NYC!

Lots to catch everyone up on - its been a busy month or so!  We've been to the mountains in PA and NYC, and managed to hit up a friend's bday party and a whole lot more!

 

This past weekend a friend invited us to a train themed 2nd birthday party.  We've taken Austin on a few miniature trains over the past year, but this is the first time that I think he actually was excited.  As we sat on the train before it started he started saying 'weeeee'.  Very cute.  He was so good amongst so many little kids that he didn't know - and even sat still for some cute pictures of the whole crew (the balloon in his hand really helped!). Afterwards we played in the huge toddler play area of the playground.  He was having so much fun it was sad to pull him away at the end of the night!

 

 

 The next day we spent the day at my brother's house.  They just had their new baby, Zoey Caitlen, on Wednesday.  We took lots of food over and spent the evening catching up and hearing all about little Zoey.  Austin was interested, but cautious about the baby.  He would walk up to her and peak at her, and then retreat - walking backwards.  It was pretty funny! 

Last weekend was a bit more eventful.  We drove up to NYC to see Alex, Tom, and family.  It was so much fun seeing everyone!  For the first time, we were successfully able to push Austin's bedtime limits.  We stayed out till at least 9pm every night!  The people watching, dog watching, and airplane watching certainly helped.  This kid has a serious obsession with planes...he can spot them sooner and farther away than I can!

View from NJ on the other side of the ferry.

Riding the ferry to NJ to get our car

 We didn't do too much sightseeing, especially since Mike and I have been to NYC many many times.  We did hit up Times Square though.  Elmo apparently is down on his luck and is living on the street - he hit us up for a few bucks to get a picture.  We kind of had to when Austin smiled and pointed at him. 

We also encountered a giant M&M that appeared to be scared that Austin might eat him!

I think Austin had the most fun though in FAO Schwartz.  We walked in and there were just hundreds of stuffed animals.  He started picking them up and carrying them around.  Then he found this display of puppies and couldn't get enough. He had to pick out each and every one and hand it to Aunt Alex until he found the one he wanted to take home:

All of the excitement of the city finally knocked Austin out while riding in the Ergo with daddy.  He hasn't fallen asleep in the Ergo in months, so he must have been tired!

We stayed in Battery Park, which we hadn't ever stayed in before.  It was a lot more quiet and relaxing than staying in midtown.   There were tons of families with kids and a huge playground within walking distance from our hotel.  Austin loved the water features:

Mike and another dad broke the playground rules and helped out these kids on the pedal-propelled merry-go-round. 

In other news...we're occasionally able to get Austin to brush his teeth.  Its been a bit of a challenge getting him interested.  I'm sure its not too important at this age, but we want to start getting him to realize that its part of the bedtime routine. 

 

We definitely have a toddler on our hands.  Austin can point to his belly, foot, and nose when you ask.  His vocabulary is still pretty limited:  bubble, dog, cat, daddy, mama, more, uh-oh, car, ball, nana (banana), baby...I think thats about it.  He's started the tantrum phase when he doesn't get what he wants, but so far walking away and ignoring it usually works.  So excited to see how much he changes in the next few months!