What I did on summer vacation in New York City
Over a year ago, Katie told me about a show scheduled for this year at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) that she'd read about and was very interested in seeing. Several months ago, she told me that she'd been mistaken -- that the show wasn't actually opening until next year. Then, just a few short weeks ago, she told me that she was mistaken about being mistaken and that the original dates were correct, after all; in fact, the show had just opened! Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling -- or (to us) The Prefab Show -- runs through October 20th.
Time was tight and opportunities limited, but I decided to check some of the options and, before you knew it, I'd steamrolled over any arguments to the contrary on my way to the ticket counter where I bought passage for three -- Katie, Maddy and me (DH & Ali being occupied otherwise with different things) -- to The Big Apple.
Seriously. A month ago, a trip to New York wasn't on any of my maps. For a variety of the usual reasons, I was pretty much resigned to a not-far-from-home most-of-the-family vacation and even foregoing Rhinebeck this year.
Katie, Maddy and I flew from Green Bay to NYC (kinda like Brett Favre -- though not in a private jet -- and he flew from Mississippi, but it works figuratively, and yes, the word "stalking" did come to mind) on Saturday the 9th. We made our way to and through Penn Station and the girls spent their first few minutes in NYC catching their breath and taking it all in from the steps of the post office. It wasn't long before Cara met my girls and I met hers! Meli is definitely used to a little more elbow room in the car -- she wasn't too sure about her new backseat companions!
The girls and I spent the evening walking around and taking in the city. We met Cara, Georgie & Meli for pizza (yum!) and then went to Rice to Riches for dessert. Only in New York, eh? It was like Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors, except for rice pudding. With toppings, too. And completely delicious. I may have licked my bowl. For sure I licked the lid.
I purchased our tickets for MoMA in advance -- highly recommended, by the way; we've done that both times now and it saved a ton of time in line. Time was limited on Sunday, so we got there as early as we could and made our way right up to the exhibit floor and then outside for the "field trip" portion of the program. (That's what I was reminded of, anyway.) Katie has all the photos from that day and I'll have to get a few from her -- those little structures were AWESOME! There were particular pieces/artists that the girls had on their lists to see, which we did, and the rest was gravy... or saved for another day.
We met up with Cara & Meli, and also (by happy circumstance) Terry and her family for lunch. Again with the camera... at least T had hers! And then we made our way out to Long Island to visit Ann!
Monday was lay-low day -- knitting, watching the Olympics. The girls did some exploring on their own and then took in a movie (Brideshead Revisited) when the house filled up with knitters! There were birthday celebrations and ice cream cake and lots of laughs. It was great to see Kathleen, Peggy, and Ricki again, and to finally meet Claire. Kathleen had the magic touch with Meli -- she managed a few more minutes of relaxed and happy babe-in-arms time than anyone else!
On Tuesday, the girls and I drove out to the Montauk Lighthouse -- we took the scenic route and arrived at closing time, which was fine, really. We had a blast going through all the little towns, looking at as many of the amazing houses that we could -- delighting just as much in the few "originals" we were able to see. I have a new best friend named Garmin and will never go on another trip into the unknown without one. Tuesday night was more knitting to the Olympics, and on Wednesday we flew home. I was back to work on Thursday and Friday, then catching up at home over the weekend. And with all the knitting -- on the plane, in the car, watching the Olympics -- Juno Regina is probably about 3' long now, unblocked.
I had so much fun -- and the girls did, too. It was great to get away and just hang out. "Thank you" to you and you and you! I do hope I'm able to demonstrate my skills as a hostess in return someday. Heh.
And with that...
I'll be taking a little blog break, at least 'til after Labor Day. Everything's fine -- there's just too much of it at the moment. See you in a couple of weeks.
