Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly came to visit us on the weekend of March 22.  They brought several new puzzles which we all enjoyed.

Blaine showed Mom-Mom how far he’s come with his reading since Christmas.

On Saturday we went to the American Museum of Natural History to see the new T-Rex exhibit!  It was awesome.

For comparison, here is a 4-yr-old Sarah next to a 4-yr-old T-Rex.

After learning all about T-Rex we went next door to Shake Shack for some lunch.  It was packed, so we had our burgers on a bench outside and ate very quickly due to the cold and wind.

Then we showed Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly the blue whale, always a favorite at the AMNH.

Back home, we did some more puzzles and enjoyed some halibut for dinner and some more homemade chocolate ice cream.

Close observers may note that Sarah’s superman outfit changed midway through this post.  That’s because I ordered her a new and larger version which arrived that weekend!  The cape goes almost down to the floor.  Her teachers and classmates have started calling her “Super Sarah” though as of this writing (May 5) she is no longer dressing up every day.

We finally got some good snow in early March, so we built a snowman!

It melted a bit, but then snowed again so we fixed the first one and built a second.

We had a dinner party one day and I made some chocolate sorbet (dairy-free!) which was really tasty.

Andrew took the kids to the Hall of Science in Queens.

We went to a nutrition night at Chatsworth, where Blaine made a caprese salad which he refused to try.

The kids really wanted to try ice cream from a cone, so we went to Longford’s one day and they had their first ice cream cones.

Sarah welcomed Spring!

Sarah likes Bosc pears!

Here is Sarah having her face painted at the Purim carnival at her preschool.

Two more Disney pics I had to share, first one from Seven Dwarfs and second one from Splash Mountain.  Poor Sarah.  🙂

The first day back after vacation was the 100 Days celebration at Chatsworth.  Blaine’s principal took this picture and sent it to me!  Blaine made the shirt at home, with 100 smiley faces.

Sarah came back from vacation and wanted to wear costumes to school every day.  Here she is in the Superman outfit Blaine wore for Halloween when he was two.

We arrived at Disney World on 3/20 and checked in to the Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary Resort.  We quickly hit the pool and then headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Jiko – it was delicious!  We loved the elk flatbread appetizer.  That night we got to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks for the first time from the balcony of our hotel room.

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom!

We started out at the safari ride, which was really well done.

Next we went to the Lion King show, and one of the ushers must have taken a liking to Blaine because all of a sudden she was leading us into the theater by a side door to front row seats.  Nicely done, Blaine!  The show was great; the kids especially loved the acrobatics.  Next we went on the self-guided gorilla jungle walk.  I was really impressed by this hippo but the photo doesn’t do it justice.

We hit a few other rides and got caught in a little rain before stopping for lunch at Tiffins.  The kids were excited when the waiter proposed they could get some french fries that were not listed on the menu, and by these desserts included in the kids’ meals.

After lunch we went over to the dinosaur area and rode the somewhat-scary “Dinosaur” ride.

Followed by a tamer triceratops spin ride.

Then we had some more hotel pool time, and Andrew cooked burgers in our hotel room kitchen for a relaxing dinner.  The next morning we were up early to get into the Magic Kingdom at 8am.  Sarah was pretty excited we had some extra time to purchase her some Minnie ears.

A view behind us after speed-walking through the park to the next checkpoint before the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, a new coaster-style ride that was pretty great.

Andrew planned our days really well so that we took advantage of fast passes and hitting the popular rides early so we never had to wait too long.  One surprisingly long wait, though, was for the Dumbo ride!  Sarah loved it, though.

Then we went to the teacups.

The Space Mountain lines were really short so Andrew and I tried out the “rider swap” option and got to enjoy the best ride of our childhoods while the kids had some snack.  After the morning at Magic Kingdom we took the monorail to Epcot for lunch in Norway and more rides.  Somehow I must not have taken any pictures there, because the next pic I have is of the ferry ride back.  Oh well, we had fun in Epcot!  We all enjoyed the Frozen ride, and Andrew and I got some frozen margaritas in Mexico.

That night we had dinner at the California Grill in the Contemporary, which was very tasty.  They even gave the kids practice chopsticks.

On Saturday we went back to Magic Kingdom for the morning for the Pirates of the Caribbean (Sarah kept her eyes closed the whole time), and Thunder Mountain Railroad (both kids opted out, so we did rider swap again).

We did a few others — Small World, some music show, Peter Pan, then we rode the Carousel.

Then we hit Andrew’s favorite, the Haunted Mansion.  We went back to the hotel in the afternoon for some pool time, and Sarah went down the large water slide!  I guess she’d built up her bravery going on so many coaster-type rides at the parks.

Then we went back to Magic Kingdom for our fast pass appointment with Splash Mountain!  A definite fave.  We had dinner at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the park.  The food was not memorable, but the setting was very cool, and the kids enjoyed painting their desserts, and meeting the Beast.

Sunday morning we got ready to head home, and also went for our last breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, a buffet restaurant where you get to meet the characters.

It was a great trip — lots of rides with not too much waiting, a good balance of pool time, and surprisingly decent food.  All thanks to Andrew for doing such a wonderful job planning everything!

On 2/17, we flew from LGA to Ft Myers, rented a car, and drove another hour to Captiva Island.  My family took a trip to Captiva when I was a kid, and I always had very fond memories of the South Seas Resort.  So I was very excited to go back for a few days for the first half of our Florida vacation!

But first, a pit stop at Publix to stock up.

We spent most of our time at the beach in front of our villa.  The rest of the time we were at the villas’ pool, and one morning we spent at the main resort pool.

Here’s Blaine with a kite that someone gave to him, which he kept tied up to our beach chair.

We had most of our meals in our villa, with one dinner out at a place called “Doc Ford’s Rum Bar” and one lunch at the resort pool restaurant.

“Two pandas and two cars” (photo by Sarah)

On Wednesday, 2/20, we packed up and left Captiva for our drive to Orlando.  We stopped en route to feed some alligators and play mini-golf.

We also stopped to eat a packed lunch at this manatee park.

Blaine did a project in his art class at school where they made stamps using a piece of foam and then rolled on the ink.  He liked it so much we borrowed some art materials from his teacher to make Valentines!

Blaine has been asking for his own bank account for awhile so one day he and Andrew gathered all the pertinent information to open an account!  There’s not much in there, but he’s on his way.

One day we went to a mini-golf fundraiser at the Larchmont Library.

Sarah and I took on the biggest puzzle challenge of all, this 1500 piece Van Gogh.  I got it when I was pregnant with Sarah but had not made much progress by the time she was born, so I put it away.  We were both very disappointed to find that one piece was missing… probably lost in our Seattle house.  Oh well!

I think I took this one because of the amazing blue lips/tongue/thumb combo that Sarah achieved thanks to a blue Ring Pop.

The Rye Nature Center hosted an “Old-fashioned Winter’s Afternoon” on Groundhog’s Day this year.  We got to learn about maple sugaring, candle dipping, log sawing, and Blaine went for a pony ride.  We also roasted hot dogs and smores over a campfire.

I didn’t seem to take that many pictures in January, so here they all are in one post.  On New Year’s Day, Blaine helped Andrew prepare the traditional black-eyed peas and collard greens soup.  We are all set with our good luck for 2019!

On the second day of the year, which was also the last day of the holiday break, I took the kids to the Rye Nature Center.

On Jan 5 we took down our Christmas tree, and Blaine was happy to again get to use the vacuum cleaner.

The kids have been enjoying watching the work going on at our neighbors’ house — they are redoing their backyard, patio, and driveway.

We went to the 4th annual Larchmont Manor Beach bonfire (we have been to all four).

One Saturday we took the train into the city to visit the American Museum of Natural History.  We got from Grand Central to the museum in a taxi, which was very exciting.

The end.  January was a quiet month.

A few pics from the end of the year.  The kids enjoyed this hover soccer game from Uncle Tim and Aunt Liz:

We went to a magic show which really cracked Blaine up.

This is the look Sarah gives me when I try to take her picture lately.

We drove down to PA on 12/23 to spend Christmas with the Mahoneys.  It was an especially large group this year with the Oregon Mahoneys visiting, as well, so we were looking forward to seeing everyone!

This was also our first chance to meet Nate!  He is such a sweet, relaxed baby.

My children, on the other hand, were excited to take advantage of their uncles.  Here’s a pic Uncle Fran took as the kids tried to shut him in a bathroom.

That night we decorated the tree, before heading out for dinner at Hunan with the whole Mahoney crew.

The next morning we went to the traditional Christmas Eve bowling at Devon Lanes.  The Wayne Mahoneys very generously hosted all the festivities this year since the Ingeborg Road house is still very much in the middle of construction.

Here we are back in Wayne for the Christmas lunch, followed by the gift grab.

For Christmas Eve we had 27: our four, Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly, Uncle Tim and Josie (see below), Uncle Fran and Alexis, Aunt Jane, Uncle Peter and Jane and Daniel, the Wayne group (Hank, Jean, Kate, Jesse, Gus, Sean, Clare, Moira), and the OR group (Jim, Denise, Annie, Jimmy, Amara).

Aunt Liz and poor baby Nate were absent from the gathering because Nate’s cough had become serious the previous night and they took him to the hospital.  Poor little guy!  He was discharged on Christmas morning and we were so happy when the family arrived back home.

Here’s Nate, still looking remarkably calm despite his ordeal.  Sorry you had a rough first Christmas, Nate!

Later that day we took a tour of the construction!  This is the kitchen through to the new family room which used to be the garage.

Then we all got dressed up for Christmas dinner at the Wayne Mahoneys’.

We even managed to take a large group photo!  There were 27 again on Christmas Day because we lost Jane and Daniel, but gained Aunt Liz and Nate.

The next day Andrew headed back to NY and the kids and I stayed on for one more night.  I always enjoy the calm of the day after Christmas.

We tried to take a photo of all the grandkids with their lion shirts on, but it wasn’t quite working.  This was the best I could do.

Thanks to Mom, Tim and Liz for hosting us for the holiday!  We had a wonderful time.