Welcome to New York!

After Croatia, we had one day to do laundry and repack for our 3+ week trip to the US! Our last US summer trip (the first one post-pandemic) was an epic tour and while it filled our hearts, it left us exhausted. We decided to be more selfish this year and visit the places most meaningful to us, shortening our number of stops and distances traveled. 

We started in NYC. After a direct daytime flight to JFK, the kids promptly passed out across my lap in the back to the tortuous taxi into the city. We quickly remembered a top reason why we were glad to leave the city 9 years ago. The blaring of car horns woke the kids up on East 97th Street, the location of Pete and my first home together when I was in grad school. It made me giddy to drive by the apartment building, memories flooding back. 

We stayed three nights at Celia and Bryan's on the Upper West Side. Sadly their girls were away, but our kids were very happy to have their room. We caught up with our friends with NY1 on in the background, feeling like we'd never left! 

Our midweek visit was not ideal for seeing friends, but we still managed to see a good number while also taking the kids to some of our favorite places. First up, Central Park! 

Those monsters were not there on our last visit with the kids, 6 years ago!

Charlie and kids came in from Queens to see us and the kids became instant friends. Should have packed a change of clothes!

We went on a long walk through the park with the kids while Charlie took a work call. Our excitement about buying the quintessential soft pretzels and hot dogs led to great disappointment. Worst pretzel ever. Like eating sawdust! 

After all this time traveling around Europe, I find myself noticing the beauty in things more.

The beloved Bethesda Fountain

On our walk to Strawberry Fields, a tourist approached us carrying a turtle. She said she rescued it from the road and was going to put it back in the pond. The kids were obviously interested and she offered for us to take it for her. Was it a snapping turtle? Who knows! Jude was very proud to help in the rescue mission and thankfully no one was bit!

Pete also took the kids outside the Dakota, a meaningful spot for him. They were less enthusiastic about that and more enthusiastic about finding popsicles. 

We said our goodbyes and hopped on the subway to Brooklyn! We originally thought we'd spend a weekend day visiting Park Slope and Prospect Park, but it worked out better to go midweek. We skipped Park Slope and went to Brooklyn Bridge Park instead. We went for the city views, Jane's Carousel, Luke's Lobster and Shake Shack! A pretty great afternoon. 

Shake Shack, his beloved Brooklyn bridge and his kiddos- one happy Pete

While the weather was perfect, sunny, and 70s without the usual oppressive heat and humidity, our kids were still rightfully beat. We'd already walked some 12,000 steps while jetlagged. We went back to the UWS for some downtime (screentime) before dinner. I took advantage of the break to meet up with Rachel and got to meet her husband and son, days before they moved to Europe!

Not pictured: Our feast at Pio Pio with Celia and Bryan. Gosh we missed that place!