Whirlwind!
What a whirlwind we have been on since last Thursday!
Brock and I attended the Jimmy Buffett concert in NYC on Thursday night. We headed up early in the day to make sure we got there and missed all the traffic! Got into the city around 3pm, parked the car and went directly to Molly Wee's tavern (real convenient, a half block from where we parked the car!). We had a few beers and a little light lunch and headed out to walk around the city for a little bit before we met Bob and Linda at Todai for Dinner.
We did end up at Brother Jimmy's BBQ for a Land Shark beer - we had been told that Brother Jimmy's would be the place for Parrotheads and believe me, from the sea of Hawaiian shirts we saw when we walked in, we were told right! We had a beer and chatted with one of the bouncers before we headed off to Todai for dinner.
Now, I've heard of Todai at least once (or maybe every other) a month since I met Brock. Todai is a Japanese buffet style restaurant that Brock and Bobby (our brother-in-law) ate at in Los Angeles when they lived there. It's all you can eat and Brock and Bobby have been kindly asked to leave for eating too much. When Bob mentioned eating at Todai, Brock wouldn't consider any place else, so Todai it was. Besides, I wanted to see about this place.
WOW! All I can say is they had better start thinking of opening one near Philly because WOW! that was awesome. Todai is between 32nd and 31st - it spans the whole block (it's the short blocks, but still) and the buffet is practically the entire length of the restaurant. And it is good! Sushi and Shashmi and crab legs and oysters and clams on the half shell and all kinds of other goodies - you can eat all you want and believe me, I could have eaten a lot more than I did. I highly recommend if you are in NYC, try Todai!
Off to Buffett (sense a theme? Todai Buffet, Jimmy Buffett?) As usually, Jimmy was awesome. The crowd was awesome - although, being from Philly, it was a little weird to be cheering for NYC (which I only did half-heartedly). Jimmy did a lot more of newer stuff than I remember him doing in the past, but still played of few of the staples - Margaritaville, Boat Drinks, Pirate Looks at Forty and my personal fav, One Particular Harbour.
The concert was over and we were in the car and on our way through the Lincoln Tunnel by 11pm and home by 1am. Leda spent the night over at our neighbors, so we didn't get her until the morning. I had to, unfortunately, get up and go to work for a full day on Friday so sleep was very little! And then, we had guests come in on Friday afternoon.
First, friends from Ontario came through to visit on their way to the NASCAR Dover race. Dan and Deb stopped by for a spell and headed on their way about five minutes before the Marsons arrived! Abby and Sami and Aunt Aimee and Uncle Kurt came up from Florida to visit with us for a few days. We had a great evening of good food and good drink and good company. The cousins enjoyed playing with each other a lot on Friday night, which was good, because they were going to be spending the whole day on Saturday together!
Saturday morning came and the Marsons came back over from their hotel around 8:30 or so and we had a pancake breakfast made by Brock and then off to the Philadelphia Zoo for a day of animals! Rachel and the boys, Calean and Tristan, were going to be meeting us there, so when I say animals, I am not just talking about the animals in the zoo, I am talking about the five cousins who were going to have a blast together for the day!
We saw all the animals (well, most of them, anyway). The Monkey's, the Elephants, the Hippos, the Tigers (and the tiger cubs), the peacocks and the ducks, the Giraffes and the Zebras and the Coati!
Now, if you are asking yourself, "Self, what the heck is a Coati?" then you would have fit in pretty good around here on Friday night. Well, with the adults anyway. Leda has a Diego Field Journal that when you put the correct slide in will announce sounds of a specific animal and then announce the name of that animal. The Coati is one of those animals and Abby, Sami and Leda all know what it is. Without prompting, they looked at the picture and said, "Oh, that's the coati." Aimee and I looked at each other - we had NO clue what a coati was, what it looked like, except for the little cartoon picture on the Diego Field Journal slide. Little did we know that by the end of our trip to the zoo, we'd know what a Coati was (and we'd know how the animal's name was spelled!)
The Coati is a small mammal that eats insects. In fact, Brock first called it an anteater before we saw the display and immediately Aimee and I looked at one another and at almost the same time announced, "huh, so THAT is a coati!" Oh, and yes, it's not very photogenic!
The kids had a blast, the adults were exhausted by the end of the day! We all headed home and the girls slept in the cars on the way home. We decided to head out to the Japanese restaurant for a little hibachi and sushi for dinner and the girls had a good time out for dinner. And a special treat afterwards - we stopped for ice cream! I think the kids liked that the most!
On Sunday the Marsons came by for lunch - cheese steaks of course - and then headed off to join one of Aimee's friends from forever ago, Amy, at her house for dinner. Brock, Leda and I relaxed as much as possible! Naps, and Football and NASCAR Racing! Woo hoo!
Monday evening we headed over to GrandDad Teal's for dinner with GrandDad, Fay, Rachel and the boys and Uncle Wayne! A little BBQ and the kids running around in the backyard! The kids had a blast - I really think Leda LOVED having the time with all her cousins. We'll be seeing Calean and Tristan again soon for Halloween and Abby and Sami for Thanksgiving!
Today the Marsons stopped by for lunch before the headed south again for home. Leda thinks that she is going to play with her cousins again tomorrow! Hopefully she won't be too disappointed to know that they won't be able to all play together for awhile yet, but soon. I am so happy they all got along so well.
Go here to see some of the best of the photos from the weekend!
Brock and I attended the Jimmy Buffett concert in NYC on Thursday night. We headed up early in the day to make sure we got there and missed all the traffic! Got into the city around 3pm, parked the car and went directly to Molly Wee's tavern (real convenient, a half block from where we parked the car!). We had a few beers and a little light lunch and headed out to walk around the city for a little bit before we met Bob and Linda at Todai for Dinner.
We did end up at Brother Jimmy's BBQ for a Land Shark beer - we had been told that Brother Jimmy's would be the place for Parrotheads and believe me, from the sea of Hawaiian shirts we saw when we walked in, we were told right! We had a beer and chatted with one of the bouncers before we headed off to Todai for dinner.
Now, I've heard of Todai at least once (or maybe every other) a month since I met Brock. Todai is a Japanese buffet style restaurant that Brock and Bobby (our brother-in-law) ate at in Los Angeles when they lived there. It's all you can eat and Brock and Bobby have been kindly asked to leave for eating too much. When Bob mentioned eating at Todai, Brock wouldn't consider any place else, so Todai it was. Besides, I wanted to see about this place.
WOW! All I can say is they had better start thinking of opening one near Philly because WOW! that was awesome. Todai is between 32nd and 31st - it spans the whole block (it's the short blocks, but still) and the buffet is practically the entire length of the restaurant. And it is good! Sushi and Shashmi and crab legs and oysters and clams on the half shell and all kinds of other goodies - you can eat all you want and believe me, I could have eaten a lot more than I did. I highly recommend if you are in NYC, try Todai!
Off to Buffett (sense a theme? Todai Buffet, Jimmy Buffett?) As usually, Jimmy was awesome. The crowd was awesome - although, being from Philly, it was a little weird to be cheering for NYC (which I only did half-heartedly). Jimmy did a lot more of newer stuff than I remember him doing in the past, but still played of few of the staples - Margaritaville, Boat Drinks, Pirate Looks at Forty and my personal fav, One Particular Harbour.
The concert was over and we were in the car and on our way through the Lincoln Tunnel by 11pm and home by 1am. Leda spent the night over at our neighbors, so we didn't get her until the morning. I had to, unfortunately, get up and go to work for a full day on Friday so sleep was very little! And then, we had guests come in on Friday afternoon.
First, friends from Ontario came through to visit on their way to the NASCAR Dover race. Dan and Deb stopped by for a spell and headed on their way about five minutes before the Marsons arrived! Abby and Sami and Aunt Aimee and Uncle Kurt came up from Florida to visit with us for a few days. We had a great evening of good food and good drink and good company. The cousins enjoyed playing with each other a lot on Friday night, which was good, because they were going to be spending the whole day on Saturday together!
Saturday morning came and the Marsons came back over from their hotel around 8:30 or so and we had a pancake breakfast made by Brock and then off to the Philadelphia Zoo for a day of animals! Rachel and the boys, Calean and Tristan, were going to be meeting us there, so when I say animals, I am not just talking about the animals in the zoo, I am talking about the five cousins who were going to have a blast together for the day!
We saw all the animals (well, most of them, anyway). The Monkey's, the Elephants, the Hippos, the Tigers (and the tiger cubs), the peacocks and the ducks, the Giraffes and the Zebras and the Coati!
Now, if you are asking yourself, "Self, what the heck is a Coati?" then you would have fit in pretty good around here on Friday night. Well, with the adults anyway. Leda has a Diego Field Journal that when you put the correct slide in will announce sounds of a specific animal and then announce the name of that animal. The Coati is one of those animals and Abby, Sami and Leda all know what it is. Without prompting, they looked at the picture and said, "Oh, that's the coati." Aimee and I looked at each other - we had NO clue what a coati was, what it looked like, except for the little cartoon picture on the Diego Field Journal slide. Little did we know that by the end of our trip to the zoo, we'd know what a Coati was (and we'd know how the animal's name was spelled!)
The Coati is a small mammal that eats insects. In fact, Brock first called it an anteater before we saw the display and immediately Aimee and I looked at one another and at almost the same time announced, "huh, so THAT is a coati!" Oh, and yes, it's not very photogenic!
The kids had a blast, the adults were exhausted by the end of the day! We all headed home and the girls slept in the cars on the way home. We decided to head out to the Japanese restaurant for a little hibachi and sushi for dinner and the girls had a good time out for dinner. And a special treat afterwards - we stopped for ice cream! I think the kids liked that the most!
On Sunday the Marsons came by for lunch - cheese steaks of course - and then headed off to join one of Aimee's friends from forever ago, Amy, at her house for dinner. Brock, Leda and I relaxed as much as possible! Naps, and Football and NASCAR Racing! Woo hoo!
Monday evening we headed over to GrandDad Teal's for dinner with GrandDad, Fay, Rachel and the boys and Uncle Wayne! A little BBQ and the kids running around in the backyard! The kids had a blast - I really think Leda LOVED having the time with all her cousins. We'll be seeing Calean and Tristan again soon for Halloween and Abby and Sami for Thanksgiving!
Today the Marsons stopped by for lunch before the headed south again for home. Leda thinks that she is going to play with her cousins again tomorrow! Hopefully she won't be too disappointed to know that they won't be able to all play together for awhile yet, but soon. I am so happy they all got along so well.
Go here to see some of the best of the photos from the weekend!
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