Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

For Thanksgiving this year John decided that we needed to go to New York and see the Macy's parade. I was a little shocked at his decision because he is very crowd phobic, and he usually turns in to a pumpkin at around 8 pm, but I agreed and we went anyway.
This was the only shot I could get of the two older kids together without fighting continuously.
Jackson was a great trooper like always. He travels easily and is great about being carted around wherever we go.
We stayed at the Hyatt regency in Jersey City, it is right across the Hudson river from the city, and there is a Path train station next door, where you can take the train either under the river directly to the World Trade Center subway stop, or further down into the city. It is a great way to travel into the city, and really inexpensive too.
We ended up about 2 blocks away from the parade route, but we were close enough to see some great balloon action. We did see some of the bigger floats too, but mostly we missed most of the parade action. This spot was on 33rd and 6th ave, right next to the train stop.


We had originally walked down to 7th and 34th, (7th ave being the main drag for the parade), but all of the balloons were turning the corner about 4 blocks up, when all of a sudden we saw spiderman come peeking around the corner. It was great! He was only about a block away.
We didn't escape the crowds entirely, but it could have been a lot worse.
Jackson fell asleep on the train ride into the city. He had the greatest time being carted around in the stroller or on Daddy's neck.
The night before Thanksgiving we went into the city and spent a little time in Times Square, at Toys-R-Us, and walking around a little. We also went to the Macy's inflation Celebration, where they blow up the balloons the night before the parade. It was a little wet (not really raining, but schvitzing, my original word), but it was fun to see all of the balloons at ground level. That night we couldn't escape the crowds at all. It took us about 20 minutes to cross the street at one point.
Times Square







This is the view across the river from our hotel room. It was a cloudy, yucky day, but on a clear night when all of the lights are lit, it is a gorgeous sight to see. We have stayed in this Hotel a few times now, because it is so convenient, and a great view.
All in all, we had a good time, and can now say that we went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. That box is checked off now, but I think in the future, I'll watch it on T.V.

Oops!

This is what happens when the big kids leave the cereal out on the table without closing it up properly and putting it away. Good thing Jackson likes rice krispies!

Howdy Partner

Doesn't it just look like he is saying "Hey little lady".

HMMM...

What do you think?

Autumn Joys

After church on Sunday, it was so nice out side, and the leaf pile was so inviting that the kids just had to jump right in. (actually we couldn't get Jackson to go in the house)
I don't know why this is underlining everything, and I don't know how to change it, but it really annoys me!!
Jackson really likes to whip the leaves with a stick. He is pretty quick, and they just fly all over.

Don't you just love the pure joy on his face.

Oh to be a child. The simple pleasures of a Autumn afternoon.

Jackson and his whipping stick.

Spooky Fun

OK, I know that Halloween has been over for a few days now, but I haven't been able to update this yet. We had a lot of different activities going on for Halloween, so the pictures are from all over the place.

Jackson had a good old time trying on the wigs, he thought it was super fun. He would make a really cute girl, don't ya think?




This is Mackenzie (The Ice Princess) and her friend Natasha (the dark princess), They went trick-or-treating dressed like this. They were the opposite sisters, one white, one black, the yin and the yang, dare I say good vs evil, (NO Natasha isn't evil)
This is Kenzie and J.T.. He was a scary skeleton with a silly hat. I don't know why!!
Our ward had a trunk-or-treat for the kiddies, and the youth all decorated different rooms for them to go to, the beehives room was "Nightmare Before Christmas". Hannah is Sally, Natasha is Jack, and Kenzie is the ghost dog, Zero. It was a really cute room.
Jackson was Darth Vader, (as opposed to his Yoda Last year) It was hard to get a good picture of him because he wouldn't stop moving. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he finally figured out that these people were giving him candy, and he liked that. He really likes lolli pops and can eat it all (paper too).
Can't wait to see what we'll be next year!!