Looks Beautiful...Feels Like 8

So, the real question is, "What do you do after a blizzard?"

I'm not really one hundred percent sure what you're suppose to do after a blizzard.

I can only tell you that if you find yourself in New York during a blizzard you should stay inside until the blizzard is over.  After the snow has fallen?  Well, that's up to you.  But because of the public transit in New York, you shouldn't let a little snow, even two feet of snow, keep you inside.

The view from the bedroom after the snow fell...

Heath loved looking out the kitchen window. 

He had a view of the Hudson on the left side and a view of the streets to the right.

 After breakfast we ventured out to find some appropriate gloves.  You know the kind I'm talking about.  The kind that actually keeps out the wind and wetness that we were about to experience.

The venturing was a 20 degree freeze out that the Weather Channel said felt like 8 degrees.

It was cold.

Here are my people making their way to safety. 

I don't envy these guys trying to clear out a path in front of their restaurant.

Nor do I envy these bicycles or their owners.

I hope they aren't planning on going anywhere important today. 

Just snow as far as you can see.

It's really beautiful and really weird.

Ah, this is the safety I was talking about.  The safety of the subway.

We had places to go.  A little snow fall was not going to keep us in the apartment.

We were headed to the American Museum of Natural History or as you and I may call it,

"The Natural History Museum."

For over 30 years the museum has a Christmas tree that is decorated with Origami ornaments.

This year the theme of the tree was "Discovery."  So there are dinosaur bones (if you believe in that stuff), the moon landing, different animals, and anything that the paper folding maniacs could think of that was discovered.

It's a "must see."

You may recall a certain family getting kicked out of this same museum on July 4, 2010.

You'll be happy to know that there was no getting kicked out this time.

We spent some time looking at bones and some of our favorite stuffed animals.

Okay, I lied.  We were pushing our luck when we let this cute kid ride this perfectly sized giraffe in the museum store.  I assure you, it was a very quick indulgence and then we were on our way.

Happy Day After the Blizzard.

It's a Blizzard and an Anchovie

A short while ago, when I was in college, I lived in the snow. 

I have my opinions about how beautiful it is when it's falling, how amazing it is to see everything covered in white fluffy stuff, and how much more appropriate it is to have a fire in the fireplace when it's snowing outside. 

 I also have my opinions on how horrible it is to walk around in 3 day-old snow, how ugly the snow looks after cars have driven through it a few times, and how you can't get back the non-snow look until the temperature decides that it's Spring.

With that said, snow really is amazing and we were looking forward to the kids first snow falling experience.  Don't think we deprive our children of the fun in life.  They have been to snow. 

But they haven't seen snow fall from the sky. 

The snow began to fall on Sunday morning.  It didn't stop snowing until early Monday morning. 

The light snow turned into crazy, falling in every direction, snow. 

 It was awesome!

Tucked safe on the second story of Carmine's we watched the snow race by the windows in an extremely horizontal fashion. It wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. 

 I liked it and I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

Carmine's is a family style Italian Restaurant.

It's menu isn't intimidating.  It's a huge menu mounted to the wall.  But it's anything but intimidating.

It's pasta served in different shapes and sizes.

It's good food and it's a great place for a large crowd.

Have a mentioned how difficult it can be navigating the street with eight people?

Well, it is. 

At some point you just hope that the kids know what your jacket and hat look like and that they are following the right people to the next destination.

Served with our salad were anchovies.

Again, we don't deprive our children in the fun food department either. 

 But I've never served them anchovies.

Eight people ate the calamari, but only five people ate the anchovies.

For dessert we decided on the "Titanic."

Five scoops of ice cream shaped to look like the Titanic.

Um, wow.

Eight people inhaled the dessert.

While we ate, the snow was coming down.

We decided that because they were telling people to stay off the streets that we should go home too.

When it snows in New York you are usually asked not to take out the trash until after the storm passes.

I assume this trash had already been placed at the curb before it started snowing.

However, consider what this trash looked like in twelve hours with two feet of snow on top of it?

We made it back to the apartment to enjoy some very powdery snow.

Very magical and cold.

When you bring a dog on vacation with you, you must be prepared for all types of weather. 

This includes the sixth largest snow fall in New York City's history.

Dogs need to be walked and "pottied."

This proved to be very difficult on Sunday night.

Alec was by far the most willing to take the dog out.

We went out while the blizzard was in what they call "white out conditions."

This is Alec and Dutch only a few feet away.

This, too, is a picture of Alec and Dutch only a few more feet away.

It was really crazy!  I couldn't see him and he couldn't see me.

Bring it on!

This is the face of a very cold and happy boy who just experienced a real blizzard.

This is a dog wearing a raincoat.  He's not happy at all about his first blizzard or the raincoat.

The Calm Before the Storm and a Little Surveillance

I find it necessary to write about this trip to New York somewhat chronologically because the scenery changed dramatically on the third day.  I don't want to be too confusing. 

So, there is just a little more calm before the storm, literally.

I'm not a huge fan of Ferrero Rochero.  However, Scott loves Ferrero's and apparently a lot of other people do too.  I have never seen Ferrero Rochero's so huge.  I should have had a normal sized chocolate for a point of reference.  This display is probably 8 feet tall.

Last year, when we were here at Thanksgiving we saw the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular and so we opted not to see it this time.  But I highly recommend it.  It's an amazing production. 

The show ends with a live nativity.  Complete with sheep, goats, camels, and, well, all of the other animals.

I could really bore you with all of the window display pictures.  But I will refrain from posting all of the crazy pictures.  But I really liked the handbag store with the champagne glasses.

Nothing high-tech.  Just giant ornaments and Christmas lights hanging out in Manhattan.

On our way home we took the subway and walked through the tunnel instead of up on the street.

  It was a little windy and very cold.

As we start walking toward the passage

 I notice a lot of signage stating that the tunnel was under surveillance. 

No doubt to deter craziness from happening underneath the street of New York.

As we walk further into the passageway I notice the mosaics on the walls.

They're all eyes watching us.  These eyes lined the tunnel.

Clearly this isn't the surveillance that was referred to.

But whoever was in charge of the art had a clever sense of humor.

Here's a little peace window in Tribeca on Christmas night.

Now that Scott has a view of the Empire State Building at night I sometimes ask him what color it is. 

If it's a color other than white, the ESB color, I look it up on the website.  In the past they've had it lit for the ING NYC marathon, for Autism, Hanukkah, and almost every night while we were visiting, for Christmas.