kelly lynn creations

the highlights

 

The boys had a lot of fun when they were in New York a few weeks ago. They were able to catch up with our friends from Japan and even ventured out for Japanese food for dinner one night. They kids spent a lot of time playing at the various parks in Central Park and they even managed a trip to FAO Schwartz.

For this trip, hubby had lined up a new hotel to try out. One of the highlights was swimming on their roof top pool. Both of the boys really liked the hotel and I'm excited to see it during our next visit. Way to go hubby!

The kid is still talking about going to the Intrepid Museum. He was beyond excited when he saw the coast guard helicopter up close and in person.   
I'm so glad they had such a successful trip!

road trip pics

Here are a few pics from our recent road trip:
Crater Lake
  
Sand Harbor Beach - Lake Tahoe
 
Zephyr Cove - Lake Tahoe
  
And no, the kid did not ride the paddle boat...I just couldn't resist the photo-op!
  

road trip reality

We definitely learned a few things from our recent road trip with the kid. The first day we heard a lot of "I want to go back home!". I had packed a bunch of stuff to entertain him in the car; books on tape from the library, a stack of books, crayons, mazes, etc. Unfortunately, none of them were "new" and he quickly got bored.

Halfway through our trip, we loaded up on "new" activities for the ride home. This proved to be a very wise investment. These were his favorites:

• memory game
• invisible pen coloring book - "This is my favorite coloring book in the whole world."
• rail twirler
• jumbo coloring book

We also learned that we are not beyond bribing our kid. Hubby realized that a Lego coast guard helicopter would be a small price to pay to avoid pushing the kid the entire mile up the gravel hill to the car in the stroller. The kiddo was more than happy to walk on his own, chatting about his soon to be acquired helicopter. Off to Target we went the following day and as luck would have it, the helicopter was waiting on the shelf for him.

All in all it was a successful road trip, although we had our share of challenges along the way. In the future I would pack a cooler with breakfast and lunch foods to avoid going out all the time. A lot of restaurants have fairly limited children's menus and they typically omit a fruit or a vegetable. I made a big mistake in not checking the weather reports for all of our stops before we left. I didn't realize how cold and windy it would be at Crater Lake and the kiddo and I were not prepared. Evenings were rough, since hubby's conference sessions ran from 8-10 pm. I know! Most nights I was asleep shortly after the kid...and well before hubby returned to the room.

family road trip

Day 1: Crater Lake
We drove into Crater Lake  from the North side and enjoyed the amazing view along the way. Unfortunately, the kiddo was not impressed when we woke him up from his nap to show him. The following day, we headed to the lodge. We did a quick hike, checked out the lodge's history and then we were off. Next time, we will have to go when more snow has melted so we can take the boat out to Phantom Ship island. Oh, and when the kiddo can appreciate it a little more...

Day 2: Burney Falls and Lassen National Forest
Scenic routes always take longer then expected, but this was worth it. We stopped off at Burney Falls and we were glad we did. The kiddo was eager to hike to the bottom to explore the falls and we were happy to get out of the car. Hubby was eager to get some photos and I was happy the general store had soft serve! We drove through the Lassen National Forest and we were really impressed with the scenery. It was a slow drive though with all of the curves, but defintely enjoyable.

Day 3: Squaw Valley
We enjoyed Squaw Valley's annual art festival and I even bought a ring from a local jeweler (Happy Father's Day to me!). The cable car ride up to the summit was defintely the highlight of the day. We spent a lot of time at the summit walking around and checking out all of the sights from the 1960 Olympics. This was a great day trip for all of us. There was plenty to keep the kiddo entertained: cable car ride, bungee trampoline, arcade and a very cool toy store. Can you tell he is having fun?

    

We made our way back to Reno by circling the lake and stopping off at Emerald Bay to check out the old Vikingsholm castle.

Day 4: Reno
The kiddo and I spent most of the day exploring the Riverwalk. We played at a local park, listened to a Dixieland band and soaked in the nice weather. On our way to dinner, we all witnessed a car accident which was pretty upsetting for the kiddo. Luckily, no one was hurt and a police officer was nearby. He even took the time to answer the kid's questions.

Day 5: Lake Tahoe
I can't get enough of this place! We started off at Sand Harbor beach and enjoyed playing in the sand with the kiddo. We then headed to Zephyr Cove for some kayaking. The weather was amazing, the water was crystal blue and I didn't want to leave. I couldn't get over how beautiful the lake was - it was truly breathtaking. We ended the evening with an amazing dinner at the Lone Eagle Grill, overlooking the Lake. We will definitely be coming back!

Day 6: Home
After being away for nearly a week we were all itching to get home. We drove straight through we were all moving pretty slowly the next day (well, maybe not the kid...).

nyc again...

We really lucked out with some great weather for our quarterly trip to New York earlier this month. We must have walked nearly 10 miles over our two days in the city. We were thankful for such amazing weather.

We started off at our favorite breakfast stop and then checked in early to our room so we could nap. (The kiddo decided to watch a show on the I-Touch while Mom and Dad napped.) We got to our appointment and found out the doctor was running 2 1/2 hours behind (We could have napped longer!). The appointment is really close to Central Park, so this actually worked out well. The kiddo was able to get some energy out before his visit with the doctor.

I met a super nice mom at the park and she gave us a great recommendation for lunch at the Joy Burger Bar. It was by far one of the best burgers I have had in a long time - and the milkshake was delicious. We will definitely be going back. After the appointment, we took the kiddo to the bubble show and we all really enjoyed it.

On Saturday, we ended up playing for a long time at another park in Central Park since it was so nice out. While the kiddo was playing at the park a bird pooped on the back of his shirt. We all got a good laugh out of this. We did make a quick trip to FAO Schwartz and the boys jumped around on the big piano. Apparently, you too can have a giant piano for only $200,000.

The kiddo has really done well over the past few years adjusting to this quick trip. This trip marks the first time he did not nap during the entire trip. We were amazed. We could have each taken a nap on both days! How does he do it?

pics from the big apple

    

(1) Drawing in his book before take-off. That didn't last as long as I thought!
(2) Eating fondue with Dad (w/o the chocolate!)
(3) Family photo at the ice rink.
(4) Dad teaching the kid to skate.

NYC: short, but sweet...

Last night we got back from our quarterly trip to New York to visit our son's doctor. We were forced to try a new travel schedule, since Jet Blue no longer offers a night flight. Normally, we leave late Thursday, arrive in NY Friday morning and then see the doctor that afternoon. Friday night we always went to a show of some sort and then on Saturday we would hang out in Central Park before flying back that evening.

For this trip, our appointment was on Monday so we flew out Sunday morning. At 3:30 am on Sunday morning, the airline called to inform us that our 6:30 am flight was delayed by 3 hours. I wasn't excited about being woke up so early, but it was nice to go back to bed and sleep in. Unfortunately, it meant we would be traveling during 'waking' hours and we would have to keep the kiddo occupied for the entire flight.

Hubby had loaded up the I-touch will all kinds of entertainment for the three of us. I also packed a grab bag of crayons, pad of paper, mazes and stickers. I figured the grab bag would hold the kiddo over for most of the trip. He had practically drawn a truck on every page before we even boarded the plane. Yikes! 

We did enjoy a lot of new activities this time in NY:

• On Sunday, we had dinner with friends at a nice kid friendly restaurant. They had amazing Mac and Cheese (for both kids and adults!).
• Later in the evening we had chocolate fondue at a 24 hr bistro that I just loved - hmm, maybe it was the amaretto and baileys in my coffee! (The kiddo wasn't too excited about the chocolate, he just ate the fruit.) People must have thought we were crazy being out so late with our 4 yr old. We just stay on West Coast time for the entire trip.
• Ice Skating in Central Park at Wollman rink. I loved this! It was the kiddo's first time ice skating and it wasn't easy taking him out on the rink. We were surprised that he kept wanting to go around the rink, even though he ended up on his bum most of the time.
• Waiting for 2 hours at the doctor's appointment. I know, this sounds awful - it actually wasn't that bad. Hubby ran out and brought us lunch and the kiddo and I chatted with a lovely family visiting from Ireland. We had just over an hour with the doctor and then we raced to the airport to catch our flight.

The kiddo was the best behaved he has ever been on this trip. I think it really helped that we didn't have the night flight. We were all a lot more refreshed then usual. The only downside was we just didn't have as much time to enjoy the city. Even the kiddo commented when we put him to bed last night that we didn't get to see the butterflies at the Natural History Museum. We just didn't have time...

I'll post some pics soon.

NY recap

Last week was our 8th trip to see our son's specialist in NY. For some reason, this trip really wiped out hubby and I. We are still recovering and the kid is literally bouncing off the walls (only a slight exaggeration).

The hardest part of the trip is the lack of sleep. This trip we traveled without the car seat and took the subway into town. It takes an hour longer and it is not very relaxing. As I mentioned to hubby, I could be sleeping in a taxi - not so on the subway. I think we have agreed that we will be traveling via taxi from here on out.

We typically start off at our favorite breakfast spot, Sarabeth's. Then we cross our fingers that we can get into our hotel early so we can nap before our appointment. We crashed and the kiddo played with his backpack full of toys. We lucked out the first day with great Fall weather and hubby took a lot of great photos in Central Park while we walked to the appointment on the East Side.

 

By the time we got to the appointment, the kiddo was out like a light. When we woke him up during the appointment, he was not in a good mood. He even kicked the doctor once - not a good idea! Hopefully the scrapbook I made her made up for it...

Hubby does a great job finding things for us to do in the city. We ended up seeing a great family friendly Cirque du Soleil show, Wintuk. The kiddo loved it and it was pretty entertaining for the adults too. The next day we went to the Children's Museum and then walked over to the Natural History Museum. It was pouring down rain and by the time we got to the museum it was extremely crowded and we were wet! We got very lucky and someone let us in for free since we only had an hour until we had to head to the airport.

The biggest hit of the whole trip was our newApple IPod touch. I was able to blog from it at one point, the kiddo watched Bob the Builder on the flight home and then went to 'bed' and then hubby watched several shows as well.

I love this picture!

   

Hubby gets the credit for the great Central Park pic, and I'm taking the credit on this shot...

on the road

we are waiting for our son's doctor appt in NY after a very long trip. For the seven years that we have lived at our house we have never had a planned power outage. We were notified earlier in the week that there would be a two power outage from 7-9 pm. Our flight to NY left at midnight, what a bummer.

We managed to get what we needed done with the help of some lanterns. Unfortunately, the kiddo was so excited about all of the workers outside that he wouldn't go to bed. Not good. We did not have a good flight-no one slept much.

Hopefully the rest of our trip will go better. I'm actually blogging from the doctor's office on our new Apple itouch and I'm liking it!

pics from Chicago