New York City: Day 2

For our second day in New York, Mason had to leave in the morning for some classes at the convention center(the whole reason we went to New York). So we grabbed a couple of breakfast sandwiches and muffins from the  hotels complementary breakfast and some coffee they had provided(worst coffee, but hey sometimes you just have to sugar it up ;). And walked out together, I headed up 5th while Mason headed out to the Javits Center. So Jack and I were on our own for the morning and it kinda made me excited to be on my own in the city again, baby in tow. Jack was such a good kid putting up with being in the stroller. 

Our first stop was on the steps of the Public Library to eat our breakfast and watch the pigeons, Jack's favorite part, he would point out every bird he saw. After finishing up we stopped at one of the many souvenir shops along 5th Ave, Jack had fun grabbing all the shirts and helped me pick out a couple of mini New York license plates for him and Max with their names on them. We continued up 5th in the chilly wind, and made our way to F.A.O Schwartz. We were there so early they were not even open yet so I held my Jack while we waited outside the doors and he fell asleep on my shoulder. Finally they opened the doors and Jack woke up just in time to see his dream come true, he went strait for the stuffed animals, I love how much he loves animals. He picked up a cute stuffed animal dog and decided it was his puppy and just carried and hugged it. We got upstairs to the big piano and I let him loose to run and dance across it, he thought it was pretty awesome. We walked around for a bit and Jack found a magician's hat, put it on, and would not take it off. I saw that they were having a story time so we stayed for that, it was fun to pretend I was a mother living in New York taking my baby to story time at F.A.O Schwartz :). So we sat and listened to a few stories with all the other little city kids with their nanny's(at least most were with a nanny). After picking out the perfect Taxi and New York book for Max we left to head into the park.

Jack was mesmerized by the horses as we entered through the South East corner with all those horse drawn carriages lining the edge. We made our way down to the famous bridge, and sat there for a bit while Jack pointed out all the birds and ducks and buildings, a little Jack's dream come true. I headed across the park towards Columbus Circle to meet Mason for lunch. But as we were walking, me carrying Jack and pushing the stroller along, Jack decided he was done and tired and hungry(and teething didn't help) but he threw the biggest tantrum I have ever seen him throw in the middle of Central Park(well edge). He was screaming and crying, not really knowing what he wanted. He wanted me to hold him but would try to get out of my arms once I held him.  A lot of people looked as they walked by, they either looked annoyed or smiled in a sympathetic way. Funny thing, people in New York ignore a lot of things, but a baby screaming and crying caught their attention. Finally I held him in my arms and gave him a swab of baby numbing stuff for his teeth hoping it would help. I am sure people walking by were not sure was I was doing, holding my baby tightly while sticking a q-tip all over his gums...ah fun stuff I tell you. Finally he let me hold him and fell asleep, poor guy. I made it to Whole Foods at Columbus Circle, good memories of grocery shopping there and heading down on the 1 train. After getting some water and a snack I headed down Broadway to meet Mason for lunch.

We decided on a pizza slice from Two Boots and one from Ray's(although it is no longer called Ray's). Cute Jack stayed asleep all through lunch so i made sure to save him half a slice for when he woke up. We made it back to the Javits Center to walk around and ask questions before the end of the day.

We walked back to our hotel and took a break and let Jack run naked and free and watch a cartoon before heading out to dinner. For dinner we decided on one of our old favorites down on 18th, Pete's Tavern. It is a cool old tavern with a pasta special on Monday nights: pasta dish, salad, and a glass of wine. It was so fun to go back and have it be exactly how I remembered. It is the oldest restaurant in New York City and used to be a Speak Easy during prohibition. After dinner we went around the corner for dessert at One Lucky Duck. 

We made our way back to our hotel and crashed.

 

[my shoulder is not abnormally tall, it is the music note on the window..:)]

[coolest kid]

 

[the hat he found]

   

[pointing out some ducks]

 

[he was done for the day by this time]

New York City: Day 1

*warning, this is a wee bit long :)*

On Saturday, April 20th Mason and I left Max with his parents and got on a red eye flight with Jack to JFK. 

The flight was a dream(other then not being able to sleep well myself) Jack fell asleep right before take-off and stayed asleep the entire flight! Mason fell asleep shortly after Jack and was able to sleep pretty soundly. We packed light so we only had one big carry-on bag, two backpacks, my purse, and a small umbrella stroller. once we arrived in New York at 6:50am(4:50am Utah time) Jack was pretty cranky on such little sleep but we got him settled and nice and cozy in the stroller. He quickly fell asleep which was so nice so Mason and I had our hands free on the Subway.

We caught the air train then headed towards the subway. When we got down to the subway we went to purchase our Metro cards but of course true to New York one machine was out of order and the other two were only taking coins. We got cash from a ATM and got a one way fare and the true New Yorker metro lady let us through the emergency exit in her "nice" blunt New Yorker way. After going down an elevator smelling of urine to get to the platform I turned to Mason and said "welcome back to New York City".  But even with all that craziness we were so happy to be back in our city we fell in love with almost 5 years ago. We surprisingly fell back easily into the groove of the subway and navigating the city, it felt so good.

We took the subway to our old stop in Long Island city and got off to reminisce. Vernon Jackson Blvd. on the 7 train, in case you were curious :). When we stepped out of the subway we were greeted by a sunny day, but silly me forgot to pack jackets and so we were pretty freezing despite the sunshine. We walked along past that red church I used to love and into the corner deli for a two eggs and cheese on a roll. We took our brown bag with breakfast in it and walked to our old apartment, City Lights. We sat in the lobby to warm up and eat our sandwiches. Oh how I missed those generic breakfast sandwiches, only in New York.

We dove back into the Subway and got our 7 day metro card, then took the 7 to Grand Central. When we got to our hotel on 37th street between 5th and 6th ave we dropped off our bags but since we couldn't check in until 3pm I freshened up a bit and we decided to get some jackets to keep us warm(luckily I did think to bring a coat for Jack, so he was nice and warm). Then we headed  down to 18th street for lunch at one of our old favorites, Telegraph Cafe. When we lived in New York I would get their vanilla chai all the time, so when we got there I got the iced vanilla chai and it was just how I remembered. We got lunch there and Jack enjoyed sitting on the counter looking out the window. We walked into Mason's old work, The Container Store. Lots of memories there walking around waiting for him to get off work, or for him helping Parker Posey find a toolbox. We then walked across to Union Square where they were having a street fair and concert for Earth Day, that is one of many things I miss about New York, there is always something going on. Jack made friends with a kind chocolate lab and sat on my shoulders as we walked through the park. We then made our way down to my old work Strand. It felt so weird yet so natural walking back in, nobody that I worked with was still working on registers, but it made me miss it as I heard one of the cashiers call "Next!" Oh the many times I yelled that to the line of people waiting to buy their books. We went up to the second floor to show Jack the children's books, he was pretty impressed. 

By this time Mason and I were hitting a wall with our tiredness and decided to head back to our hotel for some rest. We all took a nice nap, and felt good to head out for dinner.

We decided on another old favorite of ours up on 71st and Broadway, Tasty Cafe. It looks like just a regular old cafe on the outside but oh they have the best pasta they make in front of you, you pick the fixings. After we enjoyed our hearty dinner we walked towards Central Park West. This part of the city is one of my favorites, brownstones on the upper west side and apartment buildings are the best tin my opinion, and Central Park West? how can you not just fall in love with that street, with the huge trees and stone wall. Anyway back to our trip...

We walked into the park past Strawberry fields and then to the pond. It was such a nice walk and Jack thought it was cool he could finally run free for a bit. We ended our first day walking back through the park at sunset.

now enjoy some pictures from our first day:

 

[Sitting in the window at Telegraph Cafe ]

 

 

[Tasty Cafe and one of the cool chefs smiling for my picture]

 
[He could be a city kid]