Arlington meets Broadway

Arlington's spring break officially ends today. Her break was fine. It had a rocky start, but got better as the week progressed. The weather was the only thing that really got in the way, but by Thursday, the sun was shining, and the rains had passed.

Thursday is when Arlington and Mat went to 6 Flags. They had a wonderful time. They were there from open to close and she rode all of the rides she could several times. Mat said the park wasn't busy, so she could hop from ride to ride without problems. She is now big enough to ride some of the regular roller coasters, so she was thrilled. The day was cool, but sunny and that was the first day all week we didn't have rain.

Friday, Arlington joined me at school for "take your daughter to work". She was really good there. She only stayed with me from 8:30-12, so not a full day. My parents were coming in, so she didn't have the spend the whole day there. I had packed her a whole days worth of things to do, but she didn't even need them. She helped me do a few things in the office, spent some time in our Kindergarten classes (even read a story to the kids), and the staff had brought her a few fun things to play with. Plus the kids that came into the office were enjoying her - especially my older students. One of them read her a book and then brought her some things at the end of the day she wanted her to have. It was very sweet.

Arlington also experienced her first 911 emergency while she was at work with me. She handled it like a pro, and thankfully one of the Kindergarten teachers was in my office when the event took place, so she took Arlington with her to her class. I will not be sharing the details on the blog. Mat has asked me to stop talking about work on the blog. All I can say is that in this case, 911 was REALLY needed, the teacher is fine and she didn't have her baby in my office. All in all, a happy ending for everyone.

Friday afternoon my parents came in for a weekend visit. My sister-in-law Tricia and my nephew "E" also came. My brother was in New York City with his choral group, so my family came to stay with us and we joined my brother and his group in NYC on Saturday. Friday night we had a little birthday party for my nephew "E". He turns 1 at the end of May and since we can't be there, I thought we could have a little party for him here. "E" was hysterical with eating of his little cake. He dove right in, face first and gave the biggest, cheesiest grins. We were laughing so hard! He was really cute to watch.


Saturday Tricia, my mom, Arlington and I went into NYC for the day. We left around 10am and drove to my cousin, Kirsten's house. We were able to park there for FREE (which is a big deal to me) and unload the car. We got to look around her cute apartment:


And for NYC standards, it was a very cute size!! I was glad to see where she lived. She lives on a nice block.

We (Kirsten included) started our day in NYC. Arlington had a chance to ride a very crowded subway through the city, which she really enjoyed. The subway really moves , and she thought that was great.


We hit FAO Swartz. She was on overload. If you are not familiar with FAO - it is this gigantic three story toy store. We always used to go in when we were in NYC as kids, so I knew Arlington would love it. Her Grammy brought her (and all the grandchildren) something small. Arlington picked a stuffed dog which she called "sweetie apple". No idea why that name. She did say that the apple part was because FAO Swartz is located right next to the huge Apple (Mac) store.

Here is Arlington playing the big piano in FAO:



We also got to go into the park and feed some ducks and walk around. There were a ton of sunbathers enjoying the extremely warm day.


After that, Tricia and I left the group to go and hit China town for some "genuine imitation" deals. We had so much fun. We met AJ and his group and were able to take some of the kids into the shops so they could get some fun stuff. Tricia and I got some good deals and were happy with our purchases. I was even able to get my kids some Chinese outfits for next year's Chinese New Year.

While Tricia and I were in China town, Arlington, Kirsten, and my mom went to the American Girl Store. Arlington loves that place. My mom did buy her a book while she was in there. (She was forbidden to buy her anything else). They also walked down 5th avenue and looked at the shops.

We then met up with them for dinner in Little Italy. Arlington hadn't eaten much all afternoon, so she was starving. We ate at a cute little restaurant where she scarfed down a big bowl of pasta:


And about 15 pieces of bread. She was getting really excited to go and see her first Broadway show.

After dinner we quickly went into a super large Toys R US to grab a bag of M+Ms for Arlington to snack on during the musical. Then we headed to the theater. We saw Mary Poppins.


Arlington was really good during the show and really enjoyed it. She even sung along with some of the songs. She had a great time and was able to stay up for the whole show.

Kirsten knew some of the people who were working on the show, so she was able to take Arlington, Tricia, my mom and I backstage so that Arlington could see the set. Arlington thought that was pretty cool. We got a tour, and Arlington got to see the set up close and stand on the stage. She even got to look into Mary Poppins bag, which she found fasinating. It was great fun.

Here she is on stage:

All in all, Saturday was a great day. Arlington did great and was very well behaved the whole day. She was a trooper with all of the walking and the late night. We didn't get out of the city until close to (gasp) midnight. She was in her pajamas for the ride home and fell asleep right away.

Today we are tired, but fine. Arlington did sleep in this morning and has been fine all day. She is enjoying a playdate today with two of her good buddies "E" and "J". They are having a good time. My family left early this morning so that they would be home by early evening. So the day has been quiet.

Mat and I are still working on the playset. He worked on it for several hours yesterday, but when I went to look at the picture and see what he had done, he had put the boards on wrong. I tell ya - he is helpless without me. (ha) So we, again, can't get very far. Sigh. And it was really making progress too. Ah well. One step forward, 10 boards back.

Oh, I let Arlington take a few pictures in NYC - here are things from her point of view:

That's it. So I will probably write again on Wednesday this week. I am throwing you all off, aren't I? Tuesday Arlington has T-ball, and I have PTO. So I will see you Wednesday! Enjoy a few extra pictures.