Thanksgiving Weekend

Thursday at Mom & Dads:

• The food was great.
• The weather was great.
• The kids were great.

Friday:

• We took Lil J to the Children's Museum in Ft. Lauderdale because they trucked in 25 tons of snow and put outside. Snow in south Florida is called slushy ice. Big J taught him how to throw snowballs.
• Played in the museum for a while with Chandler and Benny.
• Took M&S and the boys, L&S and their boys out on a 26 foot deck boat onto the intercoastal. Everyone brought food and drinks so we rode around and docked on the New River. After eating, we headed back to the marina and the boat broke down. We had to wait to be towed back. H&J picked up M&S and the kids and the rest of us stayed on the boat for the tow. It was actually a lot of fun.

Saturday:

• Damn...it's only been 2 days and I can't remember what we did.
• Oh yeah...I remember. Big J went fishing and H accompanied me to Sam's Club and Target. There's a new Target in town and apparently, no one knows about it yet. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was practically empty of people but the shelves were stocked.
• Finished all my Hanukah shopping.
• Dinner at a Hibatchi restaurant. Poor Lil J was so scared when the cook lit the oil on fire that he jumped out of his seat and onto my lap before I even realized what happened. He was crying hysterically and everyone was laughing. He's so damn cute.

Sunday:

• Took Lil J to the West Palm Beach Zoo. It was a really cute zoo and before we even realized it, we were done. We let him run around the spray ground fountain for about 30 minutes and he was asleep for hours after that.
• Took Tutu and PopPop out for dinner at Roaster's N Toasters, a deli, for PopPop's 90th birthday. They got some good food and got to spend some time one on one with Lil J.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday too.

Long Weekend - Standing in Line and Barf

Friday night, Big J had to teach, again, so Lil J and I hung out and watched Elmopalooza about 15 times. What fun.

Saturday, Big J had to teach, all day, again. Lil J and I went to Nova with M&S and the boys and we played on the playgrounds and had lunch at Chicken Kitchen. Lil J fell asleep on the way home and then slept for over 3 hours. Guess the little guy was pooped.

At 2:30 my parents came over to watch Lil J because I had to go to Dolphin Stadium to pick out our seats for the Miami Hurricanes 2008 football season. I was not looking forward to doing this alone and when I arrived and people we saying they had been standing in line for over 4 hours, it just seemed to get worse. After arriving, I went up to The Club Level, where our new seats would be. I spoke with a nice guy who told me that the sections Big J and I had picked out were already sold out. He suggested another 4 sections and told me to go sit in the seats and see if I liked them. It's a very strange feeling to be walking around an NFL football stadium and only pass one person, a cleaning lady. I went to the sections the nice guy told me about and sat in the seats and took some pictures. At this point, Big J was already on his way home (and could have grabbed Lil J and met me) but he called me and we discussed my options.

Option 1: Write down my first 4 choices of seats and hand them back to the nice man where they'll be placed in a pile 4 inches high of other peoples first 4 choices. When they get to mine (in 3 months??) they'll call me and let me know which seats I got. If none of my first 4 choices were available, I can then choose from what is left, over the phone, without seeing the seats.

Option 2: Wait in line for 2 to 4 hours to make sure I get the seats that I want, even though they are still not our first choice.

I chose option 2. I stood in line. The people around me were very nice and we all agreed that if someone needed a potty break, we would hold there place. After an hour and just before the Miami game started, they decided to give away food since they realized people had been standing for hours. This was a good thing because I was starving and thirsty but at least I knew my line-mates would hold my place for me. I did have a chance to use the Ladies room on the Club level and it's as nice as Nordstrom or Bloomingdale's so that may be worth the cost of these ridiculous tickets we're paying for. At 6:30pm, I finally got out of there, fought my way through the crowd of Hondurans and Guatemalans heading for a soccer (futbol) match. I made it to the turnpike and headed home.

Sunday we joined M&S and the boys at R's soccer match. He's 4. It was funny. We had the boys running around until they couldn't stand anymore. After a long nap, a trip to the bookstore to buy a Thomas the Train book, dinner at Tijuana Taxi and Target, we got Lil J home where he barfed up dinner into his blankie and we waited a while to put him to bed because he was still gagging. That was a first for me and Big J and I'm very proud of myself for not barfing while cleaning up.

So that was our long weekend. Except for Lil J's flu shot this morning, the short week should be a good one. Happy Turkey Day!

Last Miami Game at the OB

Saturday evening was the last Miami Hurricanes game at the Orange Bowl. It was a sad game and a sad night. Big J was crying on the ride down as the sports reporters on the local AM sports radio were reminiscing. We actually tailgated for a little while before the game which included deli sandwiches, cheese and fruit and chocolate donuts. Not exactly tailgating food like beer, brat and burgers, but that's how us Jews do it. Back in the old'en days, we used to bring bagels and schmears, fruit, orange juice, rugelah, all the makings of a good brunch. Miami had their butts handed to them at the game by Virginia. It was like watching a train wreck. I swear I spent half the game waiting in line for a Coke and a bathroom anyway. Lil J stayed at home with the new babysitter and he was a very good boy for her.

Friday we went to see the Panther game with Lil J and we had someone sneak us into one of the suites where we had mini cheeseburgers, fries and berries with cream in chocolate dessert cups...not what you would get in section 401K. Lil J had a good time and got to wear his jersey.

Sunday we met up with some friends at a local park where the kids ran around at the playground and the mom's chit-chatted. We spent 2 hours there and Lil J fell asleep on the way home. For dinner, M&S came over with the kids and we had pizza and played for a few hours. Fun was had by all.

If anyone get's a chance, check out my friend's blog at www.unleashedhumor.com. He's not a soccer mom or anything near that, in fact, he can be kind of nasty but in a very funny way. I'm glad he finally has an outlet for his humor.

First Babysitter and Other Adventures

Halloween came and went with not much fuss. Lil J dressed as a Florida Panther hockey player. He had a cold and a fever so we didn't Trick or Treat (Big J was teaching that night anyway). Lil J and I sat on our front porch and handed out candy. He was quite amused by this process. Everytime he dropped a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup in a child's bag, he looked at me and shouted, "I gave candy, Mommy, I gave candy!" It was really cute. Then, whenever someone would walk by the end of the driveway, he'd stand up and shout, "GO PANTHERS!" He had me and my neighbor in stitches. Hopefully, next year, Big J will be home to take him out so I can stay behind and give out the treats.

Saturday was another Miami Hurricanes football game. We took Lil J and H&J and had a moderately good time, they lost in overtime. Lil J fell asleep on Big J's shoulder just about the time regulation play ended. After a few minutes of that, his back started to hurt so Lil J was passed to me. Even with all the movement and crowd cheering, Lil J remained asleep...amazing. We carried him out of the stands, down a huge ramp from the 2nd level of the stadium and then another 7 or 8 blocks to the car and the kid never woke up.

Sunday was Big J's grandfather's 90th birthday party. PopPop, as Lil J calls him, had a great time and all the family was there, even Big J's aunt Vicki and Uncle Steven (Family drama! Oy!). I'm using their real names because they don't deserve the privacy. We had great food and all the kids played together and had a great time. Too bad Big J was sick with a cold.

Sunday night, we hired our very first babysitter from Sittercity.com. She came over at 6pm to meet us and Lil J. She was very sweet and didn't mind our 85 pound annoying Golden Retriever, Rocky. Lil J just happened to fall asleep on the way home from PopPop's party so we had to wake him to meet her. He was a little cranky but lightened up after 2 hotdogs and some applesauce. Big J and I left him at the dinner table with her and he was fine. We actually tried out a restaurant for the first time called Chopsticks. It's an Asian Fusion place with Thai, Sushi and Japanese. We'll definitely be going back there. Yummy. We got home and Lil J and the sitter had gotten along just fine. She'll be coming back next week for the last Miami game at the Orange Bowl. Maybe they'll win that game...one can only hope.