Hospital Visit

On Monday, Nick had to go to the hospital to have two teeth pulled.  Nick was very brave and did a great job.

This is a picture of Nick in the hospital bed after his surgery.  He was very tired and it look awhile for Nick to wake up and feel good enough to come home.

When we came home Nick was still tired, he went right to bed and took a nap.

At night mom made Nick meatloaf and mashed potato because his mouth was sore.

Mom and dad said, "we are so proud of how brave you were today.  Great job!"

Sunday in New York City

Last Sunday mom and dad took Nick to New York City.

We stayed at the Carlton Hotel.

We took a walk around the city and sat for awhile in Union Square Park. Nick said he wanted to see the Empire State Building.

We walked up to the Empire State Building, but Nick did not find it interesting because he could not see the top of the building

 We sat for awhile in Herald Square.  Nick liked being in the middle of all the people and stores.

Then the sun started to go down and we walked back to the hotel.  We caught a good look at the Empire State Building, all dressed in Christmas colors!

Ryder's First Christmas

On Christmas day mom got a text message with a picture, it was Nick's little cousin Ryder on his first Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had dinner together and then opened our presents.

Nick rushed through his dinner to get to the good part of the evening.

Then he ran to the chair to wait for us to catch up to him.

Nick's best gift was a bungee chair from grammy.  Mom said, "that is the only chair in the house where you can bounce."

Nick gave mom a Long Beach sweatshirt.

After presents, Nick and dad had a happy dance together!

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

On Christmas Eve we were in New York City, but it was a rainy day and it was hard to walk around.  After we went to the theater to see our show, grammy said, "I don't care if it's raining, I want to take a picture with Nick under the big tree at Rockefeller Center."

The Rockettes at Radio City

This year mom and grammy brought Nick to the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall.

Nick loved the show, they had great music, lights, and a lot of scenes of New York City.

Nick especially liked the Rockettes, they did tap dances and danced in different patterns and sometimes made a long line across the stage.

Mom and grammy liked the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers best.  This dance has been performed the same way for many years, mom and grammy both saw this when they were little.

And there was a big dance about New York.  They had a red tourist bus on the stage and and showed lots of scenes from the city.

Christmas Eve in New York City

Now that Henry and Katie live far away, grammy decided to visit Nick for Christmas.  On Christmas Eve mom got tickets for us to go to Radio City to see the Christmas Spectacular.

We took the Long Island Rail Road to New York City.

We walked into the theater lobby.   Grammy told Nick, "I used to come here when I was a little girl.  And I brought your mom here when she was little too."

We found our seats and waited for the show to begin.  Mom told Nick, "get ready, you are going to love this show!  They have Santa, and lots of dancing girls, and a Nativity scene at the end."

Henry and Katie with Santa

Henry and Katie do not live in Massachusetts anymore, they live far away in California.  Mom was on Facebook and showed Nick this picture of his cousins visiting Santa.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Nick loves Christmas because he loves the lights and having a tree in the house.  Mom told Nick, "this is also a time to give gifts to people in our life.  You have to help with the shopping, card writing, and wrapping presents."

This is a picture of Nick writing cards to his teachers and classmates at school.

Hello Christmas Tree!

On Saturday we went to The Dees Nursery to buy our Christmas tree.

Nick was happy when we pulled into the parking lot. Every year he wears his Santa hat, but this year he wore a Santa coat too!

We walked around inside the store because mom likes to look at all the holiday displays.  Nick was impatient, he wanted to go outside and choose a tree.

When we were outside mom could not decide on a tree, it took a long time, it took a long time to pick one and it started to get cold.  Finally Nick said to mom "tree home!" We asked a man to help and packed up our tree and put in on top of our car.

When we got home Nick helped dad setup the tree in the stand.

When the tree was in the stand, Nick cut the string and the tree popped open.  Then we put on the lights and decorations.

When Nick woke up on Sunday morning he turned on the lights right away.  We had breakfast in front of the tree.

Later that day we had dinner in front of the tree.  At night we sat quietly on the couch listening to music and looking at the lights.

Mom said, "this is the only time when you sit quietly with me on the couch.  But that's okay, I'll take it."

December Beach Day

Today was a beautiful sunny day.  Mom said to Nick, "even though it December and cold, we are lucky to live in Long Beach and we can go to the beach for a short visit.

We went on the ocean at Neptune Blvd.

Nick was happy, he ran on the sand to the ocean.

Mom had to stop Nick from running into the water!

Nick played with the sand on the shore line.

Then we walked back to the car.  Mom showed Nick a small building on Neptune and Shore Road.  Mom said, "this was the first place that mom and dad lived in Long Beach."

Then we went home in the car.  Mom took Nick on a detour and showed Nick another building where mom and dad lived, on Penn Street.  Mom said, "this is where we lived before you were born.  Mom and dad had a lot of years in Long Beach before Nick came along."