Ice Festival

Our town held an Ice Festival on Main Street this weekend. 

We decided to stop by and check it out. 

It was held over the course of a couple of days and on the first day (Saturday) there were ice sculpting demonstrations at the town center and when we drove by, we saw a bunch of people standing and watching. I was excited to see it!

When we went, there weren't any more demonstrations going on, but whatever they sculpted yesterday were on display lining the sidewalks on Main Street. It was VERY cool!

I had never seen anything like it up close and they were beautiful.

So cute - the golden's parents were taking a pic

This Boxer had booties on and was super cute! 

We walked around downtown for a bit - it was chilly. I mean, it wasn't like freezing, it could've been much worse. It was around 27 degrees out, but a bit windy at times. 

We stopped into a couple of stores along Main Street - to get out of the cold and also to poke around. We let the girls each get a bag of marbles from the toy store. 

After that, we were all ready for some lunch so we decided to go to Wegmans and eat at the Burger Bar. We don't go out frequently to eat anymore, so this was a nice treat. 

It was a lovely Sunday! 

But I'm ready for Spring. 

I Hate To Say "I Told You So"

This was our very first winter having a boat.

I know this comes along with certain responsibilities. We're always trying to teach our kids that if you take care of your stuff, it'll last longer and you'll be able to enjoy it longer.

When we got our boat, it was towards the end of the season, but thankfully we got to go out on it 6 times in a short time frame - pretty much every single week until the season ended.

We knew we had to "winterize" the boat's engine and stuff to make sure it was maintained over the freezing months.

We also planned to store it somewhere for a relatively small fee ($300, I think we were quoted). This would've ensured the boat stayed dry - covered, indoors in someone's barn.

I reminded Steve to do this maybe 5 times before the snow came.

He kept saying he'd do it, then it changed to "I'll just keep the snow off it" to "it's still doing ok".

Welp.

One day I went out and saw that the boat's cover had caved in from the weight of all the snow. There was a piece of wood propping up the center of the cover so gravity would keep the rain off the cover. 

Well, the weight of the snow made the piece of wood penetrate right on through. So snow and debris was all up inside the boat.

I was NOT very happy. 

Because. Um. I fucking said we needed to get the boat stored before the snow came. 

And now? We need to buy a new boat cover.

Guess how much it costs? (To get the same one/style as we had before).

Yep - it's like $400.

Sigh.

I tried not to be a total bitch about it, but I did remind him that he needed to get the boat INSIDE somewhere before all that snow melt, refroze and ugh.

Thankfully our boat fits inside our garage. 

But now Steve can't do side work using his lift. 

BUT, now that it's inside at our house, the second the weather breaks, I can get in there and start cleaning her up. Plus, I bought this grime remover for that disgusting ring around the entire bottom of the boat. 

But yeah.

I fucking told you so. 

It's Been 10 Years (At Least)

I haven't been on skis in at least 10 years.

I didn't grow up skiing.

Steve did. So when we were dating, we all went (a group of friends) and I was the only one who didn't do it leisurely. 

I did ok.

The memory from that trip is Steve skiing ahead of me, backwards, trying to coach/instruct me. He's very, very patient and I think a great teacher.

HOWEVER.

As I was picking up speed, all he kept yelling was "you're going too fast! You're going too fast!" but gave no instructions on how to actually slow down.

As I'm FLYING down this mountain, I see a group of children at the bottom of the hill.

Fuck. Are you serious? Like, I'm gonna be that person that plows into a group of people? Nope.

So I "turn" the best I can and literally go RIGHT into the trees. 

I didn't hurt myself too badly...well, my pride and self esteem was shot.

But. Yeah.

Not exactly the best ski trip.

But! 

Yesterday?

I did better than ok!

I felt ok.

I loved being out there with Steve and the girls.

My friend Emily and her boys also came.

I went down the bunny hill twice before tackling the littlest hill they have there, Infinity.

Mila no longer needs any help. She needs to work  on her turning, but she's able to stop. Ava has zero concept of how to use her legs on skis, so she just flies down, knowing Steve will hold her with the harness. Ugh. This child. 

lookin' like a PRO

After a few runs, Emily and I went inside and grabbed a drink while the rest of them kept on going.

Then after that, Emily and her kids came back to our house for pizza and wings while Steve stayed back to continue skiing with a buddy of his. 

Had such a nice time! 

I hope to get out there one more time. Then maybe next season I'll get my own gear. Renting is such a pain (and kinda gross, honestly). 

Till next time!

Birthday Trip Day 5 - Heading Home

Welp. 

The bomb cyclone didn't disappoint.

Back at Penn Station

Since our original ride back got canceled, we got rebooked on this train. No private room available, unfortunately! Luckily we could at least get business class. Not terrible.

Seats are a little clanky when you try to recline. Steve basically fell (loudly) back into the lady's lap behind us. Hilarious.

It was uneventful.

We got home around 8:30pm and made the trek home. 

Since we got home earlier than expected (our original time of arrival was like midnight) it allowed my sister and mom to head home earlier as well and not have to spend another night at my house.

It was SO good to see my girls. We did all the hugging and loving on them we could and then put them to bed. 

It was SUCH a great trip and I'm so grateful for having such a loving, thoughtful husband. He completely blew me away with all his planning. This man knows me so well and knew I'd enjoy every single thing he planned. 

Birthday Vacation Day 4 (Friday)

We had been hearing of this bomb cyclone that’s coming our way along the eastern seaboard. The storm was scheduled to hit around 7pm Friday night. We had dinner and plans to see the Freedom Tower and the 9/11 Museum. 

We’ve been lucky with sunny weather thus far so we really couldn’t complain too much. 

The weather starting to turn. 

Steve made reservations for us at The Meatball Shop for noon so we headed to Hell's Kitchen around 11:30. 

We stopped for a coffee first. 

The restaurant is in Hell’s Kitchen like I said and the atmosphere was totally different. 

We kept seeing these little Smart Cars that are police traffic/parking cars. They are so ridiculous. Imagine being the cop assigned to that car. lol. 

Sunny skies are gone

We didn't know we'd be passing by the Late Show! What a nice surprise. 

Ta-da! I've been waiting for this. 

We started out with some mozzarella balls.

Balls and Sauce. lol.

PEOPLE. Classic meatballs with marinara and spaghetti. SO GOOD. 

Side of risotto, because...why not?

Felt about right

The restaurant was super cute and cozy. There weren’t any people there so we didn’t actually need a reservation but ya never know. We each got classic meatballs and then a variation on pasta. I got traditional spaghetti with marinara and Steve got rigatoni and spicy meat sauce. 

And we shared a side of risotto. 

It. Was. Amazing.

I don’t usually each pasta because of my wheat allergy and it’s one of the things I miss the most. It was glorious. 

After a delicious and relaxing lunch we walked for a bit through HK before hailing a taxi back to Times Square. 

We popped into a few shops along the way and ended up back at our hotel. It was during this time Steve got a voicemail saying that due to weather, they were closing the restaurant at the Freedom Tower and there was zero visibility (which wasn't surprising). Damn storm.

We decided to change and head down to the financial district anyway since we weren’t sure if we could get refunds on our tickets. Neither of us had been down to this area since before the 9/11 attacks so we wanted to make it down there. 

It was very humbling to walk towards the North and South Pools, where the Towers once stood. We paid our respects and then headed to the Freedom Tower just to check it out.

We opted to go up anyway since we were there.

I can imagine the breathtaking views on a clear day. We will need to make it back to experience the real thing. 

Lady Liberty - standing tall

Afterwards we went across to the 9/11 Museum. 

It was incredible to see and hear everything in the museum.

I got choked up when we went by these stairs.

Created by Orange County Choppers

We spent about an hour and 20 minutes there and didn’t get a chance to see the North Tower excavation section but the museum closed at 5 and they made sure to remind all the visitors frequently. 

It was a somber walk through, but a great experience at the same time. Having lived through it and knowing exactly what I was doing and who I was with...it seemed like yesterday.

Once we left the museum, the weather was really starting to turn. We took a taxi back to our hotel so we could get ourselves ready to depart the following day. With the impending storm, we weren't sure what we'd wake up to and what state the city would be in. 

We planned to just eat our leftovers from the Meatball Shop, but we realized we didn't have any utensils. So then we just opted to get Mexican delivered since...why not? Last night in NYC and having food deliveries so convenient. We ordered, it arrived less than 20 minutes later and we called it a night.

Time to head back to reality tomorrow.