Adventures with Suzki and Pops

Since they've been in town, Gabe has had so many amazing adventures with Suzki and Pops. Here are some pictures, but there are lots more at Smugmug!

Oct. 13: Thanks to dad's press "credentials," Gabe and Suzki headed to the Sports Museum of America today. Gabe's favorite part was obviously seeing Tim Tebow's jersey at the Heisman Exhibit, and we love this picture of Gabe doing the pose.

Oct. 12: Today Suzki and Gabe headed to the newly-renovated Brooklyn Children's Museum. Suzki's a museum expert and she says this one is really awesome! Gabe loved it so much he's still talking about the shells (among other things).

Oct. 11: Today Suzki and Pops took Gabe on a boat cruise around New York. They had such a great time. Gabe loved seeing the Statue of Liberty, and couldn't believe how big she is when you get close up. He also loved seeing the Staten Island Ferry from the water instead of the Promenade. It was a really fun day!

Honey Cake

Oct. 8: For Yom Kippur this year, we were lucky enough to have Suzki and Pops in town as we all get ready to welcome Gabe's new baby brother. Tonight we had a real treat with dinner - Erin Masi's honey cake. Gabe sure loves it! YUM!

Atlantic Antic

Oct. 5: Today was the Atlantic Antic, and we had a very special guest join us as we roamed Brooklyn's biggest street fair: Suzki! While mom, dad and Suzki liked the food and drink part of the day the best, we're pretty sure Gabe liked the Transit Museum's bus exhibition. It was great. Gabe loved climbing in and out of the old (and new) buses and trucks, and also got to make his own bus! It was also fun for both Gabe and mom to wear our Obama pins (we got a lot of great comments from people at the Antic!). What a fun (and exhausting) day.

Muffin Man

Oct. 4: Today Gabe helped mom make muffins! We love to cook together, so this was a great opportunity to really get the kitchen messy. Gabe especially loved the mixer, but doesn't quite understand the beauty of licking the bowl yet (just means more for mom!).

L'Shanah Tovah!

Sept. 30: Wishing everyone a very happy new year, full of many sweet and wonderful things. Gabe celebrated with the requisite apples, honey, round raisin challah. He chose not to taste the delicious brisket and potato kugel mom made. Oh well; more for us! We were a bit surprised, though, given the incredible appetite he must have worked up with all the soccer (yes, it's his new favorite game!).

Tough Guy

Sept. 28: Gabe went to his friend Lukas's birthday party today, and there he got his first tattoo! Needless to say, we're hoping to avoid the real ones, but this octopus was pretty exciting for him. Took him a while to decide which one he wanted, but boy was he happy with his choice!

Rainy Days

Sept. 28: Today was a nasty rainy day in NYC, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Kyle. But Gabe and his dad were well protected in their matching yellow raincoats. All weekend Gabe preferred his Fireman raincoat, but once he saw dad in his yellow slicker, he just HAD to match.

Fish

Sept. 21: Gabe is really loving his time in the bath these days, partly because he remembers how much fun he had "swimming" when we were in Florida this summer. So now he likes to turn over in the bath and do some swimming here. It's pretty fun to watch, but we're working on keeping the kicking under water, otherwise we're going to start needing umbrellas.

Tis the Season

Yup, it's finally football season, and we're ready. We watched our first game in NYC with Uncle Seth and Aunt Linnea. Not only did the Gators win, but Gabe was thrilled to don his Percy Harvin jersey, and we had a great time cheering and watching. Here's to a good season! GOOOOOOO Gators!

Gabe Goes To Chicago

Special guest-post by Dan!

Sept. 5-Sept. 7: To celebrate his Aunt Emily's 30th birthday, Gabe and his dad got on a plane and went to Chicago to visit her. Here are some highlights:

*Gabe and Dan hopped on an early flight to O'Hare. Dan was smart enough to bring Season One of "Yo Gabba Gabba" loaded onto his iPod. Dan was stupid enough to not bring a stroller (Ed.: Despite Margery's advice.)

*Their first stop was Emily's office -- TeamWorks Media, where Emily's many pictures of Gabe over the past 2 years had everyone in the office ready to finally meet him. Everyone was very nice, and Gabe had his run of the place, literally.

*From there, we went back to Emily and Dave's apartment for a nap. Afterward, we went to Wicker Park to enjoy an all-new playground. (It was a little too cool to play in the sprinklers.) From there, we had a delicious pasta dinner at a local restaurant.

*Saturday was a big day: We went to Lincoln Park Zoo! They had a farm, and Gabe enjoyed climbing on John Deere tractors, petting goats and watching a cow get milked. At the zoo next door, Gabe had his first meeting with a rhino, a tiger, two giraffes and a flock of flamingos. (Daddy sure wished he had that stroller at this point.)

*After that and a nap, we watched college football, then went out to wander around the neighborhood. There was a new Dairy Queen opening that day, and Gabe enjoyed his first dipped cone. Then we went out for Mexican food, and Gabe had quesadillas -- one of his favorites.

*We went on a bus ride back to Emily and Dave's house, where Gabe watched a little of the Florida-Miami football game ("Go Tebow!") then crashed in his bedroom for a good night's sleep.

*In the morning, Gabe and Dan went out to Evanston for a reunion of Dan's old roommates: The Barbaros (Frank, Kim, Benjamin, Henry and new-baby Spencer) and the Sharmans (Jay, Tanya, Eva, Janel and Nora). We had waffles and bagels and played outside in the backyard. It was a wonderful morning of fun (including a stop by Northwestern's football stadium) before heading back to the airport.

We had a great weekend, but we sure were happy to get home and see Mommy!

(Here is a link to all of the photos from the weekend.)

Gator Gabe

We thought Gabe's first GAME deserved its own post.

On to Gainesville

August 29-31: The rest of our vacation took place in Gainesville. It was a fun-filled weekend, with visits from Uncle Neil and Aunt Patricia and also from Gina. There was a lot of fun swimming in Suzki and Pops' pool too! Of course, the highlight of the weekend was Gabe's first Gator Game!! It was really hot and right in the middle of nap time, so luckily Suzki came to take Gabe home at the end of the first quarter. That was also nice for mom and dad, who could then really focus on the game.

Orlando

August 27: This afternoon we took a break from the beach and headed to Orlando to visit Uncle Mark and Aunt Alexis. We loved getting to see Uncle Mark's school, and thought it was pretty funny to hear everyone call him Mr. Shanoff. Mom and Gabe also thought it was fun to see hear how much people thought dad looks like Uncle Mark. We also were so excited to see their new house! It's so nice and comfortable, and it has a great step down into the living room that is perfect for, you guessed it, jumping!

Lissapalooza 2008

August 22-26: This week we headed to Florida for some sun and fun with some of mom's family. We had a great time. Even though we arrived in the middle of Tropical Storm Fay, the weather pretty quickly cleared up, and most of the week was amazing. Gabe loved the ocean AND the pool, and especially enjoyed anything jumping-related. There was jumping in the waves, jumping into the pool, and, of course, just plain old jumping. For lots more pictures from our fabulous vacation, check out this folder on our SmugMug site.

The Meixels Visit

Aug. 17: This morning we had a special visit from some of our favorite people, in town visiting from Boston. What a treat!!! Gabe and Luke loved playing together, and mom, dad, Jill and Clayton loved catching up. We hope to see them again soon!

Firefighter City

August 15-16: This weekend Grammy came to town, and boy did we have a blast. It was firefighter CITY at our house. Gabe really loves firetrucks, so Grammy brought him a special one. She also brought him a really fun new raincoat. It goes so great with his firefighter boots and hat.

We also had a really great time playing in the sand at the Pop Up Park at Pier One. What could be better than sandcastles and edamame hummus with Grammy?

Happy Birthday Harper

August 10: Today is Harper's birthday, and we had such a great time celebrating with her! Gabe and Harper especially loved the cupcake portion of the party, but mom, dad, and all the other adults were partial to the mimosas!

X Games Gabe

August 9: Despite all his serious playing at the beach, and not much of a nap on the way home, Gabe had plenty of energy for jumping at the park. He just LOVES to jump these days, and mostly from up high. He jumps off curbs, steps, and even slides! Plus, today Dad went down the slide with him, which is a really special treat.

Gabe Dunks

August 9: Today was a really great day in NY, so we headed to Long Beach, LI to visit some friends and play on the beach. It was so fun. Not only did Gabe LOVE the ocean and jumping in the waves (we think this is great practice for our upcoming trip to St. Augustine), he also loved playing basketball with dad back at the house. Look at these skills!

NYC Adventure

Aug. 3: Today we had a great big adventure with Grandpa! First we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. We loved watching the boats go by, and could see most of the Waterfalls, which was really fun! Plus, there were a few work trucks on the bridge, which is always fun for Gabe to see.

After we got to the Manhattan side, we headed down to catch the IKEA water taxi. On the way we got really lucky, and found a fire truck that was practicing its ladder maneuvers. WOW! What a treat. After a fabulous and fun boat ride to Red Hook, we took the IKEA shuttle back to Brooklyn Heights. Just in time for naptime. And boy, we needed it!