TODAY...

....we woke up sleepy and decided to wander around our own neighbourhood - the Tribeca and Soho districts.  We strolled along the Hudson River, ventured into some sweet boutiques, enjoyed people-watching at lunch, browsed through a bookstore, and then returned to the Inn for some Wimbledon-watching-and-lounging.  At dinner Phil tried oysters for the first time ever (EWWWW!) and we went to an adorable cafe called "Bubby's" for dessert.  Mom - I thought of you while eating my fresh blueberry pie with vanilla icecream!!!

I can't forget to mention our second (or third...if you count the unidentified "rapper") celebrity spotting!  While strolling along the boardwalk this morning, we passed Ty Pennington who was running with a beautiful blonde lady.  And yes, gals!  He is THAT good-looking in person.

Well, our time in NYC is coming to an end, but FEAR we do not!  "On our way home" trips are the best because they always end with FAMILY and FRIENDS instead of SCHOOL and WORK!

Tomorrow I get to see my Daddy!!!  HOORAY!!!!

Yay for June 27th!  We've been counting down for DAYS to meet you :)

See you SOON, Daddy!!!
xoxo 

TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY = TOO, TOO WONDERFUL!

The original plan for yesterday was to be all romantic and walk through Central Park, but with showers in the forecast we decided to shop and visit the United Nations instead.  It was a great day, even though we got caught in the POURING RAIN.  Here are some SNAPS!

Madison Square Garden!  Both One Direction and the Biebs will be making an appearance at the venue later this year.  I wonder if any of our students are planning to be in attendance......(it TRULY IS a possible scenario).  

Let the SHOPPING BEGIN!  We visited the world's largest Nike store first (I'm making this up....maybe), which was FIVE FLOORS tall with escalators to transport you between each level.  At the store, Phil purchased a blue t-shirt that says "LIONS JUST DO IT".  They were all out of Leafs gear (winky face), so I held out until we went to Tiffany's for my "anniversary present".  This process took all of 10 minutes, as I'd already done some pre-scoping-out online and knew EXACTLY what I wanted! 

Next stop was TRUMP TOWER (a different one from previous days)!  This is the one where the popular "you're fired!" takes place.  It is open to the public during the day so we took a peek at the luxury goods inside and rode an escalator or two.  We love Mr. Trump!

If you think TOYS 'R US is AMAZING, you would have an absolute HAY DAY at F.A.O. Schwartz.  Our only reason for visiting the store was to see the BIG PIANO that Tom Hanks and the Kardashian sisters played on, but in finding that we found a SLEW of other things that sparked our interest.  This could be a true all-day affair.  If you still have a kid inside of you.

When shopping was finished, we headed to the United Nations for an audio tour.  We believe we had the worst guide possible (especially since the majority of the tour was AUDIO), but the experience was still a COOL one.  Here is a picture of the general assembly hall where the likes of Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela have addressed the world.

This wall was my favourite part.  Each individual poster declared a particular human right.  They were done so artistically.  I wish I could have secured a poster of each one!

This "School in a Box" was found in the "Millennium Development Goals" section of the tour.  Above it read "In today's world, 1 in 6 adults is still not literate; 2/3 of them are women."  If you would like to help, you could choose to make a donation or purchase an entire "School in a Box" to be sent to an area in need.  It's a good idea, don't you think?? 

After our tour of the U.N., we were ready for home.  We hopped on the Subway hoping to get back to the Inn as quickly as possible, but we missed our connecting train by 5 SECONDS and had to wait some extra time to catch the next one!  Lucky for us, the whole situation worked in our favour as we ended up in the same subway car as STEVE NASH!  He was out for a stroll with his baby and Phil worked up the nerve to shake his hand!!  Here's a picture of Phil immediately after that encounter - you can see he is little-boy-giddy after meeting his favourite basketball player! 

SUNDAY = FUNDAY

Yesterday was the first day that "rain/thunderstorms/severe thunderstorms" were not in the weather forecast and looking ahead at the upcoming week (storms every day!), we knew that this was the day to head to Central Park and Times Square.  Here are some photo's from our big stroll (or Parkinson POWER WALK) around NYC:

TA-DA!!!!  A big chunk of green space in the middle of Manhattan.  When we first entered the park, we stood at the finish line of some running races that included adorable 5 and 6 year old's.  SO CUTE!!!!

Row-boating in Central Park seems romantic.  It even LOOKS romantic.  Unless you're from Canada.....and the whole thing seems plain old hokey!  The park was beautifully landscaped and there was so much going on that you could be kept occupied for HOURS!  Phil and I ended up "off roading" in some serious nature trails that we didn't anticipate!  It was VERY ADVENTUROUS in flats :)

SPOTTED:  HOTEL EMPIRE!  XOXO, GOSSIP GIRL!

Times Square.  Another location with SO MUCH to look at.  Another location to waste away hours.  After fighting through the crowds on this sunny afternoon, we cannot imagine what the pedestrian traffic is like on New Year's Eve!  CRAY, CRAY indeed! 

We did our best to secure tickets to "The Lion King", but unfortunately they are all sold out for the rest of our stay!  As for the other shows, they start at 8 p.m......and we aren't wild enough to maintain consciousness during this time of day. 

The famous New Year's Eve ball - with the "2012" reminder :)  It really looks much bigger on tv....don't you think?  Perhaps all the glitz just creates an illusion.....

Following Times Square we went to 5th Avenue for some shopping.  We hit up the NHL store (not as awesome as we hoped for) and the NBA store (also not as awesome as we hoped for).  Although Phil found a really nice "LIN" t-shirt (short for LINDSAY), our disappointment with these stores and our overall tiredness from intense trekking left us ready for home!  

What else?  Hmmm.....

*  Trump dominates this city with hotels EVERYWHERE.  AWESOME.
*  Contrary to popular belief on the world wide web, there is NO such thing as an NFL store in NYC.
*  Who knew that public washrooms HERE could be worse than ones in EGYPT?!  AHHHhhhhh!!!!!
*  Sometimes all you need is a vanilla, soft serve ice cream to re-energize yourself :)

Who Wears SHORT SHORTS?!

Absolutely every gal in NYC!!!!

Haha, the title of this post has NOTHING to do with the post itself.  This post is about our playdate with Steve - an almost New Yorker who lives in the Hamptons.  Steve does NOT wear short shorts, but he sure does know how to give a tour of the city!  The man was kind enough to drive TWO HOURS to meet us and planned GREAT ACTIVITY after GREAT ACTIVITY to make our trip a special one.  Check out what we got up to on Saturday:

We met Steve at the Starbucks across from the Trump Soho.  He was a wee bit late due to traffic, but this gave us prime star-spotting time.  We're pretty sure we saw a famous rapper get dropped off at this hotel.  Swanky Escalade.  Swanky driver.  Swanky chains.  For sure.....FAMOUS, ya?! 

The view of the city on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty!  On the boat, people were discussing the eeriness of the Twin Towers being absent from this view.  If you look closely, you will see the Brooklyn Bridge to the right. 

There she is!  LADY LIBERTY!  She's pretty, isn't she?!

Phil's dream coming true at Battery Park.  He FINALLY got a caricature of himself!!!!  Haha.  He's worked 28 years to get one of these sketches.  And now, HE HAS ONE!  The final product was RIDICULOUS.  Picture him in a wife-beater, with "monies" in one hand and a drink in the other.  I have no idea what happened to our pre-discussion with the artist (re: he loves sports)?  I suppose you get what you pay for ($5). 

Steve took us to the "Fulton Street Market" for lunch.  It is right on the water, with fun old ships docked nearby.  We never would have known about this place without Steve!  It had such a fun atmosphere that reminded us of the Wharf in San Fran - minus the sea lions. 

See - I am proving TIME AND TIME AGAIN that I am NOT the only person that believes in a year-round celebration of Christmas.  This is a whole store dedicated to the very occasion!!!  HOORAY!!!!

The oh-so-famous Brooklyn Bridge.  In addition to SHORT SHORTS, American flags are spotted EVERYWHERE!  Can you see the one in this picture?!  :)

Before deciding to take the "education" pathway, Steve was headed towards a career on Wall St.  That being said, our walk through the financial district was particularly relevant!  Here is the New York Stock Exchange!  HIP, HIP!

In the evening, we went to the Mets vs. Yankees game at Citifield.  If I hadn't been up since 3:30 a.m. (GO JETLAG!), I think I would have been as pumped for the experience as the boys were!  My favourite part was the seventh inning stretch.  YAHOO for dancing and singing!!!  Although our team lost (the Mets), there was a fun vibe at the venue and we met some interesting characters! 

Here they are - the BEST BASKETBALL COACHING DUO EVER!!!  Thank you Steve for a wonderful day in NYC.  We appreciate you driving ALL THAT WAY just to see us!!!

Other things to mention:  CREAMSICLES are AMAZING on a hot day, finding hair in food is GROSS, and there should be rules about halting your street-walk when ba-zillions are behind you.

WOOT, WOOT for new adventures! 

A Place to Reflect.

On Friday we walked to the financial district to visit The 9/11 Memorial.  The memorial honours the innocent lives lost in the terroist attacks of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001.  It is beautifully designed, with two large pools located in the place of the original Twin Towers and the names of the nearly 3000 victims inscribed around them.  Here are some pictures from our visit:        

One of the two pools.  You can see the swamp white oak trees, which were brought to the site from nurseries nearby the three attack sites.

It's heartbreaking to see family members remembering their loss.  Databases were available around the complex to help locate the names of the victims.   

Certain things really tug on your heartstrings....."Sylvia San Pio Resta and her Unborn Child".

Beautiful architecture.

The names of the brave, brave people who fought back on Flight 93.

The "Survivor Tree" - nursed back to health and replanted in the World Trade Center Plaza.