Thanksgiving @ Station Camp

Daddy, Nolan, and Brennan in his Indian Vest (complete with hieroglyphics)

Brennan goes to such a great school that makes sure to involve the parents in nearly every activity. Thanksgiving was no exception. Yes, I know Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet, but his school celebrated it on Friday and invited the parents to come eat lunch with their student. Brennan was so excited when we said that we would go... and the only reason we went was for him. It wasn't for the overpriced cafeteria food (we spent more on lunch at his school than we would have at Chick-Fil-A). It was solely for the fact that Brennan will know that we would do anything for him, anything to make him happy and proud to have us as parents. So, the food wasn't all that great, but the company was AWESOME!

Baby Update

Time for another baby update:

Baby Borchert (still un-named) will be delivered Thursday January 22nd at 8 am.

Nolan's 1st Haircut

Yesterday morning, Don and I decided that it was finally time for Nolan to get his first haircut. Actually, all of the boys needed their hair cut, so we figured that now was better than later. That being said, there were some fatal flaws to our idea: 1st- It was Nolan's nap time. 2nd- Nolan doesn't really like new people. 3rd- Nolan hates to sit still and hates it even more when he's being held down. Not yet realizing our mistakes, we took him to get his hair cut anyway.

For the first 5 minutes, he was fussy but not too bad. The next 5 minutes were a little worse, until I found the orange tic-tacs that he loves. The 5 minutes after that, we ran out of tic-tacs and then all bets were off. Nolan screamed worse than when he had his shots! We decided to let him take a break while Brennan got his hair cut. After Nolan had calmed down a bit, we got most of his hair cut before he started crying again. It was good enough for me! Not the best hair cut, but Nolan no longer has a mullet in the back and hair sticking up on the crown of his head.

What made me the most upset about this experience wasn't Nolan's crying or him losing his baby hair, it was the rudeness of another patron. So I need to vent here: If you don't have something nice to say to someone you don't know- KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF!!! This older lady (in her 70's) was just getting finished with her cut when Nolan was almost finished with his cut. She came over to me and said that I was scaring my child for life and I shouldn't be doing this to such a little kid. Then she said that I should be ashamed of myself for putting my child through such a traumatic experience. WTH?!?!?!?! What was I supposed to say to that? I just looked at her while Nolan cried and the stylist tried to finish as quickly as possible. What I wanted to say was that you don't know my child- she didn't know if he was always like this or not- and it was none of her business if I wanted his hair cut or not. Now I know it wasn't the right time to take him, we should have waited until later, but it was something that needed to get done (his hair was in his eyes!).

So now I'm a bad parent and have scared my child for life! He's not even talking (but he wasn't talking before) and he is just like his normal self. All I have to say is that Brennan's 1st haircut went much better than Nolan's. We'll have to see with the next one and then compare the battle scars!

After the haircut

Boy Scouts, Basketball, Karate and Swimming

Am I crazy?!?! I think we all know that the answer to that is "YES!" I don't know what I'm doing getting Brennan into all of these activities, but I know that he's going to enjoy them. It's been very hard on him moving here because there aren't any little boys in the neighborhood to play with, so I think that's why we are signing up for each one.

Brennan started Cub Scouts about a month ago and he just loves it! He has already done enough to earn his Bobcat Badge. He looks so grown up in his uniform that I cried the first night he went because he wasn't my little boy anymore.

Basketball came out of nowhere. First Brennan said that he wanted to do Baseball, but he changed his mind. Then he said he wanted to play football, but the season was almost over. Then at Cub Scouts, they were talking about Basketball sign-ups for Hendersonville (which we missed a month ago) and Brennan mentioned he'd like to play. Randomly enough, Goodlettsville (where Don works) lets people from out of town play in their league and they were just finishing sign-ups, so now Brennan is playing.

Karate is a funny story. On Halloween, we went to the Goodlettsville Park Trick-or-Treat where each booth was sponsored by a company. The last booth we went to was a karate booth where you could register to win a months worth of free karate lessons. Luck must be on his side...Brennan won! So he starts tonight... should be fun!

Which brings us to swimming lessons: I've got to tell a back story here. We belonged to the YMCA in Illinois where Brennan took swimming lessons and really enjoyed it. We also went to the pool as a family on the weekends, which was really good bonding time for all of us. Anyway... when I went to my Ob-gyn this week, I told her about some pains that I'd been having down the back of my legs and she suggested physical therapy and to spend some time in the pool. So this morning I went to see the physical therapist (interesting experience). She suggested working the muscle at both the office and pool, and since they didn't have a pool on site, they use the YMCA pool. My major hurdle was what to do with Nolan while I had physical therapy for an hour? Then it dawned on me... YMCA... babysitting! The only catch was that you have to be a member to have them watch your child while you are on site, so we joined the YMCA of Tennessee. As it turns out, they have a swimming class for both Brennan and Nolan on Saturday mornings that start next week. The main reason for getting him into swimming is to get him past he fear of the water. Hopefully, this will help.


Anyway, about the physical therapy: I go twice a week for stretching and water therapy for the next couple of months. After working with Miller (kind of a cool/different name for a girl) today, I can already feel some of the pain lessening.

Halloween in Nashville

Happy Halloween!!

This Halloween was so much fun!! When Brennan got home from school, the boys changed into their costumes: Brennan was a Skeleton Pirate and Nolan was a Dragon. I can't believe how stinkin' cute they both were. After taking some pictures, we loaded the boys into the car to go to the Goodlettsville Trick-or-Treat in the park. When we got there, we were amazed at the number of people!! It was only 5:15 and had just started, but the line to visit all of the booths was already 4-5 blocks long!!! Nolan was getting upset with all of the standing around, so Don took him on a walk across the open park. He was so cute walking around in his dragon costume!! He even started waving at people (which he never does). After waiting in line for 15 min. Brennan was getting anxious too, so we decided to skip the trick-or-treating part and just go to the end where there were jump houses. Jump houses are Brennan's favorite! We played for a while, cut in at the very end of the line, and got candy from the last 5 or so booths. Just enough to make the kids happy. Nolan didn't really get the concept of taking candy, but he totally got the concept of eating the candy. And Brennan was really good about making sure that Nolan got his fair share of candy too!

After the park, we came back home and went around our neighborhood (to all of 10 houses). It was fun to take Brennan around~ he was surprisingly polite and said thank you to all of our neighbors. We finally came home when it started to get too cold. The boys got enough candy and we still had plenty because we only had 5 trick-or-treaters all night. It kind of made me feel like I did when I lived with my mom and no one would come to our house because it was really scary. After sitting up for another hour without any more candy-getter's, we turned off the lights at 9 and were in bed by 9:30. We are getting so old!!!

Daddy and Nolan the Dragon

Brennan the Pirate- Rrrrrr!

Nolan the Dragon walking around the park- isn't he super cute?!?
Brennan in one of the many jump houses~ getting him out of there is like pulling teeth!

Brennan's Knowledge

When we went to FAO Schwarts in NYC, we brought the boys home some stuffed animals: an elephant for Nolan, and a caribou for Brennan. Brennan, being his knowledge seeking self, wanted to know everything about the caribou, like where it lived and what it ate. Brennan and I had a little discussion about it and he was so impressed with what he learned that he wanted to share it. He ran into the living room to tell Papa and Gigi his new found knowledge, though it came out different than expected.

Brennan: I know what Cannibals eat!!!
Papa: Huh? (looking at me like I'd actually discussed this with a 6 year old)
Mama: Caribou, Brennan, not cannibals.
Brennan: They eat Plants!!!

New York, New York

I know that you are all dying to know how our trip went... so here goes with all of the information I can think of! (I know it's long, sorry!)

Saturday: First off, I have to say that without the help of Don's parents, his mom in particular, this trip would not have been possible... yes, they kept our kids, but his mom also woke us up Saturday morning after we slept in. If not for her, we would have missed our flight and our entire trip!!!! So thanks! After our flight to Dallas and onto New York, we arrived at La Guardia Airport just after noon. Flying in over water and landing on a runway built on water scared the heck out of me (ask Don about it), so I was already a little leery about the trip. Once we got our bags, we found the car that don had scheduled to pick us up. Abey, our driver, was just as crazy of a driver as any of the taxi's...I was scared of dying on the way to the hotel!! I'm not at all joking....at times people just jump in front of you, missing the car by inches and every car has scratch marks on it. Oh, the craziness of the city! When we got to the hotel, they informed us that check-in wasn't for another three hours, so Don and I decided to go get some lunch and see the Empire State Building. We ended up going to eat at this very authentic Irish Pub where the food was good. From there, we went to the Empire State Building.

(Don at the Empire State Building)

Having been to the Sears Tower in Chicago, I would have to say that the Sears Tower was more informative and nicer than the Empire State Building, but the Empire State Building allowed you to walk out onto their observation deck. It was so windy that I thought my glasses we going to fly off!!! The view of the city was amazing- it blows my mind how many buildings can fit on an island the size of Provo. After our climb up the Empire State Building, we walked back to our hotel. It was only 3 and check-in wasn't until 4, but I was sooooo tired, that Don spoke to a manager to see if they could get us in. Don walked up to the desk clerk and said "Don Borchert, super-duper Gold Elite Member, checking in." (FYI- we stayed at the hotel for free from all of the stays that Don has from being in California...he has TONS of points and really is an elite member). The clerk said "Yes, just like everyone else behind you.... (then he looks at his computer)...oh, my, you really are. Sorry!" Don just laughed it off, but the clerk worked really hard to get us into a good room quickly- I guess his trick worked. We had a corner room on the 16th floor with a great view down Broadway!

(Don standing in the window sill of our hotel room, which was a historic building)

(Us at the Rangers Game at MSG)

After Resting for a little while, it was time to go to see the RANGERS at Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the world!!!! It was really exciting to watch the Rangers play the Penguins. The game was really exciting... going into the third, Pittsburgh led 2-0 because of two lucky goals. With about a minute remaining, Lundquist the goalie, went to the bench and we had an extra attacker. After 30 seconds of passing and shooting, the Penguins had a shot at the empty net, which they missed. With 10 seconds to go, the puck was passed to a Ranger, who shot and scored with 8.4 seconds left. It was awesome to see such a great goal and Don's pure joy at the score. They went into overtime with no one scoring so it went to a shootout. The first two shooters of both teams missed the goal, our third shooter made the shot and their last shooter was stopped by Lundquist. The Rangers won the game!!! Being in the stands with all of the thousands of other Ranger fans was so amazing... I can't describe it other than totally AWESOME!

(The Rangers "Saluting" the crowd after their win)

Sunday: Waking up, without the assistance of little ones, is such a small thing that I miss so much! It was great to just wake-up, order room service, and get dressed at our own pace. Heaven! After dressing, we decided to take a walk up Broadway and see Times Square on the way to our first show. It was a ZOO. No only are there a million stores everywhere, but they had an entire block shut down for street vendors. Zany. After having Lunch at the ESPN Zone (while all of the Sunday football games were playing), we walked through the shops...it reminded me a lot of Las Vegas. After walking another mile or so up Broadway, we arrived at the Winter Garden Theater. The theater itself was so old and intricate and Mamma Mia was spectacular! I expected it to be entertaining, but I was really swept into the story and the acting/singing was so amazing~ I really did want to get up and DANCE! Don even enjoyed it, which is saying a lot. So, if you have the chance to see the play, you should.

(Us in our rickshaw in Times Square)

Coming out of the theater, there were tons of little bicycle rickshaw drivers, so Don decided that we should hop on and go for a ride back to the hotel. Our driver was nuts! Driving between taxi's and posts, just missing getting killed. It was fun in the sense that I knew that nothing would happen, but scary in that I had no control over what he was going to do next. Again, something you should try just once in your life.

After taking a quick break at the room, we were off again to hike back up Broadway. On the way, we stopped in at Macy's New York. I have never been in such a large store in my life. It was 8 floors, with each floor being the size of a normal Target or Walmart. As we rode the escalators up to each new floors, it amazed me to see what they had inside the store. They had 5 restaurants and some snack bars to just relax at and on the children's floor was a full sized McDonalds. On the last few floors, they even had the old wooden escalators still in use. Crazy weird! After grabbing a quick bite at Macy's, we made it to the Shubert Theater to see Spamalot. If you've ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know what it's all about. The songs were laugh-out-loud funny and the acting was superb. And Clay Aiken was even in that nights show. And he was really good! We definitely got into two great shows... I'm so lucky! After the show, we went to Carmines (a fabulous Italian Family Style Restaurant), which was also really great. (Oh, I wish I was Italian and could cook as well as they do!)

Monday: Today was our day to really see the city, and what a beautiful day it was. We got up and out around 9. First stop, Ground Zero- which was really, really downtown so we caught a cab (I felt like we were really, really going to die this time). Ground Zero was eerie... in a city that has a billion building and little open area, to see such a large open space kind of freaked you out. Different, but I'm glad I saw it. From there, we walked around the Financial District, saw Wall Street, and the New York Stock Exchange. We even found the Bull on Wall Street (yes, that is me grabbing the "bull's balls"~ anyone know the movie?) From Wall street, we went to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. We thought about going out to the island, but the line to get on the boat was nearly three hours long, so we passed on that one. Although we did see that Korean War Veterans Memorial, which reminded me of my dad. I was very proud of him! Eventually, after walking around the ENTIRE park, we found the subway to central park. The ride was quicker than expected and super cheap. I can see why lots of people take it.

(Don with the Bull on Wall Street)

(Me grabbing the "Bull by the Balls")
(Central Park looking out to 5th Avenue)

(Us in our carriage in front of The Tavern on the Green. I really look 6 month pregnant here!)

We got off the subway at Columbus Circle, just across the street from Trump Tower. We were now on the ritzy side of town, and you could tell! Walking into Central Park was like walking into a different dimension. It was quiet and peaceful and full of beautiful autumn colored trees. We decided to take a horse drawn carriage ride though the park. It was beautiful to see the playgrounds, fountains, ballparks, lake, and all of the people out in the park enjoying the beautiful day. We ended our ride at "The Tavern on the Green", a very hoity-toity place, where we decided to have lunch just to say that we've eaten there. The food was excellent, but the waiter was so snobby!!! I couldn't believe that way that he acted toward us, not all out hostile, but definitely "I'm better than you". It kind of made me angry. Oh, well, I guess that's how some New Yorkers act. After lunch, we walked forever to go to the FAO Schwarts Toy Store. I wish the boys were there with me. They had every toy imaginable! From FAO, we walked another forever down to the NHL Store, where Don got to meet one of the commentators from ESPN. Very cool for him. After that, we walked another forever back to the hotel. By this time, my feet were killing me and I felt as though we had walked all over town (which we had). I think we walked like 10 miles that day.

(Don and the ESPN Commentator at the NHL Store)

After resting at the hotel for maybe 5 minutes, our driver Abey was there to take us to the Ranger vs. Islanders game in Long Island. It was an hour long drive through Queens and Nassau county to get to the game. This game was good, though not as good as the first. The Rangers beat the Islanders 4-2, but that's not really the interesting part. The interesting part of the game was watching the Rangers/Islanders fans fight in the stands. Security escorted 7-8 people out of the arena for fighting. Don warned me, but I didn't really believe him. I guess that it's good that Don is a lover, not a fighter.

Tuesday: After having not slept well all night (I was up throwing up all night long), I woke up to Don's phone vibrating. It was the airline calling to tell us that our flight was cancelled. WTH? So we quickly packed and ate and hurried to the airport once our driver arrived to pick us up. It was pouring buckets and buckets and they expected it to turn to snow in the early afternoon. With our flight cancelled, they had moved us onto the next flight into Dallas, but Don checked to see if there was any other way to get back to Little Rock. Lucky for us, we had a very understanding booking agent, who went through a lot to get us on a delayed flight to Chicago and then on to Little Rock. We barely made the flight~ I would consider us extremely lucky to have made it to NYC and even luckier to have made it out! Although we had to wait in the Chicago Airport for 4.5 hours, we made it to Little Rock before our cancelled flight would have made it and the flight that we were bumped to was delayed and we would have missed our connection. We were really lucky!!!

I really, really enjoyed this trip with Don after having to deal with him not being home for the past 10 months. Hopefully, we will be able to go back again in a few years!!