Dispatches from Amsterdam Week 7: Already?

I can't believe the following things:

• Thanksgiving is next week
• As of today, there are 36 shopping days until Christmas
• I managed to send out approximately 83 Christmas cards last year (not including the Christmas card exchange I was in, I believe that added another 50 to the total!)
• Chocolate is bad for you
• We've been here for 7 weeks. 7 Weeks!

When I left off last week we were in the middle of a visit from my parents, who came for a long weekend from California. It was their first trip to New York, so we squeezed as much in as possible: The Empire state building, the Shake Shack, 5th Avenue, Union Square, Joe's Shanghai, The Financial District, 9/11 Memorial, Juniors Cheesecake, Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center. We covered quite a bit in the 3 days we had. There was also time spent at the playground and shopping, plus a meet and Greet with Babar the Elephant. What a trip!

Fletcher with Opa Steve and Oma Mary

We said goodbye to my parents on Monday morning and spent the rest of the day recovering a bit from the busy weekend. Post Guest cleanup, laundry and grocery shopping and playground visits were the priorities of the day.

Tuesday was a big day for Maarten, as he was launching the first white label Layar app for a magazine! Dwell , along with Aha Life put out a special issue that was enhanced with Layar, to merge online retail and print! Win! The launch party was Tuesday night at a night club in the Meatpacking district. I went with Maarten and Fletcher stayed home with Alexandra, a neighbor and babysitter. Something he wasn't happy with in the beginning (as always!) but worked out fine in the end (as always! :). The launch and the party went well, with happy customers all around. That's why we're here!

Wednesday I spent most of the day trying to figure out Thanksgiving. If we were in Amsterdam I would be hosting a dinner at my house and probably be cutting up a pumpkin as we speak. Thanksgiving for me has always been a homage to my grandmother, Elsie Lee, who we spent our Thanksgivings with as children. Her dinners were simple and home cooked; Roast Turkey with bread Stuffing, Candied yams, mashed potatoes with butter, green beans, cranberry sauce, corn, rolls, pumpkin and Pecan pies and cherry jello (for me, who didn't really like pumpkin pie as a child). I have made a version of that dinner every year for anywhere from 10-20 people. 2 years ago was a very special dinner, as a total of 5 babies were born that year! We went from 1 child (Jeanine and Luca's son, Alessandro) who was 3 that year, to 5 babies! 2010 was the year of the babies!

I considered cooking, but since the kitchen where we are living lacks certain essentials, like a meat thermometer and more than 3 plates, I decided that reservations would probably be a better idea. As there are approximately 30,000 restaurants in Manhattan, the chances of a good dinner are high. We will try to make it to the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, then come back downtown to tribeca for dinner.

The tree across the street

It's fall now in New York. The weather seems to have taken a turn towards winter, with a chill in the air. The leaves are changing, but we have been blessed with sunny weather and blue skies. 

Blue skies in SoHo

Fletcher still loves to wear his fireman jacket, but it means we have to go inside and use other methods of keeping warm, like Hot Chocolate at our local bakery

Fletcher and his warm drink

Fletcher gets A LOT of positive attention when he wears his firefighter uniform. We were walking down our street in SoHo when we were stopped by a photographer who asked if he could take a portrait of Fletcher. He runs a blog called Humans of New York (HONY) and Fletcher was featured on Thursday! You can also see his Facebook page (7k likes for Fletcher's photo so far)

On Friday evening, one of my closest friends from University, Riley, arrived. Riley lives in San Francisco and came to New York for a few months to be near us and to work on his art.

Happy to see Uncle Riley again!

Riley visited us in Amsterdam in January. It is fantastic to see him again!

On Saturday morning, the sun was shining and we decided to head towards the Highline. Fletcher, of course, was in his standard uniform

Once more, with attitude

Finally ready to enjoy the beautiful weather, We took the subway to 14th street to begin our day.

Keeping the subway safe

As we were walking from the subway towards the Highline, we came across 2 firetrucks. Since Fletcher was in uniform and ready for duty, we thought we would offer his services.

Posing with colleagues

Can't quite reach the pedals...

Of course, once they saw the uniform, they had to put him in the truck. They even put him in front to drive! He loved it, and so did the tourists who walked by to take photos of the fire engine and the miniature fireman.

We walked a few blocks to the Standard Hotel  and had lunch at the Standard Grill  (yummy). 

After lunch we walked off the calories on the Highline, which is an elevated train track that has been beautifully converted into an elevated pedestrian path. It was a lovely walk. Many photos were taken.

Riley capturing and being captured

We were all tired after our active afternoon, so we went back to the apartment and napped. Leftover chinese from a Friday night trip to Joe's Shanghai and we were set for the night.

On Sunday, it was another beautiful day. We deiced to head to the Union Square Christmas Market. We stopped for Frozen Yogurt and lunch, walked the market, then spent some time at Washington Square Park Playground. Of course we saw a firetruck while we were there...

Fireman and firetruck

That was our week! Next week is Thanksgiving, and a possible short visit to see Sinterklaas, then comes the influx of visitors; my sister, my friend Sam, and Quentin from Layar. Busy times! The week after that we go back to Amsterdam! Time is just flying by!

Until next week...