Cafes and Kids

We took our kids to a cafe last weekend that was a tad too fancy for us. The mirrored tables should have given us our first clue. The giant cookies at the counter should have been our second. Owen demanded that we give him one. He ate it before we got our lunch. Eventually we dropped 2 full glasses of water. On a positive note, the floors got freshly mopped twice while we were there. The food was delicious, but did my kids even realize? There was a lot of complaining going on. Sometimes I think my kids should just be (at best!) eating at Quiznos before the age of 10.

Do you sometimes try to eat at restaurants that are slightly out of your kids league because you're tired of the same old same old kid friendly places? I do and it's almost always something I regret! Maybe if I took care of my kids instead taking pictures the whole time . . . ha

9/11 Memorial

There's a million things I want to blog about at the moment. First up, the 9/11 Memorial. We walked around it on Sunday.  It was visual stunning and I loved how it almost beckoned me slowly walked around the border feeling each name of the people who died. My favorite was the sound of the waterfalls. It's all I could hear at times.  I didn't hear the huge highway next to the site. I didn't even hear the people talking next to me. It made me get a minute to think. What did it sound like? At times the falls sadly reminded me of the destruction, the water almost mimicking the way the Towers fell.  At other times, it reminded me of a crowd cheering, that our nation has possibly found a way to overcome this huge disaster.

I'm really glad I went. Thanks for the tickets rebecca. Get yours here. It's free to see the memorial, but you have to reserve a ticket first.

Tourist Attractions I've Never Seen

My friend Jordan is staying with me this weekend. Love her. Today we went to SoHo and she was showing me around to the coolest stores. It was like I was the one visiting NYC! ha. For whatever reason, I rarely go to SoHo. It's pretty common for NYorkers to get so caught up in their own neighborhood that they hardly venture out.  I talked to one of the mothers at the playground about this today and she said the same thing.  She said last year she would meet twice a month and have a lunch in a new neighborhood with her friends. It forced them to see new things. My sister has mentioned that she does the same thing in her Florida town. What motivates you to see something new? I always get motivated when friends and family come to visit!

I feel a Babble Kid Scoop post coming up! Here's what I'm thinking: This weekend/week take your kids out to a new place and tell me your experience!  Did you kids like getting out of their routine? Was it too much work? Was it worth it? A totally disaster? I want to hear all! I'll include your story in my post! Perhaps I'll make a slide show if you all send me enough pics!  I'll link back of course!

Have a fun weekend. I can't wait to hear about your adventure!

Babble Post: 10 Things You Can Do NOW to Prepare For the Holidays

Yikes! Does the title of this post make you anxious? Me too. I can’t believe it’s the first week of November and I’m already preparing for the holidays. Most of the things on my list are fun and the ones that aren’t (I’m looking at you #8) I probably won’t do! Ha! What are you doing to prepare for the holiday season?

Read the article here. 

Job Update

nice comb over. ha what was i thinking? 

Remember this Wanted Ad Poster? Here's some updates:

My first month at Babble's Kid Scoop was amazing! I'm on a team with 6 other bloggers who write 5 posts a week. Each post discusses parenting or kid related topics. I come up with most of the topics myself (which is fun!) and sometimes they suggest topics (which is helpful!). I love that it's really flexible and I can do it from home. I also love that it's a paying gig! I hope that more websites follow its business model because it seems to be working. Thanks readers for always clicking to my Babble posts. I did really well my first month because of your support!

I finished my internship at NYFamily. The New Parents Expo was a total success. I even got to sit next to Dr. Harvey Karp and thank him for teaching me how to sleep train my boys. The 5 S's got me through the first year! The event was fun and I love the people at NYFamily. I consider Rebecca (my boss) one of my favorite people I've met in NYC. I hope to work with them again soon!

Writing two posts a day (one for NYC Taught Me and one for Babble), keeping the house clean (you should see my living room right now, it's DISGUSTING), watching 3 kids. I'm curious how my other bloggy friends do it all. They seem to be doing so much more than me! Or at least making less typos and proofreading mistakes ;) I know I shouldn't compare, but I feel like I'm just squeezing everything into my day. I'll learn.

Vampire Weekend

Many Upper Westsideres love to go trick-or-treating on 69th Street, others adore 95th Street, but I don't. Those streets start too late (6pm) and are too crowded. I like to celebrate Halloween in Harlem. Fredrick Douglas and 139th to be exact. It's a slower paced, more charming Halloween experience. We started around 5:00pm, went to every door that had an orange balloon, ended an hour later, ordered a pizza, then watched a scary DVD with our cousins. My kids looked scary but were happy and had TONS of candy. The perfect Halloween balance. Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Remember When It Snowed in October?

NYorkers will be talking about this for years. Every winter will be compared to this one. People will say, "Well, this winter isn't as bad as that one year it snowed in October! I was there! The leaves hadn't even turned yellow yet!" And the legend will grow. People will claim they built snowman and snow forts in Central Park. Abominable Snowman sightings. It will all come, you watch. I've been here a year and learned that NYorkers LOVE to talk about the weather. Past and Present. Snow in October? Most interesting thing that could have ever happened to NYorker small talk.