Sunday, July 20, 2008

Our trip to NY and CT

Day 1 (Wednesday) - Brooklyn
Aboard the routine flight to LaGuardia, Amelia shrieked with joy when discovering pink Play-Doh for the first time. She startled Joe Cheshire who was sitting in front of Michael, but he was very nice about it. Leslie enjoyed talking with him and his wife after the flight. The Boerem Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn where we stayed was just perfect for us with inexpensive restaurants, a park, a grocery, a laundromat, and a subway station all within blocks.



We really enjoyed our day in Brooklyn and seeing how the locals lived. That was purposefully the theme of this trip.

The landlady of our building, Crissy, was extremely helpful to us. She loaned us a pack 'n play, booster seat, and bouncy seat for our kids. She and her husband have 2 little ones as well, and they have always lived in NYC, including Queens and Manhattan. We were intrigued with the idea of parenting in the city.

We ate lunch at the Vietnamese sandwich shop down the street. There were exactly 10 chairs in the restaurant, and they served bubble tea.

The first afternoon, we took Amelia to the Warren Street park whose centerpiece was a large concrete water sprinkler. It was much appreciated. Airplanes, taxis, and an 800 sq. ft. apartment is not going to contain any 2 year old. She got a chance to play with the city kids.

For dinner we went to Bedouin Tent, a middle-eastern pitza shop. That's spelled correctly. They served pizza on pita bread...pita+pizza=pitza. We had ground lamb sausage with artichokes on one and I don't remember the other. We also shared a drink called a loomi. It tasted like lemon flavored tonic water with no carbonation. I loved it but Leslie did not.

Later that evening we visited the neighborhood grocery store. In fact, we went into both the corner grocery and the Met, which was small, but had items stacked to the ceiling. (The were both necessarily small but were perfectly adequate for our needs.)



Day 2 (Thursday) - Manhattan
Happy birthday, Leslie!

Our day began very early; 4:45 am, in fact. Amelia woke up and alerted us all that she was not sleepy any more! That probably turned out to be a good thing because it got us out of the apartment by 7:30am so we didn't squander our only visit to Manhattan.

We walked to the subway and rode one stop. Then, we got out and walked the pedestrian lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge. When we were at the very top of the bridge, Marian called to wish Leslie a happy birthday! It was already getting warm, but we were so excited to be entering the city.

In Manhattan, we first walked with the commuters to the financial district for breakfast and then to Ground Zero. It was sobering but was now a construction site. There was a memorial wall to the FDNY firefighters that died on 9/11 and a volunteer explaining the art.

Another subway trip (one kid on M's back, one kid on L's front, folded stroller, backpack-phew) landed us on the lower east side near Central Park. Before visiting Central Park, we cooled off F.A.O. Schwartz where Amelia discovered the Barbie suitcases, the Corolle dolls, the Piano from the movie Big, and a stuffed frog. The frog was located in a narrow, busy hallway, but Amelia insisted on teaching the frog to hop amidst the traffic. It was charming.

Next we grabbed hotdogs from a street vendor outside Central Park. In the park we had intended to visit the Children's Zoo and Carousel but did neither. Instead we just kind of ambled around and took it all in. It was impressive. We saw musicians, rollerskaters, groups of children, and families. It was so hot, however, and the heat started to really sap our energy, despite the snowcones and popsicles. We decided that we all would appreciate some a/c.

That led us the the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The place was vast and had some amazing art. I intentionally led us to the Asian art first and then the European stuff. The European art had all of the masters and a few masterpieces. During the whole time in the museum, I had Amelia on my back and she was ready to get down, as evidenced by screaming and flailing. We needed to visit a park, ASAP.

There was a shady pocket park with a water sprinkler right next to the museum. She played with the stylish Manhattan kids and their nannies, while we meet up with Leslie's friend, Cara. After playtime was over, Cara graciously escorted us back downtown(quickly, NYC style, at rush hour) to the Meat Packing district where we got some dinner at a chic Asian restaurant, the Buddha Bar. That district was off the beaten path for tourists and it was fun to see the coolest and hippest New Yorkers hanging out there. Ads/commercials were being shot there. Interestingly, the buildings were only 2-3 stories tall!

Finally, we hopped back on the packed subway with the commuters and headed home to our apartment in Brooklyn. It was a surprisingly easy location for commuting. I'm sure Jamie and Joyce pay dearly for that feature! Thomas looked like he was asleep standing up, you'll see in the pics.



Day 3 (Friday) - Danbury
Amelia let us sleep in until 5:30am on Friday morning. Gosh, thanks. She also perfected her new saying during the trip. Whenever she is not in agreement, she will speak her mind and end it with HONEY, 'KAY? For example, "I don't want to go to sleep, honey, 'kay?"

After an early breakfast, we headed to a local laundromat. While Leslie and Thomas did laundry, Amelia and I headed back to the park. It was neat watching all of the little kids walking to school with their mommy or daddy. Joyce's apt. overlooked PS 261.

Back from our chores, we quickly packed and made our plan to escape from New York. Leslie picked up the rental car and parked illegally while we whisked the carseats, kids, and luggage into the car and got out of town via the scenic and bizarre Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Driving in New York was predictably treacherous, but we got out of town okay. We felt stupid because we passed on the rental GPS, hadn't brought a map, and didn't know exactly how to get to Danbury. There were only three main ways into Connecticut from where we where and they were all close to each other so we just drove into the state and picked up a map. Not knowing where we were going gave us the chance to take a scenic back road through Wilton to Danbury which really relaxed me after the hectic pace of New York.

We got to our hotel suite, where Amelia and I went to the pool while Thomas napped. That evening we went to an average Chinese restaurant where Amelia turned into a little hellian. We were pretty embarrassed by that dining experience. Whatever. We were glad to have food.

Afterwards, we stopped by the Danbury Fair mall for some strolling. They had a double-decker carousel there which we all rode twice. The top level was a bit sickening because you were so close to the center. Leslie was excited to visit H&M, a clothing store, but a little underwhelmed by the offerings and quality.



On Friday night, there was a Bowling Party as part of the wedding activities. We made it there to visit with some of the guests but could not bowl since the kids were with us and expiring. Even so, it was fun hanging out with folks for a while. Most had a Duke connection since that's where Jaime and Joyce went to school. Here are the bride and groom dashing into the party!



Day 4 (Saturday) - Danbury
In the morning the wedding party went hiking at Tarrywile park. It was a strenuous hike. Connecticut's terrain surprised me. It was hilly and rocky. All in all it was an hour and a half of hiking with Amelia strapped to my back. Leslie and Thomas did some hiking and then headed for the children's garden area. Amelia and I met up with them there.



After lunch, we were wiped out so we headed to the hotel room for naps. We all slept soundly until it was time to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was held on the grounds of a mansion of family friends. It was perched on a hilltop so we could see for miles. The wedding was outside near a pond and the reception was right next to it under a tent. There were lots of great guests, music, and food there and we really enjoyed meeting Joyce's family since they were at our table. They live in the Seattle area and NYC, so Leslie had never gotten to meet them despite rooming with Joyce for a year.

The temperature was hot with heavy humidity but they did have a sno-cone machine which saved the day with Amelia. She had at least 3 sno-cones, with 3 additional refills.

The actual wedding was nice, and we were happy to be present for Joyce and Jaime's wedding and to show them our support. Leslie was impressed with the detail Joyce went to in planning everything, despite her job as a first-year patent attorney in NYC. We loved the wedding favors - Baggu bags - very original!



Day 5 (Sunday)
We drove back to La Guardia in the early morning and flew home. Again, thankfully uneventful.
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