December Canaan

Saturday, December 14, 2024

December Canaan is my favorite because it always feels so festive and this year we brought Grandma, too.  Everyone was excited to get back to the ice, the town and of course, TipTop.  It was a somewhat smaller group this year with only 7 skaters - and only 4 of them Club members - but that worked out pretty well because it was VERY cold. 

The kids got up early Saturday morning so they could get into town to visit Tip Top before the show.  That little place never disappoints.  I got a Santa's Secret Latte (with eggnog) and it was incredible.  Emily once again got her beloved pumpkin muffin with espresso icing.

   

   

The kids put on a great show (as always) and then they got changed before heading back into town for lunch at Wicked Wilderness.  I like that place.  The food is usually pretty good and always hot.  Then it was time to get back and rest up for the evening show.  I did a little better at taking pictures this time.  I did a terrible job to this point on the trip.  The evening show was the best of the three, I think.  The ice was better than it was earlier in the weekend.  Emily skated great.  And we wrapped up the trip with the traditional trip to Mama Mia for dinner after the show.  Another great Canaan weekend!

   

   

Can't wait to come back in January...and February...and maybe even March.  And next time I hope to take more pictures.

Holly Jolly Thursday

Thursday, December 12, 2024

   

So tonight some of the skaters were scheduled to do an exhibition at the Light the Night event up at the ballpark, but the zamboni broke.  So, no show.  But we still decided to head downtown for dinner at Pies-n-Pints for some pizza and a quick walk through Holly Jolly Brawley to see all the beautiful trees.  It was pretty cold, but still very fun.

   

   

   

Skating Pics & Update

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

This year's skating pics at the rink were a little later than normal, but just as beautiful.  This new black and gold dress from Denise at The Well Dressed Skater is really stunning and Em makes it look just beautiful.

   

   

Also just a quick skating update: Emily passed her Silver Pattern Dances!  She's down to 3 tests to go - pre-gold pattern, gold pattern and gold free dance!  Her goal is to complete it all by August, if not sooner.  If she puts her mind to it, I have no doubt she will make it!

Emily's 17th Birthday

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

We celebrated Emily's birthday in parts, sort of, this year.  We started celebrating before we left for New York when Dad gave her a new cell phone!  She was so surprised and she definitely loves it.  Then she had it in time to take it with her to take pictures on the trip.

   

Then we celebrated a little more the night before her birthday.  We had to do gifts the night before because Daniel was on call on her birthday.  This year she got a new sweater, a shirt for skating, a study guide for her AP CompSci exam, a jewelry advent calendar from Altar'd State and more.

    

   

She also celebrated with Daddy's special cookies-n-cream cheesecake (her request).  It was delicious!  And then, on her actual birthday, we went out for sushi at Kita (her favorite).

    

Happy 17th Birthday sweet girl.  We love you so much!

NYC Day 2

Saturday, December 7, 2024

This morning we had a quick breakfast in the room (treats we grabbed from one of the bakeries yesterday) and then went straight to Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.  I loved this show so much last year so I was really looking forward to going back and it was just as spectacular as I remembered.  JD and Alexis were great, of course and I loved all the dancing and singing too!

   

   

   

After the show, we all split up. Emily and I decided we wanted to do a little shopping and sightseeing, but first we stopped for some NY pizza!  Truth is we would have eaten anything because we had a little trouble finding some place to eat so by the time we stumbled into this place we were starving!

   

After lunch, we started our shopping fun.  We found a Christmas market similar to the ones from Bryant Park last year only this year we were actually able to go in them!  It was not nearly as crowded.  Emily found a little pot of these cute crocheted flowers so we got them.

Then we worked our way down Fifth Avenue (including Sax 5th Ave - which was a total bust) hitting several shops along the way until we decided to cut across to Macy's at Herald Square.  They had a holiday market inside that we kind of wanted to see.  It was really cute.  Emily found some stickers there that she really liked.  Ultimately we both ended up finding a few things along the way that we liked!  Now the struggle was on to make sure we could get it all in our suitcases!

   

   

I really enjoyed some of the holiday windows - including the ones from Amazon and Macy's.  They were really cute!

  

  

After shopping, we headed back to the hotel to drop our bags and get Em's skates.  Our next stop was Rockefeller Center where we had a dinner reservation and also tickets for the kids to skate!  And wow what a magical experience it was.  Dinner was nice and calm and right next to the rink - making it really easy to pop over and get on the ice.  The tree was amazing and it was such a joy to see the girls having such a great time (even though it was far too crowded to jump or spin)!  It was the perfect way to close out this trip for sure.

   

   

On our way home, we enjoyed the lights of Times Square and Radio City one last time and we stopped at Magnolia Bakery for dessert to-go.  What a great weekend!