Muppet Takes Manhattan (Part III)

After Thanksgiving, Alexis, Henry and I returned to the City for the rest of the weekend. We did lots of walking, eating and sightseeing and generally soaked up all the holiday sights and sounds.

But it wasn't all walking. To Henry's delight, there were a few cab rides too. He had said that he was most excited for the trip because he was going to ride in a "taxi cab!!!". Sure enough, he was so happy with his first cab ride that when we were getting out, he told the driver, "Thank you for driving us!" Here, you can see he even developed the proper technique for hailing a cab.

One night we met Alexis' childhood friend Beth and her son Drew at Big Daddy's Diner. This picture represents the one millisecond of that meal that they were both still.

Can't go to NYC without going to Times Square. Luckily it was only a few blocks from our hotel. (Thanks, Priceline!)

After a trip to the Central Park Zoo (where we were unsuccessful in finding Madagascar's Alex, Melman and Marty, but did find lots of penguins), we walked around some other parts of the Park and saw this cool scene.

Later that day, Henry really did us a solid by falling asleep in his stroller. That gave us a chance to do something not geared for a two-year old. So we high-tailed it up to the Museum of Modern Art where we were able to spend over two hours. Henry will never even know how close he was to this Van Gogh original.

"It's all ball bearings nowadays." This thing should really help fix that seventh Fetzer valve.

Fact: these paintings are arranged in the order in which each variety of soup was released by The Campbell Soup Company. Knowledge is power!

Muppet Takes Manhattan (Part II)

After the parade, it was off to New Jersey for Thanksgiving. But first, a ride on the subway!

Grandma did a good job of reining in the "crazy" but there was one hitch -- in the most uncomfortable holiday/tongue/pole incident this side of A Christmas Story -- when Henry actually licked a subway car pole. He did not seem to miss a beat, but we are still recovering from it.

Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma, Luigi and Uncle Ryan. Not pictured here in spite of their delicious cooking are Aunt Pat, Uncle Scott and Aliza

It was a constant battle for Uncle Scott's toys

Grandpa gets some help blowing out his birthday candles

Posing with the "greats": Grandpa Marty...

...and Grandma Sydelle (and three lollipops)

Muppet Takes Manhattan (Part I)

Alexis' Dad's wish for his 60th birthday was to take his two grandsons to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, an event he shared many times with his own children before their family moved away from New York. We were more than happy to help that wish come true.

The happy Grandpa

A view from above

Smurfy!

Don't worry, Snoopy's not missing, he's floating about 100 feet above

Don't even try to tell him that he's using his "noculars" backwards

The pride of Leland, Miss. approaches

To infinity...

Not everyone enjoyed a perfect view