Museums, museums, museums (Day 4 of our NYC Family Trip)

Tuesday's picture (12.21.10)

Taken whilst walking from the Metropolitan Museum to the Guggenheim Museum.

After a morning of art, we then rode the subway down to SoHo and walked through several stores. From there, we meandered to the Lower East Side to meet Jeff's cousin at Katz's Deli (a most fabulous old Jewish deli).

We then went to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. It was so hard to imagine how all those immigrants lived in those tiny apartments.

At the end of the day, we strolled through Chinatown and Little Italy.

Pizza was a great reward for all the artistic culture we absorbed that day.

Walking Around (Day 3 of our NYC Family Trip)

Monday's picture (12/20/10)

We started each day with a fresh bagel from the Gramercy Bagel Shop. There is nothing like warm bagels to start your day!

On Monday, we headed to the South Seaport part of the island to go see the Bodies exhibit. It was delightfully awesome! I just had to keep telling myself that the bodies were not real (but they are!) so that I wouldn't get too grossed out. This worked with the girls, as well.

After that exhibit, we walked around the financial district and spotted the NY Stock Exchange, Wall Street, the Trump Building, and more. We walked our way back up to the Greenwich Village area and found a fabulous store that sold cream puffs and the best chai coffee.

We took a walking tour of Greenwich Village and learned a lot about the area (mainly that NYU owns most of the buildings...). We then headed over to Sammy's Romanian Steak House and had a blast eating Jewish food in this old establishment. After we left, we took the subway up to 34th Street and walked through the ridiculously crowded Macy's.

After enough of fighting the crowds in Macy's (it was ridiculous, I tell you), we walked down to the Empire State Building to get a view of the city at night. What a view! And what a breeze!

We wrapped up the day by walking back to the apartment on 21st Street. It was the end of our most walking-est day!

The Christmas Spectacular (Day 2 of our NYC Family Trip)

Sunday's picture (12/19/10)

We started the day early and headed by subway (awesome!) to Radio City Music Hall to see The Christmas Spectacular. I love the way this fabulous building is decorated and it is especially amazing during Christmas! The Rockettes were impressive!

After the show, we went to the Top of the Rock to get a great view of the city - especially Central Park. Once we were back on the ground, we all headed over to the park and just strolled around a bit. There was a cool little bazaar going on and it was a fun to take in the banter.

Jeff's cousin, who lives on the west side of Central Park, fixed lunch for us. We spent the afternoon visiting and drinking much Prosecco. Afterwards, we traipsed through the Museum of Modern Art.

That evening, we met up with my fabulous niece for dinner at John's Italian Restaurant on 12th Street. It was just like stepping into the 1940s (though the restaurant has been open since 1908) and the food was amazing! We then strolled around for just a block or two and had dessert at an old Italian bakery (I wish I could remember the name - but it opened in 1904) that was fabulous!

We probably should have rolled home as we were all so full...

Ready or not... Here we come! (Day 1 of our NYC Family Trip)

Saturday's picture (12/18/10)

Despite a rainy start, our spirits were high as we waited for our flight at the Jacksonville airport. While there, we saw an old couple dragging along a pet carrier which contained a yapping dog. As luck would have it, the yapping dog flew with us all the way to NYC.

Fun times.

Once in NYC (yay!), we checked into our apartment in Gramercy Park. It was a cool little place with a room for the boys, for the girls, and for my husband and I. And one bathroom.

We totally made it work!

We then took the three kids with us for a stroll all the way to Times Square (where the lights are bright!) and met up with Dalton. He had come to NYC (from college) the day before and stayed with some friends. Times Square was a total zoo! There were times when my feet were not even on the ground and I was carried along by the crowd.

We quickly decided to venture back up towards our neighborhood and look for a place to eat. We found a funky little Japanese restaurant and sat in their heat for a great meal (I wish I could remember the name of that place.....) before heading to the hotel by Ground Zero to get Dalton's luggage.

We may not have done much sightseeing but we saw enough to take in the flavor of the city. I love NYC!

About as Christmas-y as the decorations are going to get at my house this year

The Japanese Maple is in the Christmas spirit! And so am I!

We are leaving (on a jet plane) for NYC tomorrow!

I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so excited!

Passion

Do you have a passion in your life (and no, I don't mean the romantic kind - though that is nice, too)? After being so inspired by the teachers and the students at the Ron Clark Academy, I feel lucky to know that my passion is working with students. Maybe one day, I'll get to go back into the classroom. Until then, I'll just have to be satisfied with driving my teachers a little crazy (or a lot crazy - it just depends on who you ask) with some of my ideas.

They are in for some changes in January!

Swoosh!

I got to spend the day at the Ron Clark Academy today! At the end of the observations and workshops, we all got to slide down this slide.

It was such an awesome day! Getting to go the RCA and actually meeting Ron Clark were on my bucket list.

I can't wait to tell my teachers all about it!