Alyssa Update

Alyssa had her 1st birthday recently. We had a few friends and their kids over. One of whom drove down through the snow storm from out of town to get here (4wheel drive).

The next week Marie was performing in NYC and since Alyssa was just getting over an ear infection she didn't want me taking here out in the cold. We had a great daddy daughter day. We went to the mall, ate at cold stone, rode on a little train (she really wanted to ride the train) and played in the play ground they have set up inside. She returned the favors by letting me look at electronics without getting upset. We both had a great time and she was happy and stayed up way past her bedtime.

Yesterday we went and ate at the rainforest cafe. We were going to go on a date but had a hard time getting a baby sitter that night. So our baby sitter turned out to be a giant animatronic butterfly along with a couple of elephants and a family of gorrillas. You pay for the ambiance, the food was mediocer and overpriced. The plan is to go again, but just order a big plate of appetizers.

Arctic Aardvark & Albino Tasmainan Devil

First Sophia was upset and bored that it was just the two of us, then she was jealous of the attention her sister was getting once they came back. Before (funky tongue doggie) and after (crazed beast) pictures. She seems to be doing slightly better recently.

Christmas and New Years

Alyssa enjoyed her first Christmas. After we helped her unwrap her presents she sat down and let out a contented happy sigh. Marie got a date to the New York City Ballet for her main gift. I wanted to take advantage of the free grandparental baby sitting, otherwise we never would have been able to go on a 8 hour date. That weekend we all took a ride on the Santa Special where both Alyssa and Grandpa got excited about the old train and Santa and his crew. Alyssa's favorite was a less traditional character, Pablo the Penguin (she sees a lot of Penguins in the Baby Einstein videos). For New Years Marie had the week off and I didn't so she and Alyssa
went to Washington state to see her other grandparents. It was a nice last minute trip, but so last minute she did not take the camera. In their absence, and with me at work during the day, Sophia slowly went feral. Perhaps more about that later...

Blizzard

Thursday we spent a beautiful evening in downtown New Haven which was nicely decorated and local businesses were giving out free cider and hot chocolate. The town green was great. Friday I convinced Marie to watch "Hellboy 2, the Golden Army," which she kinda, slightly, liked. All weekend we had a nice blizzard. Two storms actually. Everything was shut down. Even church was cancelled. Marie spent a lot of time baking and we used breaks in the weather to drive around on the ice and deliver cookies and meals to friends and a couple of families with new babies. We only got the car stuck once, but I had it loaded with rock salt and a snow shovel so we were prepared.

Above is a picture taken from the balcony after the snow and one with Alyssa looking out at the snowfall. Below, is Sophia (who loves snow) running around. After the second storm, some areas are too deep (she falls in over her head) so she is less happy about that.

Merry Christmas

So we got this huge tree and all these decorations to make sure our apartment was fully in the Christmas spirit. Obviously, the tree is too big for our apartment so we had to take some off the top.

I'll post a picture of our real tree once we take one, probably Friday. This picture was taken in September (2 holidays ahead of time, crass commercialism) at a department store. Our real tree is smaller and Marie has designed it specifically to hide the I love New York pigeon. It is grey and blue and has a little red heart for "I (heart) New York." Now we have a tree decorated in grey and blue with little red accents. That little bobble-headed pigeon started another tradition. Now there is an ornament for each year, The pigeon, Kokopelli, A little Yale wreath, a baby ornament and, on its way for this year, a minotaur.