This month has been full of fun adventures and quality family time. The most exciting adventure was our trip to New York City. Chris goes every year with the Army reserve band to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Manhattan. Since the army pays for his travel, parking, hotel, and food, when we can, we love to make a family trip of it. This was the first time we all went with a baby in tow. We weren't sure how that was going to work out, but it was great. Claire handled odd sleeping times and lots of people very well. (In fact Claire LOVES to be around lots of people and says hi to everyone.) Chris and I worked out a system of carrying the stroller up and down the steps for the subway and he liked pushing it around on the sidewalks as it acted like a snowplow, and people moved out of the way more readily. Also, the weather was fabulous! We had highs of upper 60s and lower 70s the whole time! Ahhh. :)

After we settled in to our hotel in the theatre district, Chris and I went across the street and had some Vietnamese food for lunch. I was planning to share with Claire, but as soon as our food came, the Chinese woman hostess (yes, I heard her speaking Chinese, not Vietnamese) at the front just scooped Claire up so that Chris and I could eat. It was a little strange, but not the first time I ran across this scenario in an Asian restaurant, so we just kept a close eye on her (just a few feet away) and enjoyed having a baby free meal. Claire, though surprised too, didn't seem to mind a bit and was content looking at different things they had up in the front.

Later, we walked to F.A.O Schwartz, the famous huge toy store featured on the movie "Big." It was so awesome to see Claire so excited - "ooohhh" was about all she could get out of her mouth, in a very loud and excited way. She hugged lots of stuffed animals and said their animal sounds. We went upstairs to play on the big piano that you walk on. There were other kids, so it was a little crazy. I don't think Claire realized that her walking was making music. It was still fun though.

Towards the end of our toy adventure, we let Claire walk around to see what she wanted. She just went back and forth across the isles briefly hugging the stuffed animals and then moving on to the next ones, leaving us to put them back. One time, she found a really cute bunny. She loved it so much, she went up to a stranger and showed her the bunny, insisting that the stranger hold it. It was pretty cute.

After the toy store, we hopped on the subway to lower Manhattan to eat at an Afghan restaurant. It was our first time trying it, though it was most like Indian food, minus so many strong spices. We had a potato and herb filled bread thing with a dill yogurt dipping sauce for an appetizer. Chris and I both had stewed lamb with veggies and rice, and we finished things off with a rice flour with rosewater pudding with pistachios on top. Claire ate everything we had and loved it all too. We were so impressed with our little adventurous eater. We rounded out the evening by stopping to get Chris a slice of pizza (it is NYC after all) before we went back to the hotel.

We had a table that had pillows to sit on the floor instead of chairs. It was so cozy, right next to the window, and I didn't have to worry about Claire falling.

The next day was the parade. I stayed at the hotel to allow Claire to have more normal naps to make up for the day before, and the next day. We did walk around the city in between her morning and afternoon nap to get some street food for lunch. I had a lamb gyro, and we shared a vanilla ice cream cone. It was a little overwhelming though since it was near the parade site, and there were lots of people dressed in green, drunk, and being loud. For this reason, as well as the fact that the parade is pretty long and boring and that Claire needed naps, is why we didn't go to the parade. After the parade, we headed to lower Manhattan to try some food we saw featured on the food network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." We went to Five Points restaurant and tried their Yukon golden potato and cheese pizza. It was pretty good, but the cheese was a little strong for my taste. Then we stumbled on another place also featured on that show - "Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar." The menu was HUGE and loaded with a million ways to enjoy chocolate. We tried the chocolate pizza with bananas, chocolate, marshmallows and peanut butter on Chris's half, caramel on mine. It was really good, but rich, and the crust was a little hard. We also tried a Mexican spicy hot chocolate. Mmm. Warm, sweet, rich, and a little kick as you swallow. Claire was insistent to try it, so we gave her a sip. It was fine until she swallowed, and then she had a look of surprise and disgust.


The next day, we moved out of our hotel to a different hotel in the heart of China town. We decided to stay an extra night, but since we had to pay for it this time, we went somewhere cheaper. My biggest fear was that it would be really dirty, but it was very clean! The good news about the hotel ended there though. Suffice it to say that it was tiny, the hardest bed we've EVER slept on, loud (right next to the Manhattan bridge), and a little overwhelming with crowds of people outside. We made the best of it though, and enjoyed our stay there. We had areppas for lunch at a Venezuelan restaurant. It was probably my favorite food I had to whole time in NYC. I had an areppa (a South American corn cake, cut in the middle and stuffed with yumminess) stuffed with chicken salad mixed with an avocado salad. Mmm. Fresh and delicious. Chris had one with chorizo (sausage), fried cheese, mushrooms, and maybe plantains. I can't remember. We both had a salad (which Claire loved stealing my heart of palm from it) and shared a Cocada (a coconut milkshake with cinnamon on top which was to die for!) My mouth is watering just thinking of that yummy food! We went to a Chinese hot pot (shabu shabu) restaurant for dinner where Claire ate all my tofu. Then we went over to nearby Little Italy and shared pistachio gelato for dessert. If it seems like we just wandered the city and ate lots of food on our trip, well, that's basically what we did. It's hard to do too many activities with a baby, but to be honest, that's often what our NYC trips turn into.

On Friday morning, we walked to Wall Street, and hopped on the subway to go to Times Square. I hadn't gotten my favorite street food yet, warm sweet roasted nuts, and we wanted to get Claire a NYC monkey. She saw one at the first hotel, but we forgot to get it. We found Claire her monkey, and t-shirts for us all, but all the nut stands disappeared! We then headed back to lower Manhattan, got our car, checked out of the hotel, stopped for some bubble tea (minus the tea - Chris had taro milk, and I had a passion fruit slushy, mmm), and headed home. It was good to be on the road again and away from the craziness of NYC. We had a wonderful time, but were ready to go. We love you New York! Until next time...

Claire's monkey and the free 2010 glasses she was given. She had enjoyed wearing them, but wasn't very happy here. I was holding her hands down to prevent her from taking them off.

On to other adventures. This past month, we celebrated lots of birthdays! Chris's was the 27th of February. I made him a yummy meal - French onion Salisbury steak, broccoli salad, and an orange dreamsicle cake for dessert. The following weekend, we went up to Sue's house (Chris's sister) to celebrate our niece and nephew's birthdays. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family on both sides, and had such a good time.

Chris with his cake and presents. Do you like the paper? I picked it out just for him.

His orange dreamsicle cake. I decorated it with cool whip and a chopstick.

Claire handed her daddy his presents and curiously waited to find out what is inside.

Chris and I spent some time car shopping this month. We need a second car once he starts working since he doesn't want to leave me stranded, and I don't want to wake up kids at 6AM to take him to work. After test driving many cars, we decided to get a VW Jetta SE. It is one sweet car, and Chris is in heaven every time he drives it. I could go on and on about all the wonderful features and awesome driving it provides, but suffice it to say, we love it!

We spent this last week up at my parents home. Chris worked extra time at the reserve unit, and I spent a day with some friends in Rochester. I had such a good time catching up with old friends from church and watching the kids play together. I felt very loved as they prepared a yummy lunch and I enjoyed the company. I also went to Nazareth College and saw some old friends there.

We also had a great time with my parents. We went out to eat a bunch (many of them free meals) and had a great time. We went to the jazz band dinner dance at my high school on Saturday night and enjoyed a yummy meal and some fun dancing. Claire and I went up to the dance floor for the fast songs and we had a great time. I even got a few slow dances with Chris (one with Claire with us.) It's been a while since I've formally danced with Chris, so it was very sweet. The next day, we celebrated Easter with my parents, grandparents, and second cousin since we aren't able to make it home for Easter. We had a delicious meal and a wonderful time with everyone. My grandma even had her pretty pearls on. It was so cute.

Also while we were there, I was able to learn more about putting names in to PAF (Personal Ancestral File) for our genealogy. After spending a couple hours inputting names and uploading over 2000 names that my dad has worked on, I now have 2495 names inputted. Chris has a book of over 300 pages of the Metzger family tree which is his paternal grandmother's maiden name. It's a gold mine of information! It's exciting to work on a family tree that hasn't been done before. Yea!

Finally, little Claire is growing and developing very well. She had her 15 month doctor's appointment last week and is now 22 lbs. 1 oz (under 50th %tile), and 32" tall (95th %tile). The doctor was impressed with her talking and social skills. Including animal sounds, Claire can say over 40 words. Almost every day, she says something new. It's a lot of fun. :) She is also running faster, climbing more, and she likes to practice side stepping and walking backwards. It's pretty cute. The doctor decided to do an autism test (just about 25 questions) which they usually do at 24 months. Claire already passed the test with flying colors. No worries of autism in this child!