Thursday, May 20, 2010




If you've been checking Graham's tweets you may have caught on that we were in New York early in the week. I had a small work thing up there but was able to turn it into a mini-trip for the fam.

Our first day could not have been better. Maggie was as sweet as pie on the train ride up. We checked into an adorable hotel in the West Village and spent the afternoon walking the neighborhood and enjoying perfect weather. The highlight, for me, was picking up sandwiches at a great little shop and taking them over to the playground for lunch and a few hours of play. It was terrific people watching and Maggie got a chance to cut loose. This was followed by a stroll down the high-line and then off to a swanky party.

Our second day, however, took a turn for the worst! We awoke to pouring rain with the looming reality that check-out was at 11:00 and our train was not until 6:00. Sans-Maggie this would have been fine but when you have a kid and a stroller and bags and umbrellas and few indoor options that encourage toddler-dom, you feel a bit stranded.

We saw the MoMA as our salvation and a way to pass several hours. After a long and expensive cab ride up to it, we learned that it is closed on Tuesdays. (Ouch.) Thankfully, Graham had the brilliant idea to try FAO Schwartz and because the rain had turned to a drizzle we decided to walk it. This trek started out fine but quickly turned into chaos when the rain started pouring in sideways and the wind was turning our umbrellas inside-out. At that point we were committed to walking so Graham clutched Maggie to his chest and wrestled the umbrella the rest of the way. I was left to push a stroller of wet bags and gave up on the umbrella altogether. By the time we got to FAO we were a sight to see!

Thank God for that store. It was the perfect refuge. Maggie (who by the way was dry - go figure) had the absolute best time and ran up and down every aisle. We were even able to stay long enough to get to the train station only reasonably early. On the train, Maggie decided to grace her very weary parents with a relaxed ride home by watching Nemo and curling up on dad's lap.

It was an exhausting two days. All three of us had some low points - especially on day two - but I have to say that we were able to hold it together and avoid any major melt downs. For that I am proud of our little crew.

Note: All photos were taken on day one. For obvious reasons.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a, mostly, great trip. The part about the walk in the rain had me cracking up. We did the Rose Parade in a torrential downpour once. The girls and I were crying the entire time but we've been laughing about it ever since then.

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