Weekends: Part 4

After the busy, traveling weekends of the past weeks, this weekend was pretty mediocre. Memorial Day  weekend in New Jersey was plagued with rainy, cold weather.  On top of that Brody and I had horrible allergies and I was still recovering from a 3 week-old cold.

We did attempt to get out and do a few things and I guess it was good to relax a bit, but I was still disappointed with our holiday weekend.

We did get to see a movie (after a failed attempt).  We saw Great Gatsby in theatres on Saturday.  Also, we decided to make a day trip to Philadelphia on Monday.  I wanted to see the historical sites and eat a Philly cheesesteak.  Monday actually turned out to be a pretty day, not too hot and sunny.  Unfortunately, Brody's allergies were the worst that day and it cut our Philly trip super short. We did manage to see UPenn's campus, (not very impressive for an Ivy league campus) and try the number 1 and 2 ranked cheesesteaks (the restaurants were across the street from each other).  Neither were that enjoyable and I can't see why so many people are fans. 

Our favorite was Ginos with Cheeze Wiz on it. lol of course we liked the most processed one

I guess this the mark of a true western PA girl.  Those cheesesteaks don't even hold a candle to a Primantis sandwich. Anyway, after lunch, listening to Brody sneeze constantly, we decided to leave.  We had a tour booked at Independence Hall, but it wasn't for a few hours.  Sadly, Brody wouldn't last that long and back to the car we went. 

Unfortunately the only picture we took that day didn't even turn out. This is on UPenn's campus by Ben Franklin. 

So I finally made a trip to Philadelphia, after growing up in PA and never visiting, but still managed to not see the Liberty Bell or anything historical.  Oh well. 

We came home to my sister's Memorial BBQ, which was a highlight.  Especially the fact that Brody took care of the baby basically the whole time for me!  It was nice to have a break. I am still grateful for holiday weekends and for those who fought for our freedoms.

7 Months

This week Madeleine turned seven months!  She is a curious, happy, social and a wiggly baby.  I do not have official stats for her this month, but she continues to grow.

Her new developments are:
-cut her first tooth one day shy of her 7 month bday on May 20
-learning to crawl- gets on her knees but doesn't use her arms yet
-eats lots of different foods, including table foods (she loves eating out of the squeeze pouches and doesn't like to be spoon fed unless its table food)
-learned to nap...kind of
-hair is growing in a bit (at least covered her bald spot on the back)
-can make the 'm' sound
-waves
-loves dogs and cats! squeals every time she sees one

Last month I talked about how well she was sleeping, well the move the New Jersey has been really hard on her in the sleep department.  I tried to nap train her when we got her because she was just not getting in good naps and was so cranky. It was a horrific week for me, but we got through it. She does fall asleep easier on her own now, and she has been taking longer naps now but she still cries a lot of the time and doesn't always nap when I expect her to.  She still has problems with her late afternoon nap, making her pretty cranky at the end of the day.  She doesn't really sleep through the night anymore either and I'm afraid that I'm allowing her to create bad habits.  I really hate sleeping in the same room with her, but there's not much we can do.  (I know I complain about her sleeping all of the time.  I obsess over it constantly.  I really need to relax sometimes)

We will be leaving NJ in a week and a half and going to stay in Ann Arbor for a week.  I think it will be good for both of us to sleep in our own beds. Hopefully sleeping will be better in Minneapolis for the rest of the summer.

I do love her! And she brings a lot joy to her dad and me!

The Hamptons

This weekend we were supposed to visit Hoboken so we could eat some treats at Carlo's Bakery (Cake Boss).  At the last minute, Brody and James decided that we should take a trip to the Hamptons. I was a little hesitant since it would be a really long drive there and back for just the day, but it just sounded so glamorous so how could I turn up the chance? To top it off James' boss has a house in the Hamptons that he let us stay in for the day. That made it easier because we could stop there relax, let the baby nap for a bit.

We left early, as soon as the baby woke up, and met James at a train station in Queens. After that we still had about a 2 hour drive.  Madeleine did surprisingly well and we didn't really have any meltdowns.  In total it took about 3.5 hours to get there with a few stops.

The house was a cute, cedar shudder relic along a quiet street.  The street ended with the Hamptons beach, a short car ride (or a manageable walk) away.

We at lunch at the house while the baby slept.  Then headed to the beach.  It was a little overcast and windy at the shore.  Of course it wasn't very warm yet, so it wasn't too enjoyable.  Madeleine loved touching the sand, but wasn't a fan of the constant wind. 

After the beach we attempted to drive around and see houses. I guess the rich people there are really into privacy so we couldn't see much with all the hedges and shrubbery blocking the way.  We then moved on to visit Saag Harbor to eat dinner and browse the shops.  The quick trip ended in delicious, ice cream at a local shop.

The drive home was pretty harrowing because the GPS took us straight through Manhattan.  We also made a few wrong turn and were almost hit by quite a few taxis.  I was pretty frustrated by that and decided that I would never drive from NJ to the Hamptons ever again. 

So was it worth it?  Well I guess it was just to say that I've been there and to experience it.  It would have been more fun if we could have spent the weekend and had better weather.  It was a cool locale with cute shops and restaurants and wide sandy beaches.  But I was disappointed that you couldn't see many houses and the traffic far from enjoyable.  Overall, it was a memorable day and I'm glad we went, you just won't see me in a mansion like on Revenge.  I still prefer California. 

Weekends: Part II

This past weekend, I ventured out of Jersey and met up with Brody in New York City.  It was quite the undertaking. Two trains, one subway trip, two bags, a running stroller and a baby, was all that stood in my way.  People were actually quite nice and the trip in was actually pretty easy. I even got in a bit early so James met me at the subway and waited with me until Brody got there.

He told me he was bidding for hotels on Priceline and got a good deal so I could come stay Friday and Saturday night.  He wouldn't tell me what hotel, saying it was a surprise. I was definitely pleasantly surprised, because we didn't stay in a hotel, but a penthouse apartment in the same building as the Manhattan Temple! (I couldn't believe that I came home without a picture of the temple, not that there is much to photograph there, but still). The apartment belongs to the owner of the bank that he is working at this summer.  He is super generous and let us stay for the weekend, we only had to pay the cleaning fee!

So we got settled in our little, luxurious apartment and started our weekend.  Unfortunately, I started to feel sick at dinner Friday night, and continued to get worse throughout the weekend.  I toughed it out the best I could considering our locale, but we had to cross some things off the agenda.  Here is what we managed to do....

Friday
-authentic NY pizza at Patsys with Brody's coworker and wife.

-enjoyed the views from our apt and went to bed early...we were tired from the trip in

Saturday
-walk in Central Park...it rained :(
-took the subway and got lost and had to walk a long ways to the number 1 rated pizza in all of NYC, Lombardis

The pizza was good, but I would order extra cheese next time. NY pizza does not have enough cheese for me. I guess I'm not a purist.

-walked through a few shops on 5th Ave
-frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity

 

The hot chocolate was pretty good, but I was annoyed that you had to order $8.50 per person worth of food.  We had just come from pizza so we weren't hungry, hence the two hot chocolates.  I'm not sure it was worth it, even if we got to sit at the table where the movie was filmed.

-home for a nap
-Shake Shack for burgers and shakes
(I do realize that all our tourists destinations were food related...lol I guess that is what happens when you travel with Brody and when I am too sick to make him do more)

Sunday
-Magnolia Bakery

I got a delicious mini cheesecake and Brody got a humming bird cupcake, which he enjoyed. We've heard that the cupcakes aren't that good, but we liked the one we had.

-tour of Google with James



Views from Google's sun bathing deck. They are some lucky employees!!

-and the two hour trip back to New Jersey

Some of the most notable moments were all the people who stopped us on the street to tell us how beautiful our baby was. It was ridiculous how many people commented on her.  She loves the attention. I actually really appreciated the distractions.  It helped keep her happier and less fussy. She actually did quite well on the trip because we returned to the apt so she could nap.

Also, I spent my first Mother's Day there.  The day wasn't much different than others, but I did appreciate random people wishing me a happy Mother's Day.

She is so beautiful! Love her!



Weekends in New Jersey: Part I

Since we are only in New Jersey for a short period of time and since Brody only comes back on the weekends (he is staying with James in the city during the week), we have decided to visit, eat and explore as much as possible. 

Agenda for this weekend:
1. Visit Princeton University's Campus
2. Eat a ridiculously unhealthy sandwich, filled with cheese sticks and French fries (a random dream of mine) at a popular restaurant in Princeton
3. Eat the best ice cream in the city (wasn't worth the extremely expensive price)
4. Visit historic homes in the nearby town
5. Enjoy sunshine and take walks

I'm happy to report that we completed all items on our agenda.  Princeton was absolutely beautiful! I wish BYU's campus was even close to as nice.  I now want to live in this town.  I loved all the cute shops and restaurants, old homes and picturesque landscapes.  We actually took a lot of pictures for once.

 

On Sunday, we took a little drive to the next town over to visit a home where George Washington stayed one winter during the Revolutionary War and another home from the era. I really enjoy historic homes.  I'm kind of a nerd about that kind of stuff. 

George Washington slept in this home one winter of the Revolutionary War.

Old Dutch Parsonage (1700s) Rutgers University was founded here.

 

In the meantime, I spent this week getting settled.  I attempted to nap train Madeleine.  The experience was excruciating, and I'm not totally sure it worked.  She hates naps.  She also hates sleeping in a pack and play.  I also hate it because she constantly wakes herself up and can't put herself back to sleep because she wedges herself into the most uncomfortable positions!

I also helped throw my niece's 11th birthday party.  I made a cake, favors and decorations. It kept me busy while Brody was away working all week.