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So on Black Friday, we went to a puppet show at Macy’s Santaland. Brian’s mom organized the whole thing as I didn’t even know they had a puppet show! We met them as well as Masayo and her kids, Julian and Maya, at Macy’s. The puppet show was Yes, Virginia and it was barely half full! (Probably because nobody knows about it! Or also because it was the 10:30 am showing!) It was only about 30 minutes long. It was cute!

After the show, we headed over toward Santaland. The wait said 1 hour. That didn’t seem so bad! Plus we were a bunch together so that should make the time go fast. We went through the arch and we walked through what seems like a very long and winding hallway that seemed endless. When we finally got to the end of the line, it was like the employees only behind the scenes area. And the line seemed really long. And we totally didn’t think it was going to be an hour. The men folk were almost whining about it but kept each other company. The kids seemed fine although Nico was mimicking Brian a little bit about the wait. Us woman stayed strong! We were waiting! And I was glad we did because when else would we have this opportunity with the kids together? And it really was an hour! The walk through Santaland was very cool and pretty (my very first time there!)

We got separated into 3 different groups trying to get out of Macy’s! Once we finally got together again, it was off to lunch in Koreatown! Yay! I believe we went to Seoul Garden. Half the table got BBQ, which is what Sienna ended up liking! I got bibimbop and Yves got a pork dish that was tasty but a little spicy for Sienna.

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I think this is the third year in a row that we attend Thanksgiving festivities at the Bald residence. Not a lot of photos, too busy enjoying myself!

A great Thanksgiving and lots to be thankful for! Looking forward to having them over for Christmas!

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No photos for this, just a post to remind me of this time. Hopefully I can read back on this post and remember how it was (meaning this phase is over and not continuing!) I went to Sienna’s open house last week. Parents were invited to sit in on their child’s class for a couple of hours. Me and Jessica were there, as well as Marta (Emily’s mom), Sammie (twin’s mom) and Joanna’s mom (I can’t remember her name!) After sitting in for 2 hours (and noting how very little Sienna participated although I was happy she raised her hand a lot during science!), I made sure I said good bye. In the back of my head I was wondering if she would get upset. I believe that when I went to the open house last year, she was ok and the year prior, when she was in Pre-K, she got sad. Fair enough, she was younger then. Since she didn’t get sad last year, I was hoping she grew out of that. No such luck. I find out from Emma that she cried for me. I didn’t say anything to Sienna until we were home and asked her if anything happened. She told me she was sad and cried and told the teacher she was sad that I left. Ok. I was a little sad that that happened but figured she will get over it. Still going on!! Argh! Sometimes she tells me she keeps thinking about the picture in her head of when I was waving good bye as I walked out the door and she would get sad. Sometimes Emma tells me. Now she is starting to cry at drop off in the morning. Not sure what is going on.

*Edited to add. A month later and crying at drop off is still going on. Mondays are the worst and usually gets better by the end of the week but not always. We even started trying to meet up with Emma in the morning. It doesn’t seem to make a difference. She is always fine at pick up after school. I think it might be that she is worried that something will happen to me and/or Yves while she is in school. She had mentioned months ago ( a couple of times) that she is afraid to grow old and die and that she doesn’t want me or Yves to grow up and die. Breaks my heart that a six year old would be thinking about that stuff. I bought the book, “What to do if you worry too much”. It seems to help a bit but she still cries in the morning. Still waiting for this phase to pass…

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We went on another hike! This time with our favorite family (now I worry that Sienna will find hiking with just me and Yves to be boring! LOL). My friend Ingrid, an avid hiker, suggested Sandy Hook, NJ because it opens up onto the beach. We met our friends there. It was really nice, although cold! I found lots of pretty rocks and there were lots of photo ops. The photos say a lot so there probably won’t be a lot of words.

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Yves was {half} joking about how we did not go to Waffle House once during our vacation in Florida. And vacation is the only time we can get to a Waffle House. So, always looking for a reason to go away, I suggested an overnight trip! The closest Waffle House is in Bethlehem, PA. The closest kid friendly thing to do by Bethlehem is the Crayola Factory (now called the Crayola Experience.) We had gone there a few years ago and had a good time but remember thinking it wasn’t something to go back to regularly as I can imagine some of the activities would get too repetitive. We decided to have a go at it and set off. It was a fun time and there were a few new things added since the last time we went.

Afterwards, we went to have pizza at Antonio’s Pizzeria, where reviewers on yelp claimed it was the most authentic NY style pizza in the area. Well, the other pizzeria’s must be terrible because this was nothing like NY style pizza! (Well, now that I have gone back to check out the link, realized that I confused this place’s review with another places! Oops! Oh well!)

We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn in Allentown. It was ok. The pool was really small (just like the other hotel we stayed at last time we went to Crayola, must be a Bethlehem thing!) but there was also a jacuzzi! And the hotel happens to be right next to the Waffle House! We ended up going to dinner next door as well, to Red Robin. We are not fans of chain restaurants (for the most part) but I remembered that their burgers were decent. Plus it was right next door! We decided to order potato skins for appetizers. Bad move, they were terrible! The burgers were really good tho!

After breakfast at Waffle House, of course! I was able to convince everyone to go check out the Steel Stacks in Bethlehem. Sienna had off on Monday for Veteran’s day and Yves had taken off so there was no rush to get home. It was a windy day so didn’t stay as long as we might have but Sienna was pretty good about it!

All in all, a very fun trip! I got to have some fun with the Canon 5D!

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