Bonjour, Paris

We made it to Paris!  I think we averaged about 4 hours of sleep total on our flights between NYC and Paris with a transfer in Iceland. During our first flight to NYC, Gordy was the only one who got any sleep which was partly because he’d made friends with an old anesthesiologist from India who let him stretch his legs across his lap for most of the flight.  Gordy was not quite as lucky on this flight, but we did have a window that I could lay against and Gordy could then lay on me.

Once we got to CDG airport, we hopped on public transport (Gordy slept the entire way) to get to our hotel in the 11th arrondissement. The entrance to our hotel was under construction with a massive hole in the concrete floor that construction workers were standing waste deep in and water was dripping / rushing from the ceiling.  After a few failed attempts by the construction workers to get us to walk through the chaos into the hotel, a nice hotel worker, came out onto the street, picked up Gordy, and turned around and carried him through the madness.  So, Todd and I followed.  Turns out that there’s a leak / water issue, so the hotel is working tirelessly to fix the issue.  And, our room happened to be in the side of the hotel that was not affected by the leak, so we were able to check in and get up to our room.

After much needed showers, we pushed past our nearly crippling want to sleep and we ventured out. We found a laverie where we did a load of laundry and we found an Aldi supermarket with lots of delicious food.  When we got back to our hotel and finished our laundry, we were too tired to go out for dinner, so we sat outside in the hotel courtyard and polished off an entire round of Brie and crackers.  

We were all in bed by 8:30pm and are hoping to get make up a little bit of lost sleep before another big city day tomorrow.

Last day in NYC

Gordy and I had a rough sleep last night. A mosquito found it’s way into Lars’ house and decided to make a meal out of Gordy. The little bugger got him 9 times during the night and each bite left a massive welt that caused him to wake up itching.  I ended up sleeping with anti itch cream in my pocket, but by then, we had both been up for hours. 

The rest of the day was mostly spent packing and cleaning up the house, but we were able to go out to Lars’ new pool in Brooklyn and Gogo got to jump into an hour-long intensive swim class at Imagine Swimming. 

With our last NYC meal in a to go container, we hopped a cab with Bel to Newark airport and boarded our Iceland Air flight to Paris.  Fingers crossed we all get some sleep.

We all had a really great time in New York and another week there would have been great.  We’ll definitely be coming back to the city in the future for a longer stay.  Thanks for everything Lars!

NYC day 2

After a 12 hour long super sleep, we started off our second day in the city with some breakfast and a “filthy chai” at our old haunt, The Bean. For those not in the know - a dirty chai is a chai latte with a shot of espresso, a filthy chai has two shots, and a kinky chai (our baristas favorite) has a whopping 3 shots!  

We then made our way north to union square where we were gifted some free slime from some slime factory workers, played on a cool playground, and listened to some nice jazz music.

A short ride on the subway and we were in midtown for a quick visit to Times Square, some yummy lunch, another playground, a stroll through Central Park, and a walk along Columbus Ave for their open street event.

Our feet were tired, so we made our way back to the east village with takeout dinner and a bottle of pino. Our day today is exactly why we love this city so much.  We left the house this morning with no real plans or expectations and we found ourselves all over this glorious city eating delicious food, and having a great time.

Only one day left!

NYC day 1

After a nine hour red-eye flight (without much sleep for any of us), a ride on the air train to Jamaica station, a transfer to the “f” metro line, a ride on the “f” train to 2nd ave, and then a a one mile walk, we finally arrived at our friend Lars' house in the east village, NYC. 

And, while we were a bit hungry, we were so tired, that we decided to have a 2-hour power nap… such a good idea!  The nap was just enough of a recharge to make it so we were able to go out for an adventure.  With no real plans but a dinner venue and a general idea where Trader Joe’s was, we ventured out.  In the end, we stopped at a few pretty small but fun playgrounds, made it to a new (to us) Trader Joe’s for lunch, found a super cool playground in battery park, rode the Staten Island ferry and saw the statue of liberty, and made it to one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Ippudo. 

Finally, we stopped at a vegan ice cream place for some ice cream cones and the best ice cream any one of us has ever had.  

Our night ended with us all cozied up in bed at 9pm with very droopy eyes and happy tummies and hearts.

1st bee sting

Today Gordy fell down onto a rock while riding his scooter and the result was a huge, raw, raised strawberry on his okole cheek.  While trying to distract him from the crying, I was asking him what kind of hurt he was feeling (i.e. throbbing, stinging, etc.).  He stopped crying for a minute and asked what stinging felt like.  So, I told him that it felt like the time he was stung by a bee on his finger and he had no recollection of the incident.  I searched the blog to find a posting about it, and nothing... bad mom.  So, here's the belated story of Gordy's 1st bee sting:

Sometime between the ages of 3 and 4, a sad kiddo with his bottom lip out past his nose came running into the house to find me.  He had his pointer finger held high in the air and he was crying telling me that his finger hurt because "a bit bit me".  Once we got some ice on his finger, he was finally able to tell me what happened.  Apparently he watched a bee fly through our open front door into the latch plate where is seemed (to Gordy) to be stuck.  So, being the bee lover that he is, he stuck his finger in there to help the bee get out, at which point, the bee stung him.

Thankfully, he still loves bees (and most other creatures), but he was a bit weary of them being on him for a while after the sting.  

Pohaku and Niele

Gordy still absolutely loves cats.  And, since we aren't getting another one until we find a place further away from a busy road, we have been doing our best to enjoy the neighborhood felines.  Two of his favorites are Pohaku and Niele (Sanoe's kitties).  Their owners go on holidays to the mainland pretty regularly and while they're gone, they hire Gordy to take care of their cats.  Twice a day, we head over there and as we are walking down their long driveway, Gordy calls to them.  When hearing his voice, the kitties come out from their hiding places and meet him at their food bowls.  They seem to be about 50% interested in the food and 50% interested in getting some solid love, so we spend quite a bit of time after we feed them sitting and petting them.

Gordy hasn't asked for another kitty in awhile, so thankfully, it seems his kitty-feeding job is helping to fill that void.

tandem surfing

 A few weeks ago, the surf spot chocolates was "pumping".  So, Gordy's friend Alia and her family met us out there and Todd took the two of them tandem surfing.  All three of them road some waves, just the kiddos surfed some, but mostly, they spent their time one-upping each other in jumps off the board.  Hopefully we score another session out there again soon!