{"id":3297,"date":"2012-06-21T16:06:10","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T20:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hoperoth.com\/blog\/?p=3297"},"modified":"2012-06-21T16:06:10","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T20:06:10","slug":"new-york-new-york-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hoperoth.com\/blog\/new-york-new-york-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New York, New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, I took the bus down to NYC to see my sister<\/a> and her family and to attend my nephew’s sixth birthday party. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend in the city, but\u00a0 figured this would probably be one of my last chances to spend a weekend in New York for quite some time. It’s a lot harder to jump on a bus and sleep on a couch when you have a baby in tow.<\/p>\n

Or so I’m told.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get in to Brooklyn until late on Friday night and then I was woken up at dark thirty by the sounds of my niece and nephew talking to each other about how they weren’t supposed to be waking me up. Sleep deprivation? Worth it, to spend time with a cutie like this.<\/p>\n

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(It didn’t hurt that I crawled into bed with my sister and then slept for another couple of hours).<\/p>\n

Some people go to New York for the Broadway shows. Some people go to New York for the shopping. Some people go to New York for the nightclubs. Me? I go to New York for the playgrounds.<\/p>\n

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After nap-time (both my two-year-old niece and myself), we headed to Prospect Park for my nephew’s birthday party. It was quite the production. I was in charge of face painting, a job duty that I assigned to myself when I realized that it would enable me to be both a) helpful and 2) sedentary. I sat on a blanket and let the kids all come to me. I was surprisingly popular.<\/p>\n

\"P1000370\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Halfway through the party, it was time for a magician named Banana Peel. Who was quite entertaining. I mean, when other kids crash your birthday party to watch the magician, you know it’s a good time.<\/p>\n

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Banana Peel finished up his act by making balloon animals for the kids. I do believe that Banana Peel is a balloon animal virtuoso. He made a balloon dog in about 15 seconds. The kids all loved the balloons. As did the hipsters who wandered over and asked for a couple of their own. They wanted them ironically, one would assume.<\/p>\n

\"P1000420\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My sister throws the best parties.<\/p>\n

The rest of the weekend was your bog standard family visit. Lots of fun, not long enough. There was much consumption of french toast.\u00a0 My niece spent a good chunk of the weekend hugging and kissing my belly and telling me how much she loves her cousin. Gummy Bear is kicking up a storm these days, so I would put R’s hand on my belly to let her feel. I think Gummy did<\/em> kick her a couple of times, but even when she didn’t, R would yell, “She kicking me! She kicking me!”<\/p>\n

(Adorable!)<\/p>\n

My nephew loved the Ninjago set that I got for his birthday. He also gave me a spontaneous hug when he found out that I was leaving that lasted a good 20 seconds. Words can’t describe just how good it feels when a six-year-old takes it upon themselves to throw their arms around you and bury their head in your neck.<\/p>\n

\"P1000469\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Ninjago = Lego ninjas, aka the coolest toy ever).<\/p>\n

(I think I had more fun “helping” D put the set together than he did).<\/p>\n

My sister escorted me back to the bus station on Sunday afternoon, something that she hasn’t done since\u00a0 was a self-reliant 14-year-old. Why? Because she needed to carry the world’s biggest bag of hand-me-downs. Ever. Between the bounty of clothes from my sister and the adorable outfits that we will probably receive as baby gifts, it’s quite possible that we will do very little in the way of clothing purchases for our baby.<\/p>\n

(Ok, that’s a total lie.)<\/p>\n

(I am a complete and utter sucker for tiny little baby clothes.)<\/p>\n

\"photo.JPG\"<\/a>
Even Sophie likes Gummy Bear's new clothes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

I managed to get on the bus before mine as a standby passenger. There was one seat left, and it was right in front of the bathroom. Which would have squicked most people out. But, then again, most people don’t have a bowling ball kicking their bladder 24-7. And then, if that wasn’t good enough, the guy sitting next to me realized that he was on the wrong bus and hopped off at a red light, leaving me with a seat to myself. If that’s not some fantastic travel luck, I don’t know what is.<\/p>\n

There’s something a wee bit unfair about getting a seat to yourself as a standby passenger on an otherwise full bus. And yet? I felt no need to assuage my guilt by offering up my unexpected bounty to someone else. I am both enormous and overly sensitive about my personal space these days. I think I’ve been relatively easy-going lo these 8 months (my husband would probably tell you otherwise). I let myself enjoy a moment of selfishness, (mostly) guilt-free.<\/p>\n

All-in-all, it was a great trip. Short, but definitely sweet. I’m not sure when I’m going to make my way back to NYC again… let’s all cross our fingers that I manage to birth a baby who is an easy-going traveler. Stranger things have happened. Although I do believe that, if I drag our daughter down to NYC, I will bring Kristian along. And we’ll drive or take the train.<\/p>\n

Full photo set on flickr here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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