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Remember what I said about "to do" lists? How I am obsessed with being organized? Well I was determined not to waste more time than necessary during our trip. The last vacation with sightseeing that Josh and I took was also up north to see my Opa Horst (he passed away later that year) and my Oma Lya. We were staying with my Aunt, Uncle and cousin in their beautiful home, but ventured out to New York City during two days.
The first one, a Saturday, we drove our rental car in, went to the Met, walked around Central Park and walked and walked and walked. Sightseeing we did, but I also was completely miserable due to the weather and the fact that we ended the day VERY far from where we parked. With no knowledge of the subway system, this meant that we walked even more. My legs were very happy to rest that night when we went to sleep.
The other day was a Monday. We decided to take the train in. Suffice it to say we had some issues with parking permits (going to a City Hall where they only take cash and take about 20 minutes to get you the permit). So we wasted a fair bit of time before we could finally get on the train. Once we got on the train, it was actually quite nice. We were able to enjoy looking out the windows until we arrived in the Big Apple.
We arrived and continued our "let's walk around and see what happens" technique of sightseeing. I was able to go to H&M, but we got lost somewhere between Little Italy and Chinatown and spent way too much on a lunch because we were starving.
Fast forward 3 years and 1 month, to our trip with Benjamin - a baby. Like the Johnson & Johnson commercials say, "Having a baby changes everything." That is no exaggeration when it comes to travel. We were fully aware that even if Ben was good, there were things we could and could not do (unfortunately we could not see Conan, not only because of Ben, but also because he was done taping in NYC by the time we arrived). We also wanted to be as efficient as possible so that we could maximize the time we spent with my family.
To alleviate our concerns, we discussed our plans for Philadelphia and New York City ad nauseum. I created an itinerary which included driving directions, attractions, hours and phone numbers so that we would know when we were going where. That itinerary started out in Philadelphia.
Of course, itineraries are made and often not followed exactly - which is what happened to us. But unlike the morning travel frustrations, the afternoon was wonderful thanks to Ben's continued great behavior and to a vast improvement in the weather. Unlike the massive rainstorm that morning, by the time that we started to sightsee, it was sunny outside and slightly chilly. Perfect.
Our hotel was on Penn's Landing, walking distance to Old Town. We put Ben in the jogging stoller and headed out. I loved walking on cobblestone streets, but they aren't quite so idealistic with a stoller :). However, we now have affirmation that we should always pack a jogging stroller for travel. We passed by City Tavern, a restaurant that we would eat at if Ben weren't with us (luckily they have a cookbook coming out soon so I will try to create some of the dishes at home later this year). We walked up a few more blocks and found ourselves near the Independence Park Visitor Center.
It was almost 4 pm, which was the time that attractions started to close. Since Independence Hall tours were full on Friday, we had already reserved our tickets for Saturday morning. (Another lesson learned for traveling with a child - always start out in the early morning. Less people means easier to get things done!)
We continued to walk around and went by the Christ Church Burial Ground. Although it was closed due to the rain, we were still able to see Benjamin Franklin's grave.
Then, we walked down to see Christ Church, which was open.
While we were looking around, I took Ben out of his stoller since he was getting restless. Josh and I both really enjoyed seeing Christ Church. He was so interested in that, I can only imagine how much he'll like Westminister Abbey if he gets the chance to go!
Christ Church even has the baptismal font that William Penn was baptised in. One thing I love about the Northeast (which Houston does not have) is centuries of history.
After that, we continued to walk around for a little while longer, absorbing the scenery.
After a very efficient 90 minutes, we arrived back at Penn's Landing, and got ready to head out for dinner at the Reading Terminal Market.
At Reading Terminal Market, we saw amazing food. If only such a place existed in Houston! (Although maybe the fact that there is not is good for our waistlines...) Josh finally got his Philly Cheesesteak, and yes, it was everything he hoped it would be!
I'm not a fan of onions, so I opted to try Delilah's macaroni and cheese, which is supposed to be some of the best in the country. While it wasn't a bad meal, Josh and I agreed that we prefer our normal homemade macaroni and cheese with roasted tomatoes.
After dinner (Josh and I skipped lunch so we were starving), we had some Gadzooks! ice cream from Bassetts. Josh said he just have a taste, but ended up eating more of it than I did. I can't blame him - it was excellent. The smooth chocolate ice cream with chunks. Yum.
We drove around Philadelphia and stopped at a Target to pick up additional diapers, snacks and other items we forgot. We headed back to the hotel and played with Ben. Soon after, we all went to bed for some much needed rest.
We woke up early to get our Independence Hall tickets. It was nice and quiet outside. We obtained our tickets and wound up in Independence Hall much earlier than our tour time. We waited outside, but we were able to join an earlier tour.
When the tour started, Ben kicked off his socks, as he tends to do regardless of temperature. He made lots of noises (happy ones) while the tour guide started.
In the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed, we saw the chair where George Washington sat - the chair with the rising sun.
After that tour, we went to see the first House and Senate chambers.
We started viewing the first chambers for the House of Representatives.
Then we saw the first Senate chambers.
From there, we crossed the street and saw the Liberty Bell.
Then we walked back to the hotel to leave for New Jersey!
A few weeks ago, Josh, Benjamin and I traveled up north to visit my Oma, since she could not travel to see Benjamin. It ended up being a few hundred dollars cheaper to fly into Philadelphia instead of Newark, and since Josh and I had never been to Philly, we opted for that choice.
We woke up at 4 am to get to the airport on time, so naturally, once we were fighting and frustrated at the airport (neither of us are morning people, and we did forget to pack a couple of things...), we found out that the flight was delayed. Knowing that all we had was time, we walked around (very grateful we brought Ben's jogging stroller, which we had debated) the airport and got some breakfast. I tried to feed Benjamin in a more empty part of the airport (covered up of course).
A couple of hours later, we boarded the plane. If Ben is tired, he normally refuses to sleep and is grumpy. If he is not sleepy or teething, he is a happy baby - as long as he has interaction. He has a limited attention span with toys and likes to move around. In that way, Ben takes after both of us. Josh and I cannot stay at home for an entire day without getting "cabin fever" - it appears that Ben has the baby version of that characteristic. I had packed some compact baby toys into his diaper bag, to help the time go by.
So we all get on the plane, and we keep two bags underneath our feet - 1 with my purse, camera, iPod and our books. The other bag was Ben's diaper bag. We took out a bottle of pumped milk from home (which, almost 4 hours later, was about to "expire") and a bottle nipple, and placed them in my bag for easy access. We sat down and got settled. About a minute later, Ben got cranky so we started looking in my bag for the bottle. The nipple was nowhere to be found (we still do not know where it went!). So we had ask the man sitting next to me if I could get out of the seating row. I opened our carry-on (which had my breast pump and extra bottles), but this already aggravated me - the one thing about my role as a parent that really frustrates me isn't:
- lack of sleep (although I would love to not wake up multiple times each night),
- spitting up all over me (this week Ben is sick, so that happens more often) or
- even the new lack of availability for social activities (we have yet to find a babysitter nearby for last minute plans)
... it is being disorganized! No matter how many times I create to dos lists or update my planner, things like this tend to happen. Maybe one day my brain will return to me :). However, that morning had many "forgetful" moments so I was anything but calm... especially since I was nervous about how Ben would handle the flight.
Luckily, Ben was exceptional during the flight. He started teething when we were delayed on the runway, so we gave him some Tylenol. He had no issues during takeoff. Ben did not even cry! He did make LOTS of cute noises, as in the past month he has become extremely talkative. The odd thing was that some people around us were rolling their eyes when he was making the cute noises; I guess they didn't realize that the alternative option of crying would be much less tolerable!
Ben moved all around my lap and Josh's, and even enjoyed looking out of the window of Josh's seat. He was particularly captivated by the pattern of the interior walls of the plane.
You could tell that at some points, he was completely content. In Josh's lap, he moved into what we call his "lounging Buddha" pose.
A couple of hours in the air, and we finally landed. While the plane was heading to the gate, Ben did get a little restless, but that was to be expected. As first time parents, we thought of how this first flight with Ben would turn out. The one thing we didn't expect was that Ben would get less frustrated than us!
Soon after, we picked out our luggage and headed to the rental car pick-up. After some frustrating issues there (which VERY luckily, Ben slept through), we were finally on the way to our hotel. Since we arrived a few hours later, the huge rainstorm (which caused the delay) had passed.
Arriving to our hotel - the Hyatt at Penn's Landing, we felt better already. It didn't matter that we were extremely hungry - we'd get something soon. We were able to relax on the King Size bed for a little while, watch some TV and decompress before a more cramped afternoon of sightseeing.
When I have free time, I enjoy baking - usually cookies. I've never really made pies, but a posting on the Cookie Madness blog caught my eye - a Key Lime Pie recipe that did not call for eggs.
The recipe could not have been easier (I bought a crust), but I would like to see how the pie would have tasted if frozen instead.
After reading a Houston Chronicle article about how lobster has become more affordable, I decided to try a related Lobster Mac n Cheese article.
Unfortunately, cheaper lobster does not mean that it was easily to cook with - I could only find live lobster, and I'm not into that much preparation on a weeknight. Josh and I decided to use crab meat instead.
The recipe called for a lot of cheeses and was very rich and tasty. That being said, the extra cost of the cheese and crab didn't make it any more filling than our typical mac and cheese with roasted tomatoes.
It's not that uncommon for me to use leftovers, particularly rotisserie chicken, in frittatas. A couple of weekends ago, I made one us one that Josh really liked.
This frittata included Italian flat leaf parsley, roasted red pepper, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and rotisserie chicken.
Very colorful and filling - but not too filling. A satisfying dinner with fairly little effort.
A couple of months ago, I posted about a Spicy Calamari Stew. I really liked how quickly the stew came together, but didn't like the texture of the calamari. Shrimp was on sale at the grocery store, so I added it in place of the calamari. I also swapped a can of tomato sauce for a can of tomato paste and water in the same amount. Then, we added artichokes and whole wheat pasta.
The result was a comforting, fast meal - something that takes very little effort AND makes great leftovers! This is already a weeknight go-to meal for us.
Like the original, you can't go wrong having garlic bread to soak up the extra sauce. I now make it with garlic ciabatta bread. There's never any bread left!
Every few days, we've been experimenting with new foods for Benjamin. After carrots, we started with peas. He was really starting to get used to the spoon thing. Now we expects food immediately when placed in his high chair! At Ben's 6 month appointment, his doctor visit notes included a recommendation to eat meals with us. He still continues to nurse, but Josh and I really like having him sit with us at dinner, even if it means my dinner gets cold occasionally!
Ben seems to constantly develop, and this month is no exception. He takes more and more of an interest in playing with toys and with books. Books with paper pages get mangled, so I've come to really appreciate the cardboard ones around.
A couple days after we introduced peas, we then gave Ben sweet potatoes. I think it is his favorite so far! He readily eats them, more than he'll do with peas (sometimes he will eat them, other times - not so much).
Now that Ben sits up on his own, he even enjoys hanging out on the couch (right next to parents who are supervising him, of course!). Here he is during the NCAA tourney games!
Ben seems to concentrate and analyze EVERYTHING around him. Here he is with his toys, but he's doing the same all of the time. Now during our walks, he is wide awake, absorbing everything within his line of sight. If I walk by without talking directly to him, he gets upset!
We are trying to introduce Ben to sippy cups. I found one that's almost a hybrid between a bottle and sippy cup, and Ben seems to understand it. However, the odd, unexpected thing is that he does not like white grape juice (diluted with water).
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