Holiday in NYC-Part 2

It was an oddly festive morning as we entered SFO in a cab blaring Handel's Messiah, passing many colored lights and decorations. It felt like Christmas. E was so happy to be in his first cab. And, we moms were looking forward to a stiff cup of airport coffee to help us awake after a sleepless night. We were too excited to sleep.

It was getting close to 7am and E was in heaven watching all the planes land and take off. If he remembers this trip, he will remember the cab rides, the airplanes and the NYC fire trucks screaming down the road. He wasn't used to fire trucks actually in action. He was used to his neighborhood firefighters returning videos at the neighborhood video store and picking up a cup of joe at the neigborhood cafe. It was pretty startling for him to see his first fire truck turn a corner, honking its horn with sirens blaring and lights flashing. Now when he hears a siren he mimmicks it by saying, Nee Nah Nee Nah.

After a fairly uneventful flight, we arrived in NYC around 4pm on Christmas Eve. We completely missed the sun that day and bundled ourselves for what turned out to be some pretty mild New York weather. We hopped into cab #2 and found our way into Manhattan singing the Taxi song we learned from E's friend Lily.

E's Uncle E and Aunt H and cousins V &G were so kind to open up their space for us. There is no such thing as a large apartment in NYC, so letting a family of three stay with them for almost a week was pretty great, and we hope to repay the hospitality one day.

When we arrived, we settled in and decided to go out for a Christmas Eve walk. We ended up at this great light show in Union Sqare called Bright Lights by the artist Tord Boontje. Signature Boontje shapes were projected onto the ground, and when you stepped into a lit square, the images moved away from you. I have never seen E laugh so hard. He was making other people laugh because he was giggling so hard. He would run from lit square to lit square, and the images would scatter. Music played and created such a great ambience. It was a nice introduction to NYC for Ezra.

Christmas morning was beautiful, and E was overwhelmed by all the excitement. He adored his cousins and watched their every move. He also met his Grandpa Oscar for the first time. The entire day was very cozy and super fun for him. So many toys to play with. Yet, he only wanted to play catch with a balloon and pretend various stick-like objects were flutes. Easily entertained, our boy is.




Of course, like every other parent in NYC, we decided to take E to the Museum of Natural History the day after Christmas. Although it is was a grand mob scene, it was so much fun to watch E inspect the bones of dinosaurs and point to the birds in some diorama of some prehistoric creature. I think he thought the scenes were real. The crowds were worth it because we got to hang out a little with E's Aunt Cassie and his Uncle Noah.


NYC wouldn't be complete without a little New York style pizza. If this boy is particular about anything in his life, it will probably be his taste for pizza, instilled in him by his Momma. Thin crispy crust, fresh sauce, lightly seasoned with quality cheese. Oh, light on the cheese. Heck, he already practically orders his own bagel at the cafe. I am sure it will be pizza next.

More NYC later....