Weekend in Manhattan

• This past weekend I took my son John, who'll be 4 next month, into Manhattan to spend some time with my sister Jennifer. John had been to the city a handful of times before but he couldn't clearly recall any of the trips. He'd never slept there before, so he was very excited to be staying the night at his Aunt Jenn's apartment.
  
  We live in Suffolk County. The trip to the city on the Long Island Railroad takes about an hour and a half. This is a long ride for an excited preschooler, especially when the train is extremely crowded. However, I managed to keep him entertained and we got there in one piece.
  
  At Penn Station, John couldn't believe how many people he saw. He was especially impressed with the musicians who were entertaining the crowd. He said, "Mom, this place is great! It has a show!" I gave him a dollar to put in the musicians' open guitar case.
  
  I had a moment of concern as I contemplated the giant staircase we had to ascend in order to get out of Penn Station and onto the street. I had our overnight things in a large, heavy, wheeled duffel bag that had a broken handle. The handle problem made it nearly impossible to carry, so the thought of lugging it up a steep and seemingly endless staircase was not appealing to me. The other option was an equally long escalator. I couldn't figure out how to swing the bag onto a step, make sure John got on safely, and get myself on as well. I needed at least three hands. I tried standing at the bottom of the escalator and looking forlorn so someone would volunteer to help us. When this failed, I flagged down a friendly looking man and asked him if he would take my bag up the escalator so I could take care of my son. He was more than happy to help and the problem was solved.
  
  John and I walked the cold and windy streets of the city toward Times Square to meet Aunt Jenn at the ESPN Zone restaurant. After his favorite meal of chicken nuggets and fries, we went upstairs to play some games. John bowled, rode some virtual horses, nearly fell off a jet ski, and beat me in a game of air hockey. All in all, he had a great time.
  
  The next stop was the huge Toys R Us store a couple of blocks away. John was blown away by the indoor Ferris wheel, but he had some reservations about going for a ride. We made a beeline for the LEGO display, as John has lately been obsessed with these small plastic building blocks. The store had the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and the Flatiron Building creations made entirely out of Lego pieces. They were each at least 5 feet tall.
  
  After we'd safely escaped the toy store without purchasing anything, we moved on to the next adventure. We walked across the street to the movie theater to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Despite its awful name, the movie was actually adorable. John loved it and my sister and I were pleasantly surprised that we enjoyed it as well. I'm generally not a fan of talking animals, especially not talking, singing animals. But I must admit that these cute little chipmunks stole my heart.
  
  Once the movie was over we headed to Jenn's apartment for a takeout dinner, some quiet TV for an exhausted little boy, and an early bedtime for two wiped-out adults. It was a wonderful day but we all slept well that night. I think my sister, who doesn't have children, probably napped the whole next day trying to recover.
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Vocabulary
  
• staying the night: sleeping somewhere
• in one piece: not hurt or harmed
• contemplated: thought about
• ascend: go up
• duffel bag: a soft bag often used to carry sports equipment
• lugging: drag or pull something difficult to carry
• forlorn: sad and lonely, nearly hopeless
• more than happy: very eager
• all in all: overall; when everything is considered
• blown away: amazed and impressed, usually in a good way
• reservations: doubts (can have other meanings)
• made a beeline: took a straight, direct course
• stole my heart: made me fall in love with something
• wiped-out: very tired

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vocabulary Practice

1. When the store opened its doors in the morning, the shoppers __________ for the items that were on sale.
2. As she listened to the 5-year-old play Mozart, the piano teacher was ___________ at his talent.
3. In order to avoid paying to check your luggage when you fly, you can pack all of your things in a small __________ and carry it on the plane.
4. Joe __________ several different laptop models before he settled on the one made by Toshiba.
5. After an hour in the advanced level yoga class, I was _________ and ready for a shower and a nap.
6. Although I didn't plan to adopt a puppy that day, the adorable pug I saw at the animal shelter ________.
7. We all managed to cross the river during the storm and reach the other side _________.
8. The only part of doing the weekly grocery shopping that I don't like is __________ all the bags of food from the car to the house.
9. In an attempt to get an extra cookie from his mother, Danny tried looking hungry and _________ as he stood in the kitchen.
10. Even though she was excited to try bungee jumping, Maria felt some __________ as she peered down into the deep canyon below her.
11. I would be ____________ to help you learn how to use your new sewing machine.
12. Anne thinks that ____________ in a beautiful hotel is a very relaxing way to spend a weekend.
13. Before we could enjoy the lovely sunset, we had to _________ the last part of the mountain.
14. ___________, Sam felt that the surprise party he threw for his parents' anniversary was a success.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grammar Point

Proper Nouns

A noun is usually defined as a word that describes a "person, place, or thing." In the paragraphs above, some nouns are son, city, people, restaurant, guitar case. There are also nouns in these paragraphs that don't fit neatly into any of these categories: option, problem, adventure.

But today I want to talk about proper nouns. Regular nouns, called common nouns, usually begin with a lowercase letter (unless, of course, the noun starts a sentence). In some languages, such as German, a common noun always begins in with a capital letter (das Kind = the child; ein Hund = a dog). In English, only the names of specific people, places, or institutions begin with capital letter. We call these proper nouns.

Look at the difference between common and proper nouns:

The dog needs to go for a walk. (common noun)
I need to find the leash to take Fluffy outside. (proper noun)

The girl won a college scholarship. (common nouns)
Will Linda attend Molloy College next year? (proper nouns)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grammar Practice

For each of the common nouns listed below, find a matching proper noun in the paragraphs above. The first one is completed for you.

boy/John
city/________
woman/_______
aunt/________
county/________
train/________
train station/_______
mother/_______
restaurant/________
toy store/_______
city area/________
ride/_______
building block/________
statue/_________
building/________
building/_________
movie/__________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Word About LEGO

The founder of the LEGO company, Ole Kirk Christiansen, was a Danish carpenter. In 1934, he began creating these internationally famous building blocks (they started to be made of plastic in the 1940s). According to the story on the official LEGO website (http://www.lego.com/), Christianson came up with the name LEGO by combining the first two letters of the words in the Danish phrase "leg godt," which means "play well." What Christiansen didn't know is that one meaning of the word "lego" in Latin is "I put together."

There are currently only nine people in the world who are licensed by the LEGO company to be LEGO Professional Builders. Click this link to see some fascinating videos on one of them, New Yorker Sean Kenney: http://www.youtube.com/seankenney