Monday, March 6, 2017

Gramma's Visit

Gramma came out for a visit! She flew overnight, so we whisked her away to the Circus practically when she stepped out of the plane!

The motorcycle and aerialist went right above us. It was awesome!

Axel got to ride a camel during the half break.






I didn't take pictures of it, but they had a tiger show. There were 14 tigers, and they were grumpy from the start. They wouldn't listen to the trainer, growling like crazy. So they only did a couple of tricks. Then one of the tigers found a stray cord that was holding up the fences, and thought it was a toy so was pulling on it with all its might, making the fence sway like crazy. All the people seated near there started to scatter, so the ringmaster said, "Moving from your seats only exacerbates the situation going on inside of the ring." Comforting, right? There are about 10 workers now trying to keep the fence up, and trying to get the tiger to let go of the cord. So the tiger trainer starts telling the other tigers to go back into their cages, but they are all distracted by the other one... Eventually the workers are able to cut the cord and the offending tiger happily walked into its cage (holding the cord in its mouth), and the rest followed. It was seriously so terrifying. I knew we were safe because we were on the balcony, but 14 loose tigers would really be bad, no matter where we were seated.

The rest of the circus went great! Axel's favorite part was Grandma the Clown.


We took Gramma to the zoo. We were so excited that the tiger came right by the glass to say hi, but then it turned and sprayed right at Gramma's face level! Haha! Trying to tell us who is boss!

A friend of mine had an emergency, so I had to go watch her kids. Luckily we have a non-manual car now so Gramma was able to take Axel to the Lego Batman movie and the Lego store. They had a great one-on-one date!

Playing arcade games at the theater.

Gramma likes to visit Revolutionary War sites, so this time it was Fort Montgomery, only a 45 minute drive away. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. We didn't even needs jackets!







On the way back, of course we had to stop for frozen yogurt.

And played at the park.



Axel and Gramma built the new Lego set (plus a new toy "Drip" from "Planes: Fire and Rescue")

On another beautiful day, we went down into the City. Here we are eating lunch at Bryant Park.

Outside Madison Square Garden

We went for Sesame Street Live!

It was seriously so insane (loud kids and parents, balloons everywhere, general craziness) but Axel had a great time.


Waiting in line at "Do," a new cookie dough place. Hour and a half wait! We also missed Usher by about 5 minutes. He knows the owner, so he didn't have to wait.

Luckily they had a playground near the line, so Axel was able to play for an hour of the wait.

Someone was less than enthusiastic after we got our dough.


Eating it in Washington Square Park


Gramma and Axel under the Washington Square Arch

It was perfect weather for Gramma's visit! We are so glad that she was able to come!

Late Birthday Party

We finally had Axel's 4th Birthday Party! It was based on the book "Secret Pizza Party," which involves a raccoon trying to steal pizza, and Broombots trying to stop him. It was sooo much fun!


We had a secret entrance to the party, under the table.

We ate pizza and read the book.


Everybody got a raccoon mask.

Then we played the Broombot game, where everyone got to be a broombot and use the broom to shoo the raccoon into the raccoon trap.


My friend Jess made an awesome cake.

I love all the faces he made trying to blow out his candle!





Everyone got mustaches, to help with their disguises. (Axel has a Batman mask because a friend gave it to him, and he wanted to wear that instead of the raccoon one)


Playing under the table.

He still loves me, even with a mustache.

Happy 4th birthday, little dude! We love you!