Our Week in NYC

We are home from a fun, long week in NYC with Bech's parents.  We had a wonderful time!

S     U     N     D     A     Y

We decided to take the Megabus to NYC.  We weren't sure how parking would be, so we didn't want to drive.  And the train was the same price, but we would have had to drive 45 minutes to Lewistown (the nearest station), then leave our car there for 7 days.  So Megabus it was!

Jack was SO excited about riding the bus.  We talked it up for about a month before hand.  And I gave him Bertie the bus (a Thomas vehicle) when we got on the bus.  We were lucky enough to snag the 4 seats that face each other, and Bech's classmate, Eric, who happened to be on the same bus, sat with us (a decision he may be regretting now...).

He really did pretty well.  He would NOT sleep on that bus ride, though!  He was a little wiggly and, sometimes, a little loud, but overall it was a good trip.  

When we got to the city, we grabbed a taxi to take us out to Brooklyn, where Bech's parents had rented an apartment.  And Jack fell asleep within 5 minutes of that taxi ride.  Of course.

We ordered in Chinese and Korean food and hung out with Bech's parents and brother in the apartment.

(A lot of nights were like that, just hanging out in the apartment, which was perfect for Jack, and for his pregnant momma!)

M     O     N     D     A     Y

Monday was probably our most tiring day (and definitely the day we walked the most!).  Bech's little brother just finished culinary school and is going to be working in the city at Cafe Boulud.  He is renting an apartment in Brooklyn, near Prospect Park, but he has no furniture.  So Monday morning we headed to Ikea to fix that.

After a morning at Ikea (and some Ikea cinnamon rolls...yum!), we headed to Hunter's apartment to drop off some purchases.  The big items were scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday.  We got back on the subway and headed to Chinatown.

Chinatown is crazy and a little overwhelming!  But we found a fun little restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner.  We had fun looking around, and Bech got some brushes to use for glazing pottery.

We headed back and sat on the rooftop of our apartment for a while, watching the sunset in Brooklyn.  My mother-in-law has a fitbit (which I am now obsessed with)--we walked 7 miles the first day!  Needless to say, we all went to bed pretty early!

T     U     E     S     D     A     Y

Tuesday was definitely a Jack day!

Tuesday morning, Hunter headed back to Hyde Park for two more classes before CIA graduation, Mr. John (my father-in-law) headed to Hunter's apartment to wait for the furniture delivery, and Miss Karey (my mother-in-law), Bech, Jack, and I headed to Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn. 

This zoo was so fun and cute.  It is not big at all, but that was perfect for Jack.  He loved playing and seeing all the animals, especially the monkeys.

But is favorite thing was the petting zoo, where he fed the goats and sheep.  I was really surprised...my kid screams if a butterfly gets near him!  But he LOVED this part.  In fact, now he tells us that his favorite animal is a goat!

We found a cute little pizza place, Gino's Trattoria, nearby for lunch, then headed to the Brooklyn Children's museum, where Mr. John met us.

And, of course, Jack fell asleep 5 minutes before we got to the museum.  We let him take a cat nap, then woke him up a little early to play.  I left my phone with the stroller, so I didn't get any pictures of him in the museum.  But he had a blast!  I am a sucker for Children's museums, and this one was really fun.  I felt like it was really unique.  

We headed back to the apartment and had another fun night in.

W     E     D     N     E     S     D     A     Y

Wednesday morning, we all split up.  Mr. John hung out at the apartment.  Bech and his mom hit Union Square for some shopping, and Jack and I headed out to meet some Mississippi people living in New York.

Jack and I had fun visiting with our new friends (although Jack was NOT on his best behaviour...sorry, Sarah Denley!).  And I loved the excitement of being all along with Jack in New York...terrifying and thrilling at the same time!

We met up with Mr. John near the subway stop, then headed into Union Square for lunch at Republic (which was one of my favorite meals!).  After lunch, we split up again:  Bech and his dad went to the Whitney to check out the Biennial show, and Miss Karey, Jack, and I went to Central Park (with a stop by Dylan's Candy Bar first!). 

We thought surely Jack would fall asleep walking around the park, but he was too excited!  We stopped for a snack break (Spiderman popsicle, of course!), looked at the sailboats, and played like we were John Smith.

We met back up with Bech and his dad, ate dinner at a local diner, then split up again.  Bech and his dad went to a Dorothy Parker reading, and Miss Karey and I took Jack home for bed.

T     H     U     R     S     D     A     Y

Thursday was our LONG day.  We got up at 5:30 a.m. and didn't get home until 9ish.

Thursday morning, we took the 7:15 train from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie to go to Hunter's graduation from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America).  After the graduation, there was a reception with tons of fancy food prepared by CIA students.  Seriously...think Top Chef and Iron Chef worthy.

Jack isn't much of a foodie.  But he couldn't resist playing with Uncle Hunter's chef hat.  Future chef, perhaps?

We loaded up Hunter's dorm room and rode the train back to the city.  After unloading all of his luggage at his new place, we went to Momofuku for a celabratory dinner.

I didn't really eat the duck dinner, but I did enjoy a cereal milk milkshake from the Milk Bar after dinner!

F     R     I     D     A     Y

I think Friday may have been Jack's favorite day!  We headed out a little later and hit up FAO Schwartz first.  Jack is still talking about the big toy store!  We had told Jack that he could get one "happy" at the store.  The first thing he wanted was a medium sized Woody (from Toy Story) doll.  We tried to talk him out of it by walking all over the store and pointing out tons of different, fun toys...I mean, we have three Woody's at home!  But this boy wanted that doll...so now we have four Woody's.

We headed to UNIQLO next.  Bech's parents have been raving about this store since they first went up to NYC to drop Hunter off.  And it was really cool.  No maternity section, but Bech got some cute pants.  I have now made a shopping trip to UNIQLO one of my motivators to lose the baby weight this fall!  

And while we were there, two friends, Jeff and Angeline (who is a classics professor at UVM) headed over to meet up with us).  I haven't seen Angeline since we moved from Vermont...it was great to catch up with her!  Plus she has a conference around the New Year in NOLA, so I'm hoping I can see her in 6 months too!

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

We headed to the LEGO store next.  Jack is OBSESSED with Lego's.  He loves building and playing with his duplo sets.  He was in heaven in that store!  Plus his grandparents may have bought him a couple of birthday presents.

We had lunch outside (the weather was amazing the whole week!), then headed to Eataly to check it out.  Um...that place is amazing!  It was really crowded.  I don't know if it was the time (mid afternoon Friday) or the start of Memorial Day weekend.  I would love to go back at an earlier, less crowded time and check out the whole store.  

We headed home and had another lazy night in.

S     A     T     U     R     D     A     Y

We decided to check out the Brooklyn Flea Market in the morning.  I enjoyed that, but my favorite was actually a market we stumbled onto a little later.  As we left the flea market and headed for the subway, we ran into a once a year African market.  AH-MAZING.  I bought a happy for myself and a present for my goddaughter's first birthday.  Most of the vendors were from West Africa, and I loved talking to them!

We headed into Manhattan, wandered around the Union Square Farmer's Market (which is really fun!), and had a late lunch/brunch at Resto.  Since I didn't take any pictures all Saturday, here's a shot of Resto that I found online:

It was super yummy.  We let Jack play around at Union Square in the park before heading home.  Hunter made us an amazing dinner (having a chef bro-in-law definitely has its perks!).

S     U     N     D     A     Y

Ever have one of those days where everything works out really well?  Sunday was that for us!  

You can't call a taxi to come pick you up in Brooklyn.  You can call a car service, but that's twice as much!  Bech walked a couple of blocks away and was able to hail a cab to take us into Manhattan to the Megabus stop.  We got to the stop two hours early, but there was an earlier Megabus heading to State College.  There was room (and a really nominal fee) and we got to switch to the earlier trip!  Then we were able to get four seats facing each other again, and Jack fell asleep!

Seriously, it was great...everything just kept working out!  Jack did pretty well on the second Megabus trip, and we got home an hour and a half earlier than we thought we would.  

We had such a wonderful time in NYC.  And now that Hunter has an apartment there, I see a couple more trips in our future...!