Mike and Megan's Wedding Weekend

Second weekend of April was Mike and Megan's wedding.  We planned to do a roadtrip, breaking up the drive into two days but... plans change.  The weekend was a whirlwind of a beautiful wedding, driving and family.

We headed out on Friday at like 6am. It was fun to drive through the city, cutting down 9th Avenue when the city is so quiet.  After getting past the NJ suburbs we made a stop for some coffee and a diaper change. Somewhere in the enormous state of Pennsylvania we stopped for a not very exciting lunch.

And after what felt like forever, we were finally in Cincinati. It was well passed Jaime's bedtime and after 10 hours in the car it seemed like we would be pushing his limits to take him to the rehearsal dinner.  So I stayed on baby duty while Dan quickly cleaned up and headed out. The hotel room was a hit.

The next morning we met up with Dan, Marietta, Dorothy and Don for breakfast.  Jaime made friends. And then it was back to the hotel for a quick naptime while Dan headed out to get his tux.  After a quick swim we then met everyone for lunch.

At this point we were going to be rushed to get everyone ready for the wedding... Dan quickly got ready and bolted. 

I tried to get Jaime to nap so I could shower and get ready... it was a bit of a disaster.  Jaime took forever to fall asleep and wouldn't eat. As we would find out on the way home the next day, he was getting a stomach bug.  Finally the two of us were as presentable and rested as we were going to be.

The wedding was lovely and we had fun celebrating with the happy couple. 

Unfortunately, looking ahead at another ten hour drive caused us to have to leave earlier than we would have liked.

As early as we could manage we were back on the road. 

 It was a long day but worth it.  It was fun to visit with the U. crew.

Afternoon at the Met

A museum visit can be a great way to spend a brisk afternoon with a baby.  Really.  Jaime loved the people watching and the exhibits - it is such a variety of visual stimulation.  And of course he really enjoys simply hanging out with us.  I enjoy the architecture and visual stimulation as well so it ends up being a nice family outing.

The Met is such a neat place.  I would go for the space alone. 

And if you are worried about your baby interrupting all of the serious artsy people... don't be.  It is so busy and filled with conversation that he won't bother anyone... well maybe if it is some serious bawling.  Lucky for us that doesn't happen when we go to museums.

After a couple of hours checking out a few things we are done with it and ready to head home.  The first weekend of April was beautiful if brisk.  Spring fever was starting so we tried to push the season and let Jaime check out sticks.

And then home for nap number two.  Just another between naps NYC adventure.

April Races

Running has been one of the big themes of our lives and as most are aware since we live in NYC we have been participating in the 9+1 New York Road Runners program.  April was a busy month, with 3 races being completed each and our volunteer requirement.  The schedule was a little crazy, we felt like we were always headed to the NYRR offices.

First weekend of April our calendar looked like this:

Thursday: D volunteers

Friday: T volunteers

Saturday: D's 10k

Sunday: T's 4m

Dan did a 10k, and two 4 milers and Tara did three 4 milers.  All of these races were in Central Park so just a short walk to the start line, much improved over the 1+hour train ride to Brooklyn for the first race. We each ran our first solo races... like ever.  It was weird to be in the start corral by yourself.  We also sprung for a babysitter for two of the races which allowed us to run them together. And... we both got our asses handed to us by those Central Park hills.

^^ Hanging out in the Mall during Dad's 10k.

Tara's April races went great.  The last one was a PR for the series and maybe for any recorded race with a pace of 8:18. Not too shabby for someone that does zero training and basically only runs when there is a race. 

^^ 4/6 Scotland Run - Dan's 10k

^^ 4/7 - Tara's solo 4 mile race, Colon Cancer Challenge. Shaved 20 seconds off the pace from the previous race.

^^ 4/21 Run for the Parks, we both ran it.  Dan annoyed Tara by saying he would run solo to get a better time just before the start... so he ended up having to catch up to her.

^^ 4/28 Run As One - we both ran.  Tara had a PR and won the husband vs wife race.

Another part of the guaranteed entry to the 2014 Marathon is to volunteer once.  There are plenty of options available to stand out in the cold or hot weather depending on the time of year and fill water cups at races, or direct traffic and cheer people on.  And you spend 6 hours of your time, on either a saturday or sunday.  So that wasn't going to work.  When we saw that there were opportunities to be at the NYRR office handing out race packets or t-shirts we jumped on it. 

I was first to go and jumped on the T-Shirt table, handing out medium t-shirts.  The most popular size....ever.  It was a whirlwind of collecting tickets and handing out shirts, and after 4 hours, I was tired and sore.  It was one of the most intense thing and looking back it was a blur of peoples hands and white t-shirts flying around, but man it was fun.  Good people, lots of laughs and you don't have to stand outside in bad weather.

Tara had a different experience.  She got to look up peoples last names and give them their race bibs.  While it sounds easy, having to hear people mumble their complicated, foreign last names (there are a lot of ways to spell every last name) and riffle through a huge stack of papers while the pressure bears down on you with the few thousand people coming in was exhausting.  People would get crabby if you didn't understand their mumbles or if you couldn't find their bib within 10 seconds (sometimes they are out of order people). When she got done a big glass of wine was needed. We met at a bistro around the corner from our apartment for dinner and drinks. 

With 5 races down and the volunteering requirement being finished at the end of April we are well on our way to qualifying for the 2014 NYC Marathon, which will be amazing.

Easter (where is the chocolate bunny?)

Woo hoo - it is Easter! Jaime woke up pretty concerned... Did the Easter Bunny forget my basket?

Oh right, the basket.  After we had coffee and sat around we decided it was time for Easter...

The first thing to catch his interest was the 'grass' stuff.  Then he started to check out what was in there.

Soon enough he realized that a crucial element was missing... the chocolate bunny.

But all was saved as he liked his shiny new toys.

Then Dan made pancakes...

Napping and relaxing...

We went to lunch...

Jaime practiced walking and trying to figure out how to climb to the third shelf.

And that, in a nutshell, was our Easter. 

Easter Eve and Washington Square Park

For Easter weekend I probably should have planned a trip to somewhere with a bunny for the baby with bunny photo-op. I looked into but most were egg hunts and I didn't really think Jaime was ready for that - after being in NYC for a while now my guess is that it would be about 10 kids (all at least three years older than him) to an egg and all in a 400 sq foot spot of dirt (there isn't a lot of grass first of April). So we passed this year.  Instead, we planned to do a fun city outting on Saturday and some relaxing on Sunday.

Saturday we headed out to tour the East Village.  Dan spent about 5 minutes there and decided he wasn't in the mood for uber hipsters. It was the second time we lugged the bob stroller through the subway so I think he needed something easy going.

So we headed to Greenwich Village, specifically to Washington Square Park as Jaime was ready to get out of the stroller for some action.

He played at the small playground and we looked like the first time parent nutcases taking a ton of pictures. 

Then we hung out on a bench and people watched.  Jaime thought he was so cool standing up on the bench. And was obsessed with the zipper pocket on Dan's fleece.

Later, we happened to come upon a street fair... street fairs here are interesting.  They are pretty much some grills (for grilled corn and such) tshirt vendors and other odds and ends. Once you have seen one you have seen them all and you could totally skip it and not miss anything.

And then it was naptime! But first, the easter bunny needed to make a stop to get a basket.  Because where in the world in the city do you find decent easter baskets that aren't plastic tubs?  I tried during the week but there was no where in my path.  So we trekked up to Michaels and found the only one not covered in feathers and glitter.  Lucky easter bunny. And that was our Easter Eve.