The New York 10 Year Anniversary Trip

Thanks a million to Babi and Papou who flew out to watch our kids so we could go on the most amazing trip together.  We celebrate 10 years at the end of this month and a vacation sans kiddos was much needed.

Babi and Papou flew in on Tuesday morning.  The kids and I picked them up from the airport and proceeded to Lily's house of a delightful vegetarian lunch.

 Then, we all went to the zoo together.


On the way home Camden puked all over himself and his car seat.  It was an awesome eye-opener of Babi and Papou.

Wednesday morning,

Babi and Papou took the kids to story-time at the library (I hear it went pretty good except for the part where they sort of lost Camden and found him at the front doors about to walk out)

and then they walked to the park

 I met them after I got a humongous rock chip repaired on our windshield (received way back on the road trip to AZ for Gram's B-day and had been threatening to crack further with all the changing weather this fall, but I had not been brave enough to get it fixed with all the kids in tote).  That afternoon, I worked while Babi and Papou had their first go alone with the kids

 Then I came home, packed, finished the vinyl on my kitchen wall, and then D and I were off to the airport for a red eye flight to New York.

The red eye was awful!  I felt like I didn't sleep a wink although I must have slept a bit because I felt somewhat energized for the next day in New York.  Derek didn't even attempt to sleep and just watched movies the whole way there and made fun of me flailing around trying to find a comfy position to catch some Zzzz's.

Thursday we arrived and were able to check into our hotel.  I took a quick shower and then we rushed over to make brunch reservation at Norma's.  Derek got a breakfast casadilla and I got Crunchy French Toast.  All of it was delicious!

Then it was off to the Museum of Natural History (Derek's choice).  Loved the dinosaurs (so fascinating) and the view of the city and Central Park from the top floor otherwise I was kinda bored.  D may have enjoyed it, but was also rather sleepy.  We made a stop at Levain's Bakery to try their cookies and boy was I glad we did!

 Then, we went back to the hotel for a bit so he could take a little nap, then we went out to dinner at a Korean BBQ place called Don's Bogum.  It was the most interesting and fabulous food I have eaten in a long while.  We absolutely loved it, had no idea what we were doing, but loved it nonetheless.
 Then, we called it a night as we were both exhausted from little sleep.

Friday we were off to do a session at the Manhattan Temple.  We grabbed a quick breakfast near by and it then went to the temple.  It's true what they say that you can walk right past it and not even recognize it's a temple.  We literally were looking around at all the buildings and couldn't see it and then looked way up and low and behold one of the buildings had an angel Moroni on top.  It was so nice to go to the temple without feeling the need to rush home to relieve whomever we had finagled into watching our kids.  And, perhaps that is the reason that I some very profound thoughts in the session that I've never been able to piece together before.  After the temple we went to the theater when Newsies was playing and scored the most amazing tickets.  They were technically "obstructed view seats", but we found them hardly obstructed the were front row and center of the upper balcony.  They were $30 each!  All other tickets we were looking at were $90 a piece!  Tickets secured, we went down to the Flat Iron District to eat at Eataly.

The restaurant was hidden in the middle of the coolest Italian markets with every cooking ingredient I could ever wish for.  The food was good, but I was actually more enthralled with the market surrounding.  Then, Derek and I walked the length of the Highline

 and then went to Ellen's Stardust for a little pre-show show.  We got the dessert nothing to really right home about this place was all about the atmosphere.  The waiters are all "struggling actors" and all take turns singing various tunes while you eat.  Kinda fun.  Oh and right outside there was a street vendor selling purses.  Found me a new purse to replace the old one I've had for years that has a hole in it!

Newsies was incredible!  I loved it and our seats were amazing especially considering the fact that a large portion of the play was elevated and while there was a light box hanging off in front of us it didn't seem to obstructed at all in my opinion.  (This is a pic from our seats...SERIOUSLY!!!)

We had decided on Newsies because that was the first movie we ever "watched" together way back when we were dating.  It was a great show.  I love all the music (and D does too) and it was actually quite different than the movie.

Saturday morning we had brunch at Sarabeth's.  D had the most amazing Salmon Eggs Benedict- best Eggs Benedict I've ever eaten.

I got Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (I honestly felt like Blue Lemon makes them better).  We also got a side of chicken sausage with apple preserve- that was delicious too and a different way to eat sausage than I have ever had.  Then, we took the subway to see a Yankees game.

 D of course had to get a program to keep score and get a hot dog and peanuts (although I think he prefers sunflowers seeds, just harder to find).  Then, we went downtown and saw the 9-11 Twin Towers Memorial.  It was very sobering.  We then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge


and waited in line forever to get pizza at Grimaldi's.  Despite the wait, it was pretty darn good pizza.

Sunday was our last day.  We went to Jacob's Pickles for brunch.  I think Derek fell in love with Chicken and Pancakes.
 
 I got an omelet- also delicious and.  Then, I made Derek walk almost the whole of Central Park.  I love that place!  The most beautiful blossoming trees.

We discovered the North Wood which honestly made me feel like for a second that I had escaped the huge city and was hiking somewhere more remote.  We found this awesome Conservatory Garden with the most beautiful flowers, and fountains, and the largest wisteria growing over an walking archway.

 It made me long for my wisteria to get growing already.  Then we discovered Belvedere Castle.

 Did you know Central Park had a castle?

Then, I rewarded myself with another round of Levain's cookies and Derek with shake shack.  I'm not sure shake shack was anything to write home about even though the burger was pretty good and also very greasy.  Maybe it's just because burgers are not my thing- you may get a different story out of D.  Then, sadly it was time to head home.  On the flight home I enjoyed reading a book for 5 hours straight without interruption!

Then, Monday morning we were awakened bright an early by our kids whom we did miss a bit so we weren't too annoyed to have to get up on their timetable once again.