Holiday Concert

Sims' class had a holiday concert this past Friday, and it was so entertaining.  I wasn't sure if he would sing this year, since he didn't sing at last year's party.  He just watched everyone else sing then, even though he knew all the words.  So I had no idea what to expect this time around.  Not only did he sing, but he danced!  It was great!

He was so excited to see us there, and he immediately started to ham it up a bit.

Jason got a video of them singing Feliz Navidad on his phone.  It's not good video or sound quality, but you get the idea.

 

 

He had a wonderful time, and we loved watching him.  One of the great things about Mom and Smith living nearby is that Mom got to join us.  I know it made her day as much as it did ours!

Visit with Santa at Holiday Express

We were happy to get tickets with some of our friends to go to the Holiday Express event at Pullen Park.  We had planned to do this as a group last year, but we bought the last tickets before our friends got theirs.  So last year we went solo.  Luckily they do this event every year, and of course, it's always more fun with friends!

This is the only time that Sims got to see Santa this year, so this was kind of a big deal.  He had been telling us that he was going to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, but I wasn't sure he would actually talk to him once we were there.  I'm glad that I was wrong!  He told Santa that he wanted a scooter, a helmet and a trumpet.  Santa then gave him a small lecture about always wearing his helmet, when he rides his scooter.

He listened very politely and even gave Santa a hug.

I have to say that I have always been impressed with how well Sims does on Santa's lap!  I was 18 years old, before Mom could get a picture of me on Santa's lap.  (Yes, I got my picture made with Santa when I was 18 years old.  But in my defense, my poor mother didn't have a single picture of me with Santa!  I just couldn't do that to her anymore.)  I'm just so proud of how brave Sims is!

New York, New York

This past weekend, Jason and I met our friends Jeff and Alex in the Big Apple for Jeff's big birthday, some hanging out, sightseeing, and getting in the Christmas spirit.  It was fantastic (except for my sinus infection, which caused my ears to not pop from the plane ride the whole first day)!  We jump at any chance to see Jeff and Alex, since we so rarely get to see them.  But when Alex emailed me about meeting them in New York during the Christmas season, we were thrilled!

This was Jason's first trip to New York, and I hadn't been in 20 years.  We walked miles and miles and enjoyed about every minute of it.  We hit most of the must-see places, but we still have plenty more things we still want to do that will get us to go back again.

Some highlights from our trip: seeing the window displays at Lord & Taylor and Macy's, seeing the tree at Rockefeller Center, visiting the World Trade Center Memorial, looking at art at the Museum of Modern Art, shopping at FAO Schwarz, meeting Alex's Aunt Elizabeth and cousin Teddy, eating French food at Nice Matin and Spanish food at Sol y Sombra, and the pastrami frankfurter at Artie's.  The biggest highlight was, of course, spending some quality time with Jeff and Alex sans kids.

Zero visibility up top kept us in the lobby of the Empire State Building

Jason, Alex and Jeff: Finally sitting down for a late lunch after our visit to MoMA

 

New York Public Library

The birthday boy

Jeff and Alex are so much fun to be around, and traveling with them was nice and easy.  I can't wait until the next trip!  I hope this was a happy birthday for Jeff and a wonderful pre-birthday event for Alex.  I hope you have just as fabulous of a birthday, Alex, as Jeff did!