We spent most of this past week in NY, celebrating the New Year NY style. (Well, not quite NY style. No Times Square for this crew!)

We had a longer than usual wait to check out bags so the kids got their wiggles out while we waited. Getting those wiggles out helps with the sitting to come. 🙂

Steven and Sammy also made friends with an adorable cocker spaniel puppy. Goodness that was one cute pup. (Meanwhile, Amaya cowered behind me and made me promise that the dog wouldn’t come near her.)

Obligatory stop at McDonalds for happy meals. At this point, our routine is pretty much sealed in in stone. I’ve even, finally, memorized the kids’ orders.

There was a big debate over who’d sit next to the friendly stranger on the flight to NY. Sammy said it wasn’t fair that he always has to, which was a reasonable point, so I let the kids know that whoever sat across the aisle could sleep with me for two nights in NY and the other two kids would each sleep with me for one night. That was all it took for Steven to take his seat across from me. And he even had the bonus of a dog on the floor of the seat next to him!

Thank you, Aunt Sara, Uncle Dave and Charlie for coming to get us!

We made it to NY in time to celebrate the New Year! This is the first one where SSA really understand the changing of the year and they were very excited for it to be two thousand twenty.

Amaya made Charlie a matching shirt with her silk screen kit so they twinned for the night (and the next day).

Thanks to YouTube and Netflix we got to watch some celebrations found around the world and do our own countdown to midnight at 8pm. Charlie thought it was hysterical that her cousins thought it was actually midnight. 🙂

Cousin sleepover!

On Wednesday morning the kids came to me and told me they found something “suspicious”. There were poison jars upstairs. (These are decorative jars that do have a poison label with a skull and crossbones. They were in Savta’s house for years and she gave them to me a decade or two ago.) I explained that they were Savta’s which totally set them off. They spent the entire morning finding “clues” that implicated Savta as a witch. They couldn’t wait for her to arrive so she could explain herself. Verdict: She’s a good witch.

Since Nana can’t travel to MI for Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s birthday, she and Papa gave them their gifts this weekend. Amaya got beautiful hoop earrings – her first new earrings since her ears were pierced at 6 months old. She absolutely loves them. All week I caught her sneaking peaks in mirrors.

Aunt Sara and her cuddle bug.

We even had a visit from Dod Shuki and Auntie Anita on Wednesday. <3

A perk of my job is that I can work remotely, and that includes working from NY. On Thursday I spent the day working with Charlie, Steven, Sammy and Amaya spent a good portion of their day having a blast at Savta’s house. There’s always so much for them to do and see there.

Even Amaya’s doll had lunch.

Our big adventure was a visit to the Empire State Building on Friday. The kids are very aware of the Empire State Building and they visit for free until they’re 6 so this was the time to do it. Nana didn’t join us at the top but she did make the trip to the city with us.

Ready!!

A huge highlight for SSA was this area on the 80th floor where it looks like King Kong is reaching through the building. The set up was really cleverly done.

The good and the bad of our visit. The bad – it was so cloudy and foggy that there was zero visibility. Zero! The good of our visit was that the kids thought it was so cool to be in the clouds. And it really felt that way. We could even see waves of fog moving by us. We’ll have to hope our future trip to the Freedom Tower does offer some views, though.

Two kids were tuckered out by the time we got home. (I love how Amaya sleeps with her legs crossed.)

Chase had a fever the first part of the week so we were really excited to get to see him on Friday!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Cuddles with Bobes

On Saturday morning, after our sleepover, Sammy and I worked together an a castle that we built to his detailed specifications.

We finished our trip to NY with a belated Hanukkah party with our Zargari cousins. This year, each child drew the name of another cousin for gift giving. It was a nice touch.

Amaya and Mike in a thumb war.

Present time!

Savta and the great grands.

Finally, some pre-bed games with Nana.

Steven was gifted more lego sets this weekend and dove right in. He’s getting better and better at following the instructions correctly. Amaya, too.

And we’re home to Daddy!!

We all had a very relaxing afternoon that culminated with various beauty salons and a some hard work on Steven’s part to turn Jason into a firefighter.

And, finally, Viking Steven!

Have a great week!