Super Dad

NYC was...awesome.  The weather was gorgeous, simply as good as it could be.  It rained really hard once...but we were in a restaurant eating dinner and totally missed it.  Amazing.  We were 8 women...and nobody knew everyone except for the birthday girl.  Everyone got along fantastically and was really easy going and laid back.  Everyone's priority was to make sure Alwyn had the best time possible.  It was very unifying and eliminated any waffling about what to do.  I was reminded how low maintenance I am...which is really nice on one hand because I just had a small purse sized duffle for the weekend as opposed to the large rolling suitcases everyone else had.  But it was not so positive when we went out to dinner and everyone else looked fab with their cute stylish outfits and well-done hair and make-up.  Oh well.  I am what I am.

We ate Australian meat pies for lunch, biked around in Central Park, almost got killed biking with traffic to get from the bike rental place to Central Park (cabs don't like bikes in their lane, turns out), drank and chatted up a storm in our awesome spacious hotel room, ate fresh made pasta at an incredible Italian restaurant, laughed and cringed at our very drunk friend flirt outrageously with our waiter.  Then on Sunday, I was up and ready to go 3 hours before everyone else (I was the only one to not have a bed), so I walked a few blocks and enjoyed the crisp fall air and gorgeous buildings with a cup of mocha in hand and my people watching eyes deeply satisfied.  Once everyone else got up and got ready, we ate breakfast at a diner (why are people so crazy about diners?), visited Grand Central Station, took the subway to the Met (a-mazing...although I think I need about 381 more days there to really make a dent on what is there), perused a street fair, ate amazing corned beef sandwiches, and took the train home.  I feel super confident and excited about taking my mom, MIL, and Lily there in 2 weeks for Lily's birthday.  My friends patiently taught me what I need to know to navigate by myself, and I don't think I'll forget it in 14 days.  I hope.  Very fun.

While I was gone, Jeff did awesome...as expected.  Whenever I leave, he gets hyper productive.  But I didn't think it would happen this time because there were already so many things planned.  But somehow a midst the 3 sports events, Sunday school, and a birthday party, he managed to keep the house cleanish, go grocery shopping and then made a loaf of bread in the bread maker, 4 loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread (a new recipe he found), and a crockpot dinner for us to share when I got home Sunday night.  No wonder he was tired!  Overachiever.  But I think they all had a very good time, and I am confident that if I had been killed on that 5 block bike ride on the streets of NYC, they would have just bounced right along in life.  Not only would they not miss me, they would have really yummy bread :)