunt Karen gave him.  He fits in with the GT shirt and all of the New England fans (professional sports mostly).  It looks good on him!  Zach also started electric guitar lessons a few weeks ago.  We are so excited to see how he takes to it, but so far, so good.  His teacher is amazing and I think that goes a long way in a child excelling in an activity.  He is just learning notes now, but we are all looking forward to some sweet music in our house this year.  
Mid-January brought our first truly Winter snow to New Jersey.  Our 'snow dog', Kobe could not get enough of the cold stuff; he played outside all day.  Olivia and Zach did the same.  They had friends over Friday night for a spend-the-night and it snowed through the night, well into the day.  The kids started out in the early morning, ventured to the neighbors driveway for sledding, then we headed to a local elementary school for the 'great sledding hill' and then they played for 2 more hours in the neighborhood after that!  Wow!
Driveway sledding
Sicomac hill sledding with Lily
Of course, I had to try it as well.  The kids can't have all of the fun:-)  I almost took out an entire group of kids, but I swerved at the last minute....
Dave in front of our house
Relaxing by the fire after a long day of sledding (with neighbor Kristen)
The next day, we visited Campgaw, which is 10 minutes from our house, to ski.  Olivia warmed up on the bunny slopes and then she was an official ski bum.  Zach is our ski racer...the faster, the better.  After a very long day of skiing, they were both racing each other:-)  A little sibling competition is good for them!