Balloons, Balloons, Everywhere Balloons

One week, two cities, two big balloon parades.

First stop, Sunday, Stamford, Conn., for the UBS Parade Spectacular, which we attended with our friends Claire and Mike, who are Stamford residents.

The big hit of the day -- you'll never guess, no really, you won't. Gumby! Mason loved the little green clap of clay.




Thomas, predictably, was also a big hit.



Come Wednesday night, we headed to the Natural History Museum to check out the big balloon inflation for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, with, oh, about a million of our closest friends.



On Thursday, we joined that million, plus about 2.5 million more to watch the parade life in midtown Manhattan. This year, we watched from 48th and Broadway. Mason's favorite part (before Santa, that is) just may have been watching the antics of the cartoon M&Ms on the big screen across the street, in front of the M&M store.

There were plenty of other cool sites to see, though.




And, as a grand finale here's the kiddo's reaction to Santa's arrival on the scene.



Mason and Dad-O posed for a little Thanksgiving portrait in the middle of Seventh Avenue, which was still shut down as the parade marched further downtown toward Macy's.



We closed out our Thanksgiving outing with some delicious turkey and all the fixin's at a restaurant and then headed home for a family nap!

Road Trippin'

With a full tank of gas and a cooler full of snacks, we loaded up in our ZipCar and hit the road last weekend. Our destination? A surprise visit to see Uncle Clint and Auntie Meg, who had trekked from Colorado to Baltimore to take in a little football game.

Since they weren't available until after game time, and since we don't usually have a car, we took the long route and stopped in Philadelphia for a little tourist action on our way there.

First, we hopped on a horse and carriage and took a little ride through town.



Next, we did a little sight seeing on foot. Taking in the Liberty Bell (don't ask Mason how he liked it. He didn't.)



The U.S. Mint.



And a Quaker Meeting Hall (Mason really liked the loft!)



Before seeing what our mugs would look like on a $5 bill.




Back on the road, we met up with a very surprised Uncle Clint and Auntie Meg (who was in on the surprise) in Baltimore and had some crab cakes, before heading back to the car. On our way, we found this curious sign above a gutter, which made us all giggle.



After a hotel-room football game of our own, and a little pillow fight, we all crashed for the night. Sunday started out with church and then after much indecision by all of us adults, Mason picked out the aquarium for our activity.

We -- mostly Uncle Clint -- teased him mercilessly on the way there, saying we were instead going to the Museum of Dentistry, but in the end, we stuck with the original plan and Mason saw eye-to-eye with a sea turtle, checked out some rays and sharks and had Clint and Meg to lean on the whole time.





Our last stop at the aquarium was the dolphin show, which wasn't quite Sea World, but wasn't too shabby either!



After lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, it was time to take Auntie Meg and Uncle Clint to the airport and head for home ourselves. We did make one final detour, to Philly as the cheesesteak lines were a little too long Saturday. Mommy and Dad-O indulged in the sandwiches, while Mason opted for fries and we both decided Geno's won out.

Live from New York, it's ... Election Day

Dad-O was at the polls when they opened. I waited a bit longer, mostly because I wanted to take the Mason Man with me. So, here we are, at 7:30 a.m. standing in line at the polling place, waiting for our turn.



Mason pulled the lever. Hard to believe that the last time we did this, he wasn't even a twinkle in our eyes. Nevertheless, it was pretty cool to share the voting booth with him.

When Mommy and Dad-O get off work, we're all three going to go to Election Plaza and await the results there. We'll see how long we last, but I'll post updates later.

*** UPDATES ***

Here's the three of us at Election Plaza last night:



A gallery of the rest of the shots can be found here.

Overall, it was an awesome experience to be there as some of the states started to turn, and the scaffolding's rose up the side of the GE Building. We didn't last too long. We were tired, and had a tired toddler on our (mostly Dad-O's) shoulders, so we were home well before they called the race for Obama.

From that vantage point, there was much rejoicing and gleeful cheers to be heard on the streets of Harlem.

No matter which way you voted, I don't know how you can deny the significance of what just happened. It gave me a chill, and brought tears to my eyes. After all, Mason has someone who looks an awful lot like him to look up to in the Oval Office.

Hair Cut

No. 7 or 8? We can't quite remember, but the kiddo is looking very clean cut and like one dapper little dude, don't ya think?

The Morning After Halloween

We celebrated Halloween with our little firefighter all day long yesterday. First on the agenda was the second-annual Small Idea Daycare trick-or-treating parade extravaganza.

Mommy was greeted with a "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat..." song when Mason, Kellyn and their crew showed up at the home office to collect their goodies.



After that, we took a walk around the block, and attempted to take a shot of the whole crew before Mommy had to duck back inside to do some work, and the kiddies had a little party and a nap to get ready for the evening's festivities.



In the afternoon, we took all the kids to Hippo Playground on the UWS to participate in the Hippo Playground Halloween Parade and play in the playground a little bit. There, we met up with our neighbor Emilio, who Mommy didn't recognize because his "pumpkin head" costume was such a good disguise.



Once the crowd thinned, and we met up with Dad-O, we headed out on our own to do a little trick-or-treating. We went up and down 86th Street, which was decked out by all it's residents. In addition to the usual candy, they also handed out pizza and hot dogs. Not bad!



We even had a celebrity siting, as Elizabeth Hasselbeck was hitting up the street with her kids. By we, of course, I mean Dad-O. He told me who she was after she left us. I guess I need to watch the view more!

After wandering up Broadway, and picking up a few more treats, we headed for the subway. We had planned to trick-or-treat on 95th Street on our way home, but by that point, the little fireman was all tuckered out and just wanted a ride home!