Uptown Girl, She's Been Living In Her Uptown World

Horns blaring, humidity choking, buildings silhouetted against a minimal sky like a perfect cardboard cut-out, trains speeding by at deafening rates, people dressed up in their uniform of black, spinning doors in constant motion, music pealing through a gilded and aged auditorium, cash registers bleeping as fabric is slid into plastic...ahhhh, New York City! It stirs an emotion in me I can't describe. I adore the place. It's a sensory onslaught I thoroughly crave every time I'm immersed in the city that never sleeps.
It's standing commentary in my big family that I can run people into the ground when vacationing with me (and I think I acquired this label on my previous trip to NYC with the girls and Johnny!) In my defense, I can't help myself. From the moment I step off a plane, I feel the clock begin to tick. I have a window of my life in front of me, and I must fill every moment to the "nth" degree. So I run. Not literally ('though I can walk a mean pace), and am just not willing to let any voluptuous moment of opportunity for something incredible to slip through my fingers. I can't help it if others don't see my vision. And I struggle when they don't. Nonetheless, if I'm the captain of my journey, it's going to be stuffed to the seams with "I was here".
Planning a New York City visit with my husband and four children was a tad worrisome, I'll admit! I knew I would have to bridle my passion and slow it down a few thousand kilometers per hour. Just in every day life, wherever we go, I am always five steps ahead of Shayne (he cannot hustle!) and a couple of his children inherited that gene. Knowing we'd be putting four kids and two strollers on and off the subways alone felt daunting. After all, do you see many kids in New York City? When you do, they all look a little rumpled and depressed. (We speculated on that topic from 125th to 42nd on one morning subway ride!) And, realizing my children's black or mismatched wardrobe was limited (what can I say, I like the coordinating clothing lines at the Gap!), I knew we would stand out like a neon sign: "TOURIST FAMILY". But, inspite of these obstacles, our adventure to NYC was great! The kids dug down pretty deep and proved to be unmatched troopers! (Shayne was a different story, but we'll let that go for now!) They were dragged around for 3 1/2 days (including a day-and-a-half of pouring rain) and didn't complain too very much! They sloshed through the dirty, pooling New York streets, wet from head to toe, or sweating their flushed adorable faces off, and still managed to get excited over what I took them to see. We packed in as much as those little legs would allow: Arrival day--Ollie's for great Chinese, Columbus Circle; Day One--Natural History Museum, Central Park, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center construction, Canal Street, Little Italy, Chinatown, Lombardi's for dinner (first pizzeria in the U.S.! Coal-oven pizza--delish!); Day Two--American Girl Place brunch (so adorable!), Clinton Street Bakery (pancakes to die for), Times Square, 34th Street, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, standing in pouring rain to get tickets for a show at TKTS booth, abandoning line as Shayne takes bored/dripping kids home to apartment, Leslee goes theater to theater, finally gets tickets to Mary Poppins (yeah!); Day Three--Coney Island (hole!), Leslee shops (not nearly enough time!), hanging out in closed off 7th Ave, Hershey store (guess we didn't get enough in PA!), Magnolia Bakery (can you say yummalicious cupcakes!), Dylan's Candy Bar, Union Square, Max Brenner's for dinner (to-die-for-best-I've-ever-tasted-in-my-life-chocolate-dessert), 34th street shopping to make Leslee happy; Departure Day--get rental van out of sardine parking garage, bumper all trashed--just great! Say "until next time" to NYC!! Now, off to the beach...

Loving dinner at Ollies!

Hangin' outide the Natural History Museum

Recognize this dino? Think "Night at the Museum"!

Checking out Belvedere Castle and Central Park

Staten Island Ferry en route to Statue of Liberty

My precious and her first view of the NYC skyline!

Lombardi's (hence the sign...)

American Girl place brunch

Tash was the best shopping buddy!

Yeah for Times Square!

A cool Ferris wheel in Toys-R-Us Times Square

Inside the New Amsterdam Theater at intermission (Tash thought the show was over :))

Listening to some jazz and resting (for the two minutes I allowed them to...)

My new favorite NYC restaraunt--Max Brenner's! Think 20-page chocolate heaven menu...ahhh