New York oooOOOOOHHHOOoooo

Alright.  So I didn't post yesterday because New York nearly broke me in half.  And yesterday was only a half day because the train didn't get in until about mid-day anyway.  But I was so exhausted that I was nearly feverish by the time we got back to the hotel.  Yesterday we trained into NYC.  And the weather was miserable.  Rainy.  Cold.  Windy.  Really cold.  Really windy.  As we were walking around we were looking at all the quaint locals with their fashionable rain shoes on of various designs.  Soon enough we realized that it's not fashion as much as a necessity because the streets here are nothing but one puddle after another.  Chase and Charlie's shoes got wet about ten minutes into walking around.  We needed to get Chase some new shoes anyway because we discovered that she had a hole in one of her shoes.  IN THE SOLE.  Not at a seam or where some weak stitching gave way.  But right through the rubber on the bottom of her shoe...you know... the part that is the last to wear out.  We had walked Chase around Boston so much we wore out her shoes.  All the pleas to be carried and sobs about sore legs echoed through our minds.  Then Tiffany and I laughed, hi-fived, and took Chasie to Kmart to buy her some fashionable New York shoes.  You can catch them in the video and photos.  She's quite proud of them.

We also caught a show yesterday called Dear Edwina.  It was off Broadway.  Really off.  But it was a musical for kids and Charlie and Chase ate it up.  They had a grand old time. 

After that we found ourselves in the village, and since i could no longer feel my head because of the cold I decided to get a knit cap from one of those guys with the tables on the sidewalk.

"How much for the grey one?"

"Seven dollars."

"Seven dollars?  I've got five."

"Okay six."

I made a very unpleasant face in reaction to this, then demanded, "Okay!" 

I drove a really hard bargain.

After my head was warm we warmed our bellies first with fries at Pommes Frites.  I hope that's how you spell it because I'm not checking it now.  Hmmm. If you've never eaten there you should give it a try.  There were two chairs right near the front door so we plopped the girls in them and everyone in line watched the two of them eat as they waited to make their order.

After Pommes Frites, we hit a chocolate restaurant called Max Brenner.  This place specializes in everything chocolate and I'll tell you now, it's the best chocolate I've ever had.  

The girls slurped up their fancy hot chocolates and wanted more...but it was time to go.

As we walked back to the hotel Charlie asked me, "Hey Dad, do you know what French kissing is?"

"Hmmm.  Kind of... what is it?"

"It's where you kiss but you rub tongues together!  They call it French kissing, but I don't think the French invented it."

"Where did you hear about it?"

"I was looking up idioms at www.idioms.com and that was one of them."

"Oh.  Okay."

"Yeah."

Who said New York isn't full of educational surprises.

So last night I knocked out really hard.  I think if I had stayed up I'd have gotten sick.  The wind here- the frigid wind here seems to be royally kicking my ass.

Anyhoo, so today we woke up...We had the best bagels and lox I've ever had in my life at Tal Bagels on 57th and 1st.  Oh man.  Then it was time to hit Central Park.

There isn't a way to take a bad picture in Central Park.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around how beautiful that place was.  And today being Easter Sunday...there were tons of people out, which to me made it even better.

We hit the playground.  The girls couldn't stop climbing all of the rocks jutting out of...well, everywhere.... we went to the fountain... saw the Alice in Wonderland statue...and then went to Strawberry Fields.  I have to say that Strawberry Fields is a bit of a sham tribute to John Lennon.  There are signs everywhere demanding that it is a quiet area and music is not allowed to be played.  Seems to be a counter intuitive tribute to one of the world's greatest song makers.  But there were tons of crowds to take pictures in front of the tile memorial that reads "Imagine."  This also seemed a bit silly.  I know if Lennon could give an opinion on it he'd tell everyone that if we really wanted to pay tribute to what he was about (or tried to be about)  then we should really tackle the world's problems.  Preach Preach Preach.

After we were finished with Central Park we mosied on over to the Museum of Natural History.  Having been there, I can tell you for certain the movie was a complete fabrication.

Finally we hit Times Square..whoa!  What a tourist trap...but we had fun, anyway!

Alright.  Here's the latest videologue and I hope I have enough energy for further entries... this has not been spellchecked...there just isn't any time...