We have just returned from our trip to New York for the Thanksgiving holiday. We spent it at Anna's mom's and had Thanksgiving dinner with family friends, Fran and Dierdre. We went last year, and had a wonderful time again this year. The dinner was simply delicious and it was divine to be a guest at their home - it's a flat in an enormous and beautiful old home in Katonah, and I simply love it there. I think in another life time I grew up in an old and beautiful home just because of the way it affects me. The food was amazing, the guests were fun, (we got to meet Anna's brother Peter's new girlfriend!) and I had the best walnut cookies I have ever eaten in my life. The boys played with electric trains, a gentle snake (really!) and their playful and spunky dog, Bella. To end the night, Fran's nephew, brother, and Anna all played and sang to us on guitar. The music was almost the best part of all.
The next day we took the train into New York City with the kids and had a (busy) day of shopping and sight seeing. We went to Bryant Park to watch the skating, saw an enormous holiday tree at Rockefeller Center, looked at the window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue, and had a Swedish lunch at the Church of Sweden...I know...we didn't really go into the church, but ate at their little cafe and shop where it seems only Swedish is spoken. Luckily, I was with Barbro who did all the talking. We also went into a mobbed Lego Store where Anders was blown away by an enormous Lego dragon that wound its way around the ceiling of the store. We bought a tub of bulk, mix-n-match Lego's (who knew they came in bulk?!) So fun, but a somewhat insane thing to do the day after Thanksgiving!
Anders fell in love with Bella (he cried enormous tears just leaving her) so we managed to get in a play date on Sunday for the boys and Bella. Clearly he is a candidate for getting his own puppy "some day."
