Xiaoniu 小妞

On Saturday Sue and I took Emelia and James to New York City for a day trip. Sue’s coworkers arrange a bus trip to the city every year. This year we decided to join in. It was a first time in the city for the kids and it was a worthwhile trip since we didn’t have to drive ourselves.

We started the day out early after a much less than ideal night of sleep. Amy, Mike, James and Olivia spent the night over so that we could get out early. Unfortunately, the big kids were very excited and the little kids didn’t want to sleep. We finally got them all to sleep, but we didn’t get to sleep until nearly midnight. Sue and I got up at 5am to prepare and get the big kids ready.

Our plan was to get out of the house early and pick up a nice breakfast from D&D. I’m not sure what world we live in, but D&D was not open at 6:30am. We ended up buying coffee and semi-palatable breakfast foods from Cumberland Farms. A gas station breakfast for the four of us.

We ended up at the meeting place early and got a chance to meet the driver. The woman in charge of this pick up spot had the nerve to ask us to get off the bus so that she could count us. WTF. There was only four of us and we were already settled in. She was late, not us. Not a great way to start the day, but we were still happy to be getting out.

The bus trip was relatively short and uneventful until we reached NYC. The kids had a good time and we well behaved. Thankfully the bus had a bathroom, which Emelia took care to use multiple times on the trip. Shortly into the trip the “leader” of the group announced that she had some movies that we could watch. She allowed the youngest on the bus to choose, which was Emelia. Out of the more recent Christmas movies she chose Elf. It ended up being a good choice, which the group enjoyed.

The only real interesting part of the trip was when we got a chance to watch a woman get out of her wheelchair, pull her pants down and piss on the side of 42nd street. The only thing that probably kept her bottom from being see was that she hid it behind the side of store door. The more amazing part was that there were two cop cars, with cops immediately right next to her. She just pulled up her pants, got back into her wheelchair and left. I was so stunned I didn’t even think to post a video. It could have gone viral!

None worse for wear, here are the kids posing in front of the New York Library. Just about ready to head out to see the sights.

Our first stop of the day was Times Square. It was only a few blocks from Bryant Park. At nearly each intersection were people dressed up as Elmo and other monsters. The kids enjoyed seeing them, but Emelia didn’t want to go near them.

Times Square was busy, but not so much that you couldn’t walk around. M&M’s World was our first stop. Toys R Us in Times Square was too busy to event think about going in. From what I heard they were giving out numbers so that you could shop at a scheduled time.

The M&M’s World store was pretty nice. It’s pretty much what you would expect. Three floors full of people and M&M’s branded merchandise. We checked out nearly everything and decided to buy a little bit to remember the trip. James is really interested in baseball so we bought him an M&M’s baseball and bought us all some Pretzel and Almond M&M’s for the day. They were of course overpriced, but we bought a few as a treat. It’s hard to resist when the walls are literally made up of huge bulk contains.

Emelia waited on line with me to pay.

Afterwards we made our way back down Times Square to the subway station. We took some token pics on the way through.

We had a lot of trouble getting a decent picture. The kids were too happy and giggly to stand still. Tickling them while we posed may not have helped either.

We bought a Metrocard and got on the subway for a short trip uptown. It was too cold and too far of a walk for the kids. This was to be our only trip on the train for the day and it was James first time ever on a subway. Emelia was accustomed to taking the subway after our trip to Toronto last year. He got quite nervous on the platform, but loosened up once we boarded the train.

Our next stop was to be FAO Schwarz. However, we were all hungry and needed sustenance. After seeing just how long the line was to get into FAO we figured that it would be best to eat first and then go shopping. Having not had time to plan ahead we spontaneously chose the only restaurant in sight and ended up having lunch at a place named Pop Burger.

It’s a small, expensive burger joint. The food wasn’t bad, but not great either. I had a burger, the kids each had a hot dog and mom had a caesar salad with chicken. I think we were all satisfied except for Sue. The chicken on her salad was very dry and hardly edible. I traded the last of my burger and tried to get her salad down. Blah. I’m not one to complain about food in a place, but I am one to give a less than good online review if a meal is bad. Other than that it was an okay meal. The place was small and busy, which means little seating.

After eating we headed over to FAO Schwarz to wait in line. I’m not sure what miracle happened, but it only took about 5 minutes to get in the building. I was expecting something like 30 minutes, but was pleased to be in the store so quickly.

It was our first time in FAO Schwarz. None of us have been there before. It was well worth going into the icon store, but I am surprised at the lack of holiday decorations. I expected the store to be bigger and better decorated. If it were not for the scores of people I would never have known it was the pre-Christmas season.

Emelia and James took in story time in the book section, which I scoped the place out. It was absolutely packed and difficult to get around. I figured it was best to find the places where we wanted to go without the kids. James was in love with the puzzle section and I found the Butterfly Container toy very cool. Emelia had a great time checking out the books and the dolls. We were liberated of a few bucks to buy a book for Caitlin and a Christmas toy for Olivia.

In the doll section the kids played with a Barbie themed foosball table. It was a custom made table and only cost $24,000 to buy. It made for a great place to take pictures with the kids (look for the kids posing).

Untitled from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

While we waited to get out of the building one of the guards entertained James. He had quite the personality and took to the kids quite well despite his age. It was unexpected. We got a nice surprise on the way out of the store. MasterCard had a deal where you would get a complimentary taxi ride if you bought anything in FAO with your MasterCard. We bought the book using ours and gratefully took advantage of the free taxi.

It isn’t much monetarily, but having a free taxi ready and waiting was a very nice treat. No running around to find and flag one down. We just hopped into a warm car and were off to Rockefeller Center. The kids both got a kick out of it. This was another first for both of them. They got to ride in a taxi in NYC traffic for the first time. The driver was nice and joked around with the kids too. Nothing but high spirits filled the car.

Our next stop was Rockefeller Center to see the tree and to check out a few other stores. It was amazingly busy as you would expect. Since it was only 2pm we were able to move around and actually get close to the tree. It’s nothing but a huge tree in the daytime, but amazing to look at when the sun goes down.

The crowd on the side where the angles are located was much thicker. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was where the entrance to Lego World was located. That was our next stop. The crowd on our side was thick, but maneuverable.

I love the architecture of the area. I may have to bring my grandma back here just to see this area. From what I’ve read the view from the top of Rockefeller Center is amazing and not as busy as the Empire State Building. I wish we had time to do it on this trip, but it wasn’t to be.

Trying to get a picture of the kids on the angel side. The couple behind them were damn near making out the entire time. I think he may have hit second or maybe third base in the few minutes we were there.

Angels and the tree. We are at the complete opposite from where we were earlier. Only took us 20 minutes to get there with all of the people.

We finally made it down to Lego World. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it would have been crawling with Lego kids. The big drawn were the bulk bins of Legos. You can buy a small or large cup of them for a lot of money. James is fascinated with the Star Wars sets. We had an extremely hard time getting around in there. Emelia got fed up and asked to be held. Bending down to her level I can see why. She sees nothing but crotches and butts at her height.

After losing Sue in the crown I had enough and tried to escape. Some poor woman was trying to get out of the store and people kept tell her to take her stroller through the revolving door. I’m not sure how that made sense. I told her there was a real door, but she couldn’t get there. Being a little pissed myself I made way in the crowd for her. Being large and having a big jacket on myself I had no issue parting the way and blocking the entrance so that she could get out. She was very grateful and I felt good to get some frustration out on the crowd.

I didn’t take many pictures after this, but we did plenty. We headed over to Nintendo World just to check it out. The kids took the opportunity to try out the many Nintendo DS’s all over the place. Sue and I got a chance to sit and rest. Afterwards we headed to the NBC store for a quick look and decided to get a warm drink. We bought some Starbucks coffee for us and hot chocolate for the kids. It was also another chance to rest. Mom and the kids were getting tired of all the walking.

After checking out the skating rink and waiting in line for a lifetime to pee we headed out. My plan was to walk back down to 42nd street and maybe stop at the NBA Store on the way. Either the directions on Google Maps were way off or the store is closed because we didn’t find the NBA store. When we reached 42nd street I decided to make our way down to Grand Central Terminal. The kids have never been there and it is an impressive building to see for the first time. I think it was a bit lost on the kids, but we went regardless.

Our next and final stop was dinner at Hunan Manor on Lexington. We were in the mood for Chinese and this was the closest of two places in the area. It ended up being a nice find. It’s a small restaurant that specializes in Hunan food. It’s across the street from another Chinese food place that seemed to have American Chinese food than Hunan Manor. We were looking for more authentic food.

To keep the kids happy we opted to get them some basic sweet and sour chicken. They were not really hungry and ate half of the dish. Sue ordered me some 五香牛肉, which I’ve come to like. It’s a five spice flavor beef/beef tendon that is formed and then served thinly sliced and cold. It’s a simple appetizer.

The second dish that I chose was smoked pork with leeks. It was also good, but Sue didn’t eat much as it was made with a piece of fatty pork. The smokiness is strong, but with the leeks and some good white rice it is a nice dish.

The last dish is one that Sue picked out. I don’t know the name of it and I couldn’t venture a guess. The three primary ingredients were hot red peppers, pork and cilantro. I have never eaten chili peppers like this. There must have been a ton in there. We usually cook a dish with 6-8 of these and never eat the peppers themselves. This dish contained dozens and they were a main ingredient. Cilantro is also there is large quantities. I’m not a big cilantro fan. The pork was minimal and very thin.

I cannot say that I liked the dish much, but I did eat it. It wasn’t terrible, just not to my liking. It was definitely spicy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The peppers were still dry and tough. I’m not sure if this is normal for Hunan food or not as I have no experience with it. Since the other dishes were done well I assume that this is normal for this dish. On a plus side I can say I ate it.

After dinner we took a stroll back towards Bryant Park. It was still one hour before our pick up time so we decided to try and reach Rockefeller Center again. We really wanted to see the tree in the dark where you can appreciate the lights. Emelia was beat and kept asking to be held. I kept her going by playing her favorite game where we run away from a monster. We ran most of the way back with James and Sue bringing up the rear.

We made it back to see the tree in 10 minutes flat, which is not bad considering we had kids with us and they were winding down. The crowds were as bad as you would expect, but we found a nice place to take in the tree from a distance. We didn’t even think about trying to get up close. It was a madhouse and not worth the fight.

Having still yet more time to kill we started our walk back and ended up and Barnes and Nobel. The kids wanted to check out the books and toys they had on sale. It was super busy, but the kids got to pick out some nice books. Both of the kids are at reading age so the store is fun for them. With 30 minutes left we trotted the rest of the way back and waited for our bus.

It took us a bit to get out of the city with all of the traffic trying to get back to the Lincoln Tunnel, but we got out in decent time overall. The trip back was quiet for the most part. We watched The Santa Clause and the kids both crashed. By the time we reached the car it was 11:15 or so. We were able to get home and get everybody into bed by 11:45.

As expected it was a busy, but a very fun day. The kids both did well despite the normal issues of not listening well. Nobody got hurt and nobody lost anything. We all got to eat well and took a few things home to remember the trip. We gained a lot of new memories and checked off some of life’s todo’s. The city was busy and crowded, yet people were polite and not annoying as you would expect. I even chatted up a few strangers while waiting.

One last thing about the trip. We all noticed that there were hundreds if not thousands of people dressed as Santa while we were there. You usually get a few eccentrics doing it, but not that many. Most were in their early twenties. According to the news they were dressed this way for SantaCon. Around Grand Central we found that there were even some drunk folks carrying OWS signs. There large groups of police officers armed with nylon handcuffs in the area too. According to SantaCon NYC the event is not political. This didn’t seem to stop some from showing some OWS love at the same time.

This is pretty much how the streets looked for most of the day. By the time dinner rolled around you saw some small groups, but still plenty of red outfits.

I have to be honest I really enjoy going to Emelia’s piano class. This is the first year and the parents are expected to be in the classroom and participate. Some parents find it an opportune time to whip out their phones or read a book. I pay attention and enjoy learning something new.

I have to be honest piano keyboards have always intrigued me. I never understood the madness that is the mess of white and black keys. Now I know how to use those keys to find the appropriate notes. Yes, you could say that I am easy pleased.

Emelia enjoys the class and is learning a lot. Practicing at home helps out tremendously. Catch her at the right time and get her in front of her piano and she can play three shirt songs already.

The class covers the basics of music. The kids (and parents) get to learn all of the notes and where to find them on a keyboard. Reading music is a must as is learning about tempo and pitch. The kids are challenged with games and get to dance as a group each week. It is fun and most of the kids clearly have fun.

I am looking forward to next week. She is learning more notes and we may learn a new song soon.

Happy thanksgiving to all of you! We had a nice holiday visiting my in laws and Sue’s family. I am looking forward to spending time with my parents on Sunday. This post will be light on pictures as I decided to spend the holiday in person rather than from behind a camera.

Sue and I cooked the lions share of the food. It was a good and tasty meal. We stuck with traditional food and it turned out good.

I may have said it before but I will say it again regardless. I am left simple amazed at how well Emelia has been doing in her swimming class. I don’t think she swims or learns it faster than the average person but it is amazing to see your own child swim on her own at the age of four.

I occasionally get a chance to bring her to class. She usually brings her. The previous class that I attended Emelia did well. She was showing signs that she was almost able and willing to swim on her own. Two weeks later I watched her open-mouthed while she did the backstroke half the length of the pool. I believe she would have gone the full length had the teacher not stopped her from bumping into the equipment used by another class.

After swimming her teacher brought her class to the deep end for diving. She is far from diving in by herself but she is learning how to do it by diving down through a hula hoop. If she pulls that off, and it looks like she will, then she will know more than I do in the pool.

I don’t know how far she will take swimming but she does enjoy it. We will support her for as long as she wants to continue. Our school district does not have a pool so this is the only swimming training she will get.

James has graduated from group classes and now takes private one-on-one lessons from his high school. I have not watches his lessons but he seems to like it.

Caitlin is also doing very well in her swimming class. I usually bring her to class. She learns differently than Emelia but is showing signs that she is getting the purpose. In some ways she is doing better than Emelia at the same age but that doesn’t mean much at this time. It isn’t until Caitlin gets older where she will be able to really learn how to swim.

We were forecasted to have a big snow storm today. I did everything I could think of to prepare. Some things just had to be done but the impending snow made it necessary to do today. It seems that it was all in vain. It flurried but nothing stuck.

On a good note I did quite a lot done. Round two of leaf cleanup is done. It was too wet to mow but I was able to rake and use the blower to cleanup. The hoses and other outside stuff were put away. The a/c condenser is covered to protect it from snow. I even got a chance to fix the snowblower. All of this had to get done eventually so today was as good as any other day.

With all that done I hope to focus on working on the basement again. We may finish that project eventually.

Something happens when you have kids and they get to a certain age. You start to pay close attention to the things that are available to keep the kids busy and to ensure they are well rounded and intelligent. We started Emelia in some classes last year, but now Caitlin is old enough to take classes herself. She also wants to keep up with and do similar things to her sister. Now, it seems we are at our most busiest with juggling work, life and classes. It’s amazing we haven’t lost our minds by now.

Both girls take swimming classes. Sue and I both feel it is good for them to be comfortable in water and to know how to swim. They may learn it in school like I did, but I think starting early is well worth the investment. Both kids are doing well in their classes. Emelia does not like the male instructors so it’s always a challenge to find a class that she can attend since there are few advanced classes and most are taught by males. The past couple of classes were held during the week so Sue has had to take time off to bring her. Caitlin is still in the more basic classes, which are plentiful, but crowded.

Emelia really enjoyed her dance class at the beginning of the year and I cannot tell you how many times Caitlin has watched the video of Emelia’s recital since June. It was a no-brainer decision to put both of them into dance class. There has only been a couple of classes, but Caitlin is doing well. She is a bit young, but has interest. The next month should tell if she is old enough to continue. Emelia is in a more advanced class this time and is doing very well. She’s very interested and loves the class. The instructor is the daughter of the person that taught her previous class.

Something new for both of them that we let them try this round is gymnastics. They saw a gymnastics class last year and they both were nutty about it. We broke down and let them both take the class. It’s not much of an investment and they both seem to like the class. Only time will tell if we continue with this class. These are recreational, not competition level classes. It’s not a bid deal if they choose not to continue.

That pretty much sums it up for Caitlin, but Emelia has two other classes. Both of her other classes are ones that we want her to take. The first is piano class. She’s taken quite a few music appreciation classes and short piano classes and she has enjoyed them all. Emelia loves singing, music and dance so learning how to play music may be something she will continue to enjoy. So far she loves the class and according to Sue, she volunteers eagerly for everything. We bought her a piano keyboard for practicing.

The other class that we put her in, mostly for her own good than for fun is Chinese class. Sue and I both strongly feel she needs to be able to speak fluent Chinese. There is a limit to how much Sue can teach her and sometimes having somebody teach her fundamentals in a classroom setting with other kids is beneficial. This does not mean that Sue and I are off the hook. If anything having Emelia attend class has invigorated the amount of teaching that we have to do at home. It also means that Sue speaks to all of us (me included) in Chinese nearly 95% of the time. Just like piano class this class follows the school year.

Come next September we’ll need to make a choice as to which classes Emelia will continue to take. She starts kindergarten next September and will not be possible for her to continue with all of these classes in addition to school. She won’t get much homework from school, but she will probably have some, which takes precedence over other classes and work. I expect her to continue with swimming, piano and Chinese school. Whether she continues with dance, gymnastics or both is yet to be seen. Sue feels she will drop gymnastics, but I feel it is too soon to determine which she’ll want to pursue.

Caitlin on the other hand will likely continue with her swimming next year. She may start to take a few music classes, just like Emelia did at the same age. We’ll have to see how she does with her dance and gymnastics before we decide if she’ll continue with either.

In the mean time having to attend all of these classes for both girls takes a toll on all of us. I’m responsible for taking both girls to dance and for taking Caitlin to swimming and gymnastics. Sue is on the hook for taking Emelia to gymnastics, swimming, piano and Chinese school. This usually means that we are busy running around 3 weekdays and all weekend for the kids. That coupled with normal jobs, chores, taking care of house and side work that I do is leading to two tired people. It sounds worse than it really is as most classes are only 30 minutes long, but we feel it is worth it. The kids love the classes and want to continue.

One pleasant side affect, which I’ve noticed during the past two weeks is that I hardly notice that Sue speaks Chinese to us anymore. I won’t claim I know what she is saying all the time, but I find it much easier to listen and be able to understand what she says without thinking too hard. The girls are showing improvements in their Chinese listening and speaking skills. Emelia is also learning how to both read and write Chinese. It won’t be long before both girls surpass my ability to understand and speak Chinese. Emelia is already showing that she understands how some words are pronounced better than I.

We finally broke down and bought a chest freezer. The freezer on the fridge is good, but does not have sufficient space. Besides the normal stuff in the freezer we would like to start batch cooking meals. Without a place to put them the most we can do is whip up enough food for one week. Ideally, we should be able to cook a number of meals and freeze them for weeks when we are really busy (which is most weeks).

Looking at the freezer in the store you would not guess that 15 cubic feet is big, but when you start loading it up you feel like it is as big as a house. I think we got just the right size. It’s big enough for us to freeze a lot of food as well as buy in bulk at the Chinese store. 10% savings when buying wholesale isn’t much, but it is something. Having ingredients on hand when it comes time to cook is great.

Thankfully the one we bought came with a lock. I didn’t think of looking for a freezer with a lock, but after seeing it I can see how that would be helpful. I can easily imagine the two little ones opening it up and trying to “hide” in there or simply play in there. Having the lock on the freezer is at least some security. Keeping them out of the basement unless we are there with them is also key.

The freezer fits nicely between our stockpile shelving and oddly enough the circuit that is closest to the freezer is marked “deep freeze”. Somebody must have had a freezer there at that some point. I’m looking forward to filling it with food. Anything to help keep us sane and eating well during the week is welcomed.