New York City!

We are settling back into our routine after spending 3 days in New York City. We took the train down on Thursday afternoon and arrived around 7p. Dinner was at the Carnegie Deli...a very quiet scene compared to what it is like at lunchtime! If I'd only had my camera to get a shot of the sandwich Kirk and I shared. And we had to have a slice of cheesecake...which all three of us polished off together! Saturday, Katy was very excited to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. We were there at 8:30 that morning for the first session. After getting her 'skating legs back' after a 5 year absence, she had a blast. We also were excited to meet up with my college friend Allison and daughter Marin, who joined us on the ice.

After skating, we walked over to American Girl Place for some shopping with the girls, who had each brought their doll with them. First stop was hair styling...and ear piercing! Since some of the newer dolls come with pierced ears, the store is offering this service for older dolls...and Katy and Marin jumped at the chance! We had lunch reservations and enjoyed each other's company as we (and the dolls) enjoyed a leisurely meal.

After saying goodbye to Allison and Marin, Katy and I continued onto the Museum of Modern Art, which was only a block from our hotel! I was amazed at the number of famous paintings that were on the 5th floor alone...and thing Katy was a little impressed that her mom knew a good number of the artists and paintings without reading the descriptions! I love these two photos I shot...only wish I'd realized the flash had washed out much of the Cezanne (a print of which I use to have hanging in my classroom at BHS)!

Katy and Paul....

Katy and Jackson...

Friday night, we had tickets to see the musical Mamma Mia, which was such a treat! What a wonderful production! Anyone would love the show, but those of us who remember the Abba hits must marvel at how wonderfully the writers wove a story around so many of those songs! And yes, they had us dancing in our seats by the end of the show!

On Saturday morning, Katy and I took off for Times Square and some shopping, facing 20 degree weather and a cold windchill! We scored a couple of 'Coach' bags on a side street...so she had a mini Canal street experience. Alison dropped Marin off with us at noon and we went out to lunch with Kirk who had a break from his conference. Then, I headed up to the Natural History Museum with the girls, and we spent the afternoon looking at dinosaur bones and planetarium exhibits. Saturday was Kirk's birthday, so Katy and I celebrated with him at our favorite haunt, Ruby Foos, with sushi, Chinese food and yummy drinks. Sunday, Kirk had some time to walk with us around Times Square again after breakfast, and we headed out to Penn Station to take our train home. Altho exhausted...I felt like we really took good advantage of our visit to NYC and enjoyed ourselves despite the winter weather!