A comparative dream

was the rest of December. Wasting 4000 dollars to go stir crazy on a boat, get no sleep and get fat on crap food was a bitter pill to swallow. So we've been busy in the last week or so.

I made a seasons calendar with Ruby that I'm extremely proud of. Best thing I've done since Mr Tabraham so accurately commented on my art report 'Paula doesn't seem to have any particular artistic talent however her drawing of a sewing machine was extraordinary'. It was extraordinary.

Hide and seek (with both kids).

We have done some cupcake decorating however, just to make sure Ruby's come-down from the week-long sugar high wasn't too tough.



Definitely not cruisers

When we mentioned to friends, colleagues etc that we were going on a cruise they'd look at me and say  'yeah you know I've never really fancied a cruise' which unquestionably translates into 'I had no idea you were that pikey'. Still, Al and I were not deterred. Simon and Jess swore by it - a cruise is THE answer to the dream family holiday. Sun, water, food, and endless entertainment for the kids. So with only a little trepidation, we ignored all the naysayers and did it.

A week long cruise around the caribbean in the Norwegian Jewel, leaving from New York so we could skip long car journeys, airport and airplane hell and start our holiday 40 blocks from our apartment. Bliss. Ruby was in her element - we told her it was a pirate ship so she got into it, even dressed up for the occasion.

Turns out (for us anyway) the naysayers were right. The weather was bad which was massively unfortunate, especially for the 1 hour per day when one of us had to go in the outdoor hot tub with Ruby anyway upon her insistence. The food was bad and depressingly non-stop, Ruby didn't love the kids club, they didn't do babysitting in the rooms, they fleeced you for as much extra money as they could on the boat and all in all just not our thing. Here's Ruby enjoying one of the activities - as many cupcakes as you can eat and decorate with crap. Says it all.

So Ruby and Eben had a good time.

And Al and I had one good day when we docked at Cape Canaveral and we went to Kennedy Space Centre. Really interesting. This was a simulation of Apollo 8 launch.

Without a doubt the highlight of the cruise was the turn-down service replete with towel AND nightdress oregami.

The weather was so bad that it was incredibly rocky and woke us up every night. We were also supposed to dock 3 out of the 7 days which turned into 2 as it was too windy to dock that day. Apart from Cape Canaveral the other day was at Nassau where 5 other cruise ships docked that morning - a total of 15,000 people. You can imagine how authentically we were able to enjoy the Bahamas that day :) I have never been so happy to walk through the door of our apartment.

NEVER EVER AGAIN.

Faaaall

The other day we were walking along and Ruby told me it was 'full' and I could not figure out what she was saying for quite a few minutes as she got more and more frustrated and eventually I realised she was saying it's Fall. Our child is full on American. See below.

But we've had fall fun - starting with Halloween. The pre-Saturday night Al and I had an adult Halloween night out in Fallen Angel and Pimp costume. On the 31st itself we went to a kiddie party with our friends Maggie, Tom and their kids Emme & Hudson and then a little trick or treating around 94th and 95th streets which are amazing as the streets get closed off and everyone goes to town. Here's us just before we were about to leave on the 31st.

This is the woman opposite's house 

This weekend was really nice. We walked across the park to Museo del Barrio which I can't believe I haven't discovered before, I think one of the nicest museums in New York. The perfect Fall day, fresh, bright blue sky, amazing leaves in Central Park. The exhibition was great and for the first time Ruby can actually get a bit into it, have a random thought or two about a painting - at least for about 20 minutes before she melts down and we need to go and get something to eat. Which we did at a place called Moustache which we used to go to in the West Village when we lived our childless life here 6 years ago. Still great food.  Then we walked back across the park and found some great crunchy leaves.

And a cute Eben pic to finish up coz I can't help it and he's unbelievable frankly.

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New England trip

Onto the next mini-break.  Al had always wanted to do a let's see the New England leaves in fall weekend. We built a 4 day roadtrip around going to see my cousins John and Penny in Maine. Maine's about 8 hours drive from nyc (depending on where you go, it's massive), so we started out on THursday morning and drove 4 hours to Newton, just outside of Boston where my parents lived for 6 years when they were in the states, and where Lizzie and Adam were born. We went to see Sylvan and Florence which was great. Despite being in their 90s they're amazing and Sylvan had made his signature salt beef. Stayed overnight in a very cool B&B in nearby Brookline, went out for an early sushi supper with Ruby and Eben (Ruby getting quite into Sushi - and cabs as she becomes more and more a new yorker), came back, collapsed and went to sleep. Met a lovely guy at breakfast who recommended a place to stop for lunch and Eben's milk, called Damariscotta which is a gorgeous fishing village in Southern Maine with an exceptional view as you come down into it. All along the street they had HUGE pumpkins which had each been painted / sculpted into something interesting. Couple of our favourites below..

Arrived at John and Penny's early afternoon on the Friday to stay for two nights. John is one of my dad's first cousins - they are lovely and couldn't have been more hospitable. They live about 3 miles outside of a small town called Belfast, in an amazing house they've built themselves. And when I say built themselves, not in the North London sense of employing an architect to 'help' with the design, then employing some Polish people to build it - they actually did the work - e.g. building the wooden structure with wood from trees on their land. Their lives couldn't be more different to ours in New York and it was really incredible and special to see it. House is gorgeous, really spacious with a lovely fireplace in the middle of the main room which is perfect for the 'fresh' Maine climate..The house backs onto a lake which you can see from the kitchen & living room and off of that is a lovely deck. They have built a tennis court from scratch and John has a boat and is about to build a boat house to keep it in. THey're very sporty and active, cross country skiing on their lake in winter, sailing in the summer, running, playing tennis etc. They have an incredible lifestyle. First night we had dinner with them at home and the next morning headed out to see a bit of the countryside. Maine, in general, blew me away. Spectacular scenery around lakes and the ocean everywhere. Belfast, the town, is very pretty. I think like lots of Maine towns it's right next to the water and there's a lovely view of the coast as you come down the main street. Had a big breakfast...this is us, stuffed, shortly after..

Then headed to Acadia National Park. Saw some beautiful beaches - this was before Ruby stripped down to her swimming costume in the FREEZING cold and went purple.

Then drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, still in Acadia, to look at the view. Bit cloudy so the picture's not amazing, but it was beautiful.

We then went home, had a nice fresh lobster dinner which I didn't get a picture of (or partake in I had white fish knaina hora..) but Al was delighted. Then we left early the next morning to drive to Newport, Rhode Island.

Newport's an interesting place - it used to be the summer retreat for presidents etc and still has some incredible mansions and beautiful houses overlooking the water. Aside from oggling other people's nice properties and having some food in the nice restaurants, didn't strike me as alot to do there. We stayed in a lovely hotel though, way too nice to stay in with kids really, but Ruby was so happy to go swimming in the pool. We went out for a lovely early evening meal at a place called The Moorning. Ruby in her element..

Retrospectively it was an ambitious trip to do with a 3.5 year old and 6 month old. We covered about 1000 miles in 4 days so there was lots of car time..

But we did get to see some beautiful leaves from the car so that kept me and Al occupied, and the i-phone and Dora took care of Ruby.

Pennyslvania

Had a great weekend with Tom & Maggie in Pennsylvania at Maggie's family's farmhouse. It's a lovely cosy place in the middle of very rural pennsylvania set in 100 acres of woodland, so pretty amazing and very quiet.

Highlights included seeing real lives pumpkins growing in a field which I really enjoyed as well as a post-kids-in-bed barbeque with vodka, wine, outdoor hot tub and katy perry.

Spotted 2 little fairies at one point

As usual - boys were happy



Back at home - pumpkins in pride of place



Family time

So as we enter Autumn & leaves turning in nyc - here's a few of my favourite pics.

I did have to go into work one day - but Felice and Jenny took care of Eben

Here's one of Haz and Elana's wedding (me and Mitts at)..none of Elana and Haz unfortunately...

Ah...time with the cousins..

And family time at home with my little bundles of gorgeousness.

Jewish hols

Rosh Hashanah came and went, as did Yom Kippur. And we actually observed it to a certain extent. Eve of Rosh Hashanah at Dan and Lora's with a beautiful home-cooked feast.The next day we tried out a synagogue Romemu here - it was brilliantly kid friendly. As you can see...Dan is deliriously happy singing the upper west side classic 'I like to hear the shofar blast'. You might also be able to see Ruby and Thalia enjoying it up front.

Eben had a great time - first time in shul

We didn't end up going back to Romemu on Yom Kippur. We did fast and had a quiet one at home. Tried to talk to Ruby about saying sorry for anything bad she'd done during the year however she was quite convinced she'd done absolutely nothing bad.

Apple Picking in Princeton

One of our first trips out of the city with Eben - apple picking in Princeton, New Jersey. Actually a nice day, despite having to make an Ikea stop in Elizabeth. But we survived it. In our fantastically HUGE car, we've tried to resist but we can't. We love it.

Bronx Zoo

Girls day out - Ruby and me, with Maggie and Emme. Huge amazing zoo with tons of animals and all Ruby wanted to do was see the Dora 4D film.

Greenport cont.

Highlights from the visitors..
Liza, Alex, Nathan..

Tom and Gillian of course..courtesy of whom Al and I enjoyed a night away at Sunset Beach hotel..

 Dan, Lora, Thalia and Binah

Pamela and Armand and Lyla..

 Same weekend as Zach, Isabel and Azai..

 Adam and Sara..although sorry Sara you missed the photo opp

And at the end there was a little time just family...x

Greenport

is a place on the North Fork of Long Island. About 2.5 hours from New York - with beaches a plenty and one of the best places ever for kids. Merry-go-rounds, cute little fishing villages, lovely restaurants, vineyards and farmstands selling their produce on the side of  the roads. We took advantage of me being on maternity leave and rented a house there for a month. Al took two weeks vacation then worked remotely from Greenport for 2 weeks.
We set off - car journey was a breeze. For Eben definitely (his first ever car journey)

 As soon as we got there Al shaved his head. Gave Ruby a shock.

This montage outside the house around the corner was the only somewhat creepy thing about the place.

We had a great time - deserted beaches..

Picnics on the beach..

Ice cream near the beach..

And to top it all off Al won the corn eating competition at one of the farms!! Holiday bliss.