survival of the fittest. . .or is it wittiest or loudest?

my sis, bro-in-law, niece, and nephew arrived around 1 pm today with enough time to unload bags and bags of luggage (seriously, are they staying for two weeks?) into my apartment before dropping of their rental car at hertz.

from the minute i squeezed between t and wes in the backseat of the car, the two were battling for attention from their current subject of interest- that means, whoever is "new".

in terms of cuteness, they are both evenly matched. however, their strategies were completely different and interestingly enough, reflected gender roles.

my niece used her intellect, reminding me of the places we had visited the last time she was in new york.

is Q2 coming? we ate at that chinese restaurant with the dumpling soup with her.

she was also great at engaging and keeping your attention as long as possible.

ma ni, let's talk! we can talk about our favorite things. my favorite number is 100. listen to me count to 100.

1. 2. 3. . . .50. 51. 52. 53. .. .99. 100!!!

my nephew on the otherhand was all about being physical and loud. after cuddling with my arm in the car, he proceeded to hit me in the stomach (a love tap?) and make honking noises. as we walked to the subway stop he showed off his jumping skills.

look ma ni. aren't i a good jumper? watch me jump!

it was an action packed afternoon. we lunched at lombardi's where my niece showed off three different ways of eating her pizza. the traditional way, folding it in half ny style, then by taking off all the toppings and eating them separately before biting into the crust- end first- t style. we split a large pie but my brother-in-law was still hungry so we decided to get dessert. we walked by ruby's and after i raved about their burgers he decided to stop for one. next stop was coffee for me and cookies for the kids before we made our way down broadway.

we stopped at various random stores before heading into pearl river mart where i found some great notebooks, two new varieties of trainer chopsticks, and bacon mints!!! luckily, wes was able to nap for a couple hours in his stroller, resembling a mini-hobo, while we took our time checking out various shops. around 6 we headed to the west village via train and decided to walk around a bit there before grabbing dinner at pardo's chicken. we stopped in a cute little boutique which had little unusual and random trinkets- interesting salt & pepper shakers, pie/cake cutters, egg whisk, pens, etc. now fully awake and hyped up, my nephew touched everything he could get his hands on and made a mess of the displays in the back of the store thereby invoking the ire of the storekeeper.

at that point, we decided to head to dinner where we met up with theng and Q2. food was delicious and the loud, family style atmosphere was perfect for the kids. now overly full, ready for bed, i await the arrival of my parents who i'm sure have gotten lost. . .