A Day at the Museum

I'm on a roll here, aren't I? At this rate I'll post more times in one month than I did all of last year. Not a bad thing, given that last year seems mostly a blur at this point!

On the Tuesday morning, we left the hotel a bit later than I had anticipated. Against my better judgement, I had given my family a bit more credit than was due. I'm a bit of a slow study that way ... or maybe an optimist. You can tell me.

I did a lot of surfing to plan for this trip and tried to book as many tickets ahead of time as possible. (A major tip: I visited this website, "broadwaybox", where you can find discount codes for many NYC attractions, broadway and offbroadway shows.) From our previous experience at the AMNH, there were lineups galore if you waited to purchase tickets onsite. So I booked ahead to make it easy upon arrival - I would just have to visit their ticket kiosk (like an ATM) - swipe my credit card and prest0, we'd have the tickets. The problem with that is that at time of booking, you have to decide on the scheduled timing for any shows that you'd like to include in your package. I made the executive decision that we would make the 10:30 AM showtime no problem given that it should only take 10 minutes to walk from our hotel to AMNH.

Surely this would give us plenty of time - we were in NYC and although there was so much to see we'd still have time for a leisurely breakfast, no?

No. Not so much in reality. Seems I'm still the only morning person in this family. We left the hotel by 10 minutes after the hour, giving us barely any slack to pick up the tickets (yes, I still had to get those) and figure out where the space show was in the HUGE building. And of course we went to the wrong spaceshow first! I hadn't anticipated an early run - I suppose it could be seen as a fringe benefit, but not necessarily when you're not in the mood for a workout. In the end, we did make the show (and not that it was worth it- if it's the Whoopi Goldberg narrated space show, just skip it).

(...here's another lesson - although it might seem a little easier traveling with school-agers versus toddlers - ie. no diaper bag, no lugging around food/bottles/ strollers ... there is now more baggage of a different kind. A lot more negotiation is involved when you're dealing with whining about leaving beloved Cartoon network and the TV shows that we don't normally get at home. And also not helpful - a husband who is not a morning person and who would prefer some deservedly extra shut-eye. The mother/wife a.k.a . Me in this scenario just feels like a caged animal in the hotel room, as she's usually the first up and itching to do NYC in short order. By 10 AM I've already been up for more than a couple of hours and stir-crazy is putting it mildly. I wish I were a runner ... now that's an idea for next time...)

Rant over. Let's move on. The AMNH was wonderful - again. We had actually seen the "Night at the Museum" a second (or maybe 3rd time now) over the Christmas break, so it was amazing to see some of these things live.

That's one big canoe...

An origami tree

The squid and the whale (have you caught the movie? You should.)

Hall of "water dinosaurs" according to the girl

Our gracious hosts...

Most of the rest of the visit was captured on video, so the shots here weren't really representative of the amount of ground we covered. By about 1:30PM the kids were tired and hungry, and the museum had gotten rather crowded. You probably need at least 3 days to see everything at the AMNH rather than just 3 hours. But we were all museumed out.

We headed out into the frigid temperatures - and yes, even for us Canucks, it was very cold on that Tuesday. After a bit of arguing as to the best place to eat with the kids (another note to file - hungry is not a good state for this family)... we settled on a French cafe "Nice Matin" which is the restaurant affiliated with another hotel I had looked into staying at - The Lucerne, which also has kitchenette facilities. I had the most amazing sandwich there and the kids were happy with their meals - it was a welcome respite from the crazy frigid wind.

It was really too cold and late in the day for the family to do anything after getting back to the hotel. Well, you guessed it, except for the Momster - who decided to walk a few blocks down to the Upper West Side's Century 21 location. After all, I had to buy a couple of hats for me and the girlie - it was so darn cold! But yes, I scored again with Betsy Johnson ("Mommy are those spiders?) and Velvet Tees; and a great Calvin Klein dress for work.

For dinner that night everyone was still tired and seeing as it was so cold, we decided just to have dinner again at the Viand Cafe. Nice and close - and a perfect end to a long and busy day.

Agenda for Wednesday? Times Square and shopping - only this time not for me.

Friday Fragments "I'm Back" edition

Don't forget to check out the home of glorious Fragments( Mrs. 4444)

***I've got a few more posts coming regarding my NYC trip, but in the mean time here we are with some fragments.

I haven't done this in a loooong time, so glad to be back. I didn't realize how much I had missed blogging - looking back at previous posts over the holidays I realized that this space is where I've described so many amazing things about my life, my family, everything around me - things that made me laugh, cry, and think. Blogging doesn't seem to be the "it" thing to do anymore [(not sure that it ever was ;), but yeah, since you're reading this you know that we're still the cool kids, however old school this may be...]. It's incredible to me, though that I've been doing this for over 6 years now, and a lot of what has happened and changed is captured right here. And I really missed my bloggy friends.

***My husband bought me a Kobo Touch for Christmas. Well, more like I bought it as I couldn't decide what I wanted before hand- thought about Kindle Fire while in the US, but it's not available yet in Canada, and I worried about support, and access to the ebooks etc...So I stayed Canadian.

Since I'm now in a book club and reading things outside of work, it seemed like a good idea. So now I'm pumped with my Kobo and hot pink book cover - and at a loss for what to read! I have the "Virgin Cure" by Amy McKay sitting on my bedside table but I'm looking for something a bit more uplifting at the moment. Any suggestions?

***** The girlie tried gymnastics camp over the summer and I think she's discovered her passion. I can't believe the strength in that petite little body of hers - especially her pipes! With her little toothpick arms she works those bars incredibly. She's asked (and been asked by the gym teacher) to be moved up a level. I'm not sure if she's good enough for competition, but I guess we'll see.

Between her and her brother's intense soccer schedule, it may just do us in. But when you're a parent you can't not explore when your kids show such a keen interest. Regardless of how much stress it will add to our daily lives - that's what I signed up for when we had the kids, isn't it?

***** It's Chinese New year weekend coming up. We're getting together with my Mom and brother (sister will be away) on Sunday, New Year's Eve, for a family lunch. I'd forgotten that the 22nd will also be the 3rd anniversary of my Dad's passing.

Three years. That went by fast. I still "see" him sometimes whenever I see a fellow with a Kangol cap on. Dad, you were so cool.

***** I was driving the boy to his soccer game last Saturday and forcing him to talk to me - (backgrounder - apparently he doesn't talk much to his Dad in the car, and Ian asked me whether he's the same with me. To which the boy replied: "I always talk to Mom in the car, Dad. She FORCES me to, bullies me with questions so I have to answer back!" Hey, no apologies for trying to keep in the loop with my kid).

So back to the car. I was talking a bit about my week because the boy wasn't sharing too much about his. Then I started talking about my Dad and all that he accomplished in his life, how proud I was of my Dad after I found out what he did, and how proud he should be of his Grandpa (and how proud Grandpa would be of him). Yadadadada. While I was chattering away, trying to engage the boy, he cut through it all and said,
"Mom, can we just stop talking? This work stuff is just BORING!"

Can't blame him. The boy is just 11 years old, and coaching him as if he's a first year MBA student. Good job, Mom.

*****
Have a great weekend, all.

A walk in the park

With Monday still being a stat holiday, we decided to skip the major attractions and take advantage of the lovely not-too-cold weather. Day Two would be spent exploring Central Park.

Exploring would require some good energy, so we started with a very hearty breakfast at the restaurant adjacent to our hotel - the Viand Cafe. We felt a real sense of neighbourhood in this cafe: young couples with their trendy strollers for their designer-dressed toddlers, lattes and eggwhite omelettes- and the food - well, there was an awful lot of it. Which I was pleased (or depending how you look at it, appalled) at how easily I was able to scarf down the outrageously proportioned vegetarian frittata. Better to focus on the fact that the girlie who is a notoriously picky eater, was able to finish her French toast.

Our proximity to Central Park was fantastic. We were able to enjoy the walk to this oasis of green in the city. I know that Central Park is massive, but you really have to experience first hand to appreciate the enormity of it.

Strawberry Fields and the quiet tribute to John Lennon:


Picture of me blocking the famous Central Park Angels of the Waters fountain featured so prominently in movies and TV:

It was meant to be a leisurely day, but we decided to have an ultimate destination. So the loose plan was to visit the Central Park Zoo. It took us a good couple of hours, where we squeezed in a bit of rock climbing ...



but we finally found it ...

What a great little zoo. Even my Xbox addicted boy could find charm in the animals, proving that there's still a little boy to be found after all.

The zoo was at the base of Central Park, where it merged with Mid-town NYC. Whereupon we hit another institution...

So I'll let you in on a little secret... the best strategy for taking kids to FAO Schwartz' famous store and avoiding bankcruptcy? Take them at the end of a long day of walking. They were almost too tired to go in! Mean mummy - but I had to be, because, gulp, American Girl was still on the itinerary at some point during our stay. However, there was still enough energy to appreciate the array of Ugly Dolls:

By this point of the day, most were tired. We hailed a yellow cab and headed to the hotel. Back in the room, I got the kids settled in for Cartoon network so the hubs could have a snooze and more importantly, so I could attack the Loehmann's across the street for a bit. A very sweet, convenient discovery indeed. For there's always enough energy for this mom to shop for fashion - especially at some 40% -50% off already reduced Loehmann's prices.
Shopping for mommy? Why of course! I scored on a silk Cynthia Steffe dress, a Parasuco tartan shirt, a cute Harajuku Lovers Tshirt, Max Studio top, & Pure DKNY Tee for the summer ...all for about the equivalent of an American Girl Doll. I do miss my Fashion Fridays.

For dinner that evening, we headed around the corner to Josie's, where the food was wonderful, and the bartender poured a little too mean a drink. I think I had the boy a bit concerned, and the hubs had to put his hands up to tell me to "timeout" and stop my chatter for just 60 seconds. I can be rather loquacious when happy - the boy counted the word "Zabar's" about a dozen times while I quaffed a wicked martini. (We never did get to that famous market this trip, despite me going on and on and, apparently on again about it!)

I wasn't actually drunk. After a refreshing walk back to the hotel, I took a quick 10 minutes snooze once in our room, and woke up refreshed to get the kids to bed, knowing full well that we had a very busy and early start ahead for Tuesday.

The American Museum of Natural History awaited.

Inner Dookie-ness

We interrupt this trip report for an important news bulletin - I must share a couple items from my bucket list.

I need to see a) the Foo Fighters. And b) Green Day. And hopefully sometime before I'm overly geriatric.

The following, although not exactly a reasonable facsimile of achieving (b) , will have to do for now:



Although we missed the opportunity to see this on Broadway, we were lucky enough for Broadway to come to us on Tuesday night.

Here's a taste:



The notes weren't always hit bang on, the music should have been waaaay louder to give Green Day's music justice (oh, I know, you can't replicate stadium in live theatre)...

But the energy was super high, I was exhausted just watching the dancing, and a great time was had by all - which is a big thing because the hubs, as you know, is not the musical type of guy. And big bonus - major eye candy for me. Nothing like seeing nicely cut young men on stage in their skivvies. Yes, the idiots were cute. A couple were even Canadian idiots. My husband had to hold me down.

You're probably curious about the cross-section of people who attended. It was indeed quite a mixed bag- some regular theatre go-ers of my mom's demographic who were likely passing the smelling salts around during the F bombs and middle-finger gestures flying about the stage. And then there were the families, some with kids not much older than my own, which got me thinking - WTF??? Do these parents not know the lyrics, the subject matter, do they not get that there might possibly be iv drug use, and maybe sex on stage, simulated though it was???.. and then there were parents who were happy to be away on a mid-week date night, still trying to hang on to their cool - sigh... guilty as charged.

The audience seemed not to be into it at all. Is it just me, or does "Holiday" not just naturally inspire uncontrollable head bopping? None of this was in evidence that evening. Just weird. I felt somewhat stifled, and even looked toward the front for some moshpit that I might possibly fade into so I could rock it out in fair anonymity. Too bad one didn't exist.

The only indication that it was a hit was at the end - standing ovations galore - and well deserved too. Finally, some energy in the audience.

A 90 minute non-stop, visual and auditory onslaught of the best kind. See it if you can.

And now for something to remind us that we're all getting a little older: "Classic" Green Day...

Epic start to 2012

Heroic. Massive. Impressive.

Long.

Words that could be used to describe this post. What I'd like to accomplish here is two-fold: 1) cyber-dump the description of my last week for the internets to enjoy, and 2) have something for me to look back on as I will inevitably forget the details.

Details? Oh yeah - another recent discovery. Not only do I need more cowbell, but apparently a lot more walnuts as well.

I'd like to capture the best parts of what it was like to spend 5 nights in Manhattan with our 11 year old and just turned 7 year old. A nice family, bonding, city vacation. NYC was such a blast for me solo in November - and because we have extremely fond memories of the last time we took the kids around the same time of year in 2006 , we were pumped about this trip.

As I said, I could make this an epic post. But I won't. I'll need to break it up - for my sanity and for yours ...

Day 1 - New Years Day 2012

2:15 PM flight was very civilized. According to the flight attendant at check-in, the morning was an absolute zoo at the airport. We apparently avoided it all. A+ to me for planning the timing.

Side note: This allowed us to enjoy some New Years' Eve activity the night before (at a friend's house where, had my kids not had their friends to keep them busy, I would have embarassed them to no end dancing to Rush, the Cars (come on- "Just What I Needed?" - just have to bop to that...) - oh there was Radiohead too and some Green Day too - little G did great but had a meltdown at about 11:50 PM as there was too much of this old people stuff and LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" did not come on again as quickly as anticipated). ANYWHoooo...I'm rambling...I hope not to digress so much as we move forward.

We arrived at LaGuardia about 4:30 PM- I keep forgetting what a yuck airport LGA is- at least we didn't have to wait in the lounge here. Different story later when coming home.

We picked up a taxi very easily, and hit the road for the Upper West Side.



I had booked the Hotel Beacon, a couple of blocks around the corner from the Museum of Natural History. Seeing as we'd done midtown last visit, the UWS seemed like another great part of the city to explore.

Hotel Beacon is adjacent to the cool Beacon theatre that has hosted the likes of such acts as The Cure (incidently, Robert Smith is almost looking more Divine than anyone else these days -I know, so cruel, but it's hard to continue rocking the look of Goth when you're in your fifties, I suppose...) Morrissey, Louis CK ... who knew. Unfortunately, no great shows were on while we were there - although Peter Frampton is apparently "coming Alive" again in a few short weeks. Him and Myth busters - now THAT be would be cool.

The hotel is a converted apartment building - (in fact it appeared as if there was an original tenant just next door - very elderly )but it was perfect for a family - with a small kitchenette, pullout in the living room and a completely separate bedroom with King - an ideal space. Bonus with Fairways market across the street and a 24/7 Duane Read two buildings up.



The kitchenette, because you know, I've got a thing about kitchens...




We took it easy on our first evening, to energize for the next day of exploring. So that evening we had a delicious steak dinner at the Fairways Cafe, complete with amazing onion rings and reasonably priced wine.

All settled in to start our fantasy of living like an UWS family. Well, one can dream, right?
Next stop, Central Park.