NYC -- We made it!

Hard to believe, we've been in New York for a whole week already! It has seriously flown by, and I'm not even sure what to blog about it. But before I get further behind, I better add a little something here, eh? So, I thought I'd just answer some of the questions people keep asking me...

How did the move go??

It went really smoothly. I was sad to see all our stuff boxed up, but hey, at least we didn't have to move it all, (some stayed behind), and at least movers helped!

We left a lot of our furniture, since we only plan to be gone a year or two. That made it feel not quite so empty when we got everything boxed up. For those who don't know, our Aunt Cindy (who also happens to be our very good friend), is staying in our house while we're away. We're so glad she's willing to stay there and hope all goes well for her! One more pic of the house, getting packed up...

How was the flight?

It was great, considering how crazy it might have been, flying solo with three kids. Brian's parents took us to the airport, which was really helpful -- we never would have made it through check-in without their extra arms to hold all our stuff! :) When we first got in the check-in line, we were told that our flight to SLC was delayed by two hours, which meant we'd totally miss our connection to NYC. I got a sinking feeling, wondering what kind of day it would be!? But the customer service people worked with us really nicely, and rerouted us through St. Paul, and we only arrived one hour later than our original schedule, not bad! They even put us on the front row for one leg of the flight, which gave me tons of room to help the kids. whew! The kids were great, really. No fits, no crying, nothing. At one point, about 2 hrs into the flight, Spencer said, "I want to get off now, and go to the airport." I had him look out the window, and he realized it'd be a long way down to "get off now." So, he waited patiently the rest of the time. :)

Here we are at the airport, the only picture I took of our "flight" right before we checked in...

Confession: I've developed a phobia in the past few years. I really, really hate flying when there is the slightest bit of turbulence. It didn't bother me when I was younger and single. But something about being up there with my babies, I just get so anxious when there's even a little bit of a bumpy patch. I had a few sleepless nights before we left, wondering how the flight would be. But I also had some good prayers, and thankfully, we had a very smooth flight, all the way to NYC! Whew!!

Brian met us at the airport, and I forgot to take pictures. But it was wonderful to see him and be with him again. Almost six weeks apart, tooooo long!!

How's the temporary housing?
Before we left, Samantha and Spencer were staying with a friend while I took Natalie to a doctor's appointment. Sammie told our friend, "We'll be staying in an assisted living place when we first get there." Ha! Our friend asked her if she meant, temporary housing? "Oh yeah," Sam said. "I guess I get them mixed up sometimes." :)

Brian's work is putting us up for these first two weeks, so we can look for a house and get ourselves settled here. It's a really nice place, with cherry-wood hardwood floors, and flatscreen tvs in the living room and both bedrooms. We're loving it!! I took a couple of pictures after we'd been here about five minutes....

That's right... Spencer made himself right at home, blanket and all...

he kids' bedroom has a king size bed. I've found Samantha watching cartoons, with a box of cereal under the covers with her, two different mornings. Livin' the good life, eh? :)

Did we make it to the St Patrick's Day Parade?

Yes we did! And it was a great "welcome to New York" event! Brian couldn't join us, so it was just me and the kids, that first morning after we had arrived. We piled into the sit-n-stand stroller (our new best friend!!), and I wheeled all three kids down to the parade. Not the best pictures, but here we are....

Each of the kids got a "head ride" for a little while, so they could see over the crowds. Samantha took this one of me and Spence, having his head ride...

And here's Natalie. She didn't have much of a view, but well... She looked cute in her little green St. Pattys Day shirt, I must say!

I read online before we came, that the NYC St. Pattys parade is the longest, oldest St P parade in the world. (Of course, this was on the official NY St.P parade website, so they may have been "stretching" some facts, perhaps?) But it was fun to be part of it. Mostly, I wanted to get there because it marked an anniversary of sorts for me...

Ten years ago on St. Patrick's Day, my best friend, Alicia, and I were in NYC together, shortly after we had moved to Boston. Alicia was getting laser surgery on her eyes in NY, and I was the driver. We stayed with Alicia's old roommate, on a tiny futon in her tiny apartment in the Bronx. We went site seeing on St. Patricks Day, and just happened into the parade that day. Someone gave us green bandanas, which we wore the rest of the day, as we walked around the city. It was such a fun trip... we walked between the World Trade Centers and got a donut in the Krispy Creme shop at the bottom (March 2001, before 9/11), we got tix from a scalper to see Annie Get Your Gun, or something like that, with Reba McEntire. We had someone take our picture together on top of the Empire State Building. (I wish I had thought to scan that picture... I ran into it when I was packing for this move.) It was my first trip to New York, and I was astonished, amazed, and intimidated by the big city! I remember thinking, "New York is NOT the place for me!" As much as I loved being the tourist and seeing the sites, I felt a bit like a fish-out-of-water.

And now... ten years to the day... I found myself at the St. Patrick's Day parade once again, this time with three kids in tow... moving to New York. Wow. Who knew?! Another confession: I still feel like a fish-out-of-water. But I've discovered in the past ten years that I'm much more adaptable than I thought I was. :)

A couple picts of the actual parade...

Look how tall this guy is (below)... he shoulda been a ball player instead of a piper! ha!!

Next question...

How's the house hunt?

Great! We found a place and signed a lease yesterday!! Yay! It's in Harrison (Westchester County), which will be about a 45-50 minute commute for Brian on the train. It's up the coast, just about 10-15 mins drive to the beach. We're very excited to have found a place so quickly -- and one that "ticks all our boxes" too!! I went looking at several options the first Thursday afternoon when we just arrived. We put an offer in on something the next day, but it fell through. Then on Saturday I looked again with no luck. Sunday morning our agent called to tell us about a property we had somehow "missed," even though it's right the area we've been looking. So, we went and saw it, put an offer in on Monday morning, and... here it is....

I can't figure out how to post the pictures of the inside, but it looks great, inside and out! It's a duplex, and I think an older couple lives next door. That garage and driveway are ours, and the whole left side of the house. It's a split entry, with three bedrooms and lots of storage upstairs, and a kitchen, living room, and laundry downstairs. There's a big deck on the back, and a fenced back yard to share with the neighbors. All this for a VERY reasonable price -- $700-800 per month less than we were hoping/expecting. We're celebrating!!

What else have we been up to?

Swimming in the pool at our fancy-pants place...

Every day except Sunday, so far!

Natalie has spent most of her pool time "observing." I got her in her suit the first day, but then I realized, if I'm holding Spencer (his floaties don't work worth beans), and I'm watching Samantha (her floaties work, but still...) Well, sorry, Nat.

She repaid me by blowing out in her not-so-protective swim diaper. All. over. her. carseat. uggg.

We've had fun watching the street performers....

Elmo was right on the corner near Central Park. Poor Spence went running up to him, and tripped on his own feet and wiped out royally! He didn't end up hugging Elmo, but instead bawled in my arms while Sammie got her picture with Elmo...

And yes, I took a picture of him in his embarrassing moment. Mean Mom. And gave Elmo 50 cents for causing a commotion in front of him for a few mins -- bad for the business, ya know?

We've been gawking at all the schwanky stores that we'll probably never go into...

And all the super-tall skyscrapers... Some of them are truly works of art!!

We also spent a lovely afternoon in Central Park last Friday. It got up to 72 degrees! (It's back to 30-something-and snowing today, oh well.)

Here's the way we travel. Gotta love the sit-n-stand, though it's quite the HEAVY load when they're all three riding!!

The kids LOVED the sandbox at the kids' playground in Central Park. I was relieved when they both decided to dig -- right beside me -- so I didn't have to try to keep an eye on them in the THRONGS of people that came to the park for that first sunny day of the season.

Samantha posed for this picture. It was her last request -- to climb on the rocks in Central Park -- before we had to go back to our apartment.

Other than that, we've also spent lots of time just lounging in our place, watching cartoon network, coloring, and playing with bendaroos. :)

I better sign off for now, or I'll make this soooo long no one will ever read the whole thing, and then I'll not get a single comment. ;) Bye for now!