4th of July/独立記念日

The fourth of July was another day of firsts for Madison and the Kleins...they were going to take a taxi into Manhattan to do a little holiday shopping, but decided to try driving themselves and found a parking spot between 3rd and Lexington at 64th Street...that was a first! It also turned out to be Madison's first time to be awake at a restaurant and if I do say so myself, Anna and I handled it like pros...as you can see we are natural experts of the one handed eating technique. Now Anna wanted to swear me to secrecy about the name of the restaurant we are at as she is against eating at a chain in Manhattan, but I like it...give me an Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Chilis, Applebees, or in this case OUTBACK...anytime and I am a happy camper. I like knowing what to expect and at Outback Steakhouse you can expect yummy food!!!

マディソンの最初の独立記念日。最初はマンハッタンまでタクシーで買い物に行こうと思ってたんだけどぎりぎりで自分たちで運転していく事に...独立記念日の他にマディソンが初めて体験した事はレストランでアンナとデイヴがご飯を食べている時に起きていたこと。下の写真でも解る通り片手で食べるのがうまいでしょ！？





Before we went to Manhattan Madison was having trouble sleeping, so while Anna was working on her special porject, I dressed Madison in her bathing suit that we purchased yesterday at the Baby Gap Outlet in Riverhead, Long Island for $3.97...it was newborn size so we weren't sure it would fit, but it turned out to be the best $3.97 we have ever spent...sooooo cuuuuttttttteeeeeee!!! She can also now join the circus and be a stand-in for the strongman...woman. We hope to put it to good use later in the summer when we get one of those sun tents and visit Jones Beach or our friends who live around the corner on Long Beach. We also found a lot of other cute outfits (including a bigger size swimsuit) at the outlets which we look forward to showing in the near future.


Anna's project of the day was to create an incredible Toasted Coconut Cake based on a Throwdown episode of Bobby Flay. As you can see from the recipe (if you follow the hyperlink) it was quite a complicated process and came out so deliciously!!! The cake is almost an angel food cake consistency, light and fluffy, and makes you feel like you are eating air...very yummy, coconutty air!! The toasted coconut adds a nice crunch and the coconut buttercream frosting is just scrumptious.


Throwdown’s Toasted Coconut Cake with Coconut Filling and Coconut Buttercream

Lastly, we thought we were going to take Madison to see the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks by just walking down the block...last year we took my parents and James to the top of our local Stop and Shop parking lot for a wonderful view of the show, but we just found out they moved the barges from the East River (our side of Manhattan) to the Hudson River on the West Side...now there are a lot of tall buildings in our way and we are sad :-( ...we were still thinking about giving it a shot to see if we could see anything, but it appears Madison is choosing to sleep her 4th away, so we will be staying in and watching it on TV with the rest of America.

Our view from our couch...off the TV...sad I know, but wanted Madison to remember her first 4th of July fireworks display!!