Got an email from my brother on Thursday morning "could you meet me and Isabella in New York on Sunday?" ... sure - "You say "jump" - I say "how high"" and off we went :)
Well, actually there were all sorts of complications - like me remembering around noon on Thursday that my passport would run out in February 2010 ... argh, ran to find my passport - yep, done by February 13th, 2010. Frantic call to the Danish Embassy, but they were lovely (Danes after all!) and told me to bring it in and they would extend it for a year! So I spent a couple of hours downtown at the market while I was waiting for the stamp (amazing - it must take them 2 minuttes and 21 seconds to do it but they tell you to go away for 2 hours!) ... anyways, with passport in hand I was happy we were able to go!
Then we spent all day Friday car-shopping ... lease is up on the horrid big black Dodge in the garage (yipee!) and we are in the process of figuring out what to do next, so Bob and I had lunch in Perth while looking there. Nice.
Spent the afternoon running around finding good walking shoes/boots for the kids as I knew we'd be walking a lot and didn't want them to wear their big snowboots. It was all a bit crazy and hectic but we were so excited we'd finally be seeing New York City!
Bob and I were packing and just about ready to go to bed when I thought I should check Casper's papers for the border - and guess what - they were out of date too! (talk about us being organized - NOT!). We had planned to take him to Kirsten in NJ for him to play with her dog while we were playing with Isabella, but that was obviously not going to happen. It was late and I honestly started to panic a little - but then thought I'd try the neighbour and fortunately she was very happy to take him for the weekend. - another crisis averted!
So we were off Saturday morning - all very excited and happy to be going on yet another car trip through America - obviously I still have my issues with the border police, but for once they didn't give me any grief and it was easy peasy ... phew!
We got to NY around 6 pm and had made arrangements to see Dom, Mark and Milo for dinner. We were staying in Times Square and Dom had managed to find a Sushi/Chinese restaurant for 8 pm. We all met in the M&M store across from our hotel
obviously Bob took the photo - Dom has the one with him in the picture!
The restaurant was lovely and it was such a wonderful thing that we had a bit of time with them. Milo was great and despite being tired he managed to impress me no end with his balloon animals - very impressed with that application on the iPhone ... not enough to get the phone though!
John and Isabella showed up around 8.30 and surprised me big time - it was fantastic seeing them again and well worth the long drive. Isabella and Anna were inseperable from then on and begged all evening for a sleep-over at John's hotel - We agreed on the following night!
The evening went by way too fast and I'm so sad that we didn't have more time with Dom, Mark and Milo! As you can see the kids had a ton of fun - Jack has a big fan in Milo and I kind of think he really likes that role! I love spending time with D, M&M, always such fun and laughter - and it was of course interesting to hear who they believed would win the hockey the following night! I'm sure Mark really wanted Canada to win :)
We knew we only had one day to see and do NY - so we were up early and ready for the American Girl Store when they opened at 9 ... I haven't seen Anna this excited in a long time and watching her run up to the store was fun ... she doesn't really play with the dolls that much any more but she has been dreaming of going to this store for 3 years - a dream come true
Look at that smile!
John had already made good plans for what to see and do and we managed to go from AG to Empire State Building where everyone but me and Anna went to the top - I took Anna to Macy's for a new bag - true girl stuff ! Then Dylan's Candy Store, FAO Swartz Toy store where we were lucky enough to see a performance on the big piano from the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks, then lunch and then The Museum of Natural History. We were all DONE after that ... John wanted to take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge by sunset so we took the kids home to our hotel where we were lucky enough to catch the last of the hockey game and saw Canada win the GOLD - it was fantastic and Jack was beyond proud (I think Bob was too and so was I)
We knew we didn't have a big window with the kids so we had dinner at Hard Rock but it was good fun if nothing special. The kids were impressed with the Beatles outfits and took in a little history lesson, so all good!
John took Isabella and Anna and went skating at Rockefeller on the way back - just as well I didn't know about that :) ... the girls apparently went to bed at 11.30!
It was such fun and I am desperately in love with NY - I cannot wait to go back and Kirsten whom we stopped to have tea with on the way home has promised we can come for a week in the summer and she'll show us all the stuff we never got round to this time.
At least we now know what all the fuss is about!!!
We didn't take a ton of photos - what you see is what we got - camera ran out of battery and despite looking everywhere we never managed to find another one - oh well, with a photographer on tour I'm sure something will show up on John's blog eventually ;) http://www.johnagger.com/blog/
So a great weekend in our lives - fantastic to be given a day with John and Isabella - fun and full of love!
Unfortunately it feels like Bob hasn't been home and we all miss him crazy already - but at least he'll be home for a week when he gets home next time - after all it is my birthday :)
