New York, New York

I know that y'all have been dying for a recap of our trip to NYC. Unfortunately, Charlton and I came down with strep at the end of the week, so I haven't felt like posting until today. We are doing much better now that we've been on antibiotics for a few days. Thankfully, Steven dodged the bullet-- our pediatrician confirmed today that he's super healthy and that we should be past our contagious stage. Yea!

Charlton and I stole away the Friday after Easter for a long weekend without Steven. We have only ever been away from him for less than 24 hours since he was born. We were overdue for some alone time so we could focus on each other. We arrived Friday night without any problems and enjoyed dinner at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain which was only a few blocks from our hotel close to Rockerfeller Center. The food was excellent and it was fun to eat at a restaurant I had seen Bobby Flay demonstrate a few of dishes on the Food Network.


Our good friends, Jeff and Liz, were able to come up from PA and spent all of Saturday and part of Sunday enjoying the city with us. These first few pictures, we are in Central Park; thankfully, Liz had her camera because I found that without Steven as inspiration I was not as willing to be the photographer. Almost all our pictures are from Liz.

The weather turned out to be beautiful despite the predictions a week ahead of rain. It was in the mid 40's which is a little chilly for us Texans in the shade but we did quite well all bundled up in our coats- they haven't seen much action since our Philly days. Ironically, I spent a lot of time packing what to wear when really most of the time all that was showing was my coat, scarf, and gloves. We spent Saturday walking different areas of NYC. After walking through a very small part of Central Park, we walked through the NY public library which was just gorgeous. Can you imagine studying in there? I felt smarter just taking a break on this bench from all our walking. We kept wondering where all the books were and had to walk up to the third floor before finding this room. The hallways and stairways looked more like a museum than a library.

After the library we hopped on the subway to look around Soho which is where we found this well-named street. We tried lots of different kinds of Dim Sum for lunch at Chinatown Brasserie.

We then walked over to Greenwich Village. I had heard so much about Magnolia Bakery in magazines, etc. that I was dying to try one of their famous cupcakes. And it was only blocks from a cool tea shop that Liz had been told about. Perfect...until we found the bakery and there was a line out the door (with an employee to make sure no one cut in), around the corner, and down the street. Since we aren't in NYC very often we decided not to waste our limited time standing in line. Bummer-- those cupcakes must be good!

Charlton and I like a cup of tea, but Jeff and Liz are big tea drinkers. So, we headed for the McNulty's Tea and Coffee Co. and it was worth the walk. All the tea leaves are in separate glass canisters and they measure your choice out on this scale. I had Liz pick us out some green tea to try and it is so good! We've been drinking it a lot (especially with our sore throats); I should have bought more at the rate we've been going. I think you guys started something!

Saturday night we saw Mary Poppins on Broadway. The sets and performance were of course amazing and so much fun to watch! Sunday we attended Redeemer Presbyterian for worship, and heard a wonderful sermon from Tim Keller. He has a new book out called The Reason for God that has made it on the New York Best-Sellers list that we are excited to read soon. After lunch and telling Jeff and Liz good-bye, we enjoyed some shopping and walked down a few streets where the artists have their paintings out to sell.

Monday we got home around 5pm; I especially was very anxious to see Steven. He did wonderful with our parents- he had two days with each. He was excited to see us and wanted to be held for the first hour or two we were home which was fine with us. He recovered pretty quickly and ran off the play just remembering to come back every once in a while to make sure we were still there. Charlton was able to have Tuesday off to so that we could spend a little time convincing Steven that things were back to normal. Last but not least...a picture for Steven for obvious reasons. Evidence that he was still on our mind even though we were miles away. Jeff and Liz- We had so much fun seeing you guys after so long! We'll have to try the West Coast next time.