Our adventures in NYC

Rick finished a long project recently so we took advantage of that break and went on a road trip to New York. We stayed at the lovely Parker Meridien on 57th Street and caught up with many friends and restaurants. (As an aside: the Angels baseball team were staying at our hotel too.) There was a lot to do in very little time.

In short, we saw the Little Mermaid on Broadway, shopped, ate out and visited with friends and former co-workers, swam at the hotel, and went on the Toys R Us Ferris wheel. Piper wasn't used to walking that much so she was carried by Rick fairly often. She did awesome at the Little Mermaid, very attentive and well-behaved.

I was nervous about the potty training since I thought that there was no way to keep up the progress we had made. We planned ahead and had Piper wear pull-ups the entire time. Surprisingly she only had one accident and that was when we couldn't get to a bathroom on time during a pit stop on the drive to the city. She's not had such a long dry streak since.

Thanks to all of the many friends that took time to see us and put up with our somewhat crazy schedule. We miss you and hope that we can have many more adventures in the city to come.

Piper and I ate breakfast in Times Square while Rick waited in line at TKTS for Little Mermaid. Bagels anyone?

She seemed to fit right in, even mostly ignoring the noise when a homeless lunatic started ranting and swearing at a table near us.

Piper and I rode this exciting Ferris wheel at Toys R Us. It's hard to get a good photo but we were in the M&M car. Upon exiting the store Piper told Rick that she couldn't walk because she was "so tired from looking at all of the toys."

Barbecue at Virgil's before the show

Intermission at Little Mermaid. There were a lot of kids at the matinee, as you can imagine. Piper sat on Rick's lap most of the second half. Having seen Lion King and Beauty & the Beast before I can say that Disney knows how to do Broadway - the costumes were incredible.

Piper is very fond of all of the free-range pens and scratch pads she can find at hotels. This one was no different.

Piper is watching Popeye cartoons in the elevator on the way to the swimming pool. I love the legs crossed pose. Does she remind anyone else of cousin Tammy hamming it up?

"It's hard to see the show through these sunglasses."

She would have ridden the elevator all day if we had let her.

Another hammy Tammy shot, for sure.

Piper "holding" Mary with some help from Jane and Jamie

It's hard to hold a nine-month old, she's wiggly.