Our little king in Queens

We took Collin on his first trip to the Big Apple at the end of April.  I had a work conference on Monday & Tuesday, so we added on a family long weekend in advance of my business trip, and Collin got to meet aunts, uncles and a lot of cousins. 

Collin did great on the plane other than a complete nap failure for him coupled with a nap success for Cas.  It was just wrong when my two year old was wide awake with my thirty-year old sleeping soundly in the next seat over!

Cas' cousin Steve picked us up Friday evening and became Collin's instant buddy.  This best buddy status ran through Monday when they spent all day together in Manhattan.  Steve was the one who offered Collin this light saber inside his parents' home.  Their home was full of breakable things and my blood pressure went up quite a bit, but Collin miraculously managed to avoid destroying his Aunt Anisja & Uncle Victor's belongings. 

I wish I had taken a picture of the incredible meal Anisja prepared for us - complete with homemade cheesecake - a great way to start off the trip!  The next morning, Collin played with his cousins' stash of toys, racing cars with his Uncle Victor.  And pushing the stoller, but making it more macho by filling it with trucks.   

Snacking on a Croatian breakfast pastry - we don't get these in Houston!

Next we headed for lunch with more family - Cas' Aunt Zdenka, Uncle Faust, and their younger son Anthony.  Zdenka kept Collin entertained, giggling away as they rolled balls down skateboard ramps.  And then we headed outside for Collin's first skateboard ride with some help from Daddy -

We walked to the playground near their home, and Collin was delighted to get a ride on his Great Uncle Faust's shoulders. 

 Zdenka deserved a back massage after pushing Collin in the skateboard up and down the sidewalk.

Great Uncle Faust, Cas & Collin, Great Aunt Zdenka & cousin Anthony - 

To our last stop of the day, Cas' cousin Lina & Al's home.  Lina and Al have 4 kids, so their home was a toy wonderland for Collin.  Not to mention that Collin fell in love with his cousins.  In the weeks since returning home, he continues to ask if we can fly in an airplane to Sabrina's or Coco's house. 

Here's Collin playing with the three youngest as we waited for big brother A.J. to return from a soccer game.  That's Nicolas (Coco) on the scooter, Sabrina and Collin on the motorcycle, and Victor on the bike - 

Sabrina was so sweet with Collin, helping him with the scooter and lifting him so he could be captain of the ship -

Their friends' boat was parked in their driveway when we arrived, and it became another toy as we played inside (and posed for a photo or two) -

 Nicolas and Victor cracking us up on the boat -

 As we tried to get everyone to dinner, Collin was quite serious about making a trail of automobiles (and this was probably 10% of the toy cars available to Collin - definitely toddler wonderland) -

 The kids - Sabrina, Collin, A.J., Nicolas & Victor -

Even though it was Sabrina's birthday, she gifted everyone with one of her Lindt chocolate truffles.  Collin was thrilled with her generosity -

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday - there's Steve at the end.  And Collin looking on, drooling over the chocolate cake - 

What fun to not only introduce Collin to his NYC cousins, but join in on a family birthday dinner.

Lina and I are the only ones looking at the camera - the kids must still be focused on the cake!

These are some of my favorite images, not for the photo quality, but just for the sweet moments with his cousins.  Sabrina sat at a doll tea party table with Collin and shared a bagel.  And because Collin takes after his mama in the slowest-eater-in-the-world category, Victor and Nicolas joined him later at the table.  The sweet cousins, down on the ground eating their breakfast, spending time with their two-year-old cousin from Texas (who may be playing with a my little pony) - LOVE it!

So this was Sunday morning.  We finished our bagels around 9:30am-ish and I had great confidence in our plan to meet my cousin Leah for brunch near Harlem at 11am.  We're all in pajamas, enjoying the lazy morning and delicious breakfast.  And of course, we couldn't pack until we saw the magic show performance by Victor.  Collin was enthralled - 

And then we watched Victor crush Cas in a dance-off (he was so good Cas forfeited) -

Finally, a little after 10, we headed upstairs to pack, get ready, and of course, take a few more pictures -

Steve once again picked us up and took us to our hotel.  We pulled out of Lina's around 11:00am, still hopeful that we could meet Leah around 11:30am.  How silly of me to think there wouldn't be traffic in Manhattan on a Sunday morning!  After a subway ride from almost one side of Manhattan to another (Wall St. to Harlem), we met Leah and her boyfriend Matt for brunch at 2:30pm!

Ironically, I had requested the 11am brunch to plan our day around Collin's nap.  And instead, we arrived at the restaurant 1/2 hour into his normally scheduled nap.  Leah and Matt picked this incredible brunch spot called Kitchenette where I had the best turkey sausage of my life, and all our food was tremendous.  Collin, on the other hand, was not tremendous.  He hung in there (and by hanging in there, I mean whining to get out of his seat, banging spoons on the table, rolling his car off the table), but at the end, Cas took him outside for a stroller ride while we finished and paid.  Poor Collin was exhausted.  We walked to a park watching our son's slowly blinking eyes, but instead of dozing off, he caught a second wind in time to pick dandelions with Leah. 

I realize this picture is blurry.  This is because in a moment of insanity at brunch, we briefly let him out of his high chair, which enabled him to throw down his backpack and stand on it - with the camera inside.  Cas somehow fixed it later, but this is the quality of my photos with Leah and Matt even though it was a beautiful afternoon prime for excellent pictures -

We tried to walk back (which would have been like 200 blocks) but after about an hour, we conceded that Collin just wasn't going to fall asleep in the stroller.  So we took the subway back and finally put him down for a nap around 5:30pm.  We had plans to meet my boss and his family for dinner in Little Italy at 6:30pm, and fearing another repeat of the brunch restaurant performance, he graciously agreed to push dinner back, and in return for the scheduling flexibility, Collin acted like a typical two-year-old at dinner rather than an overtired monster.  

Dressing Exactly Like Brownie

We've found having a child gets us out of almost every single gift to our parents.  Instead of going to the mall and buying something they don't really need, we give something related to their grandchild, often costing less than $10, and it beats any other real present that folks put thought and money into giving! 

This year my dad's birthday present was a framed photo of our son which elicited smiles from everyone -

And matching polo shirts (notice Cas in the background - I think Cas and I were more excited about this present than my dad) -

 The twins - Brownie & Collin -

And now I look exactly like Brownie!

I think there's a really good chance that at Christmas, Brownie will be receiving a photo of he and Collin in their matching shirts - so his birthday gift will get us out of another present!

Sugar and Spice and All that is Nice

I've been to a lot of pretty showers over the years, but this was the prettiest shower I've ever been a part of hosting.  And it made me a tad nervous that my responsibilities were going to fall short of this incredible standard for our very worthy friend, Kelly.  Luckily, I didn't screw everything up and we had a great afternoon showering her with love and gifts for her daughter arriving this summer. 

My friend Kelly (in the middle in the plum dress - which was the same as my turquoise dress except color and hers was maternity) has been one of my best friends since 3rd grade.  That was the first year we were in class together, and then we stuck together until I was 21 - we had the same major at the same university.  And so since I was 8, I don't think there was a year until I graduated college that I didn't have at least one class with Kelly.  My dad may have wanted to trade me for her on countless occasions, and we spent thousands of hours at one another's homes, on vacations together, and now on email with one another from our offices across the state.  It was a thrill to be a part of this shower celebrating their first baby.

Some of the hostesses and friends at the shower -  

The dining table & entry table with diaper cake by Amber -

The activity - instead of shower games - was making hairbows for Kelly's daughter.  Rather than bake food, the only thing that came out of my oven for the shower was korker bow ribbon (because I delegated all the food-making to my lovely mom) -

Posing with Kelly & Amber -

The hostesses minus Vanessa -

We can't wait to meet Kelly's daughter - and stick one of our homemade bows in her hair - in June!  

Tardy for the Train

Text messages and emails had been sent.  10am at the zoo parking lot.  But somehow the friend carting two children beat the two of us taking one.  (I had no excuse, but my friend Amber had been at Sam's at 7am that morning getting things ready for a baby shower.)  So the tardy ones circled the zoo parking lot for 30 minutes waiting for a spot to open up on a surprisingly packed Friday morning, while Jill somehow kept her two young children from melting down as they waited for a train ride but had to watch 3 trains pass without boarding. 

We finally parked, found one another, bought our tickets and fed some ducks as we waited for the next train.  Collin in his hat that will be a summer wardrobe staple -

Amber's middle child & my godson, Holden (who has the world's best dimples) and Collin posing by a duck that was arm's length away in the bushes. 



A blurry picture of our crew  - Jill with her two blonde beauties Kiley & Chase, Collin, and Amber & Holden in the back.  Amber, Jill and I have been friends since junior high, and Jill and I were in Brownies together in elementary school.  These girls have been my friends for almost 20 years, and it's a blast to now join them on play dates with our children!

 Jill and Kiley.  Chase, not a fan of the very loud train whistle - 

Collin, wide-eyed on lookout throughout the train ride, and Holden, full of grins.  It was a great outing - a $3 train ride where we jumped off at a park for awhile, then jumped back on to return to the entrance for a picnic lunch.

 Collin at the picnic - 

Holden was the sweetest friend to Collin.  He shared his Cheetos (a delicious new food for Collin, which after discovering them, was hesitant to share with the ducks), his fruit snacks, his sandwich.  I had intentionally left Collin's sandwich in the car as a stay-awake tactic, so that he would take a 2-hour nap at home rather than a 20 minute nap in the car.  Holden's food was much tastier than poor Collin's trail mix!

We had a great Friday off with friends - a fun glimpse of many more play dates to come in the summer!

These Eggs are filled with CANDY

A few weeks before Easter, our church said they needed volunteers in the children's Sunday School classes.  So I volunteered us, and somehow Cas and I winded up being the team leaders for the 3-year-old class.  Easter Sunday was our first class to teach, and despite our exhaustion from 90 minutes with 12 toddlers, we found our second wind to organize an Easter egg hunt for Collin and host Easter lunch for our families. 

Collin's joy in the hunt was a delight for us.  Last year he was toddling around our backyard, but this year he was sprinting all over the place.  He had Cas, Grammy and Brownie as an audience, and soon become accustomed to cheers with every found egg.  His first one -

Carrying his Easter basket like a purse -

 And this is his face when he discovered the treasure within the eggs -

 Very serious when explaining to Stella and Leo that inside the eggs, there's candy!

Let the sugar rush begin - with cousins Annie, Leo, Stella & Nikka -

 Talking to Uncle Libero -

Cas' family enjoying the day -

 Playing trucks with cousin John -

And with cousin Stella -

Creative Stella made up a new game with Collin - musical trucks across the piano!

We've mocked my mom for asking my grandma to fill my Easter eggs with goldfish and yogurt-covered raisins when I was Collin's age, but I understand the genius of that.  Once you discover candy, it's hard to go back.