New York State of Mind

Happy Father's Day to all! I have the best Dad whom I thank God for and I am so proud of my husband and the wonderful dad that he is to the boys:)

We had a blast in NYC! It was a little iffy Tuesday night as to the fate of our trip since Barry was sick and had scratched his eye! He had to go to the eye doctor who told him to take out the contacts and let his eye heal. Problem was, he had no glasses anymore, so he had to call around town until he found the one place that could fill the prescription the night before we left! He still had a cold when we took off early Wednesday morning, his eye hurt, he had a headache and was trying to adjust to the glasses, but by Thursday morning he was ok! He looks so handsome in his glasses:)

I am so happy that we took Reese and that Brandy was able to tag along at the last minute! I casually mentioned the trip to her last week and within days, she was booked to come with us! Showing people around New York to my favorite places is such a joy. We had a little rain, ok- a LOT of rain- but it did not stop us!! We had non-stop fun and just kept going even though it was weird to wear a hoodie and jeans in June!

Cole went with his school group and we got him from them on Friday and he flew back with us. He had a great time with his group and we were so glad to see him on Friday- yes, I worried a little bit about a 13 year old in New York City!! His chaperones took good care of him, though, and he got to meet Ben Vereen! (I'm jealous. The only celebrities we saw were Hello Kitty and Constantine from American Idol crossing the street!) He also took an acting workshop class and saw Wicked and Phantom of the Opera.

We saw Stomp, which was amazing. I don't think that we could have picked a better show for Reese- he loved it. We had the best meal at Morimoto- sushi by the master- at least, those trained by him- he wasn't there:( I did try the shrimp rolls, which even I loved, but my entree was "Angry Chicken"- SUPER SPICY and wonderful. We had pastries in the East Village at De Robertis, an Italian bakery that has been in operation for over 100 years. We had the usual crazy cab rides, a monsoon in Chinatown as we tried to bargain shop on the sidewalk, and delicious Chinese at Big Wong King, my favorite Chinatown restaurant. We saw the Yankees play at the new stadium and had pizza in Little Italy at Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in the US- I always wanted to go!! It was worth the wait- delicious. We took a boat out on the lake in Central Park, visited Grand Central Station, and of course, ate delicious pastrami and corned beef at Stage Deli.

Lots of great eating, lots of walking, lots of excitement- that's New York!! Glad to have had a safe trip and SOOO glad to be home!

Reese's first plane ride! So glad to let him be an only child for a few days!
Times Square arrest :)


Wednesday we had beautiful weather...
the ferry at sunset...check out the reflection of the Statue of Liberty in the window..

giant turkey sandwich at Stage Deli...I have decided that I like them better than Carnegie- they allow you to order a half sandwich instead of forcing you to waste food or pay a big "sharing charge". Plus- their pastrami and slaw was better. Enough said.


I kid you not, within ten minutes of arriving at Central Park, Reese was in a pick up game of football with about 10 NY school kids. He just walked up to a kid with a football and asked did they want to start a game! He said that the boys asked him where he was from and when he said NC, one said, "But you're not a hick!" HA ha!

melt in your mouth roast pork crepes at Big Wong

our celebrity sighting...oh, well...

espresso and cannoli at De Robertis- yum.

Reese and me on the lake- Central Park
Strawberry Fields forever...this little Beatles fan was happy here

at the Met museum

the whole gang at Morimoto! Don't we look sharp:) ??



Lombardi's in Little Italy- amazing!!

Next time, YOU should go with us!!!!