A Few More Degrees And It Could've Been Snow

Hey, Estlers haven't assembled in NYC for decades. That is true. Oh a whim we trhew caution to the wind and the rain and drug our old bones into the city streets to see if we can live down all those old memories of sugar plums and cabbage patch. I was a bustery day but, we are Estlers.

Dani gave Yuula a little 101 on umbrella holding. How damp they got was either a reflection of her poor instruction or Yuula's lazy grip. I vote for the latter.

The Macy's windows left little to be desired. The ones we could see were extremely similar to last years, only more underwhelming, especially after that Lancaster place the day before.

Bryant Park was lovely as always, tho the fountains seemed a bit unnecessary considering the sprinkling rains. Love the marketplace setup tho. May be my favorite version of the park.

Plus we found Toparepa. Oh my, corncakes with mozzarella in the middle with topping of your choice. I chose spinach and feta. I was very happy with it.

Vic & Danielle took Kyle ice skating. I didn't see many bad spills but it was crowded out there. I was however disappointed we didn't see any of those triple toe loops Vic has been bragging about all these years.

Made the brave choice to venture into FAO. PACKED! But we gave Yuula a chance to finally pick out which Ugly doll she'd have if she could choose. She chose a few. We may have bought one. Or three.

This was the highlight. NYC cop stopping traffic so he could get a nice shot of the family in front of the tree at Rockefeller. We have a similar shot from years and years ago minus the spouses and children. I can't find it tonight, but when I do...

Dani & Vic took Kyle to the Radio City show and Mom, Dad, Tyler, Melissa and Dylan got on the road. That left Us3 to find some warmth and foods. We chose Smileys. I don't know why. It seemed convenient and plentiful. We got some lo mein, sweet & sour chicken and fried rice. Yuula got a yogurt too. And some ginger ale. Then she got a big girl lesson on the real world when these two characters came upstairs and took their heads off.

At least I didn't have to tip them for this photo.

Found a nice listen darkened alley lit by a tree behind St Pats while we waited for the Forchetti's show to let out. It wasn't long.

We got our annual tree photo...

And got a nice one of Vic, Kyle and Yuula in front of Radio City. 

Yay! Christmas. Now time to warm my toes.

The Party Polaroids

I am in love with Polaroids again

real ones

I think I need to get some more film

I think I lost some tho

anybody seen them?

The Inticing Lure Of A Tractor Parade

That's right. We went to a tractor parade. It was literally the only thing going on within 100 miles on Sunday and really, when else would we be willing to go to a tractor parade?

Turns out it was pretty cool. They had some fancy looking tractors, plus the drivers/riders provided some comic relief, whether or not it was intended to be or not.

My favorites were "Hot Couple Tractor", "Can Can Tractor" and "Is That Guy Dead Tractor". Good times.

There was tiny little farmer's market at the end of the parade route where we picked up some refreshing herbal tea, some jams (peach rhubarb and strawberry lavendar) from a woman who called herself Aunt Nenee. Aunt Nenee also suckered me into buying a banbury cake off of her and now I will be forever in her debt, holy crap those are good.

At the end of the day no one was impaled by a tractor or lost in the country shuffle so we had a good time. The joke of the day was that now we can all cross "Tractor Parade" off our bucket lists. Thing is we never knew we should've had it on there to begin with.