Halloween

We had a fun, but cold Halloween weekend this year. Norah dressed up as an “octagon.” She has been obsessed with “octagons” ever since she saw Jack Black act like seeing a stop sign was a celebrity sighting in this sesame street segment. It was such a simple costume to make and conveniently fit over her coat.We went to the Branch Halloween party on Friday night which was fabulous and included a murder mystery drama acted out by several branchers. There was also live music which Norah danced to with EllieSaturday we went to Grisamore Farms to see the animals and get some pumpkins which we had great ambitions to carve but never didAnd tonight we took Norah trick or treating around our apt complex and she loved it. She was very good about knocking, holding out her bucket and saying “thank you very much” but was stumped when neighbors tried to let her pick a candy instead of just giving her one.

Norah Takes Manhattan

Norah and I spent the weekend with friends in NYC. This was Norah’s 3rd trip to the city. What a traveller she is! Back in August Bryan made plans to go to Denver for David and Stacy’s wedding and I knew I wouldn’t be able to go because I would be 36 weeks. I was hoping to go to NYC earlier in the fall to visit Christy and Jace and also to go apartment scouting with Lauren but timing didn’t work out. Then just a little over a week ago Bryan actually had to change his flight from leaving out of Ithaca Thursday morning to leaving out of JFK Thursday night in order to make an interview so our weekend getaway worked out perfectly.

I was a little hesitant to travel this late in my pregnancy but I figured it would actually be much easier to spend the weekend with Christy and Lauren helping me with Norah than fending for myself. Boy was I right. Those girls were such a huge help I felt like I had a vacation from parenting. I can’t thank them enough for carrying Norah and her stroller up and down countless subway steps.

 

Christy and Jace were generous hosts as always. Christy made Norah and I pumpkin waffles and pancakes (and Norah helped) and Jace made Norah eggs on demand.

Friday morning Christy, Norah and I did some shopping around the upper west side and looked for coats for Norah at Century 21. We found several good options but they were unfortunately not in her size. Mercifully, the coat that Norah really really really wanted was also not in her size.I’m sure she was innocently trying to pick the coat that most resembled a Muppet but Christy and I agreed it made her look like something else.After some shopping we went to Central Park to play on the playground and ride on the carousel. Norah said repeatedly that the carousel was “so fun.” What would I have done without Christy? There is no way I could have gotten up on that horse!In the evening we met up with Lauren to go to the MoMA and dinner. It was free thanks to Target sponsoring free Friday nights. Thank you Target – I love you. These pictures are of Lauren, Christy and Norah walking through a cool interactive piece called “Sum of Day’s.” We had no idea what it was all about as we walked through the elliptical labyrinth with hanging microphones but after we read about it we learned the microphones were recording ambient sounds and replaying a new one each day with with older recordings gradually fading into whispers. Cool concept. It would have been much cooler if the museum hadn’t been so crowded and loud.Saturday morning Norah and I took it easy at the playground next to Christy’s building while Lauren and Christy went running in Central Park. We spent the afternoon at The Cloisters which was the perfect outing for such a beautiful day. The Cloisters are beautifully situated on Fort Tryon Park which is on top of a mountain (by NY standards). Christy and I somehow missed the elevator out of the 190th st. station and exited at the bottom of the mountain and after walking around the mountain lost for a while we started joking that we were going to have to scale this thing. It turned out that we did. I wish I would have taken pictures of all the stairs we climbed up with Norah in her stroller. I even googled images looking for a picture that would do justice to the feat but couldn’t find one. It was ridiculous and yet the Cloisters were still worth the effort. I’m not sure what this bridge is in the background but that is the Hudson river.Lauren and Christy at the base of the CloisterNorah still full of energy despite walking up her share of stairsI’m posting this picture for those of you who want to see the 36 week bumpAfter a nice lunch in a cloister at the Cloisters, we finished the day off with shopping at Columbus Circle. So fun. Thank you Norah for timing your nap so perfectly and thank you Fort Tryon stairs for ensuring it would be such a long nap.

Sunday we went for a walk along the High Line which is a pedestrian park along the old elevated railroad that went through the meat packing district. It was opened in 2009 but some of it was just completed this summer and there are plans to keep expanding it. I think this is the coolest and most effective example I have seen of a community combatting urban decay. The High Line was an eye sore before this project and now it is a treasured park.

Bowling Boogie

David and Stacy invited us to go bowling with them last night. We weren't quite sure if Norah would like it but it turns out she loves it. This is some great footage that Stacy captured on her iPhone. Oh, to have an iPhone.

Zoo Day

Yesterday we went to the zoo with Lindsey, Graham and Kari and Avery. I’m so glad we did because it was very good zoo weather in the morning and we got plenty of energy out of the way to make it through the rainy afternoon.Norah running to catch up with AveryThree toddlers watching three tiger cubs – you can see the moms in the reflection taking pictures.

Fall Leaves

I think this week may have been the peak of fall color for Ithaca. I find myself constantly saying “look how pretty that tree is.” Every fall here has been breathtaking but I’m still caught off guard by it.

Juice and Cheese

This may surprise you, but the Finger Lakes region is wine country. Supposedly the climate is similar to the Rhineland and the “whites” are top rated. Cornell offers wine tasting classes and going on wine tours along the “wine trail” is one of the main tourist attractions. Being LDS we didn’t expect to experience this aspect of local culture until last fall when some friends of ours introduced us to “juice tasting.” They had been driving up to Fulkerson Winery on Seneca lake several weekends during the grape harvest to buy grape juices that hadn’t been fermented. The winery sells it to local hobbyists who enjoy bottling their own wines. I had no idea there were so many kinds of grapes and it completely blew my mind how different they tasted. One seriously even tasted like lemonade! This taste bud awakening happened at the end of the season last fall so we resolved that we would check out this place for ourselves next year. We went up this last Saturday with friends and made a day of it. We tasted juices, bought juices, and stopped at a nearby “weinery” for hotdogs. Sadly, I didn’t take pictures.
On the way home we saw a sign announcing a stop on the Finger Lakes“cheese trail” so we decided to get some cheese to compliment our snobby grape juice. The place we visited was called Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese and I highly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.
Norah, Alex and Danya sampling cheese. Norah had to ask for juice samples at that winery but the cheese was all within her reach and she ate A LOT of cheese.The super friendly cheese makers invited us for a tour of their factory. It was seriously straight out of Picture Picture from Mr. Rogers. Definitely the highlight of the day. They can only give tours when they are not producing cheese though so call ahead if you want to check it out – we just got lucky.Check out all these cheese wheels aging! We didn’t dare put Norah down.That evening the two other couples we had gone juice tasting with pooled their purchased juices (and cheeses) with ours to host a juice and cheese tasting party. We had a great time being pseudo juice snobs as we sampled and critiqued the different varieties.

Big Sister Books

My big sister (she is actually smaller than me) Ashley sent Norah some light reading on how to be a big sister. Norah is fascinated with these big sister books and asks to read them before every nap and bedtime. I’m sure she has no clue how much her little world is about to be rocked but I do think she is starting to understand that some people (like Graham) have a baby sister and that supposedly she will too. Maybe she thinks it is some kind of pretend game we’re playing with her but she is definitely playing along. She has been taking a much more active role in caring for Molly the Dolly and I even caught her “reading” bedtime stories to Molly.