New York and Indiana

It was a big weekend for the Shields family:  Jason and I met up in New York for the first time in 6 years (although we each go several times per year for work separately) and William had his first stay at the farm by himself!

 

The weekend got off to a rough start on Thursday when storms - prior, current and threatening - slowed traffic into LaGuardia and Newark.  My flight was delayed for nearly six hours out of Midway, so I missed my client meeting.   I finally arrived at 10 p.m. to learn that there was a mix up with my hotel reservation and after exhausted exasperation at the check-in desk (and the threat of tears), I finally got my room in the otherwise sold out hotel and went to bed.   When I woke up, it was a beautiful day, and I happily switched from the work hotel at the airport to the personal hotel in Midtown where my room was ready, and I enjoyed a nap after a lunch of street meat.

 



After meeting up with my date for dinner at Valbella the day was a complete success!  We stopped for drinks after dinner at The Modern bar next to MoMA and caught up on life - including recaps of our separate trips from the weekend before to Kansas.  We didn't stay out too late since our Saturday adventure would require some energy:  biking the Brooklyn Bridge!  We did stop for a lovely brunch in Greenwich Village first. Several of our restaurant recommendations were from a co-worker who just moved from New York. Then I just tried to make sure they were convenient to our plans for the day

 

Our bike tour was from Battery Park through the Financial District and over the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn.  There we biked through up and coming DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), beautiful Brooklyn Heights, and then back into Manhattan by biking over the Brooklyn Bridge.   The tour ended up being just us and our guide; the other couple that was signed up didn't show up by 10 minutes after the reservation time (they advise you to check in for bike fittings 15 minutes before the reservation time), so we left without them.  Except for the inclines up each bridge, the biking was relatively easy - even for a desk dweller.   We got back to our hotel in time to get cleaned up for another lovely dinner out - this time at Fig & Olive.

Sunday was our last day in the city, which we enjoyed by sleeping in and then walking to the Upper West Side for brunch.   I was going to get a mimosa and French toast, but the beer menu was intriguing and I ordered a Crabbie's Ginger Beer.  It is a Scottish beer served over ice with a slice of lime or lemon, so I changed my order to fish and chips!  Jason had coffee and an IPA and a burger, so it was a well rounded brunch!  Six years ago, we intended to visit the American Museum of Natural History on the west side of Central Park.  But it rained and we stayed in our hotel room watching golf instead.   We finally made it!  It was a very interesting collection of taxidermied animals and fossils and skeletons of dinosaurs.  Now I want to watch Night at the Museum with Will and plan our return trip.  I think we've still got five years or so before I want to take him to New York though!

Speaking of young William, he was enjoying a fun getaway of his own to Grandma and Grandpa's farm!  I received regular updates thanks to Ed's Facebook posts, so we were never too far from the action.  I think Will has his daddy's sales skills - either that or he's just so darn cute and sweet that Grandma can't tell him no - because he came home with a new barn toy!  And he told me he got to eat at Old McDonalds four times!        

Will said the box showed hay in the barn, so he asked to have some added to his set.  Good thing he was at a real farm and they had it for the real horses!

There was a county fair and/or tractor show happening in a neighboring town.   I love this picture of Will standing in the truck tire.  We have a monster truck book that has pictures of the same thing.   In the picture below he is waiting for a cob of corn to come out (get shucked maybe?!).  And then there was a tractor pull.  I'm not entirely sure what that includes but tractor anything had Will excited!

Jason and I sure did miss William, but we had a great time getting to spend some quiet time together.  New York is a lot different than Disney!  A huge thanks goes to Jason's parents for keeping Will safe and sound!

Kansas

Will and I made a weekend visit to Grandma Joni and Grandpa Roger and enjoyed some fun in the Kansas sun!   This cutie is a great travel companion.   We had to check his car seat and suitcase, so he entertained me while we waited in line.  After dinner, his car started to roll off the "cliffhanger" but it stopped!

First up was a trip to Lakeside Park for fishing!  Grandpa had wisely purchased two Cars poles and tested them out at home before heading to the park.  Good thing, too, because one didn't work.  The second one worked long enough to catch another fishing pole and then a fish before breaking!  Oh my goodness we were all sure excited about Will reeling in that fish!!

In the afternoon we went to the McPherson Water Park which is where I worked in high school - when it was just the "city pool."  They now have a lazy river, splash area, and this bulldog slide for the kids.  Will couldn't go down the big twisty slide, because he was barely tall enough and I didn't feel confident that he could swim without his floatie at the end.   Same with the diving board; they wouldn't let him go off with the floatie, so we stuck to the lazy river and dog slide.  He was still appropriately worn out though! 

It was definitely summer in Kansas, so we were thankful for ice cream!  We picked up some Father's Day treats and redeemed a coupon for a free Blizzard that Will won last year when we were in town.  He needed it after playing at a playground with zero shade! 

I'd be remiss to not post pictures of Will's big adventures in sand and dirt!  Visting Grandma and Grandpa's is really a boy's dream come true:  they have ice cream; puppy dogs; and dirt piles!  These three pictures were taken by my dad on a walk with Will and the puppies to the garden shop/nursery at the end of their block.   His shoes had a half inch of sand in them when he got back to my parents' house!

Before heading back home, we had lunch and play time with Dan, Ben and Hannah (and Lesley and Lauren) in Wichita.   As you can imagine the almost 6, just turned 5, and almost 4 year old boys got along famously.   At least, I assume they did.  I enjoyed sitting on the deck talking to the ladies and wasn't really paying very close attention!   There was baseball, running, hot dogs, lemonade, and grandma assisted climbing in trees.  What's not to love?!

Hannah enjoyed going between the yard with the boys and the deck with the ladies.  It was fun to meet the kids that I have watched grow on their blog! 

Tiskilwa Farms Alpacas

Yesterday was Deloitte Family Day at the Farm:  a bunch of city kids and their parents having a fun time seeing all the animals (alpacas, sheep, chickens, turkeys); running or riding in a wagon through the fields; fishing; roasting marshmallows; and just generally exploring and adventuring!   We got to do this because a partner at the office very generously offered to host us all at his home which is a working farm that does alpaca breeding.

Two Williams tip toe through the field to catch an alpaca.  Neither of the little boys was successful, but several of the adults were.   Below, the kids each get a chance to hold or pet the baby alpaca that my co-workerDan caught.  A baby alpaca is mostly soft fleece, so it weighs less than 20 pounds.  Will didn't want to hold it, so I held it while he pet it.   

These little sheep always live on the farm, but the ponies were brought in for family day.   Will took a ride around the field on Annie, which he says was not scary since the horses were only walking and not running and were really soft.

The farm has two ponds:  one in front of the house where the kids tried fishing, and one that was a little bit of a hike with the reward of a campfire and s'mores on the other side.  I consider the day a success: to my knowledge no one was bitten or kicked by an animal and no one ended up in the water!  Will and Tommy spent a fair amount of time using oars to bend over the water to dig and stir and "fish" things out of both ponds.  I'm shocked neither of them ended up in a pond covered in seaweed.

Daycare Fun Night

Friday night was the annual family night at Will's daycare.  It's a celebration of the center's anniversary and the kick-off to summer.  The summer camp theme is going to be Super Heroes, so the family night had dinner, performances about Super Heroes by each class, and bounce houses.  There may have been things like face painting and activities, but Will doesn't care about anything except bouncing!  (Even though he did get kicked in the chin/face three times over the course of the evening and came out crying.)

 

In the classroom, there was a Gotham City backdrop for the performance   Each child's picture was part of his or her's favorite super hero.  Here is Will's Spiderman.  He has thrown some fantastic web!  There was a Batman, Spiderman, and pink Power Ranger in costume, and they watched the kids sing.  (As a side note, singing at this age is really not singing.  It's a loud chant, speak that is fairly inarticulate.  But, hey, they're cute!) 

 

Will stuffed another cookie in his mouth right before this photo.  I told him to say, "Cookie Cheese!"  He just laughed.