NY Comic Con

There was meeting and chatting with admired artist-writers.

There was Hobbit-y Lego.

There were things unveiled.

There was a panel we waited on line an hour for...so worth it.

There were new games to play.

There was a lot of smiling.

End of day: mellow and ready to call it a con.

Jamie time

Jamie took the Amtrak down from Beantown and we had a lovely time.  Thank you to Maya (Jamie's feline) and Maya's grandma (Jamie's mom of the famed Jamie's mom's cole slaw) for letting Jamie come down!

On the day that was less hot (but it still went just over 90º) we trekked into the city and enjoyed some of the offerings of Central Park.

On the hotter second day, we spent time indoors.  There was iPadding, games galore and Rita's for an after dinner sweet.

It was a special time.  We all loved having her here and look forward to another visit so we can show her Central Park in the Fall (hint, hint, smile, smile).

Whole30 food : : 11

Whole30 on-the-go.

The photo is off center.  I was rushing out the door, we were Central Park bound!

I had the avocado, sausage frittata and blueberries for lunch.  The figs and nuts were snack (I never finish the macadamia nuts...I'm not crazy about them).  For dinner I had the greens and a piece of chicken (packed separately).  I'd also packed cherries separately and had a handful of those, too.

The rest of the gang had Whole Foods stuff for lunch and for dinner they had Five Guys (sans buns for my boys) or Thai take-out.  (We ate at my mom's.)

Vanessa

This morning, Gem turned to me and said, "we picked up Vanessa at the airport two years ago today". Sigh.  Time sure does fly.  Here we are at Turtleback Zoo on our first afternoon together.

New York Comic Con: part 1

In a word: WOW.  It was exciting, dramatic, engrossing, inspiring.  There was tons of walking and, honestly, a lot of waiting on lines.  One angel, an exceedingly mellow and good crowd (it was sold out), one douche bag.  Five-plus hours of breathing canned air, seeing no sun, living as one with a massive comic/anime/gaming loving throng.  There were a lot of smiles, some tears, special edition comics, autographs, $1 on-the-spot sketches by admired artists, not-yet-released video games, panels, swag...  One day was not enough.  The kids want to go again next year.

I am beat.  I'm going to let this pics speak for themselves.  More photos, that Gem took and were taken of Gem by Cap, to come later (we split up for parts of the day).

Lego fun

Yesterday the four of us took part in a Lego fundraiser for the local art museum and historical society.  It was something I've been wanting to do for a few years and it feels good to have something "off" the list for once :-)

It was a whole lot of fun coming in from the torrents of rain to join a mass of fellow Lego lovers to make a 3D map of our town's downtown with Lego structures.

I gathered, they built.

we chose the building that houses Mesob, the yummy Ethiopian restaurant.

the boys on the map.

that little yellow structure in the middle there is ours.

I loved the stained glass windows on this church!

folks were cleared off the map for a final gaze.

it's amazing what you can do with Lego.

Day in the city

I am surprised I haven't posted since Monday.  I had not realized it's been that long.

Yesterday Cap and I had rare alone time with just one child.  A birthday gift to Sag, we spent a few hours with him riding the subway, wandering around the American Museum of Natural History (he likes the "stuffed animals") and tucking into one of the supposed best burgers in Manhattan (Sag, a burger lover, declared it the best burger he's ever had).

Gem hung out at Baba's.  Later in the day we traipsed down to Rockefeller Center and hit both Nintendo World and the Lego store.  The kids spent their otoshidama on Pokemon cards and we admired the Tower Bridge at the Lego store.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any in stock.  Sag has saved up a serious amount of coin for it.

After a yummy dinner at Baba's, we cozied up together around her laptop and watched a home movie Cap made awhile ago of our last (and only one as a foursome) trip to Japan back in Dec 2002-Jan 2003.  It was breathtaking seeing the kids as toddlers.  We are so looking forward to going back!