Upstate New York. Mohonk and Woodstock

A few weeks ago we went on a 5 day trip to Upstate New York - one night at Mohonk Mountain House, one night at Kates Lazy Meadow in Woodstock, then two nights in Hudson. Unfortunately we never did the two nights in Hudson as Al's grandma, Nana, passed away so we came back early and Al flew back to London. Nana was an amazing woman - 99 when she died which is incredible in itself. She was such a wonderful character and will be so missed.

The beginning of the trip started out ok, the most exciting moment of any trip is when Al pulls up with the hire car. A real beauty this time, no 4x4 monster but a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria - one of the longest cars I've ever seen.

We set off for Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz. Not the first time we've been there but we liked it even more than last time. SO EASY with kids and they have a spa. Don't tend to need much else these days. Ruby and Eben had the childrens playground all to themselves.

Next stop - Woodstock. Which is a brilliant place, lots of gorgeous little shops, aging hippies everywhere and nice people. We stayed in Kates Lazy Meadow motel which is owned by one of the B52 singers and EVERYTHING is 50s. I thought it would be quite cool - and I suppose it was but it was wierdly authentic and creepy. Although finally a place where I fit in nicely in my headband. No bath for Eben either, but he loved the sink.

There was a lovely creek by the motel.

We went out for a nice dinner. Restaurants in the middle of the countryside at night are still too bright for Al

And the next morning we had a nice brekkie in Sweet Sue's diner and headed out for a stroll where we found this cafe Ruby and I liked.

Nice trip but obviously cut short unfortunately for a really very sad reason. xxxx

Love New York

Every day I discover something brilliant that would only be so in New York (or more specifically Manhattan). Yesterday's discovery was that it's possible to pay $9.87 for a packet of PG Tips in Zabars (that was our friend Tom's discovery actually). Today was a gorgeous spring day - so we went to our favourite upper west side cafe for a latte while Eben took a snooze.

I got chatting to a guy with a gorgeous dog who was telling me about the doggy daycare he puts his dog in. He was happy about it because it means the dog gets some social time with other dogs + lots of fresh air in the park etc. And a snip at only $500 a month, he continues, it's cheaper than parking your car in Manhattan. The next set of people who I got talking to at same cafe - a couple with a baby. They're the ones who took the photo above. They told me about a 'semi formal' toddler group that meets up regularly on the upper west side. Incase I forgot the details, they whipped out a business card for me take home with the deets. Brilliant.

And for good measure, more pics of the cuties.

Last week's trip to the Childrens Museum of Art, here they are in the ball pit..

Ruby at Lavi's party post face painting.

As Eben insists on feeding himself, dinner times get messier. Mr Pasta Pesto.

Simon's visit

Was so great. I cried alot when he left. He did his own blog about the trip. Couldn't have said it better.

http://phatphucknyc.blogspot.com/2012/01/food-trip.html

Winter

Its now officially spring according to my lovely seasons calendar I did for ruby, we got off ridiculously lightly with the weather this winter. Not only is it a crying shame that it was last winter (when I was 6 months pregnant) that we had endless snowstorms and freezing cold - but I also bought ruby the best shoes in the world just for the snow..

Luckily she wears them everyday regardless of the fact it hasn't snowed once.  Here we are going out for a walk on a lovely sunny day. With the boots. This is our neighbours house - ours is much more delapidated.

Here's Ruby and Eben with some of their little friends - Nathan and Nina. They all look possessed apart from Eben who looks drugged.

Ruby's hair continues to be wild despite taking her to my hairdresser several times.

What else is new..New York jewish life rubbing off on Eben..

They are absolutely adorable, Ruby continues to be obsessed with him.

We've had some great visitors recently. Alice from Paris - after we took her to a japanese in the east village on day 1 - she insisted on carrying on a tradition by cooking a great meal for us day 2. We didn't argue - this was first course , watercress soup. Incredible.

And my brother!! Simon's visit was fantastic - next post...

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.

.