On Sunday there was snow on the forecast, but it didn't snow here. My in-laws had flurries! I got up several times in the night to check, hoping my kids could have a fun experience like I did in 1977. I got to make a snowman and make little snowballs, and school was cancelled (although it was mostly melted by the time we got there).

This is our little fountain--the kids were surprised when I set my coffee right down on the frozen water. It has been 25 degrees nearly every morning the last two weeks. We're getting our roof replaced (notsofun) and it has been too icy several days for the guys to work. The frost looked like snow on the yards here on the coldest morning.

We had new friends over on Saturday--the pool concrete was finished and George's family came to see it. The kids came over and we had a blast with them. It was fun to see the kids squeeze into the swing here instead of knocking each other off.

Love seeing Riley so into his homework!

So we had a chance to go to the circus with the Blairs last week. It was really fun, especially the pre-event event. Steve always seems to find interesting things to invite us to!

The kids absolutely adore the Blair kids--they were still talking about the "other Travis" this morning.

I hadn't been to the circus since I was a Brownie, at the old Curtis Hixon Hall (remember that, anyone?), and it was pretty awful. I think there was an indigent there who took all the money from one of our troop members and there was a lot of crying. The circus was TONS better this time, and really a lot more entertaining than I expected. The kids loved the motorcycles in the cage, and I liked the human pretzel people.

Camden went to Potter & Gamma's for the evening. He had a BLAST being the center of attention. They went out to dinner and he ordered coffee :).

Camden loves nothing more than Mickey, so we got up early (note the sleepyheads in the first pic) and headed out to see the Mouse. We had a great day--this time we focused on toddler rides like Dumbo. Very fun.

He got a bowling set for his gift, and it will end up being his favorite toy. Ever. Best $10 I ever spent.

Dinner was a blast, since we were tired and hungry and everyone was ready for a chocolate boost.

I can't believe my baby is three!

My big Christmas gift from Travis was a total, overwhelming SHOCK.  He planned (with quite a bit of help from Sharon) a complete trip to New York, including hotel, activities, etc.  It was really special, since I'm the planner in the house. I had coincidentally asked my mom for a kid-free weekend for my Christmas present, so it all worked out flawlessly.

We did a little sightseeing while we waited for our room to be ready. Travis was craving NY pizza, so we went to Aparatif, which ended up being my favorite.  He didn't love it.

The first night we had tickets to Phantom.  We headed out a little early and had dinner at Sardini's, right across the street from The Majestic.  It is the restaurant with all the celebrity caricatures, and Daniel Craig was at the front of the restaurant.  Striking :).

Travis didn't get used to the idea of walking in the city right away, so we took a limo there.  He was so silly and fun...I was trying to take a photo with my iPhone so we could Facebook it (really?) and it had no flash, so I spent the entire ride figuring out how to set off my regular camera's flash at the same time I took the picture with the phone. 

The show was amazing--we had seats in the second row, center!  The sets were amazing.  The show was incredibly long, but good.  I was glad I waited to see the real thing and didn't watch the DVD version.

We were wearing coats (and later long underwear, for sightseeing), but couldn't have asked for better January in New York weather.  They had a freaky warm front, so it was only around 40 degrees. We wouldn't have been able to do much had it been much colder, like the weather they had the week prior.  What I really wanted to do was walk around and explore the city on foot, and once we did that, Travis loved it.  No more cabs!

One of the big surprises was that we got to stay at The Waldorf.  And ah, they have a Starbucks in the back entrance.  Here is the amazing view from our room (loved the lighted trees all over town) and of course my Travis inside the room. 

Travis really wanted a big breakfast on Sunday morning.  Do New Yorkers not eat big breakfasts?  We walked and walked and walked, but only found bagel shops.  It was getting desperate. I made sure we were heading in the general direction of Tiffany's, because really, why go to NY without going there?  We stumbled on the real Soup Nazi place from Seinfeld, and when we stopped to take a picture, realized that the Irish pub next door to it was getting ready to open for brunch. They let us in early and they were fantastic.   

Yes, we made it to Tiffany, and Travis got me a charm for my bracelet. The place was a machine, and I'd even call it a great marketing field trip. 

See?  It WAS a work trip!  Travis and I had oddly gotten each other the new Godin book for Christmas, and he got us signed up for a conference he was giving there.  I am not crazy about Linchpin, but the presentation was incredible (he doesn't put his audience to sleep with PowerPoint, he has mastered it)/  The other Godin books were really key in the things we did in marketing Bond Technologies.  

We slipped out at lunchtime to a real DIVE and got what Travis wanted--a slice of real NY pizza.  It would prove desvastating when we got home later, having to face PapaJohns as our best option.  Ugh!