The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

If I had a bucket list, this would be a bucket list item.

I've watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since I was little. And although it has gotten cheesier in recent years filled with Disney's latest tween sensations I still eagerly turn on the television every Thanksgiving morning to watch. We are on the West Coast, so we get a rebroadcast at 9 am -- which we stop watching when football starts at 10 am ... Note to NBC most of us would happily wake up early for a live version of the parade (most folks are up anyway preparing the Turkey Day dinner).

This year we decided to visit family on the East Coast for Thanksgiving. When we learned that everyone was going to have Thanksgiving dinner in New Jersey ... it was a no brainer, we were going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We drove to the ferry in Weehawken, NJ early Wednesday morning from Maryland.

The ferry is an amazing and easy way to arrive in New York. We took the free shuttle which let us off in front of Radio City Music Hall, just a few blocks from our hotel, the New York Hilton. We were able to get a very good rate at the very last minute, breakfast included.

Spiderman being blown-up

We checked our bags, and then headed to Bagel and Bean for a bagel lunch, and to ride the carousel in Central Park ... all to put us in the vicinity of Columbus Square where they blow up the balloons (starting at 3 pm). Once we arrived at the balloons staging area it was a bit confusing... the crowd was routed around to the entrance on 79th (you basically circled around the Natural History Museum). It was so much fun, and got the boys excited for the parade. We saw Buzz Lightyear, Shrek, Spiderman and Kermit being blown-up. Macy's handed out balloons to the kids as well.

Angelo's Pizza

Afterward we headed back to our hotel, then off to dinner at a nearby pizza place (Angelo's, very tasty and family friendly) ... then to bed.

Caleb up front

The next morning we were up at 6:30 am (our hotel was just a block from the parade route). We had breakfast at 7:15 am and then headed to the street around 7:45 am. There was already a sizable crowd. The folks up front had been there since 4:30 am. We figured that the boys being 4 and 5 would be able to sneak up front when the parade started (we were right).

Jonathan and I were about 3 to 4 rows back from the front. From our vantage point we could see everything. Our favorite balloons were Shrek, Kermit the frog and Spiderman. The boy's favorites were Shrek and Spiderman (they don't have the same affinity to Kermit as we do ... even though we have tried). Did I mention that the balloons were the best part?

The parade was perfectly timed, and at no point were the boys bored or were the balloons held up due to television breaks (this was a big deal with the San Jose Holiday Parade).

We left shortly after Spiderman (Horten the elephant was the last balloon that we saw), and headed to the hotel to check out. We then caught a cab to the New York Waterway to pickup the ferry, and were in New Jersey shortly after noon.

Overall an awesome experience ... something the boys will remember, and I'm certain we will do it again!

A Judgemental Relapse - Thanksgiving Travel with Kids

It was 2:30 am and there we were at the end of shuttle line 400 people deep. We started the day at 7 am ET, rushing to BWI to catch our flight home ... that flight had mechanical problems and we were transferred to a 4 pm flight out of Dulles. That flight was delayed and we missed our connection in Chicago. We left Chicago at 10 pm...

Finally we landed at 2:00 am with dozens of other flights all waiting for the fog to clear enough to be able to land at SFO. Every 20 minutes a new van would show up and take 4 people. At that rate we would be late for work on Monday. We finally rented a car, and got home around 6 am. I had to be at work at 8 am -- it was a very long Monday.

On that fateful day more than a decade ago we swore we would never, ever travel during Thanksgiving week. Especially someday when we had kids.

A moment of insanity? This year we are going to the East coast for Thanksgiving. We've stayed away long enough. We are taking the boys and have some big plans. Visits with friends and family in DC. A trip to New Jersey by way of New York for Thanksgiving with family. We are taking the boys to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (we'll see how this goes), and the whole trip will culminate at the Redskins game on Sunday.

We think we're clever planning to travel home Monday morning ... but we'll see how it goes. Time heals all wounds, and hopefully we won't be reliving our last Thanksgiving travel adventure.

The Holiday Frenzy Seems Early this Year

Somehow the usual Happy Fall skip hit a frenetic Holiday grind which I don't see slowing down until February.  We didn't make it to a pumpkin patch this year, instead relying on Safeway pumpkins and two pumpkins that came home from Kindergarten. We did do our annual pumpkin pancake breakfast in Woodside, but opted not to venture further into Half Moon Bay (where we would have hit the pumpkin patch circuit) because it was the weekend of the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin festival. We went last year, and it just isn't worth the headache of the crowds.

By the time Halloween rolled around last Sunday we couldn't believe it had crept up so quickly. We carved the pumpkins and bought candy Halloween day. The boys still had oodles of fun.

We did make other choices that consumed our time...Xander plays soccer every Saturday through Thanksgiving week. Caleb is still in pre-hockey at Sharks Ice - so Saturday before 12 pm is booked. ...Jonathan and I got to go to the World Series and cheer on our San Francisco Giants, we spent a Sunday evening in San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary, and we went to the Gorillaz concert in Oakland... We also planned our East Coast Thanksgiving trip to DC and New York -- which will include the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

It turns out that the school age years are harder than I thought it would be. The weekly Kindergarten homework eats up time. It is good time, one-on-one with Xander, but it still takes away from other fun activities. Xander is starting to read, color in the lines, write and do basic math. Then there is the obligatory school activities, like back to school night, PTA meetings and the Harvest Festival, which we really should and do work into our already overbooked schedule.

Then there were things beyond our control like both boys getting sick (three weeks apart) and late nights with a feverish boy, but thus is life. 

So now, I'm looking at the next two weeks before our trip to the East Coast and wondering how we're going to get it all done, but still keep it fun.  We have our three-month eye appointment for Xander,  his parent-teacher conference, and school is closed this Thursday and Friday (Thursday our preschool daycare has agreed to take Xander, and Friday he will be in school aftercare - they are going to the Children's Discovery Museum).  Jonathan and I also both have big projects for work due ... so we'll have to balance, balance, balance. And I haven't started Holiday shopping yet. Yikes!

Training it Up at Travel Town

As part of our mini-vacation in Southern California, our friend Michael and his son Matthew took us to the Travel Town Train Museum in Los Angeles. Considering our boys obsession with trains this was a good bet for a Sunday morning.

The Travel Town Museum is smaller then the California Train Museum in Sacramento, but still has a satisfactory amount of old trains to explore. The museum has fifty or so locomotives and train cars, and is mostly outdoors.

The boys liked exploring the trains they were allowed to climb aboard. And, of course, Caleb gravitated toward the train table located in the roundhouse (not a classic round house, but a large building holding several trains).

The only comment I would have about the carpeted train table area is that they should have considered their audience more when planning it. There were too many off limits/do not signs ... Seriously, a train table will encourage preschoolers ... everything in the small carpeted area should be hands on.

There was also two model train rooms behind glass for the kids to view. This was also a favorite of Caleb.

Travel Town also has a miniature railroad with a cute diesel engine -- not as cool as a steam engine ala Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad -- but definitely fun.

First Trip to the Happiest Place on Earth

Xander had last week off. It was a work furlough for San Jose Unified Schools as part of statewide budget cuts. While we couldn't take the whole week off for a family vacation, we were able to squeeze out a day, and do a three day weekend in Southern California.  As part of this break from the kindergarten grind we planned a visit to Disneyland.

On Thursday evening we flew from San Jose to Burbank. We would have flown into John Wayne (closer to Disneyland), but the decision to go to Disneyland was at the last minute and it was too late to change flights. As it was, our flight arrived after 9 pm and we were checked into our hotel by 10:15 pm... 

We've considered a Disneyland trip before, but always assumed the boys were too young. Even before this trip I wasn't sure that the boys, now four and five, were ready for the trip ... and considering the cost of a ticket it could be a considerable waste if your child whined, was scared of Mickey Mouse and Goofy and/or melted down the entire day.

We talked to other parents of kids in the same age group who recommended a Disney trip. Emboldened we decided to go for it. We were pleasantly surprised to see that there was plenty for small children, and by taking advice from experienced Disneylanders we started the day on the right foot.

We arrived at Disneyland shortly after it opened at 8:15 am. We booked it to the Peter Pan ride. The boys liked it (although they thought it was too dark). Afterward we made a beeline for the Finding Nemo Submarine. Caleb wasn't sure about being under water ... but when all was said and done he had a great time.

The boys had done so well on the first two rides we decided to try Pirates of the Caribbean. I have very fond memories of riding it when I was 16. They liked that ride so much that we moved onto the Haunted Mansion. We were a little bit concerned about the Haunted Mansion, but figured there would be opportunities to exit if it was too scary. With a Nightmare before Christmas theme, and a large group of preschoolers and kindergartners along for the ride, it was just plain fun. The boys loved it.

Having gotten the planned rides done with (and it was only 11 am) we road the Disneyland train, and had a leisurely lunch. After lunch we headed to Fantasyland and to Toontown to do the more stroller-set focused activities. In Fantasyland we watched a Mary Poppins (one of the boys favorite movies) routine. And in Toontown we met Pluto and Mickey Mouse. The boys also road their first roller coaster and enjoyed it.

Next we headed to the Jedi Academy across from the Finding Nemo ride. Caleb is really into Star Wars (he is going to be Darth Vader this Halloween) and we thought it would be a fun mid-afternoon activity. Just our luck, Xander was picked to participate in the academy and Caleb wasn't. We think it was probably because Caleb looked too young. As it was the Jedi robes were baggy on Xander.

Then two storm troopers showed up, followed by Darth Vader and Darth Maul. At this point Xander was done, he wanted none of fighting Star Wars characters even if it was done in a very cute way. He came back to us in tears ... meanwhile Caleb had his hand up high and was still saying "Pick me!"

It was the end of the day, we had some time to kill before the Main Street parade (our plan for ending the day). We decided to find out if the boys were ready for a real roller coaster. We know Space Mountain is very fast and potentially scary, so we opted for the more low key Thunder Mountain Railroad. The concept is a runaway train ... what better ride for two boys obsessed with Thomas.

After riding the innocent looking roller coaster we now know that Xander is ready for Space Mountain - he loved it - and Caleb is not.  Space Mountain had a long line, so we will ride it sometime in the morning on our next visit.

We ended the day at the Main Street parade. By this time we were at the park for nine hours and the boys were tired ... We got no arguments when we left the park after the parade. We did try for one last minute family photo in front of the giant Mickey Mouse pumpkin (not a keeper).

Overall... Disneyland was fun, and we'll definitely be back. We may approach trip two differently, but with sound advice from our Disneyland experienced friends our first trip was a success.

Binky Free and Under Control - A Travel Story

The other day and Xander and I were looking at old photos. He saw a picture of himself with his binky and smiled, cocked his head and said lovingly ... "Binky!" How can my five year old still look back at his binky (a.k.a pacifier) abandoned two years ago with so many fond memories and joy?

Whenever one of my girlfriends have their first babies I caution them from starting the binky habit. It is a terribly difficult habit to kick, and the binky will be front and center in all of their baby pictures going forward. At first the grandparents will think its cute ... but even they will start to make comments somewhere around the second birthday. "Can't he take that thing out of his mouth!"

Not everyone will have the luck of planning a 23 day trip around the third birthday, but if you do this is how to kick the binky habit forever.

Three is a magic number in binky habit breaking. The first step in using travel is to pack the entire collection of binkies with you (when you return home there can be no binkies left in the house). The second step is that slowly you will inevitably lose each binky in the collection. The third step is to keep your three-year old convinced that this is a finite collection, and when all binkies are lost they cannot be replaced.

You must hold steadfast. Strategically extracting binkies from naptime and in the middle of the night are part of the master plan. The great thing about binkies and three year old's is that they do suffer a serious amount of attrition. Also the manufacturers do assist you in not making binkies for the preschooler ... make sure your three year old knows this too.

Where is our last binky? Sitting on top of a refrigerator in Moscow. My aunt snuck that one away, pocketed it, and cleverly left it behind.

May your preschool years be binky free and under control.

Fall Swimming

Call us crazy, but we joined a tennis club with a pool on Labor Day weekend. We had every intention to join in August -- once our summer travel had ended ... but we waited, not inspired by the especially cold summer.

The benefits of joining a pool on Labor Day weekend is that they were offering a killer deal, and waved the exorbitant initiation fee. The other benefit was a bit of a gamble, but we figured cold summer, hot Fall and we were right.

This weekend as the temperature peaked in the 90s we enjoyed hanging out at the kiddy pool. The boys loved swimming in one to four feet water. They actually are improving -- better than they did in a year's worth of swim lessons.

Our summer should end somewhere around Halloween. So until that time we'll be Fall Swimming.