Boston

 Since we are leaving the East Coast in a few months to move to Arizona, I thought at least one more trip to Boston was is in order. Dan, unfortunately, couldn't come with us, but Alyssa, Abigail and I drove up for two days to see some of the sights. The beginning of our trip did not go as smoothly as planned. Alyssa threw up in the car twice on the three hour drive. Pulling over on the side of the Mass Turnpike to clean up vomit was not the way I wanted to begin our trip. Gratefully, the trip improved rapidly after that point. We didn't have a lot of time on Wednesday to see things, but we did go to Harvard Square. One of the things we saw there was the Curious George Store.

 I told the girls that they could each choose one thing from the Curious George Store. Their choices? Butterfly nets in green and pink. Since we've been home, we've been on several outings with these butterfly nets. Alyssa especially wants to catch one and bring it home. So far, we haven't caught any but the fun is in the chase anyway.

 Out for ice cream in Harvard Square.

 In our hotel room. Abigail fell asleep in the car right before we got to the hotel. I had to convince Alyssa she was tired enough to sleep. They love our "sleepovers" when we are on trips. I think they would like it best if we had just one big room at home that we all slept in together.

 We planned on going on a Duck Tour around Boston on Thursday morning, leaving from the Prudential Center. We were late getting there, and so rescheduled the tour for later in the day. We found these fountains behind the Prudential Center that the girls were excited about. So we had an unexpected side adventure that morning.

 The girls really loved the Duck Tour, especially when it went onto the water. They each got a chance to "drive" the boat.

 I have wanted to go on a Swan Boat ride in the Boston Public Gardens for a few years. We were all pretty tired by this point in the day, but I didn't want to leave without having this experience. I'm glad we forged ahead because this was my favorite part of the whole trip.

 After the Swan Boat ride, we bought a copy of "Make Way for Ducklings" and went over to the duck statues in the Public Garden. We settled down on a bench and read the story together. Then we spent some time taking pictures on the duck statues.

 Alyssa especially loved the momma duck. I had a hard time convincing her to share the momma duck with Abigail, as well as other people waiting to take pictures.

 Abigail did get a turn on the momma duck, but this is my favorite picture of her on the duck statues.

As you can see, Alyssa was not very happy about taking a turn on one of the baby ducks. Overall, it turned out to be a fun experience with Alyssa and Abigail. And I'm happy to say, the trip home was much more smooth sailing than the trip up.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday

Even before we went to Disneyworld Alyssa was in love with Mickey Mouse. Our trip just cemented her love for him. So, when it came time to plan her birthday party, what other theme could she want besides a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party?

I love hanging streamers for birthday parties. And I loved using three different colors. Mickey Mouse loves primary colors, so we had red, yellow and blue streamers hanging. Alyssa was a little disappointed there weren't any green streamers, because that is her favorite color. I told her next year we could have a jungle theme for a party, and then there would be a lot of green. My intrepid little girl of course reminds me of this every couple of weeks.

I don't know why I decided to make the cake myself. It would have been so much easier to have a Mickey Mouse cake made by someone, anyone else. But I do like doing special things for my beautiful girls. And it was nice to make her a special cake for her special day.

For those of you who know the show, there are always puzzles to solve, and mouskatools to use. One of our puzzles was the land of disappearing shapes. They had to dance and stop in a shape when the music stopped. A shape disappeared every time until there was one shape left, which became the "key" for the next part. Dan was O'Toodles, bringing us our mouskatools. But since he doubled as photographer I don't have any pictures of him.

And of course, opening presents is fun for everyone.

Overall, I think it turned out very well. Happy birthday, my little three year old girl!

Alyssa's Photo Shoot

We had to send a picture of Alyssa with her preschool application. So, we just did a little photo shoot in our living room. Not anywhere near a professional level, but here are some of our favorites!

Can you believe she is 3 already? We started her halfway through the school year at Mencius Mandarin Academy, a Mandarin Chinese immersion language preschool. She is having a blast, and it is nice to have some one on one time with Abigail. We are planning on having her translate for us in a couple years, whenever we make it out to China.

First Snow

It is a little funny to be posting about our first snow when we have SO MUCH of it now. But this is the first year that Alyssa has really enjoyed playing in the snow. This is a picture of our first snow right after Christmas. Alyssa is dressed in her snowsuit, complete with her shark hat under her hood. She often asks to go play in the snow. She loves it! Abigail, however, cries anytime she even catches a glimpse of her snowpants.

Christmas

We were a little late in putting up our Christmas tree because of our trip to Disneyworld, but Alyssa really enjoyed it more this year. She was thrilled to put the star on top.

We have a tradition where we get one new ornament every year to commemorate something important that happened that year. So for example, the year we lived in Phoenix we got a Kokopeli ornament. The year we went to Greece we got a minotaur. And of course, the years our girls were born, we got a special ornament for each of them. Alyssa loved her baby ornament when we showed it to her. She kept moving it around the Christmas tree. Abigail tried to move all the ornaments. Christmas trees are so magical for children. I still think they are magical.

Alyssa has been asking for a globe for a while. It was very sweet of her grandparents to send her one for Christmas!

We really enjoyed our first Christmas in Greenwich. And since we put the tree up so late, it stayed up until mid-January.