NYC

Last weekend we decided to spend a night in New York with the girls. The baby is due in a couple of weeks and we know that after he comes there will be a few things to do to keep us busy, making these kinds of things difficult.

The bus got us into the city about 10:30 and the girls were ready to get to the hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square courtesy of my Marriott points accrued while travelling. First thing into the room brought their usual hotel routine. Head for the drawer, get out the Bible and Book of Mormon and start jumping on the beds. Not quite sure what the fascination is...I truly think it is the feel of the pages or perhaps it is just habit from past visits. This kept them happy until lunch time, always a good thing.

We found a diner not too far away. Mindy and I had steak sandwiches and the girls ate hamburgers. Naomi really has quite the appetite. The burger was huge and she demolished it like that skinny Japanese guy attacks hot dogs! He might have some competiton in a few years. next stop was the highlight of the weekend for the girls...the American Girl Doll Store. They already had an American Girl Doll each courtesy of a friend who grew out of them...but they really wanted to pick their own dolls out. For anyone unaware...the dolls are set in different historical periods and there is a whole story built around each of them. There are books, accessories etc to embelish the story. Naomi wanted to get Felicity, who was set in 1774 while Fiona had her heart set on Julie from the 1970's. After messing with them a little bit, making it seem like we were not going to get them a doll...than making it seem like one would get a big one and the other just a minature doll (we had to get something out of the experience ourselves), we got the dolls. They were over the moon and we knew we were set for the rest of the day.

We caught a cab back to the hotel. Fiona seriously was wondering when the driver would start asking us questions as on "Cash Cab". A little more playing in the room before we hit the M&M store just up the street. 3 floors of M&M merchandise and M&M's of course. We purchased some M&Ms from the "mix and match" area. It was obvious that this was an excellent marketing trick. The bags would fill VERY quickly and you were charged (quite a bit) by weight, so it was not a cheap place to go. Still, it was fun and the girls enjoyed it I think.

We then grabbed coffee and hot chocolate and sat in Times Square, relaxing for a while...but the girls were quite ready to get back to the room and their dolls. I was dispatched to find some Indian food for dinner. Apparently, there are no Indian restaurants in the vicinity of the hotel but I found a food cart that looked quite decent - the "Biriyani Cart". I ordered a few things but the girls (all 3 of them) found it too spicy. I of course, did not...and so demolished both dishes like someone was about to take them away from me. My mouth was on fire...but no subsequent heart burn - normally a sign of decent food actually. I went back down and grabbed some pizza for the girls and then we retired for the night.

After getting almost no sleep (the beds were too small) we wandered around picking up a few things for breakfast...but it became pretty clear that the girls were done so we got the 11:00 bus home. The afternoon was spent chopping up pallets for firewood and getting the girls their 2nd H1N1 Flu vaccine. Now they are both protected (kids need two doses apparently) so hopefully we can avoid getting sick. Seeing the complications some people suffer is enough to make me want to ge thte protection...even more so with Mindy being pregnant and obviously when the baby is around.

Now just counting down the hours to Thanksgiving and a 4 day weekend. Mindy's brother and family is visiting along with a few friends from around here so it should be a fun few days.