Some more pics from Wednesday

New Yorkers are dog lovers! The people and dogs come in all shapes and sizes! I'd like to take the kids to NYC with a dog breed book and see how many we could spot....Doggy BINGO!

And Popsicles.... mmmm happy...

And because I spend way too much time in the loo with Boo and Yum Yum...
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, that's better.

Wednesday in NYC

Wednesday dawned bright and beautiful. The forecast for rain/cloud had been changed to sun.

The girls had eaten some Fruit Loops (it was a large box) and were ready for something "real" to eat. Only a few steps away from the hotel is an outlet of Dean & Delucas where coffee was calling my name. We had some healthy fruit and yohgurt. Again I resisted all the YUMMY looking cakes and pastries.

Outside there were some grumbles about being cold. I hoped that once out of the built up wind tunnels that all would be well. Only two blocks north and there stood a line of pretty horses with decorated carriages. BINGO. A sure fire way to put an end to the whinges! Taking the girls on a carriage ride of Central Park was on the wishlist and the opportunity presented itself perfectly. So we loaded up into a carriage pulled by Charlie Horse and were snuggled cosily under a big thick blanket. No one had to walk or pee, everyone was warm and we the sun was shining. It really doesn't get more perfect than that.

Central Park is a wonderful place. A delicious mix of people playing and nature. I would love to spend a whole week just exploring it and taking photos.

When we disembarked we were near Fifth Ave and headed to the zoo. I lost my bearings so our path was not the most direct. But that was OK because otherwise I would never have seen this stunning cardinal and his mate sitting in a yellow cloud of flowers. If only I had my big zoom.... but I did manage to get some reasonable photos.

Our walk also took us past the the busy Wollman ice skating rink, had to sneakily take care of a Yum Yum- I need to PEE without a loo, and the Dairy Gift shop. Although my instincts were saying no to shopping with the twins I am still looking for a birthday gift for my mother. I didn't find anything for her but I was happy with the selection of inexpensive novelties for the kids. We chose Bear a Strawberry Fields T shirt and all the girls each got a kazoo. Now I must point out that I LOATHE whistles. But a kazoo I can tolerate..in fact I find them a little giggly funny. And in the big open space of Central Park the girls could kazoo their hearts out and forget to whine. It worked, we got to the zoo.

Central Park Zoo is quite small, very manageable for little kids. There are turtles, sea lions, polar bears, penguins, a snow leopard, a red panda, a tropical house and a petting zoo.

We had lunch in the zoo cafe, had a pee stop and after the girls had more enthusiasm for looking at the animals. Boo was particularly happy with the Penguins swimming past her head (and pooping). After the zoo we slowly walked towards the Playground with a couple of very frozen popsicles. There are many little dogs to greet along the way and flowers to spy. Unfortunately the Carousel is closed until next week. Hecksher Playground is our family's favourite place to go for a play. For a long time it was closed for refurbishment and is now all brand newish. There were plenty of other children of all ages enjoying themselves, many along with their nannies.

The fort like structure of turrets, bridges and tunnels is great fun although hard for a mum of two to keep tabs on her kids. Mind you the Playground is enclosed so wandering off isn't the concern. The "fort" seems to have been a 70's design, very urban, concrete. So apart from having some weirdo take your kid, falls must involve blood. The surface around it is rubber but there are still a zillion opportunites for cracking a little gourd. Boo did take a heavy drop on her bottom when she missed the last step on the ladder but she shrugged it off with "I'm Okay!" and continued after her sister. Yum Yum also skinned her knee but also shrugged it off rather than stop playing. The opportunity to play Princesses and Castles and Monstas is THAT good! The "fort' also joins a giant rock mountain which my girls do not have permission to climb on without daddy. There are plenty of seats and bathrooms at hand.

From the playground I cajoled the girls toward the Time Warner Center so I could buy some dinner from Wholefoods to take back to our room. It was afternoon tea time so they each selected a pretty easter cookie to nibble on the way home. Yum Yum fell asleep mid cookie.

Boo happily ate her dinner whilst her sister had a nap from which I could not wake her. Yum Yum has the disturbing ability to open her eyes whilst still asleep. Friends have been known to talk to her not realising she is in the Land of Nod, but I know that glazed unfocused look too well and she doesn't fool me! Later Yum Yum woke to eat whilst Boo played in the shower making potions trying to entice her sister to join her. Yum Yum did NOT want a shower and that may have been because of the skinned knee.

The end result of this really great day of fresh air sunshine and excercise.... an overtired, squeaky clean, Boo tantrum of gargantuan proportions and a wide awake chatty grubby Yum Yum at midnight. UGH.

Tuesday back to NYC

Since we have the NYC accommodation for a week I came back with just Boo and Yum Yum after Pre -school on Tuesday. It was raining and I had to do some internal debates about the possible merit of bringing raincoats and wellies for the girls. I decided against. We managed to get on the NJ transit midtown direct train at noon. Boo and Yum Yum don't recall a train ride (although I'm sure we have taken them by train once before). This time it was just me - solo parent with the girls of the broken legs, broken bladders and broken tempers. I put "pull ups" on both of them before we got on the train, packed a lunch and hoped for the best.

So at the next station Yum Yum asks "Are we here yet?". SIGH only 65 minutes and about 12 train stations to go. They were pretty good really, eating their PB sandwiches, pretzels and berries. The carriages were fortunately quite empty. There did come a squabble about whose feet should go where (they were sitting facing each other). I brought out their Sweetpea3s to listen to for a bit and looked out the window telling me they could already see the city (any building taller than 4 stories was "The City").

Eventually we get to Penn Station and we managed, juggling an umbrella, a handbag, a tote bag, myself and the twins, to get all of us into a taxi with the small rolling case. I left the stroller in the hotel room on Sunday for our use later in the week. Adding the stroller to the mix on the return journey on Thursday will be loads of fun for sure.

When we get to the hotel ( Yum Yum has christened our room the Stinky Room because of the off odour in the hallway outside- sounds posh doesn't it!) the girls want their Barbies. SIGH. No I didn't bring toys..I could barely fit our clothes in the small case. I did have crayons, colouring and a DVD. But I had a plan...

So first stop- The Children's Museum of Manhattan on 83rd St. Again by taxi. I don't do the subway by myself without the Breadwinner (he is in charge of the Subway travel) although it would be cheaper/quicker sometimes. I certainly don't do it with Boo and Yum Yum. (With Bear I might give it a go). We arrive at the CMOM at about 2.30pm, just in time for the afternoon crowds to get off the school bus.

Unfortunately Boo and Yum Yum were not really enthusiastic about this place. They figured out what was on each floor and had me take them to check everything out. Being late in the day the exhibits were a bit messy and dis-organised. Their attention spans were not held by Dora and Diego for very long. A visit to the Block Party Room downstairs was actually the best part. It was a lovely quiet and big, mostly empty, space with a vast supply of wooden blocks. I could have happily sat there building for a very long time.

We were out of CMOM much faster than I had planned...3.30pm. So I guess CMOM is better for the 2-3 year old set. At a week shy of 4, my girls seemed too old/bored or maybe overtired/hyper or just bloody spoilt!

We did have luck finding the restaurant I had picked for what was supposed to be an early dinner. Cafe Lalo was virtually across the street and not around the corner as I had thought.

If there are issues with this restaurant they would be - the stairs in front, cash only, not cheap. In other words they are "passively" rejecting the mothers from across the street! Tempting them with delicious coffees and divine pastries but making it hard work to actually have. I was glad I wasn't put off by the stairs. The staff took my stroller "downstairs" for me. They must still regularly encounter mothers with children popping in every day.

I didn't choose very well for the girls, the grilled cheese was a little too "rustic" in style for them, Yum Yum ate some roast potatoes and Boo concentrated on her chocolate milk . I was much hungrier than they were as I had not had lunch. I ordered an interesting surprise dish -a large slice of baked eggs covered in a delicious spicy tomato/olive sauce with a pita bread. I've never eaten anything like this before, MMMMM it was very tasty. I refrained from having dessert despite a very very large and tempting selection, but I did get a chocolat croissant for Boo because she did not seem to have eaten much.

Boo posed for me at the front steps, giving me her new best pose- urban kooky. BTW this is the Tom Hanks - Meg Ryan "You've Got Mail " cafe.

After that we headed back to the hotel to rest as I had a headache coming on. It was drizzling lightly all day and I was being careful to avoid peak hour.

Back in the room I tried to restore ease to my throbbing head by having a cup of tea and sitting down whilst the girls played in the bed room. It was soon obvious to me that I needed to sleep it off - a reboot. Going out again for some headache tablets was not an option, the exertion would have meant I would have quickly passed the point of no return into migraine territory. So into the bedroom I go to find that Boo and Yum Yum have stripped the bed completely. DEEP BREATH. I had to remake the king sized bed before I could lay down. I tried to make sure they had snacks and something to keep them occupied but I was so desperate to sink into oblivion I had to tell myself that whatever happened it would all be a lot easier without the headache. And so I slept.

I think I was out for an hour. Whilst I slept they investigated the contents of my toiletry bag. The combination of familiar smells kept me guessing and eventually I tracked down the globs of creams, pastes and lotions...some in Boo's hair and other's in random places. Thankfully nothing really horrendous involved- mostly travel sized and no nail polish. But it was probably a near miss, it could have been really bad. I had to buy more toothpaste later.

After cleaning them up I decided to head to the already tested Sushiya. The girls really like the miso soup there. They walked there and back, they ate really well, and behaved themselves (much to the relief of the couple next to us). Oh- on the way there I had a near miss on the footpath with a man hurrying along engrossed in his conversation with his friend. Do you suppose Kelsey Grammar is blogging about that tired looking woman he almost trod on? Nah, I don't. BTW- he looked GOOD.

The forecast for the next day, Wednesday was no longer for rain so I decided to go with the Central Park plan. Back in the Stinky Room we called it a day after a shower and a few PBS online stories.

Saturday afternoon in NYC

The Breadwinner arrived home from Utah on a flight close to midnight on Friday....so the turn around time Saturday morning was a little slow, and we didn't make it into the city (by car) until close to lunchtime. However we had awesome weather and we weren't going to waste it completely. I took a DVD for the girls to watch during the drive- choosing "Sleeping Beauty" so that the story would be fresh in their minds for the play we had booked on Sunday. Boo was very excited to be in the city .

Although traffic going in was heavy, the drive was pleasant enough (no whining) until mid-way through the Lincoln Tunnel when Yum Yum announced that she had to PEE!!!!!

Ordinarily we put a nappy (diaper) on Yum Yum when we are in the car for any long trips because her bladder control is not as good as Boo's. But Yum Yum had refused. I grabbed a pull up "just in case" and put it in the car. So in the Lincoln Tunnel I performed a physically awkward and illegal manouver in a moving car to put a pull up on Yum Yum whilst she remained in her seat. It was a little difficult to ensure a leak proof fit and fortunately the traffic wasn't moving fast. She was still hanging on and refusing to pee when we pulled up ...and she could hold on no longer. SIGH. There was a leak...luckily only minor. So upstairs to change the knickers and blow dry her leggings.

It was just a little after 1pm. Here are some shots of our accomodation... a one bedroom "executive" suite with a sofa bed. The sofa bed from "planet unsleep", the Breadwinner and Bear drew the short straw which is really bad considering the long straw is sleeping with Boo and Yum Yum! Boo and Yum Yum have reached new levels of curiousity about hotel rooms. Thankfully the interest in the room safe was short lived.

This is an executive suite in a Timeshare property. Two bathrooms, a kitchenette, dining and two flat screen TVs. For NYC this is extremely comfortable for a small family. Of course when you use the remote control in one room, it changes the channel on the TV in the other room. And as I said, the sofa bed was in horrendous shape and I did tell the front desk about it later.

We had planned a walk after lunch along the High Line. Bear's first request of the weekend was that she get to eat char siew bao (steamed BBQ pork buns). When looking for somewhere in the Meatpacking District (where the High Line is located) I came across a place called The Dumpling Man. It seemed that this could fit the bill for Saturdays lunch even though char siew bao weren't on the menu, it was close and it sounded promising. This was the first of some not so perfect choices! Our hotel is at 56th so a taxi was in order given that there was no time to waste before hunger induced meltdowns might occur.

On first appearances The Dumpling Man is a tiny hole in the wall. It is cute and the kids were happy enough but only about 10 people can sit down to eat. We could have easily been out of luck if it were in fact considered luck to get a seat. At the counter bench the kids had a good view of the dumplings being prepared and the staff were amiable. The not so good thing was that the dumplings were difficult for the kids to eat out of the very small flimsy plastic "bowls". Drinks were spilled (Yum "May I Spill That For You" Yum is a chronic drink spiller) and dumplings dropped but that was to be expected. Bear, Boo and Yum Yum are enthusiastic dumpling eaters but everything here was just a tad awkward.

And for the adults, the meal was just so so- those dumplings stayed with us for the rest of the afternoon if you know what I mean! So no need to rush back and I wouldn't send anyone there! And a reminder to treat online reviews with a tad more sceptism. We really should have gone to Chinatown.

Also this restaurant was a LONG way from where we wanted to end up... ie the High Line. (Note to self - always check a map and don't rely on a search for "kid friendly restaurants Meatpacking District" to give you the best answer!) It's big positive...it is located in a very colorful neighbourhood..The Bowery. Lots of interesting people out in the spring sunshine. We started the stroll west, Yum Yum and Boo dancing very happily along the sidewalk.

Before long there was a call put out for a stop for ice cream at a Coldstone Creamery. Yum Yum discovered that a mouthful of gummy bears can really slow down the ice cream eating experience. And whilst you are busy chewing and chewing and chewing...your daddy eats your icecream!

After consulting the map again it was decided a taxi was needed. We were dropped at the southern entry to the High Line in Gansevoort St. And it being a truly beautiful Spring Day every other man, woman and child was there too (no dogs allowed). The girls had fun following the old tracks where they are set into the pathways but after about 20 minutes we made a departure and left it to the crowds. I hope to go back sans children and enjoy this walk properly with the Breadwinner.

We exited at Chelsea markets and here it was that I made an even BIGGER mistake. I remembered that I had forgotten the bedtime story book so tried to dash into a book store to pick something up. Sure enough they all insisted on coming with me and then were insisting on choosing the book, and then were insisting that they get two books each and then insisting that it be THIS book. But then Boo said "I need to PEE!!! so off I went at a jog in the direction the French cheese man indicated to join a line that was 50 people long NEXT TO A WATERFALL.

After about 10 minutes commiserating with the others in this slow moving line and rehearsing a desperate plea to get to the front of the queue in my head, a janitor kindly informed us that there were more restrooms at the other end of the markets. Restrooms NEXT to the BOOKSTORE with nobody lined up. Of course. So a bunch of us jogged up that way and it was the truth. NUTS. We went back to the bookstore where Yum Yum had chosen a book and was insisting on another..she then told me that she needed to PEE! Now that I knew where to go that was easily sorted. When I returned the Breadwinner was sitting on the floor in the children's section reading to a happy Boo. Time to go....

And then came the Boo MELTDOWN. Oh lordy lordy lordy . I'll leave it to you to imagine the embarrassment that our inept parenting of this child can cause. Yes- I caved, Fancy Nancy came home with a smug looking Boo. And exit quickly stage right

Chelsea Markets BTW way has a lot of yummy places to eat (including an oyster bar), awesome cupcakes and some cool looking clothing stores. The ice cream is popular and most exciting of all....they are opening an Anthropologie there!

We popped into the Subway... the girls were quite interested in the whole experience. This whimsical sculpture was intriguing. It is a work by Tom Otterness, seeking out the remainder of his installation will be on my to do list next time we hit that Subway Station. Public art in NYC is something that could occupy me for months!

Dinner was at Sushiya. I didn't take my camera, being somewhat all photo'd out! It was a good, tasty and healthy meal and walking distance from our hotel. Once back we settled in after a shower, to read the new books. Boo and Yum Yum fell asleep quite quickly. In the other room there was a war with the sofabed.

Weekend in NYC-Sunday

I am doing this a little backwards, I am recapping our visit to NYC this past weekend with Sunday first as that is freshest in my mind. Please feel free to ask any questions.

As is usual with our family...we struggle with organisation especially for a trip on the spur of the moment, as we two adults are always extremely tired. And then we have the twins, Boo and Yum Yum, who alternate between having broken legs or being able to scale tall sidewalks in a single bound. We stupidly thought we could manage with just one stroller. I had packed both but we had second thoughts. My back wishes we had third thoughts. So, most of the day we had one being pushed and the other being carried...and intermittently both were skipping along. They were the ones running UP the Subway Stairs. I just wish they could pace themselves.

I should explain, for fellow twin parents, that we don't have a side by side umbrella stroller. Generally we always go out together and we prefer to have the two smaller Maclaren strollers so we can split up and take one twin each if necessary. We also take up less room on the frequently busy sidewalks of NYC. If we are spending all of our time in Central Park on a day trip, we sometimes take the larger, more comfortable double urban terrain Tike Tech stroller which takes up the entire trunk of our Town & Country van. This bigger stroller reclines each side individually fully flat and that was great for when afternoon naps were a daily occurence.

The combination of strollers worked for us because the bigger stroller is mostly for at home where there are no sidewalks. In hindsight (not much help to us now of course) an additional umbrella fold side by side would have been useful for days like this and for travel overseas. I understand now why some families end up with a fleet of strollers.

The girls are about to turn 4, theoretically they shouldn't need strollers for much longer. However Boo suffers from anxiety in new environments, NYC can be a very intense experience with it's crowds, noises, smells and traffic. When distressed she needs the security of being carried or feeling the protective cocoon of the stroller (she will pull the hood down over her entire upper body). Yum Yum is so fearless that it is pure luck that we haven't lost her altogether but of the two she is more likely to need a nap in the afternoon. Whilst I think the girls weigh close to 300 pounds each when I have to carry one, the reality is that they are not Sherman tanks, they are still on the petite side, and walking all day is, for the time being, still an unrealistic expectation.

10 year old Bear LOVES NYC, and she carried her life savings of $5 and looked for opportunities to spend it (or lose it).. the $5 simply can't be kept in the purse but must be admired, fondled, folded and flaunted. Her sole agenda is to find something to spend it on, eat sushi, dumplings and to divert us to the Nintendo store at Rockafellar plaza.

On Sunday morning all the girls woke up to play with their Barbies/Nintendo and have a bowl of special occassion Fruit Loops; they were happy. This was a good thing as we didn't get up until close to 9am. By 10am we were showered and dressed and had settled on Bubby's in Tribeca for brunch. There is no booking a table at Bubby's so our plan was to catch a taxi and suck up the wait. We have eaten several times at the DUMBO branch, the food is always good.

Downstairs we emerged into a strangely quiet sunny morning to discover that 56th St and 7th Ave were closed. The police, the barricades, the alarming number of green paper cups strewn across the empty roads? Was there an explosion at Starbucks? No, closer inspection revealed the sponsor of the cups to be Gatorade. Ahhhh, a herd of runners doing a half marathon had recently passed through leaving police, film crew, communications, transport and sanitation workers in their wake.

The closed streets were causing much angst in the taxi department. I felt especially bad for those toting luggage clearly intent on a trip to Penn Station or the airport, and particularly for those who hadn't clued in that the street was closed but still stood there in hope.

We walked a few blocks (Boo on shoulders) to find that the problem was quite extensive so once again we ended up on the subway. Having just the one umbrella stroller is a blessing when it comes to navigating the subway unless you are doggedly determined to make use of all disabled entry ways and elevators. Emerging in Tribeca we were in need of some help to get our bearings. Coming out of the Subway is often a disorienting experience. One of New York's finest pointed us in the general direction and off we traipsed with visions of pancakes dancing before our eyes. Along our path was Hook & Ladder No8. In the fresh morning light Ladder No 8 emerged along with the crew. Had we had a little boy among our group THIS would have been THE BEST THING EVER. A sparkling red fire engine and big burly firemen. We even got a wave. My girls? mostly oblivious ( I googled it later to find that it is the Ghostbusters/Seinfield Firehouse !)

The Fruit Loop euphoria was starting to fade and our mission to find brunch was now a little more urgent.

We marched west along North Moore St passing groups of people milling around the doorways of other eateries. Some looked as if they could have been out running that morning. Some had foil heat blankets draped around their shoulders and medals hanging from blue ribbons. Awww crikey..we must have been seeking brunch at the finish line...yep just several blocks away. The crowd around Bubby's was so big it wasn't even a matter of crossing the street to enquire as to waiting times. We turned around and rocked back along the street. We passed Walkers which also looked packed to the gills. Mental note- that looks like a seriously good place to try at a less crowded time.

At this point Yum Yum announced her dire need to pee NOW!

So we headed directly to what looked like a promising cafe , Cercle Rouge Brassierie at the end of the street in the hopes of at least finding a loo if not breakfast. There were people seated outside as I hightailed it in with Yum Yum. My eyes noted at that same time that not a single person had any food in front of them. When Yum Yum and I returned from the first of four trips I made to their basement loo, the Breadwinner had scored a table inside. YAY!

And then the waiting began........there was whingeing from the Breadwinner, whining from the Bear...and my persistent attempts to keep Bear and Yum Yum occupied by drawing pictures of pancakes for them and playing eye spy.

The staff were clearly unprepared for the throng that had descended upon their restaurant before they had even heated the coffee. The manager/owner wandered around and offered explanations and apologies. A full house the minute they opened.

Hey, just an idea for the manager of that place...put a note in the diary for next year...1/2 marathon, finish line nearby?= loads of hungry people times 100 if a sunny day...and get your staff in early! Those tables should have done two seatings, possibly three in the time we sat there.

It took a long time for a drink order to be taken. An even longer time for the coffee and juice to arrive. The staff were looking a little stressed. Fortunately, just when we were all about to pass out from hunger, a small tin bucket of sliced baguette was given to our table with a slab of nice cold butter. And another. That kept us all busy for 3 minutes. The sight of a funny yellow hat gave us hope that there might at least be entertainment. Finally our orders were taken and after another 45 minute wait, we had our meals. Until then "The Great Ragidy Supreme" Magician (and apparently a hip hop artist) enthralled the girls with some simple magic tricks and balloon animals. As far as our family was concerned, his efforts single handedly saved us from a potentially very nasty low- blood- sugar toddler (and adult) meltdown.

When our brunch did arrive, it was delicious. Maybe we were just ridiculously hungry? But I did notice that every plate in that restaurant was "licked clean". Seriously , not a shred of endive left on a plate. I had a wholewheat crepe stuffed with shrimp and asparagus. It came with a pile of greens topped with a huge slice of beef tomato. I joined the clean plate club. I'd love to go another time for a meal. Brunch was $20 each and it included fresh baguettes, freshly squeezed orange and good coffee, and of course a choice of several tempting brunch dishes. We managed with 4 brunch dishes between 5. We didn't need lunch...and in any case it was close on 1pm when we left and moseyed up the street.

We quickly came upon a small park. Tribeca's Beach Street park. There our girls got some exercise chasing each other, the pigeons, greeting numerous cute little dogs out for their walkies and being caught and squished by their daddy. There was sunshine and daffodils in this wee park...and what seemed like fresh air.

We had tickets for a children's show at 3pm. It was advertised as being 2 blocks from Bryant Park so we headed there. Bryant Park is generally known as being the venue for NY Fashion Week. This past Fashion week will be the last in Bryant Park. I understand the very large lawn is curently being re-turfed. It does indeed feel as if you are in Paris. The sweet Le Carrousel plays French music which supports the pretty illusion. After playing with the water in the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial fountain (and Yum Yum giving it a dramatic bruising head butt-ouch) there was a few turns on Le Carrousel ($2 a turn).

Across the road we spied Le Pain Quotidien (The Daily Bread). We love LPQ ever since our first visited their restaurant in Brussels. The breads are delicious, the chocolate hazlenut and jams are yummy...and the pastries! We looked forward to seeing the day when LPQ would be available in Australia (we even daydreamed about taking up the franchise but of course time has past and someone else has taken up the challenge). There are several outlets in NYC but when Boo and Yum Yum were babies we had to give up going as the spaces are generally cosy (not always stroller friendly). Now that the girls are older and this outlet of LPQ is HUGE we celebrated with lemon tarts. MMMMMMM Delicious. It is a great spot for breakfast, lunch or coffee. One of the features of LPQ is the huge communal table and the table here was ginormous! We didn't subject other grown ups to the antics of our tribe, we sat at our own table. In hindsight (hindsight is such an amazing thing) we should have ordered take out drinks and pastries to eat in the Park although the restroom was a vital element to our stop there.

NYC is always full of sights to delight and amaze youngsters. For example the tattoo art on the lady seated nearby was extensive and colourful... but not only that, on her arm was a large illustration from Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit! Turn head to right.

We walked the two blocks and found the Galli Theatre without much trouble. It is a very low key, low budget, small affair. The girls were happy with their pink princess seats,and rearranged themselves several times. They perform interactive kid friendly versions of Fairytales, sometimes with a strong accent...Russian?. They also do workshops afterwards and on this Sunday most of the audience were set to celebrate a birthday after the show. The show, Sleeping Beauty, was certainly amusing for the parents because of the over the top performances, but the Breadwinner and Bear will beg off future visits. It was perfect for Boo and Yum Yum, they really enjoyed themselves and we got loads of pleasure from their reaction. There are several other theatre experiences (eg Pinkalicious) that I would like to see with the girls but they were sold out. We won't be paying for a Broadway show until they are at least 5, probably The Lion King late next year.

Here the girls in black are the thorns surrounding the castle where Rose (under the cloth) sits sleeping. A number of hapless Princes come along to try and pass the thorns but of course only the right Prince succeeds. You can see below that Rose was definitely a beautiful Princess.
A workshop is available after the show and we may try this on our next visit. The girls ears pricked up when they heard the next show would be Snow White. I will be happy to bring them back to this small theatre... mainly because of it's location! We walked right by M&J Trimming. I think I can convince Boo and Yum Yum to do some button shopping next time.

We decided to head back to the hotel, the Breadwinner (in charge of the map) decided it wasn't too far to walk..and we were only a few blocks from Rockefellar Center so Bear got her wish after all, a stop at The Nintendo Store. By the time we arrived Yum Yum had nodded off. But once in the store she woke suddenly and exclaimed I HAVE TO PEE NOW!

So I dashed downstairs with Yum Yum to the Plaza below and took care of that. The Breadwinner treated the twins to some candy (in the cutest Mario mushroom tins) and Bear scored the freebie Pokemon drawstring bag. They were all happy campers .
We stopped briefly to watch the ice skaters...there were some seriously good skaters doing jumps alongside some small kids...there were a few collisions!
Along the way back we went past my favourite store Anthropologie to admire the windows. They were festooned with flowers made from plastic bottles. I can't upload the photos into the right spots- haven't figured that trick out just yet, so I will post some more photos of the windows amongst other things, in a separate post. We also found some other things to look at on the way back.
Yum Yum is our star! Life is wonderous and strange, perhaps in the future she will indeed have a star of her own.

After a rest in the hotel we headed by taxi to an Italian Restaurant called Patsy's Pizzeria on 60th. The simple pizza, salad and the cabonara were really delicious and the chianti went down easy. We will be going back. It was busy, efficient and well priced.

But the REALLY BIG DEAL was that this restaurant, by HAPpY HAPpY HApPY co-incidence was opposite DYLAN"S CANDY BAR! I had decided not to bring the camera to dinner, that was dumb, sorry no photos. The building looks awesome in the evening. I have had Dylan's on my wishlist for a while and had already checked out the offerings online. Had we not been so full of delicious pizza it would have made a perfect dessert stop (there's a cafe on the top floor). I wasn't after candy so much ...the lord knows my girls have way too much candy. But candy covered nighties...YES. My little ones have been asking for nighties and these were very special. The little girls were happy with $1.50 ring pops as a treat and skipped happily back out of the store. The Breadwinner and Bear filled some bags with their candy choices. I didn't have any. I don't think I would make that trip JUST for Dylan's but combined with a decent meal at Patsy's Pizzeria, it qualifies as a PLAN your kids will be extremely impressed with .

We went back, loaded up the car by 8.30pm and then sat in the traffic....for what was a long time. It is what it is. The yellow M&M looked as dismayed as the Breadwinner was.
But once through the Lincoln Tunnel the drive home was speedy enough...the dirty sticky children were transferred from the car to their own beds by 10pm. We were also tired but pretty happy with our weekend in the city.