Niagara Falls and Easter

As many of you know, I am currently finishing my fourth and final year of medical school. I made the mistake when I was determining my schedule last year of saving my sub-internship (traditionally the hardest part of the fourth year) for the last two months before graduation. I am now pretty busy every day and most weekends, but Julie, Andy, and I were able to take advantage of a three-day weekend during Easter and take a trip to Niagara Falls. We've been wanting to see it since we came to New York, and we finally decided that if we didn't go now, we wouldn't go at all. It was also the perfect chance to test our driving plan for the trip to California. So, with much excitement and anticipation, we loaded the minivan with clothes, Easter candy, and an excited 2-year old and took off. Here are the results of our fun filled weekend!

The morning started out a bit cloudy and windy, but the views were still pretty spectacular!

This is on the Observation Tower. It's the only picture we have of all three of us, and I just happened to be talking to the very nice woman who took our picture right as she hit the button, and Andy was annoyed because it was so windy. Oh, well, at least Julie looks happy!

This is the view of Rainbow Bridge from the American side (Julie doesn't have a valid passport, so we had to stay in the USA). All I have to say is, if Canada is so great, why is everyone coming to the US?

Pretty amazing. 'Nuff said.

Andy's interest in the falls lasted for about ten seconds, before he became fascinated with the much more fun and accessible puddles on the ground.

He also delighted in chasing the seagulls around. I delighted in chasing him.

By Horseshoe Falls. Still too early in the season to go all the way down, but still impressive.

We weren't able to go to Cave of the Winds or ride Maid of the Mist; once again, too early in the season. However, we were able to go down to the base of American and Bridal Veil Falls. Here's a view of the Canadian side, or, as I told Julie, the Motherland. Maybe someday Julie will get a passport and we can actually visit!

The base of American and Bridal Veil Falls. Andy was pretty much done at this point.

Once he could try to throw rocks at the seagulls, he was happier.

Andy refused to walk on the sidewalk once he noticed other kids walking on the rocks. Monkey see, monkey do!

There's just nothing quite like a vanilla shake with Dad at the Hard Rock Cafe after a long morning of chasing seagulls!

For Easter morning, the "Easter Bunny" left a trail of chocolate eggs so that Andy could find...

...our Easter baskets! Andy's is the truck, mine is the frog, and Julie's is the flowers.

One of the best toys in the baskets were three Nerf dart guns. Andy immediately began shooting his parents.

With help, of course. He still hasn't quite learned how to get the guns to work, so I helped out a bit.

Our last picture before we went home and waited for two hours on the George Washington Bridge (expletive deleted)! We had a great time and highly recommend the Falls to everyone, although you may want to visit a bit later in the year when everything will be open!

Andyisms and Other Things

Anyone who has had the pleasure of raising small children knows that kids say the darndest things. Our little Andy is no exception to this rule. We constantly encounter multiple sayings and phrases each day that make Julie and me scratch our heads and smile. We decided that we would be remiss if we didn't put just a few of these on our blog, both to lighten our collective mood and to record them for posterity. Enjoy!

Top 5 Andyisms
1. Andy (after noticing I wasn't wearing the watch that Julie gave me, and while shaking his finger at me): "Daddy, Mommy give watch! Put watch on now!"

2. Andy: "Daddy have hair on face!"
    Pat: "Yes, I do have hair on my face."
    Andy (disgustedly): "Take it off!"
    He now refuses to kiss me on my hairy cheeks.

3. Pat: "Andy, it's time to sleep."
    Andy: "Daddy, go to work. Mommy come."

4. Proof that Andy is from his father's family: While sitting in his stroller in line to checkout at TJ Maxx, Andy scowled at the fellow customers and said, "Go away, people!"

And our absolute favorite...

5. Julie: "Andy, get your finger out of your nose."
    Andy (angrily): "I eating!"

In other news, in order to facilitate our upcoming cross country trip, we have purchased a 2008 Nissan Quest. We're all very excited to have it, particularly Andy, who now has unlimited means of traveling entertainment at his fingertips!

Who said minivans don't look cool? I think it looks a bit like a spaceship!

A nice, roomy seat for our little VIP to travel in style.

Andy's dream come true...an integrated DVD player. Andy has been watching "The Sound of Music" and has never been quieter during a car ride in his entire life (the DVD player is also Pat's dream come true because it has video jacks that should enable it to be used with an XBox 360...ahhh, the wonders of modern technology)!

The Children's Museum of Manhattan

On the first Friday of every month, the Children's Museum of Manhattan has free admission from 5 to 8 pm. As we had never been and Andy was due for a fun outing (and after some rather duplicitous "convincing" on the part of Julie*), Julie and I strapped Andy into the car seat and drove to the Upper West Side to meet some friends and see what this museum was all about. Miraculously, we were able to find some free parking on Central Park West, and walked a few blocks to our destination. I must say that Julie knows our son and his likes; as soon as we were through the doors he was frantically running back and forth between exhibits, stopping for a few seconds at each one before running to the next, only to return to his previous visits. Just watching him tired me out! He had a great time, though, and coupled with seeing his friends Bryn, Brody, and Eliza, as well as a hamburger, fries, and vanilla shake on the way back to the car, it made for a fantastic time. I must admit that I had a good time too. There's just something about the pure excitement of a two year old that brings a smile to my face.

You can tell he's 1/2 Idahoan. As soon as he saw this cow all he wanted to do was ride it!

After riding for a bit, he moved on to milking. The cow "mooed" when you pulled on its udder. His Grammie would be so proud!

This whiteboard glowed when written on with a light pen. I want one at home!

The highlight of the visit for Andy was this firetruck. He patiently waited his turn to drive, shared the fireman's helmet with other children, and ran in and out more times than I can count. Here he is checking out the interior flashing light. Absolutely fascinated.

Waving and sharing the excitement as he waited his turn to drive. Julie and I were pretty proud of him; he didn't fight or push once.

Finally in the driver's seat! It was impossible to get a non-blurry picture; he was constantly moving.

Another favorite was this MTA bus. Personally, I think he drives just as well as the real MTA drivers!

Anyone for a dragon ride? After I took this picture, he tried to get me to ride it as well. He was a bit disappointed when I said I was too big.

Andy's favorite cartoon character. He actually tried to pull Dora off the wall and take her home with us.

*For those of our readers wondering exactly what Julie's duplicitous convincing entailed, I shall remain silent, except to say that it involved copious amounts of guilt and protestations that other husbands were going. I also discovered that other wives used this tactic with their husbands that evening! In the end, the wives were right and we had a good time, but the question remains: do the ends justify the means?

Catching Up

So, I decided to go ahead and try to get at least one blog in for the month of February. Important events since the end of January were my 34th birthday and the baptism of our very close friend Arianne. Enjoy the pictures and I'll try to post more regularly in the future!

My birthday cake. Thanks for the candle, Julie!

Andy was pretty excited to help blow out the candle. He even kept the spit to a minimum.

Clapping always makes birthdays better!

The cake was a carrot cake. Both Andy and I enjoyed it immensely.

In other news, Andy is finally learning to share his car with selected individuals. His good friend Bryn has recently qualified, although he keeps a close watch.

This is what happens when you let a two year old dress himself (the glasses are from a Mr. Potato Head. I can only shake my head).

Julie recently bought this Thomas the Train tent for Andy. He loves to hang out in there with his friends. It gets a bit cramped when Andy insists on both Julie and I being in there, but we manage.

Arianne asked me to baptize her. I'm so proud of her decision and amazed at how much she's grown since we came to the Bronx. Time sure flies!

Why is my son walking around the house with plastic rings on his leg and foot, you may ask...I have no idea! Sometimes I wish I knew what was buzzing around in that little head of his!

Today's What do I do When it is Snowing Outside Videos

Another Snowy Day

What do you do when the day looks like this again...

Yes climbing the furniture is always an option...

But today we also made videos for our friends! (Okay, so these were were done earlier this week since I am having trouble with the ones we took today.) We can't wait to watch your videos after nap!

A Cold January

So we have had a very cold January this year. For some reason I don't remember it being this bad in the first three years in NY. It may have something to do with having a toddler and cabin fever...two very bad combinations.  

Here is some pictures of us playing in the snow on January 7th

 As you can see Andy had a great time!!

I was able to find these Tickets to a show called the Inflatable Theater.  The show promised to etertain even the most rambunctious toddler. So I bought the tickets and took Andy, Pat and our friend Arianne. Andy loved it even after only having about a 20 minute nap. It was a man and a woman who put on the show. They juggled, dance, did gymnastic move with and in these giant parachute balls, cubes, clothing, etc. It was Very fun! At the end they tossed a giant pumpkin and cube into the audience. Andy thought it was quiet cool to get to hit the pumpkin.

 Andrew now loves the Book Moo, Baa, LaLaLa. He always makes this face when reading the book.Can you guess why??

 Another cold day. I was trying to get Andy dressed with little success. What is the point if we aren't going anywhere? At least that must be Andy's thinking and soon became mine.

Andy uses this pout look whenever he isn't getting what he wants. We see is often!

Pat and I have picked up craft time together, although he probably wouldn't like me calling it that. He works on his car model and I do various things, depends on the day. This night I painted a Pin the Apple in the Pig's mouth game for Arianne's Luau Birthday Party. I have to admit it turned out well.

 So since the weather has not been nice to us. We do crafts, watch "Dora" and "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang" (we also dance along with). Play with trains, cars, swords, instruments, Play-doe, paint, draw and whatever else I can do to entertain my two year old.  We are currently trying to potty train. Which is more stressful then I thought it would be for both of us although I am constantly looking for ways to make it less stressful. Andy is doing well and getting so grown up.

My little drummer boy!