Thanksgiving Report

Tuesday: We washed some clothes and threw them in a bag.  Then we picked up each kid from school and drove off to NYC and NJ for Thanksgiving!

Wednesday: We ate our way around NYC. 

First Bagels by my sister's house.

  Then Cronuts.

 Amazing Pizza after a walk on the Highline

Then some Portuguese Pasteis de Nata

Later that night we had Chicken here, no photos though

Last was dessert ;) at the Milk Bar.  I can't find the photos from there, I'll get them in a bit...

 Greg and Parker had fancy ice cream, but Yoda, Mimi, Sonya and I custom designed our fancy cookie.  We were so full we waited until the next day to eat while we drove to NJ and my other sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner. 

 

 On the Highline

 

 Then Sonya lead us to see the Macy's Day Balloons being filled.  Can you see them in the back? 

Here's a few more close up...

 This one was the one Parker was most excited about but it was still flat!

DragonBallZ!

 Thursday: Yoda, Sonya and I thought we'd seen enough of the parade so we decided to stay at Sonya's to bake, pack, Yoda got to play with his new birthday Legos from Sonya.

 Mimi and Parker were rewarded with free swag from Netflix for going to the parade early in the morning with Greg. 

 Green Eggs and Ham! 

 By some miracle we had wonderful clear roads for our trip to NJ!

 The kiddos had lots of fun with cousin H and her new dog. 

 We went on a long walk after dinner. 

 I have another photo with everyone, I'll get to that...
UPDATE:
Here it is!

That night we drove all the way home so that Parker could work on Black Friday.  Phew!  What an awesome trip, so happy we could see family :)

Spring Break Friday

Sonya made us yummy french toast and we were off for our next bunch of adventures!

First stop Harlem and Hamilton's home.  Amazing.  Who knew there was so much preserved history in NYC?  Not me!

Then we hopped on the bus and headed to Grant's tomb.  So much bigger then I expected!  Here are some cherry trees from Japan. 

 Reading about Grant's Tomb. 

 A funny book that Parker found at the visitor's center. 

 Checking out the tomb. 

 There was a family here that we had seen at Roosevelt's house the day before! 

 For perspective, see how large it is compared to how small those people are who are on the steps? 

Later on the Subway, Yoda was wearing his Spider-man hat (which he got a lot of comments about, NYC people love Spider-man) and we ran into Captain America.  They were hilarious! 

Under Columbus Circle there is a mall full of food-yummy-ness.  We had the grilled cheese-suprise! 

 Sonya bought us some yummy goodies from a fancy Bakery. I had macaroons. 

We hung out in Columbus Circle and watched some skateboarders before heading back to the car and heading out of the city. Hopefully we'll be back in NJ &and NY soon!

One last Spring Break post coming up!

Spring Break Thursday

Sonya and Greg and one of Sonya's friends headed to get Cronuts!  Totally worth the hype.  If you are in NYC make sure to make this a priority. 

The flavor was leveled and thoughtful.  Without being prompted, Yoda showed us how much he liked the Cronut.

Sonya went on to work, and we hit one of the nerdiest spots we could find.  The Museum of Math.  There were tears of joy.  So much math in such a small place.  We could have stayed all day.  We loved it. 

All week Parker was asking about all the falafel trucks.  Today was our day.  We had street food and ate at Madison Square Park, close to the Flat Iron building and 5th Avenue.  Such a beautiful day. 

Just a few blocks away was our next stop, Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace.  Beautiful, small and informative.

Our next stop was supposed to be Battery Park, and Castle Clinton.  But we couldn't resist a few minutes in the Lego store in a historic old Manhattan building. 

We met up with Sonya and explored Battery Park.  I'd never spent time down here, but this is close to where my dad worked in NYC for years and years.  The Freedom tower is just behind Yoda and Parker and this statue. 

We didn't make it in time to visit Castle Clinton, oops. 

Here we are with our tears, just like when we missed Abraham Lincoln's birthplace by minutes.

So we got snow cones and checked out some art and did some people-watching--it was spring break for tons of people as well as the week of Passover.  So many people at Battery Park! 

 One more visit to a diner before heading back to Sonya's for the night.