Nobody puts baby in the corner

In true Dirty Dancing spirit we headed up to Mohonk Mountain House in the Catskills for a long easter weekend of family fun. This place was hilarious, we had a great time and enjoyed the spa bit alot, but there was definitely some wierd american stuff going on. I was waiting for the fat owner to come round the corner and say 'so I finally got you up here on my mountain' but alas he didn't.

It was very much a family fun place - as much (good) food as you can eat, lots of beautiful walks, hiking and scenery and activities galore. One of my favourite ones was something we didn't partake in ourselves but caught some final glimpses. Seems everyone had made their very own instruments during the session which culminated in this wonderful procession..

The weekend was seriously nice though. The place is surrounded by thousands of acres of woodland and is set upon a gorgeous lake. Ruby and Al had fun on the swings (maybe Al had more fun than Ruby) and she got quite attached to the Koi in the pond. Still can't stop saying hello koi.

We did lots of nice walks and it felt like a huge break to get out of our time square madness. Plus we were v lucky with the weather.

We did participate in a few of the activities though - including the bag-making session in anticipation of the crazy easter egg hunt organised (by age group very carefully) for Easter Sunday. I don't have any pictures of the actual hunt. I was making sure Ruby didn't get trampled on by hundreds of other children and at least picked up one chocolate while competitive dad Al was on the hunt for the top prize! He didn't get it.

Catching up

It's been fun catching up. With Ethan and Vanessa for instance. (Ethan is my cousin who is a true sufferer of the Wantman waddle. I have it a little, and you can see the beginnings of it in Ruby sadly - but poor Ethan. The force is particularly stong with him)

Ah and just like old times - dinner in the West Village with Armand and Pamela. Although no more all nighters for now as Al and I get tired around 10 and Pamela is 7 months pregnant.

But Ruby is happy...

And the M&M man keeps on flashing.

Potty!

We bought Ruby a special Elmo potty. Elmo's her new best friend - These guys that dress up as Elmo hang out in Time Square most days - no doubt employed by the toy companies so we end up buying things like Elmo pottys. As soon as she sees them from the window on high we have to run down to the street where she gets genuinely starstruck as we approach and literally can't believe it when they shake her hand. It's cute. Anyway - this potty says quite encouraging things to her about using him if she pushes his nose etc. And she's started being really interested. She sat on it today although all she could say was 'not working' coz nothing came out. It's very sweet.