Back from New York

The Mr. & I spent the weekend in New York for an improv festival, marathon actually, that he (& many friends) were involved in. The weather was gorgeous....@ first. Not humid but mild and breezy, nights were warm. By Saturday night--it was pouring!

I can take it in stride but this born & raised Cali girl was obviously out of her element w/ all that 'wet stuff'. I'm used to it not raining until Dec or Jan and for only 5 min. While it all felt romantic initially, you know, being in NY w/ the Mr., walking through the rain...after slipping for the umpteenth time--I'd had enough. It went from cute to annoying as soon as I could not step down into the subway station due to inches of stagnant water @ the bottom of the stairs. (uh...I was wearing my flip-flops!)

We did see quite a few sights and did a lot of walking. We encountered large rats, emboldened by twilight, fighting. Seriously. That was a sight I'd never imagined seeing. We had a hilarious time w/ some friends trying to run across a ground level water fountain that randomly sprayed, w/o getting wet. The Mr. & his friend *failed*, much to our delight. We stayed up later than necessary taking in all the sights and sounds of the city.

My grandma is from Puerto Rico and moved to New York as a teen after she graduated high school and my dad was born there...and there are still family connections there. I was excited to be able to reconnect with a distant cousin I met when I was 14 and hadn't seen since we were both about 15 years old. We only spent a few short hours together but that was a real highlight of the trip.

We saw Times Square, purchased designer bag knock-offs in China Town, had lunch in Little Italy, searched for a geocache in Battery Park, rode the subway, took a taxi, walked through SoHo...all the stereo-typical things to do and see. We went to Ground Zero but it was fenced in so you couldn't really see it, the memorial isn't finished and neither are the two replacement buildings.

We watched improv and the Mr. performed two times....and received rave reviews. The flight was nearly unbearable--so boring--but I was able to finish a book I was reading. It was fun to hang out a bit more than usual w/ some of the Mr.'s friends. I did miss my kiddos but technology is a life saver. Thank goodness for *face-time*! Seriously. SO great to be able to call the kids & see them & have them see us, especially for K--I was worried a little since this was the first time we'd been away from him over night. Of course they all had a great weekend w/ their cousins, aunt & uncle. They had a big back yard sleep over w/ a barBq & games and lots of fun.

Every moment made it memorable...even when a woman on the subway began to scream at us not to take her picture and to get our cameras away from her--I have no idea WHY she thought we wanted to take her picture--we didn't. Or when the Mr. tried to hail a cab and a police officer got mad @ the cabbie and shooed him away, I guess he wasn't supposed to be stopping. The Mr. had us all cracking up on the subway when he decided to do the corniest sexy dance ever and swing around one of the poles. "Crazy Californians"! We got a sugar rush when we all got choc-dipped ice cream cones from an ice cream truck. I really enjoyed the time I spent sitting outside the hotel, alone on the patio, people watching and writing in my 'travel journal'. (oh! how sophisticated am I? haha!)

But there really is: NO place like Home.