Taking the Penguin for a Spin on the Ice - My First Ice Skating Adventure

While many of our friends were traveling to celebrate Christmas, Nana and Papa took advantage of my time off from school (winter break) to come for a great visit.  While we always love having them, I decided that we should do something new with them (since it may be one of their last visits to DC for a long time).

A few weeks ago, we borrowed a book from the library called Ducks Skates.  We've actually borrowed the book before - it is a winter time staple in our house.  This year, Amelia kept asking questions about the ducks' new and special shoes (ice skates).  Every time we'd read the book (which was at least 5 times per day, because we like to read), she would say "Why Ducks put on new shoes," or "How Ducks do that (skating)?"

Finally Dad said, if you all are so interested in ice skating we should just go one day.  So on 12/25, while everyone else was celebrating Christmas, I had suggested that we go ice skating.  It turns out Mom used to take skating lessons and Dad used to take Mom every New Years Eve.  It also turned out that Nana had not skated in 20+ years (or so she claimed, because she was good). 

I loved Ice Skating - they had special shoes for Big Guys and Penguins for 1st timers to hold on to.  Also, they had a cool car that drove on and cleaned the ice!  I was mesmerized.  By the end of our 1.5 hour adventure, I could push the penguin away and skate to it.

My first steps on the ice were pure excitement and joy!

The family (minus Amelia), taking a spin on the ice

I told you we were mesmerized by the Zamboni

You can check out all of our ice skating photos here (including a little video of my first steps).

Peace out,
Phin

Hello Pennsylvania, Home to Chocolate Museums and Fun Rides!

Cold, cloudy, and rainy days typically limit the amount of fun we can have outside. So when some friends changed their plans with us last Saturday and the weather was only supposed to reach a high of 34 degrees, Amelia and I figured we would spend the day playing at the house or a museum. 

Little did we know, Mom and Dad had a back-up plan (really would you expect anything less from Mom - she probably had 4 back-up plans).  So we piled into the car and headed for Pennsylvania.

Did you know Pennsylvania has all sorts of cool things we have already seen (the Please Touch Museum, our Poconos Lake House...) and a lot of cool things we had not seen (A chocolate factory/museum, train museums, a caboose motel, an Ice Cream playhouse, a Harley Davidson factory, Lancaster, amusement parks...). 

So, we decided to knock a few things off the checklist... first stop: Chocolate Museum and gift shop.

 

Here we are outside the Hershey Chocolate museum.  They had a fun car ride that takes you through their factory, where you get to see and smell the chocolate being made!  They also have a floor that spins in a circle at the same pace as the ride.  Dad says it is so you don't fall coming out of the ride.  I just thought a moving floor was really cool.  Best part about the ride (other than the singing cows), you got a candy bar at the end.  So we rode twice.  It's the milk chocolate, Hershey's milk chocolate.  It's moo-tricious.

 

Some of you may remember my Halloween costume from 2012.  I like to think this trip was a long time coming.

 After the chocolate museum, we bundled up with extra layers - so many layers I could hardly walk (although it might have been the crash after the chocolate that kept me from walking).  And we headed to Hershey Amusement Park (right next door to the museum - so cool).  There I got to go on my first ever ride.  Amelia and I boarded the rainbow balloon pictured above.  It was so exciting, I could hardly contain myself.  I was giggling so much that I made mom giddy with excitement.  Amelia had a lot of fun too, she even smiled.

After the balloons, we drove some cars (pictured above), drove a couple of spaceships (one went really high), drove a helicopter, rode my first rollercoaster (Amelia was too small to come on), rode my first monorail, and drove a 'moon car' (as dad called it). I love amusement parks and so did Amelia. 

Dad requested that I add in a note that we stopped in Lancaster on the way back for an Amish dinner and to see some horses and buggies ride through town. 

Oh Pennsylvania, you are so much fun every time I come to visit.  Check out all of my photos from this visit here.    You can also check photos from Mom & Dad's last visit to Hershey and Lancaster (with Aunt Mimi).

I had a little dreidel, and I actually made it out of clay

Yeah sure, we all have dreidels.  But, how many of us actually made them out of clay.  As of this weekend, we did.  Yup, that's right, we made our own dreidels out of clay - just like the song.  I included some of the pictures below - but you can check out the album here.

Now our house is decorated for Hanukkah... we just need some Latkes, lit candles, and friends (and something Grandma calls sufganiyot).

Here I am gluing my Stars of Uncle David together.  I wonder what he did to have stars named after him.

 

Here I am making my dreidel out of clay!  I like making things out of clay; I am really good at smushing the clay

 

We also took a break from all the decorations to drive a tuk-tuk.  Here's Phin driving.

Also, a couple of days after initially writing this blog post, we received a cool set of tools for Hanukkah.  These tools are designed just for our smaller hands - a smaller, lighter hammer; a saw with an e-z grip handle; a sanding block; safety goggles; a level - which we are uncertain what you use it for; and a cool tool box.  Check out the photos of our tools here.

Lots of Love and Happy Hanukkah,
Amelia

Fall 2014 Photo Shoot

It has been months since our last photo shoot and even longer since we took more staged pictures with just the four of us. Looking back at these photos, you will notice a few things:

• Dad has less hair,
• Mom looks even more pretty,
• Amelia has actually grown (hard to believe, I know), and
• I became even more handsome.

Because it has been so long since the four of us sat for pictures - and because I did not want to be remembered by my terrible school pictures - I suggested that we take some family pictures.

Unfortunately, Mom scheduled us to take photos on the coldest day of the year (it was 20 degrees out).  After that situation flopped, we decided to try it again when it was 50+ degrees outside.  Better yet, I suggested to Mom that pictures would be more fun and easier to schedule if we did them with friends.

So this past weekend, we met Noah and Oliver down at the Railroad Track Park at the waterfront (e.g., Oronoco Bay Park in Alexandria).  The deal was, Dad would take pics of them, Anne would take pics of us, and I would just take random pictures.  You can see some of my favorites below and the rest of the pictures here (including photos of the Levy family, you can just skip over those).

Sitting in front of a brick wall on the railroad tracks

 

Down by the river

 

Laying in the grass, showing my inquisitive face

 

Hugs!

Peace Out,
Phin

New York + Nyack, or Bust!

A few weeks ago, we made a road trip to New York to visit our friends, see the sights, tour the family's homeland, eat peanut butter, and have some fun.  Dad said we needed to visit New York City and Nyack before we moved.  It was a great trip, but it was not without hard work.

 

 

Upon our arrived (after a prolonged, traffic-filled 7.5 hour drive), we were greeted by a melee of leaves covering the driveway at Brendan and Oscars (our friends who were just in DC a few weeks prior).  The next morning, Amelia and I were put to work - here I am raking and cleaning the driveway of leaves.  I was told I have a future in yard work, but I still am awaiting payment for my first job (not much of a future evidently).

 

Because I was never paid for my work and since B&O had to work (while I was on vacation), I decided it was time to have fun with the leaves!

 

Later that day, we went to an exciting playground with diggers, saw a damn, went to the Hudson river, and ended the evening by running around a big house like a crazy man! 

 

The next morning we woke up early and went to see the sites from Grandpa's childhood.  We visited the house he lived in while he was a Big Guy.  We went to bakery where Amelia and I picked bagels and pretzels right as they came out of the oven.  And we visited Hilburg Ct, a street named after us.  Although we could not find Phin or Amelia Ct, so silly. 

 

Oh, and I learned how to use the camera!  You can check out some of my photos as part of the whole NY Visit album.  The photo below shows me taking a pictures of Mom, who was taking a picture of me, who was taking a picture of Mom, who was taking a picture of me, who was taking a picture of Mom, who was taking a picture of me, who grew tired of Dad trying to be funny at this point.  I gave him back the camera and ran back to the car.

 After our Tour of Nyack, we celebrated by having a multi-course dinner cooked by Dad and a celebrity chef (not sure why Dad cooked, but maybe he learned something).  The next day, we woke up early and drove into 'the City.'  I have been in Washington DC a lot times (as well as St Louis, Boston, Milwaukee...), but it was nothing compared to NYC!  We saw cruise ships, an old aircraft carrier (with a Space Shuttle on it), lots of taxis and buses, really tall buildings, and about 10 Elmos walking through Times Square.  I had no idea Elmo and his Sesame Street friends panhandled and posed for pictures for money - I guess income disparity is worse on PBS than I knew about (probably from recent budget cuts). 

After a visit to the nation's largest toy store and Hello Kitty chasing us for several blocks, we visited the NYC Transportation Museum in an old subway station!  As you can see in the picture below, I drove the bus there.  Dad said he was so proud that we made it there without any accidents, but said I should have still stopped to pick up passengers (we needed the money for the tolls on the way home).  

 
After the museum, we dropped Brendan off and he caught the train home (lucky guy), while we drove back to DC.  Oh, I forgot to mention, we also ate lunch at a peanut butter restaurant.  Can you believe it, they have a restaurant that just serves PB?!  Oh NYC, you are so fun; maybe I can open a PB restaurant in DC or Portland.

You can check out the entirety our NYC photos here - including the ones I took.  Had I know what the school pictures would have looked like, I would have offered to take those.

Peace Out,
Phin