Exploring the Concrete Jungle

So what brought us to NY?  Well I was there already for work doing the 5K Foam Fest event.  It went great and I'm SO relieved it's over.  Largest event I've put on it - we had nearly 6,000 people.  And in two weeks I'm gonna do it all again in Seattle! 

So after the event, Thomas flew into the JFK airport and our little vacation began! We had 3.5 days and here's what we did with it:

Our hotel street in Greenwich - so delightful!

 Day One:

Doughtnut Plant for breakfast (I had heard they are one of the top doughnut places in NY, and they'd better be good since they were $3 a piece! Yikes!)

 Walk along the Hudson River Park/destination to Battery Park

Our first sighting of the Statue of Liberty (little tiny figure on the R of Thomas). Thomas was pretty excited.  Unfortunately she was closed (because of Hurricane Sandy) and was reopening like 5 days after we left! Bummer.  Guess we'll have to go back :) 

 So we took a boat tour to get a close up of Lady Liberty

 Met up with Uncle Paul who walked with us across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Thomas lookin' handsome

 Beautiful views of Manhattan from Brooklyn

 Day Two: 

Had a late start (meaning we slept in :) and got a falafel and shawarma for lunch - SO GOOD.  

 It was Thomas' first time trying it and he liked it!

My first one since Jerusalem! Gosh I just want one RIGHT NOW.

 Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre

 Times Square Fun (Hershey store, M&M store, Disney store, Toys R Us)

 Went to an exhibit called "The Art of the Brick" - all Lego sculptures - pretty cool! We couldn't take pictures in the exhibit (or we definitely would have!) Check the artist out: http://brickartist.com/

Went to the "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center)

 Day Three:

On our way to get our bike rentals near Central Park

Had so much fun! This was my favorite part of the whole trip.  Loved all the green, the breeze in my face, the relaxed riding pace. And it was so darn pretty!

 Walked 5th Ave (and widow browsed of course).  Though we did stop by the Lindt store and enjoy some chocolate! Boy do I love their truffles!! Everything else on 5th Ave was not even slightly tempting.  $500 for a purse?  I'd rather spend it on Legos or something.  I guess everyone has their own priorities! 

FAO Schwarz toy store

Manhattan Temple (we didn't go inside but I wanted to see it!)

Day Four:

 American Museum of Natural History (also where they filmed "Night at the Museum" which we just watched today!).

The grounds around the museum - I can't get over the prettiness!!

The Cazookie

Nearby, there is this little cute dessert restaurant called "The Chocolate."  It's actually in a house turned into a restaurant, and you choose whatever room you want to enjoy your dessert in - really unique and cute idea.  Anyhow, they make this dessert called a "cazookie" which is an underbaked cookie with ice cream on top.  I've had something like this before, but it sure wasn't called a cazookie!  I guess it doesn't matter as long as it tastes good!  It was super yummy! We got to choose two kinds of cookie dough - we did white chocolate macadamia nut and chocolate chip.

Mad Libs, dessert, and someone you love go together real well

$7 is a little steep (especially for something so easy to make), so I made them at home when we got a craving :)  It's super easy - basically just half a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, bake in a tin or small ceramic/glass dish at 475 for about 10 min.  You cook it at the high heat to get the top done, but the inside gooey....mmmm I think I'll be making these again real soon!

Tools of the Trade

Thomas has been wanting an art tablet for a while - I'd never heard of the before, but basically you hook the tablet up to the computer and you draw on the tablet with an electronic pen and it shows on your computer screen.  Wow, that was a bad description, but you get the hunch:

 He was so excited the day it came!  He's  been using the mousepad to draw (which is pretty unheard of for someone doing as much art on the computer as he does), and now the tablet will make it sooo much faster, easier and efficient.  EVENTUALLY we will get  the cintiq tablet - which is the nicest tablet you can buy and the best one that artists use (like Pixar).  But...it's $2,000 so it'll be a while haha