NYC - the Greatest City in the World!

It's just a week past our annual NYC trip and I'm missing the city already. It warms my heart and makes me so proud that Emer loves this city almost as much as I do. This blog post will be filled w/ pix from our trip along with a few highlights that show just how much we have grown to love the melting pot of America :)
In recent years we have found hotels in offbeat, less tourist areas of Manhattan b/c we, well at least I, prefer pretending we live in NYC when we are there. This time Steve went w/ us again and he wanted to stay in the heart of things - Times Square and the theatre district! So we stayed at the Novotel which is a French-owned hotel. I don't know if it was our location or the fact that this is a European hotel, but I only heard one other family w/ an American accent in our hotel. And I have to admit, it was quite refreshing to be surrounded by so many different types of people. Saturday night the balcony bar was turned into a Latin nightclub that pumped music clear into the night. We could hear it from our room, but I was the only one awake wishing I was downstairs dancing! Sunday night some African American group had rented the balcony bar and we were regaled w/ everything from hip hop to traditional African music. It was truly a melting pot of a hotel!

The hotel bar  > 

And views from the balcony bar  > 

When we arrived in the city I had one agenda and that was to get to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. The artist Dale Chihuly had a large exhibit of blown-glass sculptures throughout the gardens and I love his work so I wanted to see it. So, Fri., we hopped on the Metro North train and headed to the gardens. Here are a few of our favorite scenes:

 

 

Saturday was truly a "we live here" kind of day. We hopped on the Subway and took it to Washington Square Park.

This is a new park for us and one where Emer made a new friend (of course!) Our main mission was to eat John's of Bleecker St. pizza and the park was pretty close to the pizza place so we stayed to let Emer play until it was time to head to lunch. Let me just say this - Never doubt Steve's pizza-picking ability! This was by far the best, most delicious pizza we've ever had!!! John's may become a regular spot for us. On another note, it was fun eating there b/c when we walked in there was a little league team celebrating their end-of season awards. A bunch of 4-and 5-year-olds were eating pizza and being given awards for MVP, Best Attitude, etc. Too cute!

Saturday afternoon I decided to walk next door to the theatre where Cats was playing and see how much tickets might be. I scored affordable tickets! Emer and I enjoyed the show and she's still singing the songs :) I love, love, love that I have a Broadway fan for a daughter!

Emer's favorite day came on Sunday when we took the D train an hour south to Coney Island. Oh yes, we spend over 3 hours playing at the beach! Imagine this - 93 degrees F, a slight breeze, the smell of sand, salt and sunscreen, people packing the beach as far as the eye can see, but plenty of open sand to create sand castles, families, young adults, teenagers, and chilly ocean water! Life was perfect. And I've decided I'll be moving Brooklyn some day, heehee!

 After the beach we had Nathan's for lunch (I definitely recommend the clam po' boy!), Emer rode a couple of big rides, and we headed back on the F train. What a perfect day!

Our trip sadly came to an end on Monday. We slept in, hung out a bit, and enjoyed Katz's deli for lunch. You didn't think Steve would go to NYC without getting his pastrami fix, did you??
Our flight wasn't until 8:05pm so Emer and I just wandered the city a bit more, ending up in Rockefeller and checking out some fun Lego creations at the Lego store. There is really no way to be bored in New York City...

 

Major Updates!

Apparently this blog will be updated every 6 or so months now...so here's a quick recap of Emer's life since beginning 3rd grade...
She did join the swim club! She's been in swimming since October and is loving it. And so am I! She's pretty good - especially at breast stroke. She's gotten 2nd place in every meet for breast stroke. She's done very well with backstroke and freestyle as well. Butterfly is a work in progress. She does a pretty good job but hasn't gotten fast enough yet to be competitive. She'll get there though, I'm sure. I'm really proud of her! She works hard, is good, and enjoys herself. It's the perfect combination!

This wouldn't be an update blog without a picture of Halloween! So...

Emer was a pirate this year! Somehow we went from multiple costumes last year to just one this year. Whew, so much easier for me, haha! This picture was taken at the Colts Kids Club Halloween party. She was also a pirate at Lake Rudolph where we made our golf cart into a pirate ship! Halloween continues to be so much fun!!!!

At Christmas we didn't get to NYC this year. As I write this I'm still missing my city! Emer and I had a conversation recently about NYC. She's very insightful at times. We were talking about where we might move to in the future. I said I really wanted to live in NYC. She did not. (Of course she doesn't want to leave IN...) When I asked her why not she said that if we lived there then we wouldn't have our annual tradition of visiting. Huh...that makes sense...I still want to live there!

Let's jump forward to spring break. Emer and I set off for her first international flight! We spent 10 days in Portugal!!! It was so much fun! The country is wonderful - filled w/ nice and helpful people, castles, delicious food, and new adventures. While we were there we met up with Stephen Miller from Ireland and his daughter. That was possibly the highlight of our trip. Emer and his daughter Lily became instant friends, almost like sisters. There's nothing like traveling to one country to make friends with someone from yet another country! It's so international of Emer  :)
Here are a few highlights from our trip:

BOS airport!

 The famous Arch in Lisbon!

 Belem (the castle and Monument to the Discoverers!

 Outside the Monastery.

 National Tile Museum!

 Oceanaria! (the greatest aquarium ever!)

 The obligatory McDonald's from Lisbon!! (Hey, it's a long-standing tradition!)

 Boca de Inferno (Mouth of Hell)

 Coffees and hot chocolates to warm up from the beach!

 Cascais: where else would you eat but an Irish pub?!

 Traditional Portuguese meal in Sintra.

 First of two castles in Sintra!

 Chickens! (A national Portuguese symbol, all over the park in Cascais!)

 Cascais beach!

 The university near our last location, back in Lisbon!

 Mmmm, what a fabulous lunch!

 Castle Jorge!

Last day's hot chocolate and adventuring!

And this brings us to now...spring break is over, school is back in session, swimming has started up again, and life is nearly back to normal.
The next blog will feature things like Emer's quest for braces, her continued effort to lose a tooth in a new location, and updates on swimming or any other adventures she gets into. I continue to love being her mom and think she's just about the greatest living being in the world. She will always amaze me, I think. I <3 3="" br="" emerson="">