claire's new york birtday partay!

so like i said earlier, claire told everyone she was having her party in new york.  well, don't know how i'm going to top that for next year?  but we were able to exchange those christmas spectacular tickets afterall and best of all we got to see it on none other than claire's birthday, which of course only added to the queen's request for her party.  our tickets were originally pretty high up, but i was told that any seat in the hall would be perfect.  that all the seats had a great view.  well, i would never have imagined that our seats when we exchanged them were center stage, fourth row.  i was worried b/c any seat i've ever had on the floor was terrible b/c if you are not in the first two rows you are straining your neck to see the show.  but the stage here was elevated and the floor sloped down, so even the kids had no problem seeing the show. 
radio city music hall was beautiful, inside & out.  the show was all around us.  there were singers everywhere, organ players, an orchestra, and a wonderful audience that was captivated by the show, so no disturbances.

claire loved the ballerinas, dancing dolls and teddy bears that were part of the skit of 2 boys finding the perfect gift for their sister (now how is that for a coincidence 2 boys, 1 sister, gift), but of course claire was really tickled pink when she saw santa.

hunter loved the 3D show in the beginning, we put on our 3D glasses and watched santa land at radio city.  his eyes lit up when hundreds of santas came out dancing at one time. i really wish santa would teach me that trick then maybe i could have the mounds of laundry & dishes done while i scrapbook and watch desperate housewives.

seth was just amazed by the rockettes timing and loved the soldiers falling.  they made it look like slow motion falling one into another, it was amazing to watch how they did it.

we (adults) enjoyed it as well, i just kept thinking what discipline it must take to put on a show like that.  it was full of entertainment - music from an orchestra, organs, singers, dancers, storyline and i loved the manger and the birth of jesus re-enactment at the end - it was absolutely beautiful.


after the show we headed out to times square once again to find what else but chocolate.  first stop M&M WORLD!  in times square.  like really this place was 3 stories, you could probably total up all the m&m's that my family has eaten in their lifetime multiply that by a gazillion and there was still more in that store.  there were walls of m&m's that all the kids had to do was grab a bag and start dumping whatever color fancied them.

 

this is about the closest we got to the statue of liberty b/c of the cold weather on the water.  at least if she crumbled to the ground, it won't melt in our hands and it would definitely taste yummy.  i know corny - b/c like it's not really made of chocolate, really it's not.

for the entire trip, claire was an issue when it came to picture taking.  i know she will definitely not be a model, b/c she doesn't take pictures on demand, which poses a problem later in the week again.

this was just too cute!

of course across the street was more chocolate that we just had to investigate.  and with a sign that included reese's, clint was definitely in like flynn!

the store was a lot smaller than i imagined, so don't be fooled by the signage outside.  but it was full from top to bottom with chocolate.  we decided a variety of chocolate would suit us, so we got our bucket and spun the chocolate wheel.  we were real chocolate factory workers as we watched the chocolate pour out the spout into our bucket.  all that hard work was rewarded in chocolate, now how's that for a "rewarding" job.

now if you know my kids choco milk is their favorite; something we even made up a song & dance to in order to get this liquid bliss.  well when claire saw this giant bottle of chocolate syrup with an o so familiar label she yelped with joy and then almost cried in agony when she found out it was just a money bank.

after our trip, we decided to just go home and get some dinner in.  i walked down a few blocks to big nick's burger & pizza joint and we had some of the best italian food.  this place was so rinky dink, it's style was eceletic and so many languages were being spoken there i thought i was back in the newark airport again.  the food was very reasonably priced as well with the price being under $40 for all 5 of us.

now, we couldn't have claire's birthday without a cake and how convienent, there was the crumb's bakery one block down on amsterdam.  so i snuck out and walked in to this deliciously quaint bakery and was greeted by the most interesting bakers.  they were funny, sweet, and i could tell they loved their job.  i of course wasn't going to get any specialty cake, b/c i'm sure i needed to order that in advance, (shame on me if i didn't know that being a baker's daughter) so i settled for a cake on display and boy i'm glad i did. 

the lack of a fancy schmancy cake was made up by the melt in your mouth 5 layers of chocolate cake and buttercream icing for only $25.

and i tell ya, their cupcakes were huge, enourmous and wow the variety was absolutely ridiculous.  if they didn't have what you were looking for then all i have to say to you is, "you are too dang picky".

claire was truly satisfied with her cake and loved every bite!  and that ends her "new york birtday partay"

to be continued ...  (can i just say as i typed those little dots i wonder why do we type those dots when we want to pause or continue something and why three and then all of sudden a thought came into my head that i must share, you know how when something is revealed and we hear the music dun, dun, dunnnnn, well like i said it's a thought)