We kept the ladies pretty entertained over the nearly two-week Christmas vacation.
It started on the 24th with the girls baking some awesome holiday cookies all by themselves at home. Usually Lisa guides them through the process, but this year they were able to do everything on their own. Pretty cool. Bravo to Stella.
On Christmas Day we drove up to Salem to spend the day at Karen and Glenn's house. Nana and Papa joined us. As usual, Glenn's meal was delicious. And the girls made out like bandits with presents.
The next 2 days were spent relaxing in Natick. Nana and Papa took the kids to see the Enchanted Village at Jordan's Furniture. And Stella and I worked on her "westward expansion" school project which was quite an undertaking.
Red Lion Inn
On Sunday we headed to visit Nana Audrey in Albany with a stop for a delicious lunch at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge. Monday began the girls' triathlon of adventure with a few hours of rollerskating at the world's largest indoor roller skating rink.
Tuesday was part 2 of the triathlon with a trip to Maple Ski Ridge (notice that they don't mention "mountain" anywhere). Last year they took a 1-hour lesson at Maple Ridge but were not interested in skiing after the lesson. This year they stayed on the slope all afternoon after the lesson. By the end of the day they were both pretty awesome skiers.
Wednesday they got haircuts in anticipation of their big New Years night out at Lisa's friend Amy's house. We watched Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve (minus Dick), but little Marni started to fade. She took a short nap between 10:15 and 10:45 and was woken up in time for the ball to drop. Their first New Years Eve party!
On New Years Day we drove down to Bear Mountain Ice Rink to join the Asanovics and Stefanoff/Imhoff families for our annual get together. Both girls did their best to ice skate with help from Stefanoff and Hill. This was the final leg of their winter triathlon. After skating we ate and hung out at The Stadium Bar and Restaurant. Pretty cool place.
The remainder of vacation included a Midget Model reunion, a visit from the New Jersey Hoffmans, and a trip to the movie theater to see Night at the Museum 3.
The beginning of Stella's project
The end of Stella's project. Look at that proud smile!
For a third year in a row, The Cottage in Old Orchard was ground zero for Thanksgiving festivities. The gathering was a little smaller this year with the Brooklyn and Natick Shepards joining with Karen, Glenn and the dogs.
We made it up to Maine on Wednesday morning after an overnight stay in Natick. By the time we reached Hannaford in Saco, we were in a full-blown blizzard.
Later in the day we were joined by Nana and Papa, and Karen, Glenn and the dogs.
Marni and I went down to the beach later that afternoon to build a snowman during the blizzard. In the evening we slipped and slided our way to dinner at Run of the Mill.
The next morning everyone awoke to wonderful aromas as Glenn toiled away in the kitchen. By 5pm we were seated for another amazing holiday meal.
Friday was filled with chores and relaxing.
Stella, Marni and Lisa headed off to a party in Long Island on Saturday and I stayed behind with the Farkle Family (and Glenn).
On Sunday we cleaned up the cottage and prepared everything for the end-of-season shutdown. By noon we were all heading home (me with a large turkey drumstick in my backpack as I boarded a train at Route 128 Station heading for NYC).
I forgot to mention that we spent New Years in Natick this year. First time ever with the kids (or Lisa, even).
The night we arrived, Natick got hit by a pretty good snow storm. That gave the girls plenty to do the next day, and they took full advantage of their own private sledding hill (Nana and Papa's driveway). The same driveway that Aunt Toots and I sledded down a couple of hundred years ago.
New Years in Natick also gave Lisa and I the opportunity to leave the kids with the grandparents and actually go out for New Years. And then I got the bright idea to get a hotel room for the night for a little mommy and daddy private time (wink wink)!
Lisa was asleep before midnight.
Nana and Papa had a great time with the girls and woke them up at midnight to see the ball drop (another first). Marni was awake. Stella, not so much.
Last Friday the northeast got walloped by the first blizzard of the winter season. Although other areas received as much as 35 inches of snow, Brooklyn's 11 inches was definitely respectable.
On Saturday we all bundled up, grabbed our sled, and headed to Prospect Park to have some fun. We ended up at the hill behind the Picnic House and got in a bunch of good slides before getting cold and wandering back to Barnes and Nobel for some hot chocolate.
By the way... this is the first time, since the kids were born, that we went to Prospect Park for sledding.
We may have packed more fun into this past weekend than is allowed by law.
For the third year in a row we headed for a weekend at a water park hotel. This year we headed back to Six Flags Great Escape Lodge.
After check-in, we headed for the water park. It was interesting to see how braver the girls were this year. They both hightailed it to the kiddie pool and conquered the slide that had challenged them last year.
The river ride that had made them a bit nervous last year was no sweat to newly-brave Stella. She not only floated down the river... she did it this year with no inner tube to cling to. She propelled herself down the river so fast that, at times, daddy was left far behind. Marni, on the other hand, was still a bit timid.
Also new this year was the girls' willingness to take on the big water slides. Both girls went down the slides with mommy and daddy; and Stella even went down the slides by herself!
The final conquest was the Avalanche Family Raft Ride. Lisa and I had screwed up enough courage to take on that ride last year... sans kids. This year we took the offspring along for the ride. Stella was all for it, but Marni was reluctant until we got to the front of the line. We all got in the large raft, and away we went down a pitch black tube at breakneck speed.
Lisa and I had a very firm grasp on Marni as we rocketed down the tube. Lisa also had a hand on Stella. Luckily, when we reached the bottom, there were still four of us in the raft. And... we were all smiling!
Marni allowed us to do the same raft ride again the next day, but she put her foot down when we tried to do it a third time. Maybe next year.
This year our visit to the Lake George area coincided with the Winter Carnival. At Lisa's insistence, we headed to the carnival Sunday morning. After playing with some ice sculptures, we walked down to the frozen lake where the three ladies took a real-live dog-sled ride around the lake. And, because that wasn't fun enough, Stella and I took a helicopter tour of the Lake George area. That was fantastic!
Before we left the lake, the girls got in a couple of strings of ice bowling. But instead of a ball, they tried to knock over the pins with frozen chickens.
We headed back to Brooklyn on Monday which also happened to be Valentine's Day. And in keeping with the romantic theme of the day, we stopped off at Canfield Casino where Lisa and I got married eight years ago. The girls were very excited to see where the event of the century took place.
Who knew that we would have two wonderful cutie-pies when we walked down the aisle that June day?
Attempting to stay seated on their ice sofa.
Dog sled ride.
Stella ice-bowling with a frozen chicken.
Marni ice-bowling with a frozen chicken.
Stella and daddy on their Stellicopter ride.
The girls visit our wedding location.
Marni playing the "jump across the beds" game.
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