Grandma Comes to Town!

Grandma was in town for 2 whole weeks!  She came to spend some time with us and have Thanksgiving with us...  That seems to be our holiday.  My mom and I went to the grocery store to get all the fixins for a fab feast only to learn that none of my in-laws were planning on coming over to enjoy eat it.  So, I decided I didn't want to cook up that huge turkey.  Back to the store we went to return practically everything we bought...  Did you know you can return anything back to the grocery store...  There wasn't any produce or anything; that I kept of course...  Cesar gets a turkey every year from his boss so we had this HUGE turkey that I didn't know what to do with, so we decided to give it away and we were gonna go out.  Was I sad?  A little, but I thought it might be kinda fun.  Well, I got to thinking, I really wanted to have things that I made...  I wanted those leftovers...  So, it was BACK to the store for the 3rd time and we got ourselves a turkey breast fit for 3 adults and most, but not all, of the fixins we had purchased before.  Thanksgiving day was so EASY; there was hardly any work.  We watched the parade and hung around....  Put the turkey breast in around 2:30...  Went to Old Navy cause we found out they were open...  Then came back and had some delicious food.  Then our friends Korin & Juan stopped by for a slice of pie.  All in all, a pretty relaxing and yummy Thanksgiving!

MiLo thought it was pretty alright!

One of the days we took MiLo to the mall to get his pic taken with Santa.  Side note, a day or 2 after Thanksgiving in when to go around here...  There was barely a line!  I wasn't sure how MiLo would do...  He doesn't care much for strangers these days...  Well, he didn't disappoint!  He screamed!  I thought it was so funny, poor kid!

Final product...  Who doesn't have one of these, you know, with the kid cryin?  Btw, LOVE this Santa!  Well, actually I love the fact that he's wearing a Santa suit instead of an ugly Christmas, cotton turtleneck with dorky looking suspenders...  I never understood why the Santa Clause at South Towne Mall (in Utah) wore such a terrible ensemble....  The real Santa must frequent New Jersey this time of year! 

Off to the city we went one day, to spend the afternoon on Canal St in Chinatown.  I was SO good; I didn't buy one thing!  

 After lunch in Chinatown we strolled on over to Little Italy for some more browsing, and most importantly, dessert!  Mmmm, gelato!

 It was getting dark (and colder!) so we headed back to the car, taking pics along the way, of course!

I drove us around the city for a bit so we could take a few pics with all the lights, then we headed home!  Good day in the city.

On my mom's last night here we went with some friends back into the city.  This time we were on a mission to see the tree in Rockefeller Center.  I know of a cheap parking garage that is not close to Rockefeller Center, but I knew that it wasn't a horrible schlep.  It was, like, 8 blocks east and 10 or so blocks south...  It didn't help that it was FREEZING!!!  We made it, though...  and we got some decent pics.

This is a tree Korin spotted along the way and felt that we needed to have pics in front of it...  We had to walk to corner so that we could cross the street at a traffic light and then back-track.

We stopped here, in front of the big red balls, to get ourselves a gyro (here on the east coast they pronounce them with a soft "g" and a hard "y." not like "euro").  We were only a block away at this point, but we needed to refuel. 

We made it!

*Most of the pics look like the tree is no longer lit, its just the setting on the camera :)

On my mom's last morning here, we took her to my (I can't say "our" because its not) favorite diner down the street.  We had a tasty breakfast.  MiLo shoveled his eggs in his mouth and ate the entire plate!  What makes these so much better than the ones I make, practically everyday, at home??

       

MiLo lovin him some eggs...  and animal cracker chaser!