Christmas 2016

I wanted to break the blog silence by writing about our Christmas!

As usual, we drove up to Canada for about 5 days. This was our fourth road trip to Ontario with Henry and he’s really a champ about the long drives. He insists he never wants to fly on a plane again – only drive! (The above photo is actually a rare moment when we actually had to put Storybots on a phone to keep him going.)

We drove all the way to Niagara Falls, Ontario the first day and stayed in a falls view room at the Marriott that night. It was freezing there, but beautiful!

Because we drove about 9 hours the first day, we had just under two hours left to drive to my parents’ house in Woodstock the next day. It was very snowy.

We settled in quickly with a jam session with Grandpa in the basement and later on, helping Grandma shovel snow off the deck.

The rest of the visit was great, including many visits from family members and even dinner out to a Woodstock fish & chips favourite.

Grandma also helped Henry build an enormous “tractor trailer” with 26 wheels out of old coffee boxes. He just realized yesterday that we hadn’t brought it home, but that will give him something to look forward next visit.

What made this trip better than those in the past was that Henry happily slept in his own little bed beside ours! Here he is, watching two Spiderman videos before lights out.

On Christmas Day, my sister’s family The Martins came over which bumped our kid count to 6!

Things got a bit crazy by the end of the day, but they all had so much fun. A special shout out to my Mom who made such a delicious dinner while dodging children all day!

…also to the Dads who policed the kids’ table full of 2 and 3 year-olds. (My brother-in-law is literally a policeman after all!)

The next day, we said goodbye to my parents, grandparents, and Aunt Deb who lives next door, and drove two hours to my sister’s new house in Port Perry. The weather was not great, but their house is beautiful!

Henry was thrilled to play with his cousins – jumping on beds with Ben and playing in the playroom with Jillian – before getting in the car to begin our long journey back home.

Thanks for another great visit, Canada, see you soon!

6 Years

Six years ago today, this happened.

Which led to six years of things happening…

And tonight, we will go out for dinner, get Big Gay Ice Cream, and walk the High Line together.

Happy anniversary, Nick. There’s no one else I’d rather spend 10 hours with in a car with a toddler twice a year, lie in bed beside and watch Netflix at the end of the day, and over-plan life decisions with ;) I love you!

The Babes & Babies of Toronto

This weekend, I flew to Toronto to see my friends and meet two of their new babies!

When I arrived Friday evening, I took the new Union Pearson Express train to Bloor station and headed over to Sarah, Phil & Alice’s place. I enjoyed it much more than a cab – cheaper, cleaner, and free wifi with elevated views of the city in the distance around the airport!

When I arrived at Sarah’s, I had hugs for Julia, Blake, and Sarah, then grabbed Alice for a selfie. She’s even more adorable in person!

After eating pizza at Sarah’s, I went home with Julia and Blake. Julia and I had a good old fashioned sleepover and shared a bed like little kids. Eventually Blake even joined us ;)

The next morning we went to La Cubana for brunch and were met by Sarah, Alice, Amy, and Karen.

What? She has a mouse hat too? Oh for goodness sake.

After we ate, we walked down past some cute Roncesvalles shops and arrived at Jana and Mike’s to meet Leo.

So adorably new and cute with amazing surfer baby hair!

Afterwards I met my sister at the hotel we were treating ourselves to that night. After lounging/catching up/charging our phones for a while, we took the subway to dinner at Burdock to meet Sarah, Phil, Alice, Julia, Karen, and Amy for dinner.

Jenn also fell under Alice’s spell (it’s not hard to).

The next morning, my brother Ryan and his wife Suzanne came to meet us at the hotel for breakfast.

Then Jenn and I had to visit Lululemon for some very last-minute yoga pants shopping before both heading home.

“Where were your boys in all this?” you may ask. These photos will answer your question.

Yeah, we all had a pretty great weekend.

Great Wolf Lodge

To add a little spice to a mundane winter, we booked a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos for the weekend!

The drive is super short compared to our previous road trips to Canada – in 2 hours, we can get from Brooklyn to the Pocono Mountains and stop at Wendy’s on the way for lunch. Henry can also get a much-needed nap in.

Of course, we did take a chance on traveling this weekend. “Snowmaggedon 2016” was predicted to dump a ton of snow on the North East, but we had already put down a huge deposit on this trip, so we decided to see it through. It worked out that when we arrived on Friday afternoon, it was really quiet.

Henry got to run around and check out all the shops and activities.

He loved the arcade!

Helping dad win basketball games…

Driving the ice cream truck…

Playing whack-a-mole…

And throwing balls at clowns.

We also hit up their massive waterpark. As much as I hate waterparks, this one was seriously impressive. Henry loved the little kiddie pools with their little fountains that sprayed up. I wish I took some photos in there, but I didn’t. You’ll just have to imagine his face.

We woke up Saturday morning to THIS.

If nothing else, Henry enjoyed watching the three snowplows that worked the parking lot nonstop for 15 hours.

Oh, did I mention their buffets were awesome?

And Henry loved the singing animatronic animal shows in the lobby. They were pretty much the only thing that could keep him sitting still and keep his attention the whole weekend.

We were happy and lucky to get home without any delays today. We had a great time and are looking forward to taking Henry again when he’s a bit older – maybe even with his cousins next time! (Hint hint, Jenn!)

Christmas 2015

Better late than never, here’s a look at this Christmas’ adventures and events!

Since our summer drive to Canada went pretty well, we decided to do the same thing for Christmas rather than fly there.

This time, we stopped in Syracuse to visit our friend Matt and to let Henry run around a mall (he wanted to buy all the dog calendars from one kiosk), but then we kept driving until we reached Watertown, New York and spent the night in a hotel.

We left fairly early the next morning (delayed only by Henry falling into some carpet glue workers were putting down right outside the elevator doors when they opened. *eye roll*) and then finished our drive to my parents’ cottage in Fenelon Falls, Ontario.

Usually, by the time Christmas comes around, the cottage is covered in snow and it’s very cold. This year we were very lucky to have warmer than normal temperatures. Henry was thrilled to still be able to play in the sandbox every day!

Our first night there, Henry scaled himself right out of the crib. We all stood around stunned for a while, then gave into the fact that I’d be sharing a bed with a toddler for the week. Look at those shifty eyes! He knew what he was doing.

The next afternoon, we had a visit from my friend Eli and his two sons!

Their mom was on-call midwife duty for the week and so the guys rented a mini van and drove all the way up to hang out with us. I was so glad to see them and that our kids could finally meet!

Arlo and Henry are starting a truck-themed kid band.

The next day was Christmas Eve. For the first time since my parents moved up to the cottage full-time, our family had our Christmas celebration there instead of at my sister’s place. With 5 grand kids, 3 of us “kids”, spouses, grandparents, and my parents, it was a full house.

It was fun to see Henry really get into Christmas this year. He still doesn’t know the Santa story, but was really excited to open all of his presents.

Jillian the veterinarian.

A coupla handsome Miller men.

The kids had an unplanned black t-shirt and blue jeans dress code. The twins did not want mom to put them down.

Colouring trucks with uncle Ryan and aunt Suzanne.

And some calm once 5 grand kids were reduced to just one.

As per our now Christmas Day tradition, we met Julia, Jay, and Blake in Oshawa. This is our third year of meeting up on Christmas Day and having our little dudes play!

We got to catch up while the little dudes shared snacks, toys, high fives and amazing hair tips.

We spent the last day at the cottage with my parents. It was so nice to see them and to see how Henry really remembers them every visit now. He really took to my dad this time! Grandpa got many, many hugs.

It was great to see everyone and to have Henry spend so much time with family and friends. Before long, he’s going to be asking when he gets to go to the cottage again, just like his cousins :)

Happy 2nd birthday, Henry!

This past weekend, we got to celebrate Halloween and Henry’s second birthday!

Grandpa Storch made a special trip from Pennsylvania to celebrate with us and our little monkey.

Since Henry’s still a bit young for trick-or-treating (plus he doesn’t like candy), we spent the afternoon at Social Pants‘ Halloween party at Greenpoint’s McGolrick Park. They did a great job! We saw so many amazing costumes!

Including Henry’s Curious George, which we weren’t sure if he’d actually wear, but was a very good sport about putting it on for a few hours.

On Sunday, we had an apartment full of people for Henry’s birthday party.

Since all of his invited two year olds buddies besides little Zack couldn’t make it, it ended up being mostly adults, plus Henry’s BFF, 8 year old Caylan, and 2 month old Eloise. It was a nice balance though – very manageable!

Henry handled being serenaded with the birthday song from about 20 people very well and enjoyed eating just the strawberry from the top of his birthday cupcake.

This gift-giving event was the most prosperous to date in Henry’s short life. Our apartment is officially covered in trucks of all types and sizes! Here he is, eating his dinner after the party with his new bulldozer.

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate, and loved ones who made that extra effort to send Henry their best wishes in the mail. We love you! Here’s to our third year of #DailyHank!

Birthday Weekend!

As some of you may know by now, Nick and I have birthdays two days apart. This makes for some good celebrations – kind of like a mini Christmas! We were secretly hoping Henry would be born sooner so he could be part of the festivities too, but it’s probably best he got his own month.

This year, since Henry’s a full fledged toddler, we decided to do something he’d enjoy too so we drove to Terhune Orchards in Princeton, New Jersey on Friday.

This cute little farm has an apple orchard, pumpkin patches, a corn maze, animals, hay bales to play on, and tractors you can sit on and pretend to ride.

Henry LOVED the trucks and farm machinery (obviously), but also thought the sheep, goats, chickens, ponies, and geese were hilarious and cute.

There was a jungle gym tractor.

As well as some old tractors made for kids to “ride”.

So proud!

While Nick and I took turns popping into the farm fresh store to buy apple cider, apple cider donuts, a bushel of apples, and pumpkin nut bread, Henry took it upon himself to rearrange their pallets of pumpkins.

Then a tractor drove by!

Henry has eaten two or three apples a day since we visited the farm, and every time he eats one, he has to remind you where it came from. We will be apple picking again soon!

On Saturday evening, Nick and I had Henry’s beloved sitter Valerie come over early so we could go out for dinner and go see The Martian.

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the beautiful weather of our neighbourhood.

(Henry gets art.)

(I am actually wearing shorts here, not going bottomless.)

For Nick’s birthday on Sunday, I brought him home a Dough “donut cake” after morning Mysore which we all enjoyed. What a delicious birthday weekend!

Road Trip to Canada

I don’t know if you noticed, but we were away in Canada at my parents’ comfy cottage last week! Here’s some photos and commentary if you’re interested in our first road trip with Henry…

After renting a car from Laguardia airport, we left our apartment Friday morning to do the first half of the 10 hour drive. Henry hadn’t been in a car since December and was pretty much horrified at the thought of getting into his car seat. After much encouragement from us and even our doorman, we gave him some cheezies to munch on and he gave into a nap.

We stopped in Syracuse for the night and met up with our friend Matt, who took us to the State Fair that evening. Henry got to see goats, llamas, pigs, and chickens, and run around the bright lights and giant stuffed animals. He was very excited about the blimp floating over the fair and got to eat salty, deep-fried chicken fingers (probably much more delicious than the multigrain breaded organic kind from home ;)).

We left our hotel Saturday morning and arrived in Oshawa for my twin niece & nephew’s first birthday party that afternoon. It worked out very well that we got to see my sister’s family before heading to my parents’ and Henry got to enjoy running around with other kids (and toy cars) before spending another 1.5 hours in the car.

Henry seemed to settle into the cottage faster than ever once we arrived, even playing us some guitar and enjoying our applause.

Since we were on vacation, we let Henry stay up late and in turn, he’d sleep later than usual in the mornings. One day, he even slept until 10:00! (He was up for an hour and a half in the middle of the night, BUT STILL.)

Our days at the cottage were glorious. Grandpa cuddles…

Enjoying a new selection of toy cars and tiny plastic animals…

Feeding chipmunks and blue jays peanuts…

Visits from family…

Cousin craziness…

Serious sandbox time…

Visiting Fenelon Falls’ beach and ice cream shops…

Boat rides…

And one day, my dad arranged for us to visit the local fire hall. Having a grandpa on city council has its benefits!

A huge thank you to my parents for taking care of us for a week! And thanks to all my family who came for a visit. It was so great to see you!

Now to plan our Christmas road trip…

Wes Anderson Art Show in NYC

For five years, I have been watching San Francisco’s Spoke Art Gallery put on annual Wes Anderson-themed art shows enviously. My favourite director PLUS really great art! When would I get the chance to see one??

Finally this weekend, they brought their sixth annual Wes Anderson art show to NYC at the Joseph Gross Gallery.

Needless to say, a babysitter was booked and I went to town on that show.

Such good company.

So many different mediums for appreciating the art in Wes Anderson’s movies!

I really wanted this fantastic print, but alas, it was sold out already. No matter… I bought these three instead! Also a “Deep Search” Life Aquatic ring.

I could have just moved in to this space and lived there, surrounded by so many of my favourite things.

Thanks, Spoke Art, for finally bringing your Bad Dads show to New York and giving me an indisputable reason to go out on a Friday night!

A Quick Solo Trip To Toronto

This weekend, I took my second solo trip since Henry was born! I flew to Toronto Saturday morning and enjoyed reading, eating, and listening to music – basically a trip to the spa compared to flying with a small child ;)

I arrived downtown Toronto around 1:30 and met Sarah and Julia for a late lunch at Fresh, of course. Then they took me to a few cute new shops around Queen & Roncesvalles, including North Standard Trading Post. I’d been meaning to get Henry one of their cute hoodies and treated myself to a few things as well including one of Tami Noa Levy‘s provincial animal series prints.

Sarah hosted a few lady friends at her new house for cheese and snacks before we all headed out to dinner at Burdock. Her and Phil’s new place is very cute and the cheese was delicious! It was great to see more examples of the homes my friends are starting to own in Toronto because Nick & I are getting very used to the idea (and starting to plan) how to do the same thing in a year or two!

After dinner, we headed down the street to Bar Neon where Mike, Rob, and Tristan came to meet up with us.

Although it was only one afternoon and evening of spending time together, I appreciate any time I get to hang out with some of my favourite people in the world. Especially one pregnant Sarah Curtis! That night, my sister Jenn came to meet me for a sleepover at my hotel and although I didn’t get back there til 11:30, we still stayed up for a few hours chatting. I’ll take whatever I can get!

The next morning, I met my brother Ryan for breakfast at The Beast. After eating the giant plates of food and maple bacon donuts, I agree that it is aptly named!

After I left Ryan, I made one last attempt to enjoy the weak Canadian dollar before I went to the airport to fly home. Let’s just say, I am set for both yoga shorts and Canadian Dairy Milk for a while!

It was really nice to get away, even for just one night, but also wonderful to return home to these two guys. I got the best Henry hugs ever when I walked in the door!

See you again soon, Toronto!