The Time of My Life: musings of a mommy-at-law: I wanna wake up the in city that doesn't sleep...

Where to begin? We had just the best time in New York - both upstate and in the city. We are glad to be home, but thankful for such great memories. The rain let up overnight on Sunday night, so the rest of our visit to NYC was cold, but dry. On Monday, we took a leisurely stroll over to the Museum of Modern Art, stopping at Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral along the way. We enjoyed MOMA. Evan particularly enjoyed it. We discovered he is a fan of Picasso and Van Gogh. He really got into studying the Picasso paintings. It was as if they were a game of Where's Waldo as he was working to identify what was what. Very cute. Pressley tolerated MOMA, but what do you expect of a 2-1/2 year old? After MOMA, it was back to the hotel for Pressley's nap and then on to Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular. It was, well, spectacular. Corin and I saw it many years ago on a trip to NYC this time of year, but it was really fun to take the kids. They were both very good during the show and seemed to like it a lot. Pressley was very into the dancing and Evan was very into the special effects.

Tuesday was another full day. We had planned to go to the Statue of Liberty (or "Livery" as Pressley insists that we pronounce it) on Sunday afternoon, but with the rain, we decided (wisely) to save it for another day. The crowds were small, but the security hassles were large, and it took us most of the day to spend 20 minutes in and around the statue. We did enjoy the ferry ride and seeing the monument, but we were a little frustrated with the amount of time we spent stripping out of our jackets and mittens and hats and jewelry and shoes and then putting it all back on again. The kids both fell asleep on the subway on the way back to the hotel from the Statue of Liberty, so after a quick lunch, we were off again. Mom and dad wanted to take the kids to the Build-a-Bear store on 5th Avenue to buy them each an animal. (Build-a-bear is not just for bears anymore, you know.) Evan chose a penguin and Pressley chose a shaggy puppy. They enjoyed having their pets stuffed and fluffed and named and such. Mom and dad even bought the new pets New York t-shirts to wear. After we left Build-a-Bear, we went to the Top of the Rock, which is the observation deck at the top of Rockefeller Center. It had already gotten dark, but the views were still fantastic. Pressley had begun to melt down by this time from lack of a proper nap, but we made it through.

After all that, we met up with Kate (Kerry was with us for the Top of the Rock) and the aunts took the kids off for an adventure in Queens while the rest of us took in a Broadway show. We saw Jersey Boys. It was excellent. I'd been wanting to see it ever since I saw the cast sing on the today show a couple of years ago. The show is about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' rise to fame and is full of music from that group and that era. The cast was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Meanwhile, the kids were having a great time with K&K. They ate hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches and played with K&K's months-old kittens. Pressley has declared that playing with the kittens was her favorite part of the trip. She apparently gave them a tea party, but they were not particularly interested in leaving things exactly where she wanted them. K&K say they went to bed fairly easily and both slept through the night, so it was a successful evening.

Finally, on Wednesday, we headed over to FAO Schwartz for some toy store fun. The highlight of the toy store visit for Pressley was the giant piano from the movie Big. She ran up and down that keyboard a hundred times. Then, just when we thought she might be tiring of the whole thing, a woman in the crowd started clapping for her each time she said "Ta Dah" or "I did it!" That was enough to spur her on for the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately for her, the employees of the store actually do a demo show where they play the giant piano, so she had to come off. She was NOT happy. It was a melt down of epic proportions. But, she finally calmed down in time for a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park to top off a very eventful trip.

Below are a few pics, but there are many, many more in the New York album linked above.