Well, here it is, the start of a new year. So, I thought this an appropriate time to put a quick post out here on our blog, as I fell terribly behind in 2008. I have high hopes of catching up at some point, but we will see...
We have had an exciting several weeks.
Mzee has been taking a "Little
Ninja's" martial arts class twice a week since he turned 4 in September. He enjoys the class, and is learning about things like discipline, self-control and other skills which are useful in all areas of his life. He had his year end awards ceremony this month which was as you can imagine a big deal for him! The same day we managed two visits with Santa, one at the town hall and one in our neighborhood park. Santa arrived on a fire truck at our neighborhood park and
Mzee really loved it! We also spent some time baking and the kids helped decorate the gingerbread kids which we then shared with their classes at school.
My parents were here for a week over Christmas. They arrived on Christmas Eve and left on New Year's Eve. While they were here we had a lot of fun. We had a wonderful meal on Christmas Day and our friend Pat drove over from New Jersey to spend the day with us. She and my Mom were able to get in a game of Scrabble. The following day we all went out bowling. The kids love to bowl and we are lucky that the bowling alley we go to has these ramps, which I think are intended for handicapped people to use, but the kids are able to bowl well with them. They just line up the ramp, sit their ball on the ramp and give it a push.
Mzee had a pretty high score and beat Grandpa! After bowling we went to our favorite local pizza shop which has become a favorite of Mom and Dad's too during their visits over the past year. On Saturday we ventured out to Pat's house which was about an hour and a half drive. We had a nice lunch, played more Scrabble and the kids played with Pat's toys and watched a John Wayne movie with Daddy and Grandpa.
Sunday we stayed home most of the day, just relaxing. Mom, Milan and I took a quick trip to Trader Joe's but really didn't find a lot of things we couldn't live without. We did find dark chocolate covered almonds and espresso beans though....yum!
Sunday night was probably the highlight of my parents visit. Back in July when my cousin and his wife visited we happened upon this Japanese hibachi style steakhouse,
Edo, that was wonderful. This is a place where they prepare the food at your table and the chef typically puts on quite a show while cooking. We had been to a place like this several times in Omaha, but never with my parents. We had such a great experience with my cousin that we knew we should take my parents on their next visit. Now, it is important to note that my Dad is pretty much a "meat and potatoes" guy. He does like Chinese food, but doesn't venture too far out into other cuisines. He also doesn't eat spicy food. When I first mentioned Japanese food to him, I think his reaction was, "will there be anything I'll eat?" Having had the food several times, I knew that it is all pretty "normal" food, and that he should not be worried. However, there was always a chance that it was a bit too different for him. We got our reservation for Sunday night, and I have to say
Mzee was very excited! He loved
Edo the first time we were there and was excited to go back.
Once we got there, the waitress passed out chopsticks and even brought
Mzee a pair that were rigged up with a rubber band and piece of paper between the top end so they wouldn't fall apart. This was wonderful! He was able to use the chopsticks the entire time without fail. After debating for a time on what to order, my dad settled on
filet mignon and shrimp, which I recommended, and ordered myself. I had ordered it the previous time and remembered it being the most tender
filet I'd ever had. As the food started coming, every one was really enjoying themselves. Milan was gaga over the tomatoes on the salad!
Mzee was over the moon about the shrimp appetizer. Milan was happy the rest of the night once the noodles were served! She did have a touch and go moment when the pyrotechnics started. The chef makes a volcano out of rings of raw onion and the fire was bit much for Milan.
The chef also did a trick juggling an egg on his spatula and flipped it up in the air and it disappeared. This trick got us all as he showed us the egg was in his hat! We had great vegetables and fried rice and our main courses were
delish! My Dad, who I don't think has ever used chopsticks, managed to use them for his entire meal! He commented several times on how wonderful his meat and shrimp were! At the end of the night, we all agreed it was a very enjoyable meal! We even got ice cream, which was a nice way to end the meal.
On the car ride home
Mzee started to complain that his tummy hurt, presumably, because he had eaten too much. We questioned him several times once we got home, then I just decided to unbutton his jeans. Well, lo and behold, he said his tummy didn't hurt anymore. Note to self, dress
Mzee in elastic waist pants for the next trip to
Edo!
Throughout the rest of my parents visit, I heard my dad call several of his friends and relay the story of the wonderful meal we'd had, how good the food was and how enjoyable it was! I was so happy that they enjoyed it!! Something tells me we will be visiting there with my parents in the future.
On Monday, my parents and I ventured into the city sans kids and hit a few souvenir shops in Times Square so they could buy a few things. We then ventured to Greenwich village for a quick walk around and had lunch at a great little pizza shop. We then decided to hop back on the subway to Times Square again and make one last stop at the Toys R Us. You would have thought it was the day after Thanksgiving there! There was a line to get in the store and once inside it was complete chaos. We couldn't find the specific thing we were looking for. I did find a couple of things I would have bought, but decided I didn't want to deal with the line, so we headed home. Monday's are
Mzee's sharing day at school, so my parent's went to his school in time for that.
Mzee shared the new Bobcat that he got that was just like Grandpa's and also introduced his Grandma and Grandpa.
When I got to the school that day,
Mzee's teacher was on the phone trying to call me.
Mzee had woken up complaining his ear hurt. At that time he had told her that his ear hurt and he didn't want to participate, he'd rather just sit in his
cubby. So, when we got home I called the pediatrician and managed to get him an appointment to be seen yet that night. After his Little
Ninja's class, we went there and had to wait for an hour before we actually saw the doctor. It didn't seem that long as we were reading books, so it wasn't as bad as it sounds now. However, once we got in to see the doctor, she indicated that his ear looked perfectly normal. We questioned
Mzee further and it seems that his ear hurt ON THE OUTSIDE! The doctor and I got a bit of a kick out of this as of course, when he said his ear hurt, our natural reaction was that it hurt inside and could be an infection. It was a tiny bit red on the outside, and
Mzee told us a story about how he fell on his ear at school. Very interesting...in any case, the pediatrician also learned that
Mzee's left tube is now out of his ear and the right one in "the sore ear" is moving out. So, that could also feel different and may be another thing that caused him to say his ear hurt. Hard to say, but better safe than sorry. Had I not taken him in, he probably would have been up all night complaining of a sore ear!
Tuesday we all loaded up in the car and drove two hours to Mystic, CT. We planned to see the seaport, but it was so cold when we got there we opted for indoor things. We first stopped at a restaurant at the Seaport and the menu was a little too fancy for what we were in the mood for, but we did grab a great map of the area. We noticed a
Five Guys nearby and had heard good things about it so we went there. The burgers were great and it was just what we were looking for! Since it was so cold, we ventured back down the road a little ways to see the 12 Dinosaurs of Christmas at
The Dinosaur Place. It was a cute exhibit for the kids and they got to do a little ornament activity and have a scavenger hunt as well.
From there, we went back to Downtown Mystic and walked down the main street. The shops were all a bit fancy, but we did find a coffee shop and stopped in for cocoa and coffee to warm up before our long drive home. We will keep Mystic on our list of places to visit when it is a bit warmer as the Seaport looks like a really great place to visit when it isn't so cold!
Wednesday morning we were all up early. My parents had an early flight, so I thought we would be out of the house before the kids woke. However, they were up early so they could say good-bye one more time! Mom and Dad had an uneventful flight home. They mentioned today that their flights were so empty they were surprised they weren't cancelled. My Dad also mentioned that they waited 30 minutes for their checked bags at home, from their flight that had 9 passengers, and they didn't have to wait at all for their bags when the landed in NY, their bags were there when they got to baggage claim.
We had an early New Year's celebration with the kids playing their new game Lucky Ducks and
Mzee put together a 100 piece puzzle virtually on his own! Today was a nice lazy day at home, which I am very thankful for! Here is wishing you all a wonderful 2009. One of my goals for this year, is to keep this blog updated more frequently, though after a post like this, I can see why I don't sit down to write here too often....I can go on and on....
Here is the link to the pictures of the last month!
