Day 222: FIFTH DAY: I Am Grateful

Happy Thanksgiving to my gracious Blog followers. May your day be filled with abundance and may you be surrounded by the people you love and cherish. While many of us will celebrate this day with way too much food & cheers, millions go hungry today. What a shame in this country, isn't it?

Pictured here is our beautiful Thanksgiving table decorated by Aunt Jennifer! It was gorgeous!

We have spent many of Thanksgiving donating time and food to shelters and to those less fortunate. And I'm happy we have created these experiences for our boys. We've been blessed to host a long standing tradition of sharing this holiday with family and friends. Over the years the group has grown and has topped out at some 40 guests for our feast. Always beautiful, warm and wonderful. But this year I wanted and needed to change it up.

I wrote about the many reasons that this was the year to make the change. From the boys school schedule changing to the boys getting older, to family on the East Coast that wanted to host a holiday.... this was the year and I'm so grateful that we could make it happen. Not an easy task, change is a challenge, but here we are in Austerlitz, New York and I couldn't be happier.

It's another crisp, cool and glorious day in the country and the house was full of energy all day as we cooked and prepared for our feast. One of the most magical moments for me was watching our boys play football... it was a real East Coast day, you really felt you were in New England with it blistery cold outside and the boys running around with a football.

Jennifer was really an amazing host and chef. She prepared most of the dinner as I served as sous chef and on KP. Hubby Brian had made a wine store run back in Manhattan and so we had delicious wine to share with our yummy food.

Pictured here is Jen on a step stool to be able to mix those potatoes... check out Kevin's eyes as he walks by ... hmm he's saying ... can't wait to eat those spuds!

Watching Jennifer make our Mom's yummy mashed potatoes with pounds of butter and whipped cream was a real treat.

And watching Harrison and Brian prepare our turkey for the feast just warmed my heart. And isn't that what the day is about. Being wrapped in memories and by the people you share your life with... creating new memories and traditions, keeping some old ones, and being grateful that you even have a place at a table to share the holiday.

Pictured below is the family feasting at our beautifully decorated table!

One of the funniest and most memorable images I will take away from tonight's feast is what happened to the Simon boys after dinner... they all passed out on the couch from eating so much food... check these brothers out on the couch! Hysterical!

Brian and I congratulated one another for making today's Holiday happen... we broke from tradition, but created a new one with Jen's family and in New York. The boys LOVED being in the country, playing football with Zachary, eating yummy food and being together. What more could you ask for?

We were all very grateful tonight!

Day 218: FIRST DAY: Sunday Football JETS Style

WOW, that's all I can say about our first day in the City! We rose early today after a great flight to New York last night and an amazing welcome dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant! Kid sister Jennifer & her beau Kevin took us to one of their favorite spots in their neighborhood on the upper Eastside. Nothing like a truffle pizza to welcome you to the Big Apple! YUMMY!

Today we had a scrumptious breakfast at another one of their favorite neighborhood joints, Gracie Mews, before we headed off to the brand new Meadowland Stadium in New Jersey for a JETS football game. Harrison had researched the football schedule and discovered that we'd be in New York for a Sunday day game at the brand spanking new 1 billion dollar football arena. It did not disappoint that is for sure. Makes our Los Angeles Staples Center seem like an antique.

So we headed to Penn Station bundled up with jackets, gloves and hoodies. We took a train from Penn Station in Manhattan to Secaucus, New Jersey where we then transferred to a smaller train earmarked for the Meadowland Stadium. There we were us four Californians with a train full of green jersey wearing insane hardcore JETS FOOTBALL fans. That in itself was an experience!

All of us were in awe of the new stadium ... its grandness and newness and of course its prices. Brian and I drank 18 dollar Bloody Mary's! What a way to kick start your Sunday football action.

Our seats were awesome, of course thanks to the hubby Brian Simon. The boys were in awe. They have never been to a professional football game before (only college games) because of course LA doesn't have a professional team. So this was a real treat. And New York fans don't disappoint. For those of you who remember Raider football fans, you get my drift-- hardcore and committed to their team.

Well I gotta tell you the JETS team did not disappoint. I mean the last 49 seconds of the game was some of the best and most exciting sports action I have ever witnessed. I mean jaw dropping excitement as local Southern California boy Mark Sanchez throws a pass to score a touchdown and win the game with seconds remaining. The stadium erupted and we were all hoarse from cheering! The win made the schelp back on the trains bearable!

Pictured here are the boys Spencer & Harrison mowing on prime rib sandwiches! The food & bar area in the new stadium is the bomb! Absolutely a spectacular sports arena.

And as if the daytime adventure wasn't enough we headed back to kid sister Jen's apartment to change for a delicious dinner out on the town.

We hit a place called Peasant in the Chelsea area of New York on the lower Westside. It's a Funky, cool, hip area of the city. The meal did not disappoint. There are no gas ovens -- everything is cooked and prepared in a wood burning oven -- delicious!! And a magnificent wine list too.

Pictured here to the right are kid sister Jennifer and me at yummy Peasant Restaurant. Pictured below is the gang enjoying our beautiful dinner to candlelight!

It was a truly full, fun, and adventuresome day with the family in a great city!

What a way to kick start our New York vacation! WOW!

Day 216: Leaving Town Madness

Why is it so difficult to get your family out of town? Why I ask, why? There's the endless washing & packing, and before that there's the shopping for the right clothes --- boys don't have winter coats so again it was off to the Macy's men sale to get them warm attire so they don't spend the week freezing in New York!

Then there's making sure that the house/dog sitter has all the proper information and instructions for handling your home while you are gone, then there's paying the bills in advance so you don't get hit with late fees for not sending in a payment on time.... then there's endless phone calls to make and return, emails to respond to, work commitments to attend to, yikes... getting prepared to split town is exhausting!

So we are outta here tomorrow morning early ... we will arrive in Manhattan by dinner time and will meet up with kid sister Jennifer & beau Kevin for a yummy Italian dinner at one of their favorite spots in their upper Eastside neighborhood.


On Sunday we have tickets to the New York Jets football game at the brand new Meadowland Stadium. We'll be taking the subway to the game with all the enthusiastic fans ... should be an experience. The boys have never been to a professional football game since our hometown Los Angeles doesn't have a pro team. They've been to plenty of college games but this will be their first professional game. Should be a great way to kick-off our week long adventure in New York.

So I finally made the packing decisions and have filled to the brim my huge suitcase. Don't know if I have the right items, but don't care at this point. I'm exhausted getting everything ready to leave home and just want to get there, get settled and get a Manhattan Martini already!