The Merciers: Macy's with Macey

OK, so we're averaging one post every 25 days this month. Forgive us, but we've been busy. Grammy and Papa came for a visit. Then, Uncle Clint was here. Now, the holidays are upon us. Without further ado, Macey would like to wish you (a belated) Happy Thanksgiving. Here's how we spent the time:

Wednesday afternoon, Macy's Big Balloon Inflation:

We made the pilgrimage to the Museum of Natural History which is bordered by 77th and 81st Streets and it was here that all of the Macy's balloons were blown up the night before the big show. The only one we actually got to see measurable progress on was the Energizer Bunny. It was also the first one we saw and for some reason or another, Mason adopted it as his favorite.

Dado and Mason say cheese (literally) in front of Pikachu, while we swapped cameras with another family to capture all of us in one shot before heading home for the night. After all, we had to be up awful early on Thanksgiving Day!

6:30 a.m. to be exact. We drug ourselves out of bed and awoke Mason with promises of seeing the big balloons again. BUNNNY!?! He says. Yes we say. He's happy to come along. We take the train to Columbus Circle, and wander down Broadway until we find a perfect viewing locale. And we wait. And wait and wait. A good two hours before the balloons arrive. Mason is antsy, but happy as can be when the parade starts.

He spent most of it perched on Dado's shoulders. Over and over we here "Look!" as he points out some balloon or float passing along. He LOVED it. It was well-worth the lost sleep to see how happy he was watching everything pass by.

The biggest reaction to the parade may have come to the Sesame Street float ("Look Mama! A Big Bird!) or the array of horses who passed by ("Neighhhhhh! A horse!") It was definitely an experience we won't soon forget -- and hope he won't either.

The weather was beautiful. We had a great group of families around us (save the one dad who tried to use his kids to cut in front of everyone. We had some words with him). So, with that, we'll leave you with some pictures. My personal favorite (always has been, always will be) is Santa Claus. I especially love the shot of the tail-end of the parade snaking down Broadway in front of us once it had passed.

We closed out the day by wandering the streets with all the other parade goers. We ended up at Bryant Park where we grabbed a table and relaxed in between chasin' Mason. He loved watching the ice skaters there -- and tried to hop onto the ice more than once. I guess we need to practice up so we can take him soon. After that, we wandered over to the restaurant where we had reservations only to discover it was closed, and was not, in fact, the right one. Luckily we were only a couple of blocks away. We stuffed ourselves with food and then went home to watch Dado's Cowboys pick up another win.