NYC

Four adults and five children stayed in a large (NY standards only) junior suite for 3 nights and all lived to tell about it. The hotel will not be named in case they have google alerts and my parents don't need to be thrown out.

Once again, I braved the empty roads of non rush hour traffic to drive into the city. We arrived wihtout drama, which was great since waking 5 kids up, hauling them to the 17th floor and attempting to put them to bed was drama enough. Thursday morning we headed out. We started with getting tickets to the Christmas Show for Friday, hit the tree, American Girl, and Toys R Us. The kids took a spin on the Ferris Wheel. It was nice to get the shopping out of the way on a weekday. At this time of year, you can't get into the stores on the weekend. My sister and the Divine Ms M went to dinner with a friend she reconnected with through Facebook. My dad went to dinner with someone he used to work with. My mom and I ordered out from our favrite Italian restaurant. Their pizza is about as close as you can get to real Italian pizza without going there.

On Friday, we started out early and saw the Christmas Show at Radio City. It was great as usual. The kids loved it. Then we went to see the trains at Citibank. These trains are phenomenal. I asked how long it took to build the set. Apparently it would take 20 people a year and a half! To set it up every year takes 30 hours. Phew! That's a lot of work. We ended up eating at Benihana for lunch. It was a great show with really good food. My nephew was determined not to like anything, but he warmed up to trying the shrimp and was even seen laughing and smiling. Then we hit the Disney store and the kids helped an Elf earn her bells. For their troubles, they earned a jingle bell and some chocolate. Then it was back to the room so my sister and I could get ready to meet our cousin. We hadn't seen her in a couple of years and it was nice to catch up. It was also fun to navigate the subway system of NY. We almost ended up in Queens, and then over the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Saturday was the last day of our trip. We woke up, went to the Brooklyn Diner for breakfast. Then we hit the park for an hour. Finally it was time for Mary Poppins. It was a great show. It was based more on the book than the movie. Now I want to read the book! We walked the 14 blocks back to the hotel, ate a quick dinner and loaded the car. By the time I reached my sister's house, it was snowing. It snowed the rest of the way back to DE. We arrived home late, threw the kids in bed and I collapsed. And I wonder why I'm sick today.