t h e . r i d i c u l o u s . p a n d a

we just returned home from a long weekend in new york city. our first official family vacation with real hotels, airplanes, a pile of family & friends and a wedding. as much as i love chicago, nyc is quite the fantastic place to spend a few days. within hours of our arrival, sam and i were calculating just how much we'd have to earn to buy a little place overlooking central park and silas was charming passersby out the taxi cab window. we took hundreds of pictures, but here are some of my favorites...

apparently letting your baby only watch jeopardy and sabres games primes him nicely for 24 channels of direct tv.

eating some mashed avocado at our holiday inn home away from home.

the first stroll through central park.

silas takes in some natural history.

suiting up for some lunch at the museum cafeteria.

us three.

the whale in the marine room.

reflecting on our visit.

silas swings like a local at the toddler playlot in central park.

sam and silas make some small talk with a mother of three (her husband was working away on his laptop on the other side of the park. nice.)

private party, please move along. scott, silas and sam take a breather at the rehearsal dinner.

courtney brings it down a notch with the baby, well past his bedtime.

saturday morning with cousins and charlie!

priya on her own turf.

i am overwhelmed by the sweetness of quinn.

eric & silas - a rare moment with the groom!

kate & sam - an even rarer moment with the bride!

jerilyn & scott - these two just look better and better every time we sit across from them at a wedding.

clint pauses between courses.

kate and eric looking freshly wedded.

thanks to kim and bart and the girls, sam and i enjoyed the wedding reception as a couple. neither of us bouncing the baby on our lap, the other constantly wondering what we could do to help. it was awesome. i felt like i was going to puke all day saturday, knowing that we were going to ditch our baby so we could party and drink cocktails. but by the time i saw my sister (the valet babysitter) waiting for us at the reception site to strap the baby on and take off for the upper west side, all nausea had subsided. like i said, it was awesome. when we got back to their place late, late at night to collect our child, silas was knocked out sleeping so we had time to have one more beer. cheers to the babysitters!

sam and silas make up for missing swim class on sunday morning.

reem and dylan make a silas dumpling at vegetarian dim sum.

giant robot ny. sam takes photos in order to restrain himself from purchasing the entire inventory.

reem shows silas proper street crossing technique.

markus mollicus and silas in tompkins square park.

wandering through chinatown brings out the napping.

mark tends to the baby.

reem gets a good whiff before the drive back to connecticut.

silas and celeste wrap up the evening with some zen palate takeout and a bedtime story.

the baby lounges while the parents pack up.

waiting for our flight at jfk.