Where Has the Time Gone?

My sweet little girl turned 2 years old last week.  In some ways it's hard to remember life without her, and then on the other hand I wonder where the time has gone?  It seemed like just yesterday she made her debut in this big world.

 

Now she is so big and has learned and grown so much.

Here are a few examples of the fun she brings to our family.

She recognizes the camera now and says "cheese" and squints her eyes.  At least she doesn't run away from it.

She calls the bottom rail of her toddler bed "horse" and straddles it like one, then falls on the bed laughing.

Here's a video of her playing.

She still loves to try on shoes and wear them around the house, no matter who the shoes belong to.

She still LOVES bath time, especially with her new bath crayons. 

She is quite a ham and loves to make people laugh.

Such a big helper in packing.

 She loves her stuffed animals, especially the rainbow bear who she named "Kitty."  No, she's not confused.  She knows the difference between a bear and a cat.  But for some strange reason, this bear earned the name "Kitty."  It's fun to watch her "pretend" play with her toys more.  Here she is strapping Kitty into the booster chair so she can feed her.

She was fascinated with the mannequins at Old Navy.  You almost wonder if she realizes that they're not real.

She's making a face at me when I told her not to ride the doggie mannequin.

Some quality nap & T.V. time with Daddy.

I just love this little girl who has brought so much joy and so many smiles into my life.  I look forward to the next two years with two sweet girls to love.

Happy Birthday Miriam!

Miriam turned 2 years old last week.  This past year has flown by.  It seems like we were just celebrating turning 1. 

Here's her birthday cake this year, made by her Aunt Rebecca.

Video of blowing out the candles.

Video of her still being a messy eater.  At least this year she's using a spoon.

Her cousins thought she was quite funny.

Everyone enjoying some yummy cake and ice cream.

She is finally interested in tearing open wrapping paper, with some help.

Grandpa was a big help in her opening her presents.

She loves her new dollhouse, the other things I don't think she really cared about.

Happy 2nd Birthday Miriam!  

We are looking forward to many more to come!

The Zoo

Since we had the (tragic) evening flight scheduled, we decided to spend our last afternoon at the Turtle Back Zoo.  This was Miriam's first time at the zoo.  It was fun to see her get excited about all the animals.

That was one BIG pig.

Feeding the birds.

It was Miriam's first time on the Carousel.  She was expressionless.  Neither excited nor scared.

 

 Watching the penguins swim.

Riding the train.

It was a fun afternoon, but the time came to say goodbye.

I really enjoyed spending the week with Jody and Cace.  I have really missed having them around since they moved and am grateful we had the opportunity to visit them.

Now we are back to phone calls and Skype :-(

Family Time

The nice thing about vacationing with family is that you don't have to constantly be out and doing touristy things.

Sometimes it's nice just to hang out and play games, watch T.V. together or sit around and talk while eating delicious truffles from Harry & David.

Since Cace had to work the rest of the week, we met him for lunch at the park.  

Miriam especially enjoyed this outing as well.

 Miriam wasn't the only kid playing on the equipment.  Check out Stan at the top of the climbing wall.

 Miriam also loved playing with Cace and Jody's cat, Chloe.  

 She chased that poor cat around all week.  In her sweet little voice "Koly, Koly!"

We also did some shopping at the outlet malls.  Here's how Uncle Cace kept Miriam entertained, with the sample cups from Harry & David (look closely at his face and ears).

 And sometimes, it was nice just to lay around and take a nap!

New York City

New York City.

I have never been there before. 

I have seen many movies and T.V. shows that take place there.

I was really excited to finally see it for myself.

I think I will have to go back again to really experience more of the City though.

Our plan was to spend half a day in the city.  A few hours would be spent touring Liberty & Ellis Island.  A few more hours would be spent touring Times Square and eating out at a fabulous restaurant.

You know how the saying goes, things don't always turn out like you'd planned.

Jody drove us into the city to help save some money on train fares.  Cace had to work, so this is the first time Jody drove in the city.  It's only an hour drive.  The plan was to get in and quickly park the car and go on foot or subway everywhere else.  However, we missed a turn and the GPS ended up taking us in a roundabout way to the parking garage.  Jody had to do a lot more driving in the city than she'd planned.

It was madness.  

The only city traffic I can compare it to is the traffic in Rome, Italy.

Cars/taxis dodging in and out of lanes.

Horns honking.

A constant stream of pedestrians.

A constant stream of traffic.

It was insane and I don't think you could ever pay me to drive in that city.  

Jody's SUV has sensors on the front and back that beep when you get close to something.  Let's just say those sensors were constantly beeping.

I was very impressed with her aggressive driving.

She did say at the end of the day that she would never drive in the city again though.

We finally got parked and headed to Battery Park via the Subway.

Stan had to carry Miriam in her stroller up and down all those stairs in the subway.  Let me say again, I'm so glad he was there! 

After waiting in line, we finally boarded the ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty.

Here's a view of the New York City skyline from Liberty Island.

The building under construction is the new Freedom Tower being built where the twin towers used to stand.

Then we waited in line some more to board the ferry to Ellis Island.

We did a quick self-guided tour through the museum on the inside because Miriam had no patience for standing around.  On the far left corner of this picture you can sort of see Stan chasing Miriam around the grass while we waited in line again, this time to board the ferry back to Battery Park.

 Here's how Miriam occupied herself on the ferry, playing with a stranger's shoes.

 The Libery/Ellis Island tour/ferries took much longer than expected.  By the time we got back to Times Square, we only had time to do a quick walk through and head back to the car so we could avoid rush hour traffic.  If we'd stayed any longer, we would have had to wait until after rush hour traffic (7 p.m.) to leave and I knew Miriam would never make it that long. 

So here's a few shots of the craziness of Times Square:

 The ball that will be dropped on New Year's Eve.

 Notice the NYC Police Dept. has a small station here.

The Toys R' Us at Times Square was really cool--here's the Wonka Candy section.

So I didn't get to tour any movie studios or eat at any fabulous restaurants this time.  I'll just have to come again--when I'm not pregnant and we have a babysitter for Miriam.  The big city is definitely no place for a toddler.

The day ended nicely though, with some delicious ice cream at "Friendlys."  And no, I didn't eat that whole sundae myself (Jody and I shared).