Well the first part of the move is done. We have said our "see you laters" and have made it to New York for Christmas. This is always a great time of year because we get to see all of our family and we are all together. It has been our tradition for the past 12 years to spend Christmas in NY and it was important to us that we go to the states for the holiday's before our move to Singapore. This year we were able to fly into JFK which is handy for Nini & PopPop and great for us because we had a tone of stuff with us and needed 2 cars to pick us up. Normally we only bring one big bag with 2 or 3 bags inside and the smallest bag is the only one with clothes...of course this time all of our 4 bags where filled with crap!!! To make matters worse when we finally got our bags from baggage claim the 3 car seats that we had didn't make the London flight. Mike went to go and get that all sorted out but it was taking so long that I headed back to the house with Nini while the boys waited for replacement seats and stuff. It took the guys forever to get the seats situated but eventually they made it to the house too. The boys didn't sleep a wink on the plane so as soon as they got into the car they were out...not good for us but what can you do.
Over the next few days we did our normal routine with a few modifications. We always watch a bunch of Christmas movies like The Grinch, Christmas with the Kranks, Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown Christmas, National Lampoons Christmas and The Godfather. Every year the boys seems to be more and more interested in the movies and this year was the first were we watched most of them together and the boys too. It seem simple but it is nice. The joke that we have is that I am the Grinch (and I have 2 Grinch PJ's to go with it) because I was never really that excited about Christmas and I didn't recite all the lines from the movies like Mike and crew but over the years they have finally broken me down and now I can recite a few lines myself...not as many as they can but enough that I don't stick out like a sore thumb. The funny part is that now Home Alone has come into the mix for our Christmas movie tradition and Lino is obsessed with it. Last year he discovered it and whenever it is on he has to watch it. He loves the movie so much that now that since last Christmas he stopped eating pizza with pepperoni because Kevin demanded to have plain pizza only. I new that Lino changed his mind about pepperoni pizza but I didn't think to much about it...it was Mike that told me the connection between Lino's sudden refusal to eat pepperoni pizza and his new found love for Home Alone. Anyway, it all made sense and Lino joined the crew in quoting the movie...classic. In addition we always play some games and this year Shaun actually played a few rounds without being a sore looser which was a nice surprise..he even won a round of Sorry so now we call him the Sorry Champion of the World! He was so excited about winning too it was so nice. 
This year we decided to take a trip down to the city to see the tree before our normal Christmas Eve trip. PopPop went with us and the boys and we had a great time. The boys love riding on the train and I am not sure if they really appreciate the tree but they like all the little things that go with seeing the tree like getting pretzels (from Auntie Annies because I love them and can't smell them without getting them), seeing all the Christmas decorations in the department store windows, seeing the ice skaters in Rockafella Center and going to the Lego Store. It was a great day out. The weather wasn't too bad so no one was frozen at the end of it. The boys loved the Lego store and even though we had to wait to get in they were willing to wait in order to go. We are so bad that we didn't even let them buy anything but they still enjoyed being in there. We were a little surprised at how small the store was but it didn't seem to bother them to much. Oh the memories.
We had to take our traditional picture in front of the tree but someone photo bombed us!!!
After the tree we went to have coffee at Ferrara's. The funny story about this place is this was one of the first places that Mike took me to when he showed me around NYC. It is a very traditional Italian bakery that has been around for a very long time. Mike took me here to impress me (I think) and ordered me a cappuccino which was absolutely awful!!! Hahaha...it is worth noting that the first time I was here I wasn't really a big coffee drinker so it was just to much to soon. After almost a decade of drinking coffee with Mike (who is a huge coffee drinker) I finally have come to appreciate a nice strong cup of Ferrara's coffee! Oh, I forgot that first visit there we met up with PopPop and he got an Italian Cheesecake and I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it or not but before I could decide to try it he finished it...PopPop loves his cheesecake and after I finally tried it I decided that I don't really like Italian Cheesecake. So it was nice to bring the boys there for their first experience...even though it wasn't coffee that they were trying but the pastries instead which is still a bit of challenge for them. They were excited to get their selection plate but at the end they really only liked the cannoli's which is to be expected. After all of my attempts at the various pastries my favorite one is still the sfogliatella. Great memories!
More games at the house...shoots and ladders. It was a first for me and the boys and we actually had a great time playing.
Christmas Eve at Carmine's! This is one of the things Mike & I really look forward to is having Christmas Eve dinner at Carmines. This is one of my favoirte restaurants ever and it probably isn't even the best food ever but the special combination of the atmosphere, food and being in city is just so amazing for me. The boys are starting to get the same feeling too which is great. They do not appreciate the food as much as we do but they are getting there. We usually get garlic bread, garlic & oil pasta, shrimp parm and some chicken dish. At the end of the night on the car ride home the car is filled with all of our stinky garlicy farts...that is what the Christmas Eve tradition is all about ...Charlie Brown!
Merry Christmas!!!!! Even with the boys staying up late Christmas Eve they were up at 7\:20 ready to open gifts!!!! We told 'Santa' that it would be really mean to give the boys to many gifts seeing as though we were in the process of moving we didn't need any more crap to cart around!!!! I think Santa listened...so the boys had a great yet modest Christmas. They got these really cool Christmas bags with their names on them...so thoughtful and handy. The boys had such a great SeaPatrol morning!!! The funny part of the morning is that at some point Lino realized that Shaun had a bigger toy than he did so he came up with some crazy deal that Shaun ended up giving up all of his SeaPatrol toys to Lino in exchange for all of Lino's hot wheel cars. I am pretty sure that Shaun lost out on the deal but he didn't seem to mind. We were trying to decide if we should intervene in the situation but decided not to. Instead we just gave Lino a lot of little hints that his deal with Shaun wasn't very fair...he either didn't get the hint or didn't care. Either way he kept all of the SeaPartol toys for most of the day. Mommy...napped while everyone else got ready for dinner. Nini changed up the menu from previous years...this year was more of a traditional Turkey dinner which was good. Mike and I are trying to convince Nini to let us take over cooking Christmas dinner but she isn't convinced yet...I guess we will have to keep working on her. Paula & Billy came over to have Christmas dinner with us which is always good fun. We opened up PopPop's homemade wine and had a great evening.
Christmas with 4 generations of Cutaia men!!! We are so lucky to be able to spend Christmas with Pepa. 
PopPop made about 30 jugs of wine this year and it came out excellent!!!! The first year that I had his wine I ended up under the table in the kitchen passed out drunk! This was my first visit to NY and oh what an impression I left. It all seemed to work out anyway...Maria of course loved me and even washed my throw-up clothes! Oh the memories of dad's wine. I have finally learned to handle it better so this year we went for it but no one ended up under the table so that was a success!
The last few days in NY were just relaxing and filling up on bacon egg and cheese bagels (my favorite and now the boys enjoy them just as much too). Mike and I got a date night as a Christmas gift and went to one of Bobby Flay's restaurants in the city and had a nice freezing cold evening out. Even though there is no snow it is so cold in the city!!! The day before we left the boys, Mike and PopPop had a nice bowling outing. The boys had to beg PopPop to go with him on his weekly bowling outing with his buddies. The boys really enjoy bowling and I think as they get bigger or even now Mike might make this a regular boys outing. Its nice for me because I was able to have a little time to work on my blog ;-) Apparently Lino did pretty good because he beat one of the guys who was out bowling with them so he was super excited about that. That evening we went to visit one of Mike's high school friends which we go to see every year. It is always a nice evening to catch up with Mitch and Lauren and their kids. The boys pretty much play with anyone and they love playing with all of the new toys so it works out. It was funny because we only see them once a year and when we pulled up to the house Lino was like "I remember them...this is the house!" Crazy the things the kids can remember. Before leaving Shaun had to leave a little piece of himself there...ie poor Nini is sick and most likely Shaun was the walking infection that caused it. All in all a great trip! Nini & PopPop are in great spirits and good health and we got to spend our first Christmas trip in NY with PopPop at home with us the whole time...its the little things that make a difference.
Interviews with the boys...while we had a little downtime and before the memories fade I wanted to capture some of their thoughts and experiences about Ireland.
Lino
Favorite thing about Ireland? My friends (only after further prying did he elaborate more)...school & the winter holidays.
Best thing to eat in Ireland? Candy!!!! Gum drops
Favorite place? I don't know
Favorite vacation? Morocco & Spain
Why? Morocco because of that tea...whats it called? Me: Moroccan Tea; Yeah, Moroccan Tea!!! And Spain because Cesar, Miguel & Silvia live there.
What will you miss the most about Ireland? My friends
What won't you miss about Ireland? The rain (as he gives me a huge eye roll)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Hard question...I don't know yet. Choice between fireman, police, construction worker and conductor of train and pilot of an airplane. Most definitely one choice has to be ambulance (EMT).
Why? ????
Do you want to get married one day? Yes
Who? Guess... Me: Who?? Lino: Hami! I shouldn't be telling you because Hami and me said not to tell anyone.
Who are your best friends at school? Paddy, Jamie Vaughn, Cian, Nedus, Killian, Ashling Ryan & Ashling Lynch and Patrick.
What is your favorite sport to play? Swimming
What is your favorite sports team? Jets, KC, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Cork City Football, Madrid (he forgot)
Are you excited to go to Singapore? No!!!!
Why? Because I'm leaving my friends
What are you looking forward to going to Singapore? Going to a new aquarium, seeing a fire/police station and construction and ambulance station
What do you want to drive when you grow up? A monster truck
Shaun
Favorite thing about Ireland? Playing with my friends
Best thing to eat in Ireland? Falafals!! (the truth is after our trip to Berlin and having the best falafals ever he is obsessed with them and even request them when its his turn to pick lunch/dinner)
Favorite place? Coffee shop (this is our local coffee shop in Glanmire that has a little play area...he loves going there)
Favorite vacation? New York, New York, New York (as he proceeds to sing the song!) Then after some reminding he said it was the sleeping train in Norway.
Why? Because it was so cool
What will you miss the most about Ireland? Wendy and my friends
What won't you miss about Ireland? George, Me: Who is that? Shaun: He is at my rugby
What do you want to be when you grow up? A police man, fireman, construction man and an ambulance man (EMT)
Why? Because
Do you want to get married one day? Yes
Who? Wendy (this is his girlfriend)
Who are your best friends at school? Wendy and Eva
What is your favorite sport to play? Skiing in Iceland (we never went skiing in Iceland but I'm guessing he is talking about when we went up on the glacier and they got to play with all the snow)
What is is your favorite sports team? Barcelona
Are you excited to go to Singapore? Yes!!!!
Why? Because its the coolest place I've never went (he always says never went instead of saying ever been...too funny)
What are you looking forward to going to Singapore? Playing in the swimming pool and going fast in the swimming pool
What do you want to drive when you grow up? No answer because he lost interest in this line of questioning after the first 2 questions.
Off to Kansas we go...
Aaah, love your blog posts. Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow!
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