My Dad is Visiting and We're Having a Great Time!

We're having a wonderful time visiting with my Dad, who is here until Sunday. Today we spent the day in New Jersey, running a few errands and then spending a few hours in Nutley, where Dad grew up. He took pictures of the J-boys sitting on the front steps of the house he grew up in, that was built by his grandfather. We also drove by the schools he attended, and then ate lunch at Rutt's Hut, a hotdog place that is apparently pretty famous around here. After a quick run to Costco, we headed back to Manhattan, this time through the Lincoln Tunnel, which, of course, is very exciting for little boys!

I'm slowly getting used to driving in Manhattan, and was actually pretty calm. The first time I drove up through midtown I was anything but! I'm learning the rules of driving around here. One of these rules seems to be that if you have the bigger car, other cars will get out of your way...unless it's a cab...they follow their own rules! So while the cars are avoiding my SUV, I'm avoiding all the commercial vans that look beat up enough to not care who they run into, and the taxis are wildly zooming in and out around all of us. Jeremy compares driving in Manhattan to one giant game of chicken. While I laughed the first time he said this, I don't think he's too far off!

I'm also becoming an expert parallel-parker, which came in handy this afternoon. The PERFECT spot was open...literally right in front of the entrance to our building. The spot was about 2 feet longer than my Yukon, and Dad didn't think there was any way I was going to fit, much less actually be able to get into it, but THAT SPACE WAS MINE! He must've bragged on me to about half a dozen people afterwards about that parking job, lol! I'm discovering that you really do learn to do things when necessary that otherwise you wouldn't even attempt...after all, parking several blocks away with 5 children and groceries is not a logistical practicality. Therefore, I've learned to park in tight spaces!

Dad took us to dinner tonight at a nice French place in the neighborhood. Jordan tried (and promptly spat out) his first bite of escargot, but we praised him for being brave enough to try it anyway. The others wouldn't even try it. I guess for little boys, snails are supposed to be more of a garden pet than an appetizer. We ate at a table outside (much better with busy boys in tow!) and while we were eating dessert a man approached us, impressed with how well they were behaving. He and his wife had just had their 3rd child, and he wanted to know how we managed taking them all out to eat and having them behave (his words) so well. It's always nice when strangers tell me they're impressed with our children...in my mind they hadn't been behaving particularly well AT ALL, which I usually take personally. It's nice to be reminded that we ARE blessed with really great children, and we ARE doing a pretty good job, with a lot of grace thrown in, of course!

Tomorrow we're going to take Dad sightseeing in Manhattan. It's supposed to rain, so that might add a bit of complexity to our plans. But I'm sure we'll have a great time and make some great memories anyway!