may 17th: final day in the big apple

these houses reminded me a little of our neighborhood and the south in general. it was only 3 days (if you ask adam, it was 4), but i was getting a little homesick for my man and my little people...i noticed all the playgrounds, moms with toddlers, ergos (the carrier of choice in nyc), and super fancy strollers.

we started out here at char's favorite little nearby cafe with coffee, steel-cut oats, and cheddar/scallion scone. oh my!

then we headed to our only shopping experience at pearl market (basically a consolidated little china) in soho. time and money were limited and that is probably a good thing or i could have had a little too much fun in soho!



then we headed to the west-end of manhatten (read: lots of families, nannies, professionals, more swanky living situations if you will) and it is very lovely and close to central park. char nannies gabe and noah, who are absolutely adorable and full of life and excitement. she picks them up from school every day and is with them until their lovely parents return from work. they have a really cool condo. i took the bathroom photo for you nicole:)



we got gabe from school and he had lots of "surprises" for me. for example, sliding down banister, break-dancing performance, his and noah's self-created website), getting his yellow belt in karate etc.



their groceries are delivered. isn't that cool? that would be a really useful service as i think about how in the world i will be able to fit groceries in a cart with THREE children come fall!

i saw lots and lots of dogs in the city...this one made me miss pax (who got very little attention while i was gone).

we picked up noah a little later (wish i had more pictures of him!) and he could not stop looking back and forth at me and char with this incredulous look on his face because he thought we looked basically exactly the same. these boys are fun and char is a fantastic nanny...fun to see her in momish mode.


for dinner we went to astoria queens to meet laura for dinner. i've known her since i was 3 or 4, but haven't seen her in years. we had the most amazing burgers (with avacado-brilliant!) and caught up. why oh why did i get no pictures of her? this little front garden inspired me.

as char says, queens is known for its wrought iron, painted or otherwise.


closing thoughts:
*i missed, missed, missed these folks and was SO happy to see them


*i don't deserve the generosity of sweet adam to allow me to visit, but we don't ever deserve grace now, do we?
*it was absolutely wonderful to have so much conversation time with charbar-the most we've had in years and to see her lovely life.
*however, i hope she moves back down south before too long
*real life has been oh so very really filled with parental challenges, marriage tension and reconciliation, renovation project headache, and just general business...thus the 10 day turn-around on these posts...