i'm leavin' today...i want to be a part of it...NEW YORK, NEW YORK!
okay, so we aren't moving...but our trip was wonderful! it was so nice to have time with matt and to experience such an amazing place together...we saw three shows-"The Drowsy Chaperone" is Sutton Foster's new show and it is wonderful, especially for musical theatre lovers, as it pokes fun at and celebrates what the theatre is all about in a funny and very clever show-definitely deserving of its 13 tony nominations..."The Light in the Piazza" is just beautiful-the music, the lighting, the sets...you definitely get whisked away into the romance that is Italy..."The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is another fun one...we were very happy with all three of our choices. After we got in on Friday night, we had a fabulous dinner with
Jason and
Allison, a couple that we actually met in blogworld...their apartment, dinner and conversation were great, and it was fun to be around their son, Levi, who is the same age as Jack...We walked the brooklyn bridge, explored central park, we walked everywhere really, and I LOVED THAT...i will be forever ashamed that here at home people(myself included) will drive their car from one end of a shopping center to another so they don't have to walk that far...it was so nice to be outside and to see all kinds of people in one place. We rode the Staten Island Ferry and got a good view of the Statue of Liberty, saw the World Trade Center site, and the Empire State Building was right outside our window...Our hotel was right in Times Square and as exciting as that area was, I was glad to do some non-touristy things like visiting The Strand Bookstore, Bank Street Books where we found Jack a children's book on New York and his very own taxi that he has hardly put down since we got back, Brooklyn Industries-a neat little clothing store, strolling down the streets with brownstones in Brooklyn, people watching in Washington Square Park, just exploring in Greenwich Village (where we did have a celebrity sighting--walked right past Sandra Oh), and enjoying long strolls just wondering about all those people who actually live on Park Avenue! Everywhere that we ate was wonderful...we did everything from a local diner, to a hot dog at Gray's Papaya, to Ruby Foo's...a wonderful pan-asian restaurant, to a sidewalk french cafe, to the best pizza in New York city at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn, to dessert at Serendipity, to my favorite...a charming little place on the upper east side called Elaine's. We made it to a good many places in the city, and of course we could have still seen much more...I can't wait for our next trip!
Here's some pictures...
Outside the Marquis Theatre, after "The Drowsy Chaperone"
Outside the beautiful Lincoln Center where we saw "The Light in the Piazza"
Circle in the Square Theatre, where we saw "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"
I really love this picture Matt took of the amazing Grand Central Station, standing amidst all the movement of the city. Yes, that's me telling him to hurry up because it's time to cross the street! And we learned quickly that when it's time to cross, it's time right now!
Frozen hot chocolate and a strawberry cheesecake sundae...YUMMMMMY! It's a good thing we were doing so much walking!
On our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
A lunch picnic in Central Park
If you look closely, you can see Katie, Matt and Al...we got to be there for Katie's last working day on the Today show...that was fun! I still didn't get to meet any of them, but it was still neat to see those people in person that are in my living room every morning!
This church was amazing. They say you could lie the Statue of Liberty down inside of it. Beautiful.
Someone had made a peace sign out of flowers on the John Lennon Memorial in the "Strawberry Fields" area of Central Park.
Okay...so we had a great time...however, this was still probably the best part of our trip! Jack had a great time with both sets of grandparents, and of course didn't get spoiled at all! I am glad that he did so well with us being away that long...but I also know that I will never lose that picture in my mind of him running towards us with his arms out, yelling "Mommy! Daddy!" What a sweet moment...Looks like we were squeezing him a little hard, but hey, we missed him!
