NY Vacation - Day 2

Day 2 started early. Ben woke up about 5:15AM. Allison tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he was up and not going back to sleep. she tried for an hour, then woke me up to take over. I went into the other bedroom and rocked hm for about 15 minutes. Nothing. He was just smiling and looking around the room. Smiling some more and looking around some more. I put him in the crib and I laid on the ground next to it. he just looked at me smiling, then he played with his toy.

Fast forward to 7:15. After rocking him and trying to get him to sleep for an hour, I decided to let him lay in bed with me. 5 minutes later he was asleep. I slowly creeped out of bed and stood over him. In case he decided to roll around I had to be there to keep him from rolling off the bed.

Breakfast was awesome. It's a Friday during Lent so I can't eat meat, so I went to the deli and got a buttered roll. It's probably been a year since I had one and it was great. I really would have liked the bacon, egg and cheese on a roll, but it was still awesome.

Ben's cousin James came over about 8:45 started and they started playing. They are so cute together. They are 7 months apart and the size difference is huge. I can't believe Ben will be that big in 7 months.
After breakfast, playing and nap time we met up with some old coworkers from CA and Maharam at Hooters! It was Lou's birthday and his choice. Allison had never been there before. She said the food was good and the atmosphere wasn't as bad as she'd imagined. There was no hula-hooping while we were there though. That might change her mind a little bit. Ben as always around the ladies was a huge flirt and a great big ham for the camera.
After lunch we went to the Maharam office where Allison and I first met. We saw a bunch of former co-workers and it was a lot of fun.

We went to Babies R Us and ran into Tim. What are you doing here we asked him? Buying something for your son he said! Go pick out something nice. It was pretty funny.

We went to Saviano's for dinner with Tim, Vinny and Theresa. The food was great and it was awesome seeing the guys (and Theresa) again. After dinner we spent about 2 hours at Starbucks. Ben fell asleep in his car seat, so we kept talking until he stirred. Then we took him home and put him to bed.

It was a lot like old times, but different at the same time. It was a great night. Tomorrow is another jam packed day. Stay tuned for more pix and stories.

Fun Facts (stuff):

1. When I get together with Dmitry & Lou and Vinny & Tim, it's just like old times. I had a conversation about Idol and baseball with D&L. It was like we just picked up a conversation that stopped 4 years ago. Same with V&T
2. I still have not blown my horn at anybody and I did not curse anyone out today either.
3. I love buttered rolls. It's so simple yet so awesome.
4. There was a girl in the deli asking for "salt and pepper." After she said it I said to myself "WTF did she just say?" Her accent seemed crazy to me.