NYC's Nooks and Crannies

Well, we woke up yesterday morning thinking we might need to pack up and head home.  But thankfully, when we checked in, we were greeted with the news that everyone was healthy.  And Dave was feeling better too, so instead of heading home, we set out to enjoy our day in NYC.

The nice thing about only being 4 hours from NYC is that we get to go there on a fairly regular basis. Granted, Dave and I haven't been there together for probably 5 years, thus the reason for this trip, but we have been there together and separately many times.  And the awesome thing about that is that we've done all the main tourist attractions that can take up all of your time.  So instead, now when we go, we look for the Nooks and Crannies of NYC and explore the neighborhoods and then just repeat some of our favorites.

We started out the day by going to Untuckit in SoHo.  Dave's been wanting to check out this store after seeing it advertised.  There are now 5 stores nationwide, but the original is here in SoHo.  A short while later, we headed out with a new Untuckit shirt.

Next we headed to NYU's campus and Washington Square Park.

And the famous arch, built for the 100th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration.

Dave did all the food research for this trip.  He read about Gansevoort Market and a place inside that sells these delicious garlic bread knots that are stuffed with chicken, meatballs, etc. 

Yum!

After lunch, we headed to High Line, which neither of us had been to.

It's where the train used to run through the city before the subway was built and it has been made into a cool above-ground park along the old railroad ties. 

And then we made our way across town.....

to the Neue Galerie.  I didn't really care what we did this weekend except this.  I definitely wanted to come here.

I wanted to see the Gustav Klimt exhibit, the largest Klimt collection in the U.S. 

Mainly, I wanted to see this, The Lady in Gold.  This here is a reproduction because there are no pictures allowed in the gallery, so they have a reproduction set up downstairs for picture-taking purposes.  It took three years to complete and was finished in 1907. 

Have you seen the 2015 Helen Mirren film, Woman in Gold?  Dave and I saw that last year.  It was a fascinating story about the niece of this woman, Adele Bloch-Bauer, trying to get this painting back decades after the Nazis took it and then after the war, it found it's home in a famous Austrian Art Museum. After watching the movie and learning that the painting was now in NYC, we made a mental note to make sure to see it next time we were there.  Very cool!

And then we headed to Central Park.

And then St. Patrick's Cathedral, which first opened it's doors in 1879.  It is the largest decorated Gothic Catholic Church in the U.S. 

And then we walked by Trump Tower.  The tower that a million people walked by every day before is now barricaded all around for both security purposes and protest purposes.  And as you're facing the tower, the street to the right of it,is just permanently blocked off at all times with security cars parked up and down the sides.  We went inside Trump Tower and there were White House guards who greeted you and went through your bags before going inside.  It was pretty interesting. 

And then we went to see the Berlin Wall.  Dave read that it was here.  But it was hard to find.  It's in the lobby of an unmarked building.  You would never in a million years know it was there unless you specifically knew that it was there and the address of the building of which it was inside.

And after all that, we were hungry!  So, we headed to Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecote.  We ate at this restaurant in Paris during our 10 year anniversary trip and loved it.  They only have 5 locations throughout the world, the original being in Paris, but another here in NYC.  It doesn't necessarily look incredible because the green sauce that goes over the steak looks like.... well green sauce.  But trust me... it's delicious!  Everybody in the restaurant gets the exact same thing.  You start with bread and salad.  After that, they bring you steak and fries.  The steak is very thinly sliced, very tender and absolutely delicious especially with their famous secret sauce.  Yum!

After dinner, we went to see the Lion at the Paris Theatre (we didn't mean for there to be a theme, but apparently there was!)  The Paris Theatre is Manhattan's sole surviving single-screen theatre. It opened in 1948 when Marlene Dietrich cut the inaugural ribbon.

And on a side note.... this was what was going on back home.  Tanner's Pinewood derby!  It absolutely killed me to miss this!  When I first planned this weekend, nothing was on the calendar.  But Murphy's law..... Tanner's pinewood derby was canceled a few weeks ago due to weather (which was lame - it didn't start snowing until the afternoon and even then, it was like an inch) and OF COURSE they re-scheduled it for this weekend.  As you can see, he didn't have a mother at home to make sure he combed his hair and wore his scout uniform, but at least he made it!  Dave arranged for his bother to take Tanner, so Tanner had a fun morning with his Uncle Mike!

And he came in 4th place!  Not to shabby.

I may or may not have had some influence in designing his car..... ;)

And after the derby was over, Uncle Mike took Tanner to see some cool sports cars, so he had a great day!  And so glad he recovered from the flu in time to do this!

In the meantime, after finishing the movie, we made our way "home."  It was quite a day!  Our legs were tired and our feet ached after all the walking.  But it was a good day in the city..... until we started getting ready for bed and got the text from Kristy that she was sick and starting to throw up.  Oh no!  We briefly considered just heading home immediately and getting home in the middle of the night, but we weren't even sure the trains ran that late and Kristy said the kids were in bed and she'd be okay.  I called Lacey and put her in charge of the little girls if they needed anything and then instead of sleeping in and having a nice breakfast out before heading home like we had planned, we got out the door ASAP this morning.  We got to the train station at 8:15 only to find that the train had left one minute before at 8:14, so we had to wait a full hour before the next one came.  It was painful.  Kristy's dad (bless him!) came over to our house this morning to help with the kids while Kristy laid down.  We got home a little before 1:00 and sent Kristy and her dad home to rest!  I'm pretty sure that was the worst baby-sitting job of her life!  Good thing we've known her for 10 years!  And I'm hoping she'll forgive us before Tuesday when I work & she's supposed to watch our kids again..... yikes! 😁

It's like I told Dave, the weekend wasn't necessarily the care-free, fun weekend we had envisioned.  But it was a memorable nevertheless.  And I'm sure we'll look back at all of this and laugh some day. And hopefully poor Kristy will too!  

Nausea in NYC

I wasn't sure what to get Dave for Christmas.  But he's been talking about wanting us to do a weekend in NYC for the last few years.  So, when I saw an awesome Cyber Monday deal for a NYC hotel and double checked with our college sitter on her availability/interest and she said she could do it, I bought the deal and gave Dave a weekend in NYC for Christmas and he's been super excited about it ever since.  We both have.  He's done a ton of research and had a complete itinerary planned out for the whole time.  Well, the weekend finally arrived...... and so did the flu.  At the exact same time.  I was at work yesterday when Dave texted me and told me Tanner threw up.  I raced home because Dave had to leave to take Riley somewhere. By the time I got there, Tan was moaning and groaning and crying and puking his guts out.  He continued to puke NON-STOP for like the next 9 hours.  It was HORRIBLE!  While I'm with him and trying to help him, Lacey started puking.  Then Riley.  Then Dave.  Between 4pm and midnight 4 of the 6 of us started puking and yet our sitter was arriving at 8am, which is when Dave and I were scheduled to leave for NYC.  The hotel was paid for - we would have been out the money if we didn't go.  I also felt like we should pay our sitter at least a good chunk of what we were going to pay her because she had reserved the weekend for us and could have done other things to make money and is madly saving for her next semester at college.  And, we didn't know if this was something that was going to drag on or something where everyone would wake up the next morning and feel better.  So, we were up all night long puking (Dave) and cleaning up puke x 3 kids (me) and in between puking sessions talking about what to do.  Do we cancel the trip?  Wait and see how everyone is in the morning?  By 6:30, I called the sitter and filled her in and told her that we were trying to figure things out, but for now don't come over at 8:00 as planned and that we'd be in touch.  By 9:00 the kids were all starting to feel better.  I obviously kept them all home from school, but they started asking for food, and the puking had stopped.  But Dave, who started later than the kids was still completely out of commission.  But since the kids were doing better, we were both hopeful that Dave would follow suit and feel better soon.  By noon, he said he felt well enough to go as long as I drove.  But I was very concerned about Ella getting sick with the sitter and me getting sick in NYC.  And of course about the sitter getting sick.  But she baby-sat for us the day before (she was at the house when Tanner first started throwing up when I was at work), so I figured she'd already been exposed to whatever we had.  So, it was more of a concern of her getting sick while in charge of our kids and us being too far away to do anything.  Anyway, we hemmed and hawed and went back and forth about what to do.  In the end, we decided it would be way to hard to re-schedule this weekend and at the time we left (12:30), Lacey, Tanner and Riley were all feeling fine and Ella was running around the house like a crazy woman.  So, we decided to take our chances and prayed our hearts out and crossed our fingers for the best!

By the time we finally got to the city, we were starving since we hadn't eaten all day.  Dave had researched all the places he wanted to try, so we headed over to Black Tap, known for their famous ($15!) shakes and gourmet burgers.  Unfortunately, by the end of dinner, Dave said he wasn't feeling very well, so instead of a night on the town like we planned, we headed to our hotel.

But still enjoyed the views of the city on our way.

And we both agree this is probably the best view of any NYC hotel we've ever stayed in.  We have a corner room with floor to ceiling windows with a gorgeous view of the Empire State Building directly in front of us.

But alas, we were in our room by 7pm with Dave in bed not feeling well and me receiving texts from our sitter saying that Ella is now throwing up.  That was what I was afraid of.  So, I suppose there is a very good chance, we could end up heading home in the morning instead of staying until Sunday like we planned.  Just praying that Ella does okay during the night.  Our sitter is going to hate us!  I feel so bad!!  And of course crossing my fingers that I don't get nailed with a similar fate while here since I'm now the sole Strom hold-out.  This whole thing stinks, especially since Tanner and I are both just getting over strep throat - we were brutally sick a couple weeks ago and just finished our antibiotic the other day.  And now this. As my mom would say..... "It's always something!"  Yes.  Yes it is. 

Four

After work last night, I went straight to pick up Riley from dance, then dropped her off at home and waited in the car for Lacey and Tanner to run out to the car to take them to the Roller Skating Rink for Family Fitness Night for their school.  So, all that to say, I dropped off Ella with the sitter at 9:00am and never saw her again.  So, when I got home with L and T at 9pm, I snuck into her room to get one last look at my 3 yr old baby.

This morning, I got up early and ran out to Dunkin Donuts so that my strawberry-donut loving girl could have her favorite breakfast treat.

It was so cute because she's been asking for weeks about her birthday but doesn't quite understand the concept of time.  So, when she woke up this morning and we told her it was her birthday, it was like she went into this excited state of shock.  "It's my birthday?! I'm 4?!"

Then, in the afternoon, we went to Chick Fil A where we met some friends, played and had lunch.

Then we came home and Ella made her own birthday cake.  We already did her Littlest Pet Shop cake at her family party on Sunday, so for this one, I just let Ella do whatever the heck she wanted.  She absolutely insisted on "helping" every step of the way!

Her best friend in the whole world is Dom from across the street, so we invited Dom and his whole family over for dinner, cake and ice cream.

And then we opened a couple gifts - a Peppa Pig house and figurines and a Puppet Show stand.

I remember everything about that day 4 years ago.  And I remember bringing you home.  And how much you loved that rocker swing.  And how our lives were never the same again.  And how we can remember our lives and our family before you were born, but can't picture you not being a part of it all at the same time.  What would I do without my little caboose?  My little shadow that is with me every second of every day.  You're sassy, spirited and opinionated as all get out. ;) But you are my baby girl.  And no matter how old you get, you always will be.  Happy Birthday Gracie Girl.

Double Digits

I'll admit it.... this week is a tough one.  It is for me every year because my bookends both get a year older.  My firstborn and my caboose.  I just so tangibly feel things moving along this week when all I want to do is freeze time.  And I guess this year in particular it feels hard because my firstborn is turning double digits!!  I have been a mother for a decade!  Man, and if the next decade goes as fast as this one..... I can't even think about it!  So, once again, I remind myself to just live in the moment and soak it in.  And accept the fact that that baby that made me a mother a decade ago is officially now a "tween."  Sigh!

Lacey was vey specific about what she wanted for her birthday this year.  For starters, she wanted breakfast in bed with blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, bacon and strawberry milk. Check!

After breakfast, we went to church and then after church, we invited Dave's entire family over for a birthday dinner celebration.  Lacey said she didn't really care what we had for dinner, but dessert HAD to be an ice cream cake!

And after cake..... presents!

I had to put this picture in because.... Dave's face.  Haha!

Even though these little bookends are 3 days apart (Lacey, you can thank Ella for arriving late - she was due ON Lacey's birthday, so it was a close call!), when inviting the whole family over for a celebration, we can't NOT combine their celebrations for that one.  So after celebrating Lacey, we did Ella's cake.  She requested a Littlest Pet Shop cake.

Look at her trying her darndest to blow out that candle!

And Ella's present time.... Cousin Lexi's present of Littlest Pet Shop toys was a major hit!

So... that was all yesterday.  Today was Lacey's friend party.  Because this weekend is the semester break, the kids had today off school, so it was the perfect time for her party!  She was also very specific about this - she wanted her party at the roller skating rink.  She went skating for the first time with a friend a couple months ago and loved it and has been dying to go back ever since.

Here she is with her good friend, Katie.

I hired a sitter to stay home with the other kids (I completely forgot Dave would be at work - duh!), but Tanner said he really wanted to come.  So good for him for not being intimidated by being the lone boy amidst a gaggle of girls!

Pizza break time!

After two hours of skating and eating, Lacey sent her guests home with this goodie bag full of Tootsie Rolls (thank you Pinterest!) and other tootsie candies.

Her 4th grade groupies

After dropping off her friends, we came home and opened gifts.

Happiest of birthdays to this flamingo-loving ball of sweetness who made me a mother 10 years ago.  What an absolute pleasure to be her mother.  Love you to the moon and back, Lacey bug.