We Three Jacksons: 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Christmas Favorites

Favorite Christmas Carols:

1. O Holy Night
2. Silent Night
3. Once in Royal David's City
4. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
5. Do You Hear What I Hear?
6. What Child Is This?
7. O Little Town of Bethlehem
8. Joy to the World
9. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
10. O Come All Ye Faithful

(I couldn't pick just 5!!! There are too many good ones!)

Favorite Christmas Songs:

1. Glorious Impossible
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
3. Baby, It's Cold Outside
4. Ave Maria
5. It Must Have Been Ol' Santa Claus

Favorite Christmas Movies:

1. It's A Wonderful Life
2. The Christmas Carol
3. The Family Stone
4. The Holiday
5. The Family Man

Favorite Christmas (Eve) Traditions:

1. Matching Christmas Pajamas!!
2. Eating Hamburgers
3. Christmas Eve Service
4. Looking at Christmas Lights
5. Reading The Night Before Christmas

2007 - not an exact match, but both green plaid

2008 - red with reindeer

2009 - gray with candy canes

2010 - blue with polar bears

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Thanksgiving this year was a little different from normal. Normally (since we've relocated to CT) we all "meet in the middle" at my brother's house in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. This year, my parents were unable to make it, and since my brother would be working most of the time anyway, Andrew and I decided to stay in Connecticut and go down to NYC for the Macy's parade. We figured it was the only time we would be able to go, so we decided to just do it. We are SO GLAD we did! It was wonderful, and if you're in the area for Thanksgiving (and the weather is nice) I HIGHLY recommend doing it. We took the train down to the city on Wednesday evening.
The very first thing we did after getting off the train? Stop by Crumbs to grab a couple of delicious cupcakes to go before they closed! (We've been trying to do this on our last 2 trips to the city this past summer and they always closed before we got there!) Our hotel (The Dylan Hotel) was on Madison and 41st street so we were really close to the parade route. We weren't far from Times Square, so for dinner that night, we wandered down that way and ate at Dallas BBQ. It was good, but the name is misleading - it was on par with the kind of bbq you might find in Chili's, but not the really yummy Texas bbq most of the readers of this blog are accustomed to. However, my burger was absolutely delicious. As we made the trek back to the hotel, we passed through Bryant Park and stopped to watch the ice skaters there. Then, back to the hotel to relax and prepare for our early morning.
We got a wake up call at 5:30am and got up and ready and out the door before 7:00am. We walked over and grabbed a spot across the street from Bryant Park - right in front of Dylan's Candy Bar - and waited. I held our spots while Andrew went in search of warm drinks and breakfast. He eventually made it back with coffee (hot chocolate for him) and breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's. I didn't drink much of mine (anyone who knows me well...or at all...knows why!). Then it became a waiting game. We watched as work crews worked to turn street lights and traffic lights so they would hang over the sidewalk and not the road. We visited with people around us. I took some pictures of our surroundings and the crowd. Finally, at 9:00 am the parade started . . . of course, it didn't get to us until about 9:40am! But when it did, it was wonderful! It was so cool to get to actually be there and see all of the balloons up close. There was only about 1 row of people in front of us, so we could see really well. The weather was gorgeous, and we were actually feeling a little warm by the end of the parade. I think I took a picture of every single balloon - except the ones of characters I absolutely don't like (Spongebob, for instance). It was an incredible experience and I recommend it (but not with small children...wait until they're older. Seriously.)

Here are some of my favorite pics:

tons of people waiting for the parade to start...

Buzz Lightyear

Celo

Pillsbury Doughboy

Scotty McCreery

Earth

Sailor Mickey

Snoopy

Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, and Woodstock

band

Police horse

Veterans

Police

Police Band

Spiderman

Ronald McDonald

Hello Kitty

Candy Cane

Santa

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Fourth of July 2011 - Boston

Andrew and I are taking advantage of being in New England for the Fourth of July. Last year, we went to NYC and saw their fireworks. This year was Boston, and we're thinking next year may be Philadelphia.
But, like I said, this year was Boston and it was such a great place to be to celebrate the Fourth. We had an amazing time (and did a ton of walking - for which we are now paying). We left New Haven around 11:00 and were in Cambridge by 2:00. After parking our car at a friend's house (thank you so much, Amanda and Alton) and visiting for a bit, we were off.
We took the train into Boston, but first made a frozen yogurt stop at Pink Berry. Delicious! Once in Boston, we walked around Boston Common for a while, and cooled our feet in a "wading pool/pond" type area.
Then we decided to try a Walking Tour of Benjamin Franklin's homes and haunts. It was a really great tour and very interesting to see locations where Benjamin Franklin grew up and worked before moving on to Philadelphia. I say locations because the original buildings were wooden and are no longer there. They burned down in the Great Fire. Still fascinating though, and definitely appropriate to learn more about one of our Founding Fathers on Independence Day.
After completing the Walking Tour, we walked over to the Prudential building where we met up with some other friends who are in Boston for the summer. We had dinner together and then headed over to the MIT side of the Charles River to prepare to watch the fireworks. We missed a lot of the concert, but were still able to catch some of it, which was nice. It was fun to hear the Boston Pops playing and Martina McBride was performing and we were able to catch a few of her songs as well. Then, the fireworks started and it was AMAZING! The fireworks were set to music (as many are, but one is not always able to hear said music when at a live show - we could definitely hear the music at this one!). The fireworks were huge and beautiful. I took pictures of them (of course!), but the pictures do not do them justice. The finale was really impressive. Overall, it was a stellar show and we all enjoyed it very much! Thanks, Amanda and Russell, for hanging out and watching the fireworks with us. We had a really great time!