First day of 3rd Grade and Kindergarten

  We are back home settled into our normal routine.  School came very quickly and the kids are glad to be back with their friends.  Halle just adores her 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Cottle, and Josh ran into kindergarten without a worry in the world.  His teacher, Mrs. Delaney, is the perfect kindergarten teacher. 

Goodbye NYC

We had a pretty exciting trip to the airport!  I had set the alarm for 4:30 because we wanted to leave the house at 5 to give ourselves plenty of time to catch our flight.  (Last time we were in NYC the only reason we didn’t miss our flight was because it was delayed—we were extremely late to the airport).  Well….no alarm went off.  Lucky for us, my body is pretty used to waking up at 5am for early morning runs.  I rolled over, looked at the clock and proceeded to freak out.  It was already 5.  We dashed around getting things ready, yanked the kids out of bed, and ran to get a taxi.  We didn’t even have time to do one final sweep of the apartment.  Yeah….left a bunch of my running stuff.  Our taxi driver was awesome and fit an AMAZING amount of luggage into the taxi without making us feel too squished.  We made it to the airport in record time, and caught our flight.  Whew! 

This summer already feels like one long dream, and sometimes I wonder if it really happened.  Did we really live in Manhattan?  Was Central Park our playground?  Did I really eat all that amazing food?  Hands down the best summer of my life.  I’ll never forget it, and I kinda hope I get the opportunity to live in NYC again.  For a longer period of time.  Rusty…..he’s ecstatic to return to Erie and slow down the pace a little.  Me…..Manhattan is pure magic.  Love everything about it.  Even the really annoying parts.  So, Big Apple, Goodbye for now.  But not forever. 

Our little routine

This is one of our quirky little NYC routines that I want to remember.  We have exactly 3 doors to get through until we are inside of our apartment.  Each door has about a 10 digit code.  The kids love to enter the code on the keypad, and we need to make sure everyone gets a turn.  Also, I always have the stroller, so I need someone to hold the door open while I wheel Blake through.  This is how it works:

The kids RUN to the outside door and Halle enters the code:
 

Then Josh holds open the door for me so Halle can enter the code on the 2nd door:

 

Then Halle holds the 2nd door while Josh runs ahead to enter the code on the apartment door and let us all in.

 
That’s the way it works.  Every. Single. Time. 

Restaurant Week

Oh NYC—how I love all your delicious restaurants.  And all your delicious treats.  Please don’t make me leave! 

Restaurant week was going on during our last weeks in the city.  It’s a chance to try all the fun, fancy restaurants that are normally out of our budgetary reach :)  I have been listening to “Rules of Civility” on my long runs, and was enamored at the part where Tinker Grey takes Katie and Eve to the 21 Club in Midtown.  I immediately jumped online and made Rusty and I a Restaurant Week reservation to have a lunch date there.  And it did not disappoint.  We had such a great time—the atmosphere was upscale and unique, and the food was some of the best we’ve had in the city.  I am so glad I got to have my own 21 Club moment :)

Lasts

As our NYC adventure was winding down, we took the opportunity to do our favorite things one last time.

Last nap in his stroller

Last fun play—Skippyjon Jones

Last time at Victoria Gardens
Last time at Church

 

Last Picnic in Central Park—this time up at the Harlem Meer

Souvenir shopping

When we first came to NYC the kids were asking me for souvenirs about every 10 seconds.  So, I promised them that in the last week we were there I’d give them each $20 and they could purchase their own souvenirs.  All summer they were on the lookout for things they might want to buy. The day finally arrived and we went shopping near 8th ave and 47th st—souvenir mecca.  We browsed many, many stores and had a great time.  In the end, Halle chose a doll from Brave, Josh got a B Suway bear (PERFECT), and Blake got an NYC fire truck. 

Outdoor at the Lincoln Center

The Lincoln Center puts on a neat week long event every summer.  They have a whole bunch of concerts and performances that are all done outdoors, free for anyone to come and enjoy.  We went on Family Day, and the kids had a great time participating in a very unique exhibit called Tangled.  They each got a ball of stretchy, plastic material, and proceeded to make a big, tangled mess.  It was pretty fun at first when the kids were building the web.  But then things got a little crazy :) Kids were bouncing, flinging themselves like catapults from the web, hanging upside down, and getting stuck in the tangle.  All in all, it was a fun experience, but the kids were ready to get out of that mess!

Dip in a fountain

Remember this picturesque, serene pond at the Conservatory Gardens? 

Well, leave it to Blake to spoil the mood.  The kids were enjoying the beautiful flowers, and loving looking at the giant goldfish swimming peacefully in the pond.  Blake was making his way around the edge, when all of the sudden we heard a giant SPLASH.  And then Blake was nowhere to be seen.  Rusty (who was only a few feet away) reached into the pond and pulled out a screaming, soaking wet Blake.  It reminded me of that scene in Tarzan where they all scream, “IT’S a PIRANAH!”  Poor Baby was pretty traumatized.  We stripped all his clothes off, and luckily I had an extra diaper.  So, he got to ride home in the stroller and on the bus in only his diaper.