We [heart] New York

If you don't count a few 24-hour tourist blitzes during the time we lived in Boston, and a trip Kelly took as a one-year-old with his parents, we really had never visited New York. We definitely did not have anything close to "the experience." But life is a funny thing, and we ended up spending the bulk of December in the big city due to a work assignment for the local electric utility. 

With three weeks in NYC, we can't claim to have anything close to an idea of what the place is really like, but the following is a compilation of first impressions from what turned out to be a memorable stint. The first adjective for the experience is "cold," followed closely by "awesome" and "really fun." Here is Asher gazing in wonder at the bright lights of Times Square.

A lot of people have asked where we were staying. Since I'm a nerd, I'll just embed this google map and you can see for yourself. The place was a long-term executive hotel (basic services provided, new sheets every couple weeks, buy your own groceries, etc):

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We loved being so central to so much fun stuff: Madison Square Park (including Shake Shack), Downtown and Midtown access, Fifth Avenue shopping (yeah right)...

The hotel had a little patio on the fifteenth floor, which came in handy when it was time for our little California boy to experience his first snow.

Being December, the weather was pretty cold (especially hard on us after we have grown "soft" since leaving the East Coast).  Take below-freezing temperatures, wind chill, rain, ice and snow, coupled with a family unit that is accustomed to traveling by car everywhere, and throw in one or two naps a day, and you end up spending a lot of time in the hotel. 

Fortunately, the 1-bedroom unit provided by my company worked out pretty well. Asher's crib fit snugly into the pantry next to the kitchen, which ended up so dark and isolated from his older brother's morning routine that he was sleeping several hours more per day than normal.

When the ~500 square feet just didn't cut it, the boys had a great time running the hallways of the 19th floor. After about 37 reminders not to bang on any doors or scream, this became a decent release for everyone.

And when they were not out in the hallway, Bennett and Asher were sure to get every possible ounce of fun out of their surroundings. This couch was not only a wrestling mat, but also a pirate ship, spacecraft, fortress, and bed. And toilet one time (Asher ran away from a diaper change...gross).

So we got nervous soon after our arrival when we found out how difficult it would be to navigate the city and the cold with two small children. (Every time I write this, I think of the moms that somehow live in Manhattan and pull this feat off on a daily basis.) The prospect of getting in enough fun seemed daunting. In a moment of exasperation early in our stay, I saw Kim mouthing the words of a silent prayer. I took the boys out into the hallway to let her vent in peace, when to my astonishment I found our neighbor from a few doors down, stay-at-home mom, transplant to NYC on temporary assignment, and even Mormon, coming off the elevator. We have come to refer to this fortuitous encounter as "The Miracle on 24th Street." And it really was a miracle. We not only had some friends in a strange place for communal "Office" viewing,  pointers on the city, and general camaraderie, but we also had baby monitors and a clear signal. This meant swaps, and we really took advantage of the situation. Each couple went out four times over the course of a couple weeks, giving us the chance to see shows and visit shops and try restaurants and just enjoy New York nights at Christmastime. We had a blast, and still feel so fortunate to have met our new friends David and Bonnie.

The best date ever involved a carriage ride through Central Park...

I kept thinking about the Seinfeld episode with the Pork-n-Beans, but the park was really nice and the falling snow made it all very quiet.

...the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree and Ice Skating Rink...

...and lots of other things. We stayed out for something like 4 hours, walking around under a light snowfall the whole time. Here are some highlights:

• Trying a randomly selected restaurant and finding it to be delicious
• Visiting a large and beautiful Cathedral

• Checking out the coolest Apple Store I've ever seen
• Late night peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks (literally on every block in Manhattan)
• Famous Serendipity desserts, including the oxymoronic frozen hot chocolate
• And a quintessential "yellow cab" on the way home.

As if one fun date wasn't enough, we went a couple days later to see the Little Mermaid on Broadway. We're no connoisseurs, but we both agreed it was a really fun show. The costumes and sets were unbelievable.

On the Sunday before we left, we took a subway across to Brooklyn and then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The photos don't do it justice in the least bit, but it was a nice view as we walked toward the illuminated downtown area and looked out over the East River and the harbor. But definitely cold again...

We took advantage of the free ferry ride to Staten Island and back. Despite the "crazy eyes" and the eery, yellowish glow of the vessel's lighting, the ride was fun and we got an up-close (and free) view of Bennett's favorite attraction, the Statue of Liberty.

Someone at FAO Schwartz is paid to construct Lego models of Chewbacca. I might be in the wrong profession.
The picture at the big foot-piano was mostly out of obligation. The boys didn't know about the 1989 motion picture "Big," and they didn't have the courage to go far from Kim. Plus it was naptime.

Santaland at Macy's is another of those "Christmas Miracles" in that it's amazing anyone has the time and willpower to put together room upon room of intricate holiday decorations - model trains, scale villages, singing bears, life-sized murals, exuberant elves, and even Santa Claus. Actually, four Santa Clauses. Bennett was timid but followed through with his plan to ask for legos; Asher was terrified.

Adventures in the Big Apple

We went to New York and lived in Manhattan for three weeks in December. It was a lot of fun, but the combination of Blogger, Firefox, and the MacBook are not allowing us to post pictures. Except for a weirdly shaded version of this one:

California Wintertime

It's been raining the past few days. Bennett has been making use of his rain boots.


And Asher likes to sneak outside when I'm not looking and join in all the fun.
My camera ran out of batteries on Halloween so I didn't get any pics of the boys together. Here's our little monkey.

When Kelly and Asher were in AZ, Bennett and I went to the ward Halloween party. Bennett won first prize in the pumpkin carving contest. He wanted the face to look just like his trick or treat pumpkin bucket face. He helped me draw and carve it.
He loved the bounce house. I had a hard time getting him out of there.
This happy face was rarely seen while wearing his costume.
He much preferred the serious batman face.

Kids and Pumpkins

Here are a few pictures of life these days at our house.

Kim made pumpkin pancakes for the boys , who always love pancakes and are really getting into the fall holiday season.

Asher has this habit of getting into everything in the cupboards he can reach. Usually we get frustrated and tell him to stop making a mess, but Kim found a solution that was more fun for everyone - a drum party on the kitchen floor. Great idea, Kim.

Asher eating strawberries.

Asher eating flowers.

Asher eating dried corn kernels.

Asher eating hay.


We borrowed the canning machine from the Concord Cannery for a ward event. But we decided to take the opportunity and get some food storage put together. 45 minutes, 24 cans.


We took a day trip to the pumpkin patch today. One of the highlights was a "sandbox" full of millions of dried corn kernels. The boys had a blast digging and playing with the 47 other children in the same 200 cubic feet of corn (10x10x2).



We thought this picture of Asher was cute (but what else are we going to think?) Another 80 degree day in late October.
Is this a stylish kid or what? Shout-out goes to Grandma Schroeder for the "cool-guy" jeans and awesome tennies. Asher was loving pumpkinland, toddling all over the rows of giant orange balls with big sticks coming out of them. (At what age does the concept of a pumpkin really make sense?)Another highlight was the cow train, made up of little cars pulled by a tractor, with the whole thing decorated like a herd of cattle. Almost made me feel like a rancher. The ride was fun, meandering through the corn stalks and the pumpkin patch. Asher smiled a little but held on tight. Bennett tentatively held up his arms when we went over little mounds of dirt, and then quickly held on to the sides again when Kim stopped asking him to do it.

Overall we had a great time, despite a sort of rocky start. But that's a story for a different day...

We really do have children

Notwithstanding our absence from the blogosphere, we want to make it known that we are alive and our boys are still pretty cute, albeit scrappy.  

And we hate looking at Ms. Renaissance Faire and Ms. Meyer and the melted computer picture.  So here is a quick set of what we were able to upload with the new Mac Powerbook (Thanks John Schroeder) and the new wireless network (Thanks Best Buy):

This picture proves that happiness is either free or at least cheap.  The slide was from a garage sale advertised on Craigslist.  The batman pajamas are a hand-me-down from cousin Nolen.  So as long as you don't factor in the expense of living in California and the resulting perfect weather that makes possible breezy afternoons in the backyard, the total cost of this smile is $5.  I think it's a good deal.

In other news, Asher is following the Smith-boy trend of waiting 15 months before deciding to walk.  He's transitioning between the crack-up-while-holding-tightly-to-two-fingers phase to the standard wobbly-legs, fall-on-the-bum treks across the living room.  Current record of unassisted walking: 21 steps.  He's getting close.

Bennett started pre-school a few weeks ago.  He has been excited and relatively nerve-free from day one.  Nice teachers, a cool playground, and several familiar faces from church have made the transition particularly easy.  Besides the social learning experience, preschool has given Bennett a sense of purpose - he refers to it as his "work" and prides himself on leaving at the same time as his dad.

So that's us these days.  As we get caught up on our electronic life, we'll have more later.

We're offline

Sorry to anyone who has checked this blog recently.  We're offline due to a crashed computer at home (I'm writing this from work).  And it's a shame because Kim has a whole bunch of really cute pictures of little kids doing funny things.  But we'll be back soon (hopefully). And this is not an actual picture of our computer, but a representation of what it feels like on the inside.

Let's try that again...

(Spoiler alert) Kim was worried about me being misunderstood the last time around, so I'll attempt to explain. If you're not familiar with the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, they are young adult novels about a high school girl that falls in love with a vampire. But then she kind of likes a werewolf, but ends up with the vampire after all.

I haven't read the books, but pretty much every female I know is obsessed with them. The reason I find that funny is the aforementioned elements of fantasy. Who knew that my wife would one day explain to me the physiological aspects of vampire/human childbirth?

Anyway, I figured that if fantasy has a market, maybe I should try my hand. Really, I was goofing around while Kim finished the latest book (released last Friday at midnight) and having some fun spoofing the insanely popular series by making up a unicorn/fairy romance of my own.

In reality, I am super impressed with anyone that takes an idea and turns it into something as time-consuming and life-accomplishment-ish as a published novel. Even if it is a little phantasmagorical and seemingly ridiculous and reminds me of the Renaissance Faire.