New York City

Matt and I are back from our trip...which of course went by FAR too quickly! We left last Thursday morning, when my parents arrived to stay with the kids. We drove their car back to their house in Brooklyn (since they would use our van to bring themselves, the kids and the dogs back to meet us on Saturday night) and took the subway into Manhattan.

We stayed at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Times Square. What a gorgeous hotel! We were on the 41st floor, high above 47th street and Broadway with a beautiful view of everything. We could see the Hudson River from the bedroom and the East River from the living room. New York is terrific from high in the air, I've always thought.

We ate Cuban food that night for dinner at Havana on 46th street, which I highly recommend. We had to go there because the neon sign, complete with palm tree, reminded us of "Guys & Dolls," when Skye takes Miss Sarah to Havana, gets her drunk, and they realize they're in love. It was a wonderful dinner, absolutely delicious, and then we headed over to the Nederland Theater to see "Rent"....not enough can be said about that show; I won't even try. It was just delightful--the voices, the dancing, the story--funny and terribly sad all at once.

Friday we walked the city, all over midtown and down to the Village; we ate Thai food and went to a comedy club that night. On Saturday we had Korean BBQ lunch (where they cook at the table and you wrap meat and various spicy condiments in lettuce leaves) and then had a leisurely afternoon walking, talking, having coffee and savoring our last few hours.

I don't even know where to begin with this trip! It was sublime to talk with Matt, uninterrupted, for as long as we wanted. To sleep in a silent dark room--no kids, no pets, no wake up time. We laughed, we talked, we luxuriated....it was so strange to be completely selfish in the most literal sense--just concerned with ourselves and no one else. No chores, no cooking or cleaning up, no work...just the two of us. We even talked at length about what life would have been like if we'd never had kids. Not that this would have been desirable; just the fact that some people live life like this all the time was what we were mulling over. It was definitely over too quickly!

And the kids did perfectly! Emma didn't freak out, Rachel was helpful (of course!), no one bickered or gave any trouble. Even though part of me expected this, part of me was still shocked when Dad told me about it. We're already plotting the next time we can go away! (Settle down, Rachel, it won't be for a while...) Anyway, I'm posting photos of the suite and the view, just so you can wish that you'd been there! :)

--Jen