New York, New York

Talk about dropping.the.ball.  Holy cow.  It's been over a month since I've posted, not to mention completely fell off the Project 52 bandwagon.  I like to think that's what being a mom is all about.  Come on.  Who's with me?

Well December was a whirlwind.  We travelled somewhere every single day of the weekend, the whole month.  From trips to NYC, family parties, and weddings...we were a busy bunch of Burchs.  So it's time to reload and share what we've been up to.  

First up...our trip to NYC.  This seems to be an annual event, although if I was being honest, it doesn't have to be.  I mean, we had a great time, but how many times do you need to see the usual New York Christmas flare.  I think I'd rather enjoy the city in fall, spring, or summer....when its warmer. 

Thursday night we got into our hotel, so we had all day Friday and Saturday to enjoy.  Friday morning we headed over to Hoboken to Carlos' Bakery.  We've been there a few times now, but never with a Kenzie who has a crazy love for cupcakes and cookies.  We let her pick out one cookie and of course she picks the football one.  Man, did Donny luck out!  (Although I didn't...thinking she'd eat it ever so neatly in her carseat.)  We took a quick walk a few blocks down to the water, which has the most amazingly beautiful view of the city.  I can't believe we've never done it!!  It was windy and chilly otherwise I think I could've spent the day there!
We finished the morning with a quick dip in the pool and had time for Kenzie to take a nap!

We headed over to the city and walked through Times Square to lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner.  Don and I thought it was great and Kenz enjoyed it, especially when our waitress came over and sang to her.  We galavanted through the streets and headed to Central Park and to FAO Schwartz, for our usual bag of $10/lb Swedish fish.  We actually headed back to our hotel pretty early, after a walk down 5th avenue, and a quick pit-stop at the tree. 

So Saturday we took the morning slow again, allowing Kenz to take a nap.  So late afternoon we headed over to the city.  We met up with my friend from college (and blog reader)  Hi Brette!  We then met Justin and Susan, our friends from back home (also a blog reader)  Hey Susan!  for a late pizza lunch before heading to the chaos of Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

Kenzie also got to wear her new Carmello Anthony jersey.  Come on.  Babies in jerseys...to.die.for.  Mackenzie loved the Knicks game, no surprise there.  She even got herself a free t-shirt shot from a canon.  (We had great seats right in front of the center court cameramen, that actually got the t-shirt and passed it on to Kenz.)    She'll grow into it!  On our walk to catch the bus, baby-to-be decided to reel its ugly nauseated head.  Lucky for us my favorite NY pizza place was staring us in the face.  You can not ask for anything more than 1 dollar pizza slice!   

 This girl rides in style

 "Melloooooo"

 Just a little less than one year ago, side by side!

 It was a late late night for this little girl.  I think the latest she's ever stayed up, besides those early early weeks with her.  We headed out Sunday morning to do a little Christmas shopping at Ikea.  And by little, I mean, we finished Christmas and Birthday shopping for this little miss.  
We always have such a fun time on our little trips.  Something about spending every single waking moment with the two most important/favorite people in your life, is really amazing.

Family of 3 on a great big boat!

I may have to do this in stages if this will ever happen.  So lets get started.   
Back in the summer Don and I made a deal that if he ran 3 miles (just on his own, not even a race) hed get a bike.  Mine was, if I ran a 5k, we could go on vacation.  Well lets see how that worked out.  Don ran 3 miles, after 3 tries of not running in years....never got a bike.  I never ran a 5k, probably not even close, and just a few weeks ago we went on a little family vacation aboard the Majesty of the Seas.  I totally win!  
We flew down to Ft Lauderdale and took a quick drive over to Miami, to board the ship.  Kenzie did great on the plane.  We were lucky that the nonstop flight wasn't full, so she could have her own seat.  We had her favorite electronics and she was set.    

 Before the ship departed we headed to the top deck to watch us sail off.

 Also on this trip, Kenzie's eyes somehow got more blue!

The next day we hit the pool early before venturing out to Nassau Bahamas.    

 We did a little shopping and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, where Don and I had lunch on our honeymoon.  Don said this is our tradition...our 2 time tradition I guess.  (Lets keep building on that honey).  I'm sorry to report, but Kenzie was ROUGH.  Very whiney and really hard to handle! We even had some people staring at us at lunch, which has never happened.  

 We then took a water taxi to Paradise Island to walk around Atlantis.  I wanted to go (and stay) at Atlantis for our 5 year anniversary...that has since come and gone.  So I'm hoping for our 10 year.  Don is well aware.  Things have changed since we were there on our honeymoon.  You use to be able to explore the resort grounds and aquariums, but now you have to buy really expensive excursions to do that.  So we just walked around and basked in the hot sun.  

So lunch was rough, and dinner was even worse.  The lovely German family we sat with must have though American children were evil, and thats why they throw butter and silverware. This was mostly my fault.  A friend of mine recommended doing a later dinner so we could get a babysitter and enjoy a dinner and the shows together.  Well the first night a 9 oclock dinner was just not cutting it for the little lady that is usually in bed 2 hours before that, and who was also sans nap for the past 2 days.  Needless to say, we quickly changed dinner to the early seating!
So after a mortifying meal, in which we even missed out on dessert! I know, right? We took a trip up to the top deck to see Nassau at night.  

 And what cruise isn't complete without a towel animal!!