The weather was finally nice on Wednesday. Daddy and I took full advantage and hit the streets in the afternoon. Our hotel is up near Times Square, so Daddy figured we’d act like tourists and check out the sites. He told me that true New Yorkers (e.g., the ones that live here) don’t venture into Times Square all that often. I can understand why – it was really crowded! I was pretty impressed with the way Daddy maneuvered my stroller through the crowd – watch out here comes Maile Girl!
(P.S. I’ll be honest, I was a little tired during this particular adventure – so let’s just pretend I’m smiling in most of these pictures, cool? Gracias.)
Daddy bought me a little present for being such a good girl and to remember my first trip to NYC.
Then we hit Times Square - it was crazy how many people were there. I'll have to admit, even I, Ms. Curious, was a bit overwhelmed!
Yes, my daddy is a cheeseball - we took a picture at the NYPD stand in the middle of Times Square...
Hey Daddy, are you enjoying yourself? Are we almost done here?
Seriously. Enough. Pictures.
Daddy took me to Gray's Papaya for a true New York snack. Gotta say it looked delicious!
And I'm done. Boy, New York City sure is exhausting!
(Dad’s note: Re: Gray’s Papaya. The Recession Special – two hot dogs and a papaya drink – used to be my go to. Great deal for $3.50. Turns out they jacked the price while I was gone – $4.50 now! Nothing’s sacred.)
For lunch on Wednesday, Daddy and I went to meet my Great Aunt Ellen and Great Uncle Michael. My Great Aunt Ellen is my Grandpa Mike’s sister. I have now met all my Great Aunties and Uncles on my daddy’s side!
Great Aunt Ellen, Great Uncle Michael and Me, Maile Girl
Daddy and I aren't going to let a little rain (or a lot in this case) hold us down...
The weather has been truly awful the past couple of days. Rainy, windy, basically lots of yuck. I think its just so I don’t get too excited about New York and am happy again when we return to San Francisco.
(Dad note: Rumor has it that tomorrow (our last day in NYC) might actually be nicer. I hope so – I had big plans to take Maile to Central Park and maybe even the zoo, but the weather has really hampered our adventures. As you can tell by the abundance of blog posts, we’re doing our best.
I will say this – I’ve been traveling around a lot with Maile in the Baby Bjorn and she makes friends where ever she goes – even on the subway! And let’s be honest, who makes friends on the subway? Random people smile and wave at her. She waves back. It’s a riot. NYC would be a friendlier city if they had random people riding the subways with babies strapped on them.)
On Tuesday, Daddy and I braved the awful weather and headed down to meet Vanessa and Tanner. Vanessa went to college with my Daddy and Tanner was born exactly one month after me. He actually has the same birthday as Hannah (my nanny share play mate), but I don’t think I’m going to tell her because Tanner is a cutie pie!
Tanner might be a month younger than me, but he's a big boy - they say I'm 90% percentile and so he is, but they definitely use different scales for boys and girls!
After some quick introductions, we got down to some serious playing.
Here Tanner's mommy is explaining the concept of "sharing" to us - we don't get it.
Daddy taught me this move after the Wills "getting fresh" fiasco - he told me I employed it to perfection today...
I had so much fun meeting Vanessa and Tanner - I can't wait to see them again soon!
(Dad note: here’s the Wills Gets Fresh post for our newer readers…)
Pretty much as soon as we stepped foot in NYC, we’ve been meeting up with mommy’s and daddy’s friends. Its been so much fun meeting everyone (especially the pint sized people that have come around since mommy and daddy left New York).
Daddy wanted me to mention that when the weather is bad (and its been really rainy), there really isn’t a good spot for multiple families to get together. We ended up meeting a bunch of people at the Time Warner Center – basically the middle of a mall and then ended up going into the Borders. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked I guess. Daddy says when its nice, its easy enough to go to a park, but when its not there should be another option. (Sounds like daddy is making a pitch for his “bar for families” idea – he even has a name for it: Momma’s.)
In any event, back to more important things – regardless of where we were it was still great to meet everyone. Thanks for coming to see me!
Meeting Talia and Brook
Meeting Jen and Maddie
Ordering wine with Andrea (we both chose a nice white...)
Last time I saw Jenny I was only a couple months old - she was quite impressed with how I have aged!
Pretty much every picture of Gwen and I one of us wasn't looking at the camera. So I chose the one of me displaying a cute smile - sorry Gwen!
(Not pictured, but still enjoyed meeting: Christine and Jasper, Rohini, and all of mommy’s friends at Teach for America.)
Our trip to NYC isn’t all fun and games, before I hit the town with Daddy, I headed over to Teach For America to do some work with Mommy.
Wow, this is a lot of paperwork - maybe I should try to hire someone to help out?
My first interview - mommy's friend brought in her daughter Madeleine to see if she could help. My interview style may seem unorthodox, but I really wanted to get up close and see what she was made of...
Now, it says here that you've been unemployed for the past 5 months, can you explain this gap in your resume? And, please, don't try the whole "but I'm only 5 months old" - I'm looking for problem solvers, not excuses...
What's the position pay? Let me get the big guy on the phone and see what he thinks...
You know what - Madeleine, I like your style - you're hired!
So when I was at Maggie’s house all she kept talking about were these “choo choo trains” – she had never actually been on one, but she had seen them coming through her town. They sounded pretty cool to me, so imagine my excitement when Mommy and Daddy told me that we’d be traveling from New Jersey to New York City on a … choo choo train!
Mommy and I getting settled on the choo choo train - much different from the air plane, a lot more room to stretch your legs (not that its really a problem for me...)
What's really neat about the choo choo is that the windows are really big and there is so much to see (even in New Jersey!)
And as a bonus, after the choo choo train, we got on another type of train called the “subway”…
Dad note: I think Maile is saying "hey, enough with the planes, trains and automobiles, let's get to NYC already!"
On Friday morning, mommy and daddy woke me up really early. I thought they were just being cute by returning the favor since I always wake them up, but they said I should pack my bags because we were off on an adventure. (I was immediately flustered because I’ve never actually packed a bag before, but luckily mommy said she already took care of it for me. I love how she always has my back like that.)
In any event, mommy explained that since she had to work in New York City this week, she thought it would be fun if we all came along and that way we could see some friends and daddy and I could explore the city a bit. Sounded like a good deal to me. We hopped on a plane (I’m an old pro now, although this time I couldn’t really get comfortable enough to take a nap). And then a short 5 hours later we were in … New Jersey?! At first I was a bit confused – even I know that New Jersey does not equal New York City – but daddy explained we were going to see my friend Maggie again (who I originally met over Thanksgiving) and also meet a new friend Jane. They moved to New Jersey when mommy and daddy moved to San Francisco.
First stop was Maggie’s house – it was awesome seeing her again. She’s a whole year older than me, so she’s always teaching me all types of new tricks.
When we first arrived, Maggie took me down into her play room and we caught up on everything that had happened over the past couple of months...
Here's Maggie helping me eat my dinner ...
... as you can see, she is already an expert at the eating thing!
Maggie is a really good friend - even though she can walk and everything, she got down on the floor and tried to show me how to crawl.
But she didn’t stop at crawling. Daddy always says that since Maggie and Jane are almost a year older than me AND they live near New York City, that they are my “fast friends” and are going to teach me all types of crazy things as I get older. Case in point, Maggie taught me how to drive this weekend. Yes, drive! I’m not even 9 months old. My poor daddy.
Maggie and her mommy, Liz, were great hosts (unfortunately, Uncle Matt was out of town until the very end). I hope I get to come visit them again very soon!
I had a great time with Maggie, her mommy Liz, and, of course, my mommy too!
On Saturday, we went over to where Jane lives. Jane is the daughter of mommy and daddy’s friends, Peter and Jill. I had met Peter and Jill before, but never Jane. Both Maggie and I had a lot of fun playing with Jane – she has all types of fun toys – including the actual Yo Gabba Gabba people! Yes, that is right, the Yo Gabba Gabba people LIVE. WITH. JANE. How cool is that?
(Dad note: this was our first introduction to Yo Gabba Gabba. Given how absolutely hypnotically fascinated Maggie and Jane were, I have no doubt it will not be our last…)
Here I am with Brobee. Okay, I'll be honest, I don't fully get it, but Maggie and Jane are older than me, so I'll take their word for it - Brobee is a cool cat.
Jane: What? Do I have something in my hair? Maile/Maggie: No, no, nothing, nothing...
Maggie, Jane and me - my east coast girlfriends!
I gotta say, I haven’t even made it to New York yet on my New York Adventure and I’m already having a blast!
Continuing the musical theme that we started the week with, I rocked out tonight with my new favorite instrument – the Maile guitar. I <think> she mostly liked it 🙂
