Christmas Outing in New York City

We all took off from school and work on Friday to take a trip up to New York City to enjoy the Christmas sights.  We parked the car in Hoboken and took the Path train over to Manhattan...

When we arrived at the 33rd Street station, we made our way over to Macy's to meet up with Grummy, Pop Pop, and Auntie Alice.  Here is Sean's excited face... what's he so excited about?  Well, Auntie Alice was able to get us passes to skip the line to see Santa Claus!

Both kids were a little shy at first...

but Sean quickly warmed up!

Sean told Santa that he's been good this year and politely asked for a Batman toy and Clare was able to muster up enough courage to quietly request a Pinkalicious doll.

Santa Claus chatted with Sean and asked Sean to leave out some milk and cookies for him on Christmas Eve - and some carrots for his reindeer, of course. Sean promised he would!

Sean gave Santa a big and hug and a kiss before saying good-bye.

We hung around for a few minutes and admired the Santaland lights and decorations...

And then we made our way over to Rockefeller Center to see the big tree and skating rink!

Sean thought it was pretty cool and Clare?

Well, she fell asleep a little bit after Times Square.

We had lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner, where the waitstaff are aspiring Broadway stars and serenade the customers. The first song we heard when we walked in was a song from the new movie, "Frozen" which Clare so very happy to hear!

She was sad when the song ended and that the next song was NOT another one from "Frozen!" Can you imagine that?!?! So we cheered up by taking selfies and practicing our deepest scowls:

She cheered up considerably once her food came and even cheered and clapped for a few songs. The food was great - typical diner stuff.

With our bellies full, we walked up to FAO Schwartz to see what the kids thought of the huge toystore, but I guess it was Sean's turn to fall asleep!  Clare was wide awake, though and loved looking at all the different toys in display - especially the stuffed animals.  First, she cuddled up to a HUGE puppy but then found one that she could actually carry. But she put him back with his "brudders" since they would miss him a lot :-)

Clare fell asleep not too long after we left the toy store, so both kids missed the Plaza (where Eloise lives)! Oh well!  The last stop on our tour was Grand Central Station - the kids missed out on looking at the Christmas decorations and the astronomical ceiling over the main terminal. After resting here for a bit, we headed back downtown to catch a train home.

Ship Bottom Christmas Parade

We went to the Ship Bottom Christmas Parade on LBI this past Saturday! This was our second time at the parade - the first was in 2011 - and the kids were pumped to see some neat floats and get some candy canes!

This parade has it all - fire trucks!

The Little Mermaid!

Army trucks!

Bagpipers!

Babies in a whale!

DeLoreans!

A funny firetruck!

Saltwater taffy!

Sassy poses:

Pirate ships!

New toys!

A balloon whale!

A wrapped up fire truck!

And of course, Santa Claus!

Party all the time

The Sooy Kids have had some wild times these past couple of weekends. They went to their first laser-light bowling party to celebrate the birthday of a friend. They thought their bowling shoes were so funny and got really excited when they found out they could have their pick of any of the neon-colored balls!

The kids were a little hesitant once it was time to bowl, but we got a little ramp for the younger kids:

Checking her score :-)

Soon enough Sean was comfortable throwing the bowling balls - I had to keep reminding him that we were supposed to ROLL the balls, not chuck them overhand! After we were done bowling, the kids ate pizza and cupcakes (decorated like Despicable Me Minions!) and played arcade games.  They slept very well that night!

Next up on the party tour, an afternoon in Atlantic City! We went down on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Grummy, Pop Pop, Uncle Peter and Aunt Andrea. Once on the boardwalk, we tried to get Clare to pose sweetly in front of this sign, but she was having none of it...

She was made for the stage, baby! Clare ran around this outdoor stage while the rest of our group checked out the beach. A cold wind was whippin' down the boardwalk, so we soon sought shelter at the Tropicana...

...to see a neat music and light show!

Afterwards, we hit the boardwalk again, running around and stopping for a bit of saltwater taffy.

We'd worked up quite an appetite at this point, so at the recommendation of the kids' Pop Pop Pop, we checked out the Rainforest Cafe!  We sat in a booth nestled right beneath an elephant which kind of freaked the kids out at first, but soon they were looking forward to the elephant trumpeting and flapping his ears.

One of the highlights of the whole day was finding Dory (and many other Dorys) in a giant fishtank!  At this point, it was time to say goodbye to Dory and Dory and Dory and Dory etc., etc. and go back to the car, ending yet another wild time for the Sooy Kids :-)

Santa Arrives on LBI

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we went up to Barnegat Light to see Santa arrive by boat!  We went in 2011 when Clare was a baby but we had to skip last year due to Hurricane Sandy clean-up. Santa was ready to come back this year and the kids were ready, too!

Santa arrives with Mrs. Claus:

After disembarking from the Coast Guard boat, Santa walked up the boat ramp, shaking hands and taking pictures. Then he hopped into a firetruck and was driven a short way down the street where he helped light the Barnegat Light's First Aid Squad tree:

And then the whole group sang Christmas carols with Santa:

After the lighting and singing, the crowd headed over to the First Aid Squad building to get a chance to sit on Santa's lap.  We went over to the fire truck to see what we could see...

And Sean got to sit in the driver's seat!  

We skipped the line to see Santa since we'll be seeing him again soon...