Basking in the Glow of the (not so) Creepy Clown -2/11-Pictures, Final Thoughts, PTR!

[Tinker_Tam]

Somehow I missed an entire update. I missed your news of looking for a job. Good luck with that. I am sure it will be a little difficult at first but once everyone settles into a new schedule it will be great. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you find something that fits you personally... and pays $50,000 an hour! Well, we cna dream can't we!

 

[MEK]

Wow....I missed some important updates - St Lucia in 3 weeks - nice, very nice! Good luck with the job search. Keep us posted!

 

[jenseib]

Wow, I can't beleive it has already been a year since you left your last job. Where di the time go.
Good luck at finding what you want, and it paying big bucks on top of that!
I wish I had some qualifications for something. I went to school for hair...and there is no money in that these days.

 

[hcmommy]

Not to rub it in or anything but I just had Chikfila and thought of you! Ours was so crowded today that they had people with clipboards and little headsets coming up to your window and taking your order and then you paid outside at the next person's little register and then you drove to the window and got your food! The line was huge but went really quick. Never been there on a Sat. today, wonder if it's typical?

I also don't know if I ever mentioned it before but Spring Break I went to Iowa and while there I actively sought out and found a shamrock shake and it was soooo gross, lol! I love chocolate chip mint stuff but I don't think this was mixed well. It was more like a moutwash shake. We don't have them around here (near Houston) so I was so excited to find it. I always thought it was kind of funny after the glowing recommendations in your trip report, ha!

 

[Poolrat]

Good luck with the job hunt. I am so sure you will find the perfect fit for everyone.

 

[MeMom]

I hope you find the perfect fit in a job for you and your guys. Henry will enjoy time with other kids, and you will enjoy adult time and added income. I think part-time is good in many ways. Jill used to work four days a week, and she treasured that one day that she didn't have to get up and out. Now she works five days and overtime on many of them and stays stressed a lot.

 

[mrsksomeday]

I love reading about DISmeets. It is so great to meet people that love Disney as much as we do. Henry is adorable!!

Good luck on the job search!

 

[alliebelle3]

I have never had those corn dogs...but I really, really need to try them. They look delicious!

Good luck with your job search!

 

[TyRy]

Great updates and I'm all caught up.

Congrats to your mom on all the good stuff happening for her right now! That will be so fun to have her down there and be able to spend holidays with her and the Mouse.

Good luck with the job hunt - I'm sure you'll find something you love. And have a great trip to St. Lucia...that sounds wonderful!!!

 

[luvfigment]

Best of luck trying to find a job! I hope you get one that you love. Looks like you guys are really enjoying living in NYC. Tons of great pictures.

No problem about the wine stopper just let me how much I owe you. Thank you again for picking that up for me!

 

[disneyfan61]

Good luck with the job search Brook!!

St. Lucia..How wonderful. Cannot wait to hear all about it.

 

[KatMark]

Brook, good luck finding a job that is just right for you. I'm sure Henry will love school -- he is such a charmer.

 

[onescgirl]

It took me several nights, but I'm all caught up with your TR!

I love all your pictures, they are great!
The one of Henry licking the picture of the ice-cream is just priceless!

I think that is so sweet that your mom is dating a special someone & very happy! Congrats to her!

Best of luck with your job search.

 

[ClaireW]

I just keep getting so far behind! I'm sort of caught up, by skipping straight to the links on your first page!

Sounds like you're busy too searching for jobs, and school for Henry too - doesn't it roll around so quickly! My little one can move from her current Montessori nursery straight into their Montessori primary school (same building, new classroom) so there's no stress here - but lots of friends are trying to make big decisions about school places.

Alice would like to interrupt to send you this

And now I'll finish by saying Good Luck!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Yes, 2006 - maybe we should also compare times

The move went as smoothly as a move can go, I think, but additionally I got a nasty cold jsut somedays before and moving didn't really improve my health. Right now I'm terribly behind with everything, but I know I will just need some time to catch up.

I think our wedding was around 4 pm...or was it 6 pm? Might have to pull out a copy of the invite!

Oh, that is not good about catching the cold right during moving! I hope you are feeling better by now!

Brook, great to see you posting on your TR again!

Sounds like you are really busy with changing your life once again. Do children start school when they are 4 in the USA? Here you don't start until you are 6. But many kids start going to a nursery (we call it Kindergarten, but I think it is different from what you call kindergarten because it is not a part of school). when they are 3.

I hope you will find a job which will offer you what you need and which you will enjoy!

Here, in NYC, kids can start as early as 3! I was really surprised - I don't think it's that way in Minnesota. Ages 3 and 4 are pre-school, then kindergarten is at age 5. 1st grade at age 6. However, even pre-school and kindergarten are quite challenging now a days, they are reading in pre-school! I don't recall learning to read until the end of kindergarten.

Good luck with the job hunting!!!

Thank you!

Good luck on your job hunt.

I agree with you on the Holiday decorations. I've seen them in Oct. and Dec. and I much prefer the Halloween decor to the Christmas. We are going next Nov. for Thanksgiving, too bad Halloween stuff won't still be up, I could get a 2 for 1 on the decorations

Wouldn't that be great, getting to see both sets of decorations in 1 trip!! I do LOVE the Castle lights, and it's all very pretty, but there MK looks so, so pretty in orange!

Good luck with the job hunting! I hope something pans out for you.

Thank you!!!

Hi Brooke,
I wish you the best of luck with your job search. I was a SAHM for quite a few years, while I loved every minute of it and was so fortunate to be able to stay home. I needed to work! I needed to be with adults! It was hard at first to find something because I was not working for I want to say a good 3 years. At first I worked part time at night then I ended up going back to school.

I can't believe Henry will be starting school already! Will he be in 3k or a 4k program? Watch out once they start school time flies by. It's hard to believe my oldest is a senior this year and my youngest is a freshman! I'm sure he will love it and he needs to be with kids his own age as well as you need adults to.

Henry will be in a 4k program, he turns 4 JUST before the school year starts. Which is completely unbelievable. However, he certainly acts like a 3 year old currently...I'm so ready for him to be DONE with this stage! I'm not looking forward to time slipping by even quicker than it already does though!

Good luck in the job hunt!!! I know you'll do great & find a good fit.

Thank you! I am confident I will too!

 

[brookelizabeth]

WOW! Best of luck finding just the right job that you can shine in! I know He's got your back covered. I'm keeping my eye out too for some part time work- only to travel with the $$ I earn.

Keep us posted on your progress!!

I saw on your TR that you applied for a job at a toy store, right? I forgot to comment on it though! Keep us posted on how that goes! I like your plan of traveling with the bucks you earn.

Catching up after our trip!

Woo hoo for a wonderful (minus a meltdown or 2) day at MK! I LOVE the pics with Henry and Buzz! I also love his story of why Buzz had to go inside! He's a smart little guy!

What a fabulous meet! I tried to keep up with Liesa's TR but there's so much going on over there!!!! WOW!

I never noticed the informational column on the board LOL!!

There is a ton on Liesa's TR! And sometimes it moves really fast. But it's fun!! I stepped in just a few months ago to her 3 part PTR.

Isn't that information column cute? I got a kick out of it.

I just joined up with your TR this morning!!!

Good luck finding the right job!! I bet Henry will school, Cayley sure does!

Thank you! Yesterday we spoke a bit more about school and he was VERY excited for it. He's such a three year old! One minute it's "No way!" and the next minute he's all about it.

Yup, add DH into the mix and it's out of control!
I am so ready for my girlie girl trip! Yes, I am bursting!

LOL!! DH's just egg it on!

TOMORROW LEANNE! TOMORROW! I'm so excited for you!!

Good luck with your job search!! I hear you on the decision to look for work. Both working and SAHM are such hard jobs and so different! I have been mostly a SAHM for 3 years now and I am just about ready for a part time job. It will be good to get out of the house on a regular basis and interact with adults!

I think Henry will LOVE preschool, if that is the route you are going to take. David started going two days a week this year and he loves it! I am considering switching him to the 3 day a week program mid-year, especially if I go back to work. He has so much fun interacting with the other kids, and I love that he is learning to listen to other adults besides me!

You were talking a while back about potty training difficulties. Not that this will make a difference but have you seen The Potty Book for Boys? The main character is named Henry and its a really cute book! It hasn't helped us PT yet, but maybe it'll help you!

I think Henry will love preschool too. He used to be very, very good at listening/learning from me, but now he ignores me or pretends to not understand even simple things when I teach him! Oh the joy of a three year old! Such a fun age, and such a hard age.

I haven't heard of that book! That would be AWESOME. Henry has one book right now about a duck named Henry and he thinks its hilarious, so this would be key! I will check into it. Thank you!!! We got him a simple little potty chair and he really likes it and will sit on it, so we are making progress. Now if we can just get him to actually go in it...

 

[brookelizabeth]

Good luck with your job search! I stayed home for 8 years, went back when my youngest started first grade. I was SO ready for it. I was able to return part-time to the company I worked for before kids. I've been there for 2 years now, 25 hours/week, so that I can be home for the bus. It's a perfect schedule and I was lucky to find it. In reality I work more than 25 hours most weeks, but I can usually do the extra from home. With kids a flexible schedule is the most important thing. I hope you find the right place and circumstances for you and your family.

Thank you!! I am a bit nervous about the schedule - but Joe can work from home 2 times a week, and hopefully I will be able to a bit as well, so that will help. We also know someone in the neighborhood that recently had a baby, so we are in discussion of doing a nanny share with her that might work wonderfully....and we know a trusted friend who wants to be a nanny. So once H is in school, we'll probably only need the nanny a couple days a week, but I think it just might work! Jobs here too are generally pretty flexible with schedules, thankfully.

Good luck with you job search, Brook! Im sure you will find something that will work perfectly for you I have been a SAHM since I had Kayla almost 21 years ago. I worked up until the day I had her, but havent worked out of the home since. I wouldnt even know where to begin
And have a great time in St. Lucia
My DH's cousin lives there. DH's twin sis and little sis went a couple of years ago for a visit and said it was absolutely beautiful! From the pictures I saw I would agree Who's staying with Henry?

I'm super excited about going to St. Lucia! I just ordered two new swimsuits, hopefully I like one of them...I HATE being around in a swim suit, but I do enjoy the beach and I know this is the type of vacation Joe will truly, truly love. (I'll probably be itchin' to run around and take pictures, etc. after 1 day on the beach though...) From the pictures we have seen it truly is beautiful! Our hotel room is open to the ocean. I'll be taking lots of pics!

Joe's sister is flying to NYC and then taking Henry back on the plane with her to Minnesota where Henry will stay with his Grammy and Poppa for the days we are in St. Lucia - then Joe and I fly to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. It will be very weird having a kid free flight!

Somehow I missed an entire update. I missed your news of looking for a job. Good luck with that. I am sure it will be a little difficult at first but once everyone settles into a new schedule it will be great. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you find something that fits you personally... and pays $50,000 an hour! Well, we cna dream can't we!

Yes, one can dream! I'm hoping for $50,000 a year!

Wow....I missed some important updates - St Lucia in 3 weeks - nice, very nice! Good luck with the job search. Keep us posted!

Thank you! I will. I hope to have good news on that front within the next month or two!

Wow, I can't beleive it has already been a year since you left your last job. Where di the time go.
Good luck at finding what you want, and it paying big bucks on top of that!
I wish I had some qualifications for something. I went to school for hair...and there is no money in that these days.

Somedays have flown right by, others have barely creeped by. I have enjoyed staying home, and disliked it, all at the same time. I can't imagine doing it for too much longer though, I'm itchin' to work!

That is too bad about there not being decent opportunities as a stylist. Here there are salons EVERYWHERE. A lot of ethnic people who need to go to the salon a lot, plus NYC is just very appearance oriented. I think in the 5 blocks to the train there are at least 7 salons - and that doesn't include the ones that just do nails.

I once saw a show where a woman did the hair for elderly ladies who couldn't easily leave home. She would go to their house to pretty them up. It was a great fit for her because she could still be flexible with her time for her kids in school. Maybe something like that could work....but building the clients is the hard part I suppose!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Not to rub it in or anything but I just had Chikfila and thought of you! Ours was so crowded today that they had people with clipboards and little headsets coming up to your window and taking your order and then you paid outside at the next person's little register and then you drove to the window and got your food! The line was huge but went really quick. Never been there on a Sat. today, wonder if it's typical?

I also don't know if I ever mentioned it before but Spring Break I went to Iowa and while there I actively sought out and found a shamrock shake and it was soooo gross, lol! I love chocolate chip mint stuff but I don't think this was mixed well. It was more like a moutwash shake. We don't have them around here (near Houston) so I was so excited to find it. I always thought it was kind of funny after the glowing recommendations in your trip report, ha!

Mmmmmmmmm....Chick-Fil-A....droooooooool. Crazy about the lines though! At least they had a sort of system to handle it. The one here in NYC is in NYU and basically under lock-down. My friend who works at NYU works in a building across the City, but she has made the trek a few times and said she could do it with me sometime and take a long lunch break. I'm taking her up on it at some point!

Oh no! That's funny about the shake! Sorry to hear you didn't like it. It's only mint, no chocolate, so that might be why you didn't like it. I LOVE mint. My favorite candy is mints. (pathetic, but true! )

Good luck with the job hunt. I am so sure you will find the perfect fit for everyone.

Thank you! I am confident it will work out!

I hope you find the perfect fit in a job for you and your guys. Henry will enjoy time with other kids, and you will enjoy adult time and added income. I think part-time is good in many ways. Jill used to work four days a week, and she treasured that one day that she didn't have to get up and out. Now she works five days and overtime on many of them and stays stressed a lot.

I would love, love, love a 4 day work week. Even if those 4 days had to be slightly longer. That one day off, to spend with my little man, would be so wonderful. I know those jobs exist around here too, I know several Mom's who have similar situations. I might even ask for something like that during my interview processes.

Poor Jill - it's a lot for a Mommy. I hope things calm down for her/change so she doesn't have to do the overtime. I remember one of her Facebook posts about having to work all day, plus a meeting, plus running a book fair or something - and she had to bake for it! I would have been pulling out my hair. Good thing you are close by and can spend time with the girls sometimes to help her out!

I love reading about DISmeets. It is so great to meet people that love Disney as much as we do. Henry is adorable!!

Good luck on the job search!

Thank you! I love DIS meets too - they are so much fun! It's wonderful to meet someone who "get's it"!

I have never had those corn dogs...but I really, really need to try them. They look delicious!

Good luck with your job search!

They are tasty little nuggets!! I love them dipped in ketchup, but I know others prefer the cheese sauce.

Great updates and I'm all caught up.

Congrats to your mom on all the good stuff happening for her right now! That will be so fun to have her down there and be able to spend holidays with her and the Mouse.

Good luck with the job hunt - I'm sure you'll find something you love. And have a great trip to St. Lucia...that sounds wonderful!!!

Thank you! I'm so happy for my Mom. I haven't seen her this happy in a long time. She truly didn't expect for this to happen with him, but it's a GREAT thing. And for them to live in Florida...even better.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Best of luck trying to find a job! I hope you get one that you love. Looks like you guys are really enjoying living in NYC. Tons of great pictures.

No problem about the wine stopper just let me how much I owe you. Thank you again for picking that up for me!

I really do love NYC! It's such a GREAT place to live. Joe and I still pinch ourselves sometimes - we really live here! Just last weekend we rode the train into the City to do a few things, and were talking that we would have ended up just sitting at home doing nothing back in Minnesota because the City was too far away. Love that!

I plan to get to the post office TODAY! I'll PM you or FB you with the total.

Good luck with the job search Brook!!

St. Lucia..How wonderful. Cannot wait to hear all about it.

Thank you!

I'm excited about St. Lucia. It's looks just beautiful. Joe and I are going to go snorkeling, I've never done that - I can't wait! I wish we had an underwater camera.

Brook, good luck finding a job that is just right for you. I'm sure Henry will love school -- he is such a charmer.

Thank you Kathy! I think he'll love school too. The transition might be a tad rough, but generally he adjusts REALLY fast. He is very outgoing and greets everyone. He'll do just fine! Just all that worry and Mommy guilt I have to get over.

It took me several nights, but I'm all caught up with your TR!

I love all your pictures, they are great!
The one of Henry licking the picture of the ice-cream is just priceless!

I think that is so sweet that your mom is dating a special someone & very happy! Congrats to her!

Best of luck with your job search.

Thank you! Isn't that funny with him licking the ice cream sign?! He's such a nut!

I just keep getting so far behind! I'm sort of caught up, by skipping straight to the links on your first page!

Sounds like you're busy too searching for jobs, and school for Henry too - doesn't it roll around so quickly! My little one can move from her current Montessori nursery straight into their Montessori primary school (same building, new classroom) so there's no stress here - but lots of friends are trying to make big decisions about school places.

Alice would like to interrupt to send you this

And now I'll finish by saying Good Luck!

Aw, thanks Alice!

What a nice smooth transition you'll have. It won't be stressful at all, she'll be familiar with her surroundings and everything. That is ideal! If the schools offer any sort of summer program I just might do that with Henry too, just to make that transition to preK easier in the fall.

Do you like the Montessori system? I just started doing some research about that. Back in small town, Minnesota there is no such thing - so I hadn't a clue what it was! We have daycares/preschools here that are Montessori, along with the private schools.

 

[brookelizabeth]

We left off (almost 2 weeks ago! Sorry folks!) just as our DIS meet with Liesa had ended, our bellies full of Corn Dog Nuggets and we had entered Adventureland.

Back in 2009 Henry LOVED playing in the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and Joe and I both thought it was pretty neat as well - so that was our first stop!

Joe and I both love to point out various things in the Tree House that were "made" with other objects - like the bridge above being held up by the ropes on the side (of course it's all make-believe, but its real when you are a kid! Or if you just let it be. )

It would be even more fun if they let us go in these rooms...but I understand why they don't! How many kids in a single day would jump on that bed?

Whoa! Makes me a little queasy!

He loved all the details of the kitchen

We all enjoyed the Tree House once again - Henry wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it as he was a year prior, but we still had fun!

Next we tried to go here

We have never done this - and I know it gets meh reviews, but I wanted to try it! However, they were having some problems with the show and weren't sure when they would be back up and running - so we moved on.

Joe kept asking me "What do you think is in that building?" to each of the Adventureland buildings that appear to be only for theming. Anyone know? I assume offices, or CM areas...

We took the little path that cuts through to Frontierland

And decided to hit another show that only gets meh reviews, but we wanted to do it...

It was perfect timing - just 2 minutes before the next show, so in we went!

I really didn't know what to expect. I had never read a detailed description of this attraction, only that it was singing bears...and that is pretty much what it was; however, we had a GREAT audience. There must be a cult following of some sort to this show because several people behind our row knew every single word to every single song! They were clapping along and hooting and hollering, and laughing really loudly - which just got everyone into doing that! Henry also, naturally, loved the bear named Henry.

When the female bear appeared on the right side of the stage Henry turned to me and said, "She's a girl." then he pointed to one of the boy bears and said, "He's a boy!"

The gears went into place right at that moment, during the Country Bear Jamboree, and Henry realized the differences between boys and girls.

On autoanamatronic bears.



I'll never, ever forget that moment.

We all enjoyed the show, I think Henry and I liked it a bit more than Joe, but he liked enough to go again....not a "must do" for every trip, but we'll certainly won't rule it out.

Continued in next post