We're off to Orlando

We had all our bags packed..... 2 pieces of luggage to check, Mikey's monkey backpack, diaper bag, purse, 2 car seats and a double stroller. I couldn't believe the effort and lists it took to ensure we had everything packed for our 8 days of vacation.

Mikey was especially excited because he had his very own bag to carry this time.  He felt very much like the big boythat  he is.  I was very amused with what he decided to put in his backpack to carry on the plane. It contained a crane truck, red car, crayons with a stationary book to color in, spiderman action figure, a baby face book for Katie, a fire truck book, bathtime for Biscuit book, a flashlight and his puppydog blanket and sippy cup.  :)

8:30am
We arrived at JFK at and were loaded onto the plane ready for our 10:55am scheduled departure.  After waiting on the plane for 30 minutes we were told there was an issue with the gas gauge and that after a quick double check to ensure we had the right amount of fuel and signing off on the paper work we would be off.

11:30am
Another 30 minutes later and we were told it would be another 15 minutes (which meant actually 30 minutes).  So an hour after we boarded we were told that there was an issue with the front panel on the plane that required a patch.  Workers were working on repairing the panel and the patch had to cure for an hour. We were now on the plane for 2 hours and surprisingly the kids were being incredible good and well behaved. Thank God!  At this point we were given the option of getting off the plane but the flight attendants were very insistent they mention over and over again that if we get off we may not be able to get back on.. Huh?  

1:00pm
The pilot now tells us that it's going to take a while because they are still repairing the patch and it will have to cure and we all had to deplane and wait in the terminal.  (We waited on the jet bridge for 30 minutes for our stroller, (the nice flight attendants said of course you all need your strollers) but ultimately we were forced to get off and were told our strollers would NOT be delivered to us. So with no stroller we were off to go in search of some food.  Luckily they had some race car video games that Mikey  played on and we all walked on the moving walkways about 100 times. 

5:00pm
After pushing the departure time back again and again and again...4 total hours of waiting (without a stroller) in the terminal it was roughly 5:30 and we were told we were cleared for a 7:00 departure.

6:30pm
We all boarded the plane AGAIN and 7:00 came and went.  At 7:05 the pilot said that they can't sign off on the paperwork yet because they want to give the "patch" another 15 minutes to cure because of the now cold temperatures.  That 15 minutes turned into 30 minutes and at 7:30 we were cleared for departure. 

7:30pm
Not even 300 feet from the gate and the pilot comes on the speakers AGAIN and says "Well folks, it looks like when it rains it pours. We have an issue with our attitude indicator (the gauge that tells the pilots it's level with the horizon).  This instrument should NEVER fail. In my 30 years of flying I've never seen this happen.  It may just be from the plane sitting for hours or it might have just rolled over and died."  YIKES!!!! WHAT?!!! 

I said to Scott we should just get off the plane and not go! Even if we do ever take off who say's we'll get their safely with everything that's gone wrong with this plane?!!!  The pilot then went on to say it may be a quick fix, just switching out the gauge with a new one or we might have to deplane again and get on another plane.  Luckily it was a quick 15 minute fix which turned into 30 minutes.  (Why do airlines flat out lie to you again and again and again?)) At this point the pilot said we have the option of getting off if we didn't want to fly on this plane and they'd see what they could do for us.  So those that got off the plane did and because of it we had to wait until their luggage got off the plane too.

8:30pm
So quick guage fix and at 8:30 we were up in the air.  The kids were still little angels thanks to lots of snacks and movies downloaded on the ipad!  Yes, they were!!!  I only had to give them 1 lollipop a piece on the flight and Katie napped the last 30 minutes of the plane ride and Mikey fell asleep as were were landing. 

11:30pm
We landed at 11:30 pm in Orlando (9 hours after we were suppossed to land) and after waiting for luggage, grabbing our rental and driving an hour north to The Villages we were all snug as a bug in a rug at 1:45 am.  Phew, what a day!  It was just to crazy not to share with all of you. 

Needless to say out of all the flying that Scott and I have had to do over the years for our jobs and vacations we've never experienced anything like this.  Here's to hoping we never will again.

P.S.~ The next day we got an apology email from American Airlines, with a monetary voucher and 5,000 free miles. 

So excited carrying his own backpack.

He loved the moving walkways, with flashlight in hand.

 

Now we have the inside scoop!

 

Katie napping in the  car seat since we didn't have our stroller during our 4 hour wait.

Gymnastics

In preparation for our trip (we wanted to make sure the kids were nice and tired) we decided to take both the kids to gymnastics class.

Scott took Mikey to NYC Elite for gymnastics class.  We walk past the place on our way to school and Mikey l.o.v.e.d it!  I mean hasn't stopped talking about it and talks about it every time we go past it on the way to school. 

I took Katie to a new place that just opened called The Little Gym.  She also liked the class, was very social, interested in all the equipment, hung on to the bars for long periods of time, and walked on the balance beam without holding onto either my hands or the instructors hands.  We sang songs, played with bouncy balls and had parachute time also.  \

Both great places, not just need to get over the sticker shock and sign them both up.

I only snuck in one pic as we were leaving the Little Gym.

Aerial Yoga vs. Drinks

This evening a few of us KPMG moms decided on a last minute get together.  We came across a fall open house at Asphalt Green that was offering numerous free classes to try out tonight.  We decided on trying an aerial yoga class.  It was the first time any of us have heard of it and when we looked up what exactly it was we were a little intimated.  We didn't have a clue how we would get into our out of some of the poses we'd be doing during class.  We chickened out.  A super last minute decision and we found ourselves at Kaia Wine Bar enjoying something a little more familiar. :) Great night ladies.

 

HAPPY

This makes me very very HAPPY.

Per the pics. and video below you can see we have one very happy little girl.  She really is always happy!

 

 

Fun at the Farm

We all had fun at The Art Farm this morning.

Benny the tortoise was out and about walking around; Mikey and Katie were really into him today.

Also during Mikey's class he was able to feed the bunnies some carrots with his classmates.  He climbed right in there and was trying to shove the carrot into their mouths.  It was pretty cute!  I got the go ahead to drop him off during his next class.  His teachers said he's doing great when I left him for the second part of class....wahoo!  So glad he's doing well.

He constantly reminds me "Mommy, no push Benny!"

Katie really wanted to get super close to him too.

She loves the bunnies!

Feeding the bunnies.

He really wanted to get in there and have the bunny eat right from his hand.

They have a really large bunny cage with lots of bunnies!

Festivals

This weekend we went to 2 festivals.
Saturday we went to an Art Festival and Sunday we went to the 92nd Street Y (YMCA) Festival.

The only picture I took at the Art Festival.  There were some amazing pieces showcased however I didn't want to look to much.  I found a painting I liked however it was $420 for an 8X10! Yikes!!  After that I just browsed. The kids were done with the Art Festival after 15 minutes so we went to the park afterward and had yummy frozen yogurt on the way home.

The only picture of the Art Festival.



Enjoying frozen yogurt in front of the Chapin School.



Doesn't this look like a first day of school picture.  Except Mikey would have to be a girl and we'd have to have an additional $37K to send him to Kindergarden.

Pretty mums outside.  Reminds me of Chicago.

Always on the run! 

Sunday afternoon we went to the YMCA festival and had so much fun.  They had tents represently lots of different countries.  Mikey received a free poster from Kazakhstan (it turned out to be a poster of wheat fields. Thanks Kazakhstan for fueling his love of wheat, tractors and hay!)  We enjoyed free frozen yogurt from 16 Handles and watched different kinds of dancing and shows.  There was also lots of food to enjoy and of course they had a huge bounce house and bounce slide for the kids.

Lots of different countries represented.

The Kazakhstan tent.

Huge festival spanned 12 blocks or so.



Have yet to try crepes.

Mikey really wanted to go on but we didn't want to wait in line for 45 minutes.



There was so much to look at I didn't stand a chance getting them to look at me.



Thailand woman hand painting umbrellas.



Frozen Yogurt time!



Mikey and I.

This guy was really scary looking.  Mikey was totally mesmerized.

They performed a long 20 minute act that was so fun to watch.  Swords, sticks, batons flying, flips, somersaults!

We finished the day off by watching Nemo before bed. 

 

Evil Laugh

Katie has recently started mimicking lots of words and sounds that she hears around the house.  Mikey has this hearty laugh that he makes when he's trying to laugh (not a natural laugh) and Katie has picked up on it.  It sounds sort of evil.  It put us all into fits of laughter.

Enjoy the video.

NYRR

There are a bunch of new KPMG moms who just moved to the city in July and there is a good mix of runners and walkers.  For the past 6 weeks or so we have been meeting early in Central Park every Sunday morning for our run.  It's been so much fun to chat and run at the same time.  I can't believe the distance we can cover. 5, 6, 7 miles fly by because we are sooo busy being "Chatty Kathy's". 

I'm trying to get back into running and have always found running relaxing for me and gives me time to decompress.  My "reset" button, if you will. 

I've signed up for a few races and joined New York Road Runners Club; hoping to find the motivation/inspiration to start training for the NYC Half Marathon next March.  I ran in the Denver Half Marathon before I had kids in Oct. 2008 and would love to be in that kind of shape again!!

I ran my first race today called the "5th Avenue Mile."  It's a quick mile that is from 80th street to 60th street right on Fifth Avenue.  Super fun and quick race, although I prefer a 5K or 10K distance. I am not built for speed! You can read all about the race itself here.

My goal for this race was to finish in under 8:30. Considering I have only been running on Saturdays and Sundays, I thought this was a good goal.  I checked my official time for the race and it was 7:29.  I was pleasantly surprised! Until the next race....

The cheerleaders were hilarious. Going wild and really cheering.

My sweaty self after the race.

View from past the finish line.

About to start the race.

This was the 40-49 age group of women running. They all looked so young.

The leaders of the mens 30-39 age group ran after us.  They had huge strides. We were at the 200 meter left mark and I looked at the time and it said 4.13. So impressive to watch them in person.

Day trip to CT

Scott had to go to CT for work and we all decided to tag along with him for the day.  I was just pleased to go for a car ride as were the kids.  We were up early and out the door at 6:30 to go across the street to Avis to pick up our rental. 

We drove about an hour north to Norwalk, CT and dropped Scott off for work.  We enjoyed breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, I drove around the cute town of Westport while the kids napped in the car, we went to TJMaxx, had lunch at Panera Bread, went to the bank and drove to visit friends of ours who live in Fairfield, CT where the kids played for a little while before we drove back to pick up Scott.

While at the bank, I found it a little odd that while I was in CT, I filled out an out of state deposit slip for our bank account that we opened in New Hampshire, wrote down my NY address and my chicago phone number.  Just another reminder of Scott moving me all over the country! Ha.

It was really nice to get out in the fresh air and CT reminded me so much of the New England states we came to know when we were living in New Hampshire.  Same feel, same crazy street signs (with no cross street sign), same twisty, windy roads and very friendly people!

Just what we needed!


Went past the Melissa and Doug headquarters.  They make the wooden kids toys.

Fresh air and a car ride always do the trick.  She got car sick on the ride home.

Same with him.  Love when they are sleeping!

He couldn't sit still at Dunkin Donuts from all that sugar.

Trying to get comfy.

Pee Pee don't work

I  have a few things to post about that we've done in the last few days but I wanted to post about this so I wouldn't forget.

I'm finding that 3 year old kids (or kids soon to be 3, like Mikey) say some pretty hilarious things.  For instance, the conversation that we had with Mikey tonight.

(We purchased a new potty treat; some peanut butter M&Ms and Mikey REALLY wanted some).

Mikey (while standing over the potty and trying oh so hard to go): "Pee Pee no work!"

Mommy: "What's that Mikey? You're pee pee isn't working?  Maybe you don't have to go potty."

Mikey: "Daddy, pee pee don't work! Daddy, get pee pee to work."

Daddy:  "Mikey, your pee pee is fine.  You just don't have to go."

So after about 2 minutes of Mikey really really trying to go potty, he finally managed a few drops.

Mikey (while clapping, shouted): "Yay, pee pee work!"  "2 blue M&Ms, please."


Hope this puts a smile on your face!

Wandering Weekend

Today was a gorgeous day!  Truly the type of fall weather us Muir's have been waiting for.  We typically spend our Saturday mornings going for a nice stroll and this morning was no different. With a high of 75 for the day we bundled the kids up in the early morning and headed for Central Park. 

We walked with no rhyme or reason and ended up walking from our place on 90th and entered CP at 79th.  We walked past the grandstand that was being set up for the German Parade and past the good old Alice in Wonderland Statue.  Continuing our way thru Central Park Zoo. 

We all got to stretch our legs during this walk, including Mikey and Katie.  It's so much fun to watch Mikey and especially Katie get to roam freely. Typically Mikey runs (not walks) everywhere and Katie can't make up her mind and ends up going in circles. 

We ended up going to FAO Schwarz and were one of the first families thru the door.  It was so nice to enjoy all the toys without crowds of people.  Mikey and Daddy spent their time looking at trucks and trains and Katie and I went on the Big Piano and looked at dolls.  This was Katie's first time on the Big Piano since learning to walk and she had the entire piano to herself for about 2 minutes!

The kids passed out during our walk back home.  We stopped for lunch at Big Daddy's (thanks for the suggestion friends!) and happily munched on our food while the kids slept in the stroller.  An exhausting morning but a great one for the kids and Scott and I.  Love days like today in the city!

Good morning Plaza!

Lots of zoo animals to greet us at the toy store!

We loved the fact that no one was here.

Running down the ramp.  He actually stopped to tell me to "come on, Mommy."

Big Piano for such a little girl.

She loved to watch the keys light up.

Sign in background.

Katie and I.

Train time with Daddy.

The love the fire truck wall. 

"Baby, Baby, Baby" was what she said.

 

 

Video of Katie walking on the Big Piano.