Southern Babies: Big Apple Birthday

We left off with the big snowstorm. The kids were out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Tuesday the kids got to go to the office with me for a little while and Wednesday they stayed at Lynn's house. It was pretty and all but we were glad to see it go and life get back to normal.

Tuesday afternoon Will did a trial piano lesson. He got a keyboard for his birthday and it was finally time to investigate lessons. We enjoyed it and we did sign him up for weekly lessons.   Will also had a dentist appointment on the Wednesday they were out. He got sealants put on his back teeth and got a panoramic x-ray. He also got a referral to an orthodontist. What what? I knew Lindy would, but I didn't expect Will too. The x-ray showed his upper canines are totally blocked and he has serious crowding. It doesn't look like it should be that way with the space between his front teeth but what do we know.   He goes for a consultation on March 24th and I'm going to check out another place in town too before we make any decisions.

The big fun in January was my birthday! I turned the big 40 this year and it called for big fun!   I got the kids from school on Friday, Jan. 13th and brought them home. Grandbob and Suzette came to pick them up and take them to Charlotte and then Drew and I were off to NYC!   A big apple trip for your 40th isn't too bad! It's only made better when your bestie lives there! We flew in and out of Raleigh so we didn't get to Chris and Callie's apartment till almost midnight.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and at the One World Observatory by 9am. If you ever go, do it first thing in the morning. It was not crowded at all and we had no lines. We did have a fantastic view though. So cool to be 102 flights up and look out at Manhattan.   We went to the 911 Memorial before heading indoors for some shopping. We eventually split up and Chris and Drew headed to a Villanova (Chris and Callie's alma mater) basketball game at Madison Square Garden.   Callie and I hit the big shopping streets of NYC. Not really. We did some shopping but the number one thing we were looking for were sunglasses for me. That is all I wanted for my birthday was a pair of nice sunglasses. We did eventually find some so I was a happy camper. We met up with the guys at some point and Drew decided to go to the Natural History Museum. He took off across Central Park in a snowstorm that had come up on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully he found his way there and back. Callie and I looked around a bit more that afternoon too. We all met back to get ready for dinner. We met up with a friend of Drew's from college, Ross, and his wife Ewelina. We had a delicious dinner and huge desserts and a lot of fun catching up.

Sunday morning we headed to a Catholic mass with Chris and Callie in a big, beautiful, Catholic church. Afterwards we wandered a bit and then went to the Plaza for our high tea at the Palm Court. Sunday was definitely my favorite day. Drew and I aren't normally tea drinkers but we wanted to experience the Palm Court. It turned out to be so cool. We both ended up loving our tea and we loved all the finger food sandwiches they brought. It was more food than we could eat. It was just a nice, relaxing way to spend the afternoon. We wandered Central Park before chilling at Callie and Chris' apartment for a bit. We got ready and went out again that night for a Broadway show. We checked out Times Square and did some souvenir shopping for the kids and then went to our show, Kinky Boots. It was fantastic. Even Callie, who doesn't normally like shows, said she kind of liked it! It was just high entertainment and so fun. We found a spot to grab a bite to eat and watch the rest of the football game (we saw the Chiefs lose. Boo).

Monday we were lazy in the morning and eventually headed to the Met.   Chris left to go get their kids from Callie's mom in CT. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Met and then Callie and I met Chris and grabbed the kids. They gave me the highlights tour and then we took the kids and headed home. Drew stayed at the Met ALL DAY. Man he was there a long time!   Our last site seeing event for our trip was the Empire State Building at night. Drew had never been and I had gone when I was little. Chris and Callie's kids had never been either and no one had been at night. Besides it being cold, it was so cool. We went to the 86th and 102nd (could have skipped that one) but it was just really neat to see all the NYC lights. You could definitely tell where Times Square was! We ate one last dinner out that night before hitting the sack pretty early.

Drew and I flew out at 8am that morning so were up and gone by 5:30am. It was a great trip. We had racked our brains on where we could go but NYC is always fun so I'm glad we chose there. We are so thankful for the hospitality Callie and Chris showed us while we were there. It's more like we visited Callie and Chris and they just happen to live in NYC. You don't really feel like a tourist when you are with people who live there. And you don't have to figure out transportation because they know how to get everywhere. Not a bad way to ring in the big birthday!

Saturday morning at One World Observatory