Wednesday, November 4, 2015

3 Days in New York City {with kids}

This past weekend we had the honor of joining our midwife and her family {along with a few other families that she has cared for} to New York City.
She recently started planning field trips for her families, so we could expand our sense of community and travel with people we know and love to new places. Here's what we did for the few days we were there... 
First stop, of course was the park near our hotel with a slice of pizza from Saba's Pizza on 79th and Amsterdam.  A kosher thin slice joint with some delicious options.
After our late lunch I decided to join my midwife to a few apothecaries, first we stopped at Sabon, which makes paraben free, handmade soaps and some glamorous body scrubs {that's gold y'all}. 
 Then, we headed to rain, a more ethically conscious company making bath fizzes and other luxuries for your emotionally well being and skin care. 
Shell had researched this place and found they were extremely social conscious and environmentally responsible so we were excite to see what they had to offer.
the 'saleman' Sean was so helpful and wonderful, so kind and funny even got tears in her eyes from all the wonderful things the company is doing.  For instance, that bowl she is holding was made by a blind man in South Africa, with his sales, he was able to save up enough money to build himself a family.  Totally a company we were happy to support.
After rain, we made our way over to Jack's Wife Frida for dinner.  I think this cauliflower dish was my favorite item.
Once we were done with dinner we walked around a bit in search of some gelato.
Isn't it adorable? we ended up getting some gelato from a corner stand but you guys use cash, he up charged Husband $6 to use his debit card.  I mean this isn't actually Italy, come on.
The next morning we set off for bagels but I stopped mid strut when I saw crêpes!  This adorable little crêpery is located on 72nd just east of Columbus.  {Crêpes & Delices}
After our crêpes we explored the Museum of Natural History.  I'd never been and we were excited to show the girls all the interesting exhibits.  Even though the suggested amount was $22 you can pay whatever you want to get in.  I didn't take too much off but I did save a couple of dollars, it's somewhere I wanted to support so I didn't feel comfortable not paying enough but also that's pretty great if someone is on a tight budget!
Loved this Meteorite.
I can't even believe how heavy it is though!
We don't do zoos because I believe animals should be left in the wild, but when we can see them like this, I think that's okay too, It's not the real thing but at least it's not live animals in cages.
Also, aren't these little metal sculptures of mico biology so interesting, they also had little glass sculptures of viruses and bacteria.
Kind of cool to see what one of those giant Redwood trees we saw this summer would look like cut in half.
side note, need to step up my serving dish game.  look at those spoons!
gosh and these textiles utterly amazing,
kids had fun observing the giant whale in the Ocean room.
and the most exciting part of our visit, dinosaur bones!
If you're going to the Museum of Natural History, Central Park is across the street so it makes sense to plan both in the same day.  We grabbed a pretzel and enjoyed a stroll though the park after we enjoyed it on the park bench.
The girls loved all the fall leaves and picked up 20 each day.
Later in the day I met up with my brother in law in his house of worship.  Bauman Rare Books is a store but for anyone in our financial position might be more like a museum, plus all the good stuff is behind glass.  With a collection of first edition books the oldest dating back to the 1500s, you can imagine the fascination browsing the collection.  The guy even let me pull out and examine one of the $2000 books {side note: I did NOT bring my kids here}
but I did document the amazing medicinal plant book on display opened to the Marigold page {as you might know Sonja and I have a connection to the Marigold flower}.
Once we were done looking at books we took Bow to Times Square for the first time.
and Arthur's first time too!
Everyone else ate at John's Pizzeria, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Gretchen traded us date nights so they could watch the girls while Husband and I got dinner alone.
based on some yelp reviews I found BEA.
My drink the Gypsy King with pomegranate was exactly the mixed drink cocktail I was looking for.
Stuffed Tomato for my entree.
Really the best egg and cheese everything bagel I've ever had and they indulged Sonja with a random request for beets.
And I couldn't leave without a Black and White New York cookie!
After bagels, another stroll though central park, such beautiful colors.
and tiny berries.  Feeling all the fall vibes.
seriously, these kids picked up all the leaves.
such a great experience to enjoy the beautiful weather and hang out with some of our favorite people.
But it was halloween after all so I'll share that too, Vera the Woof-Woof fell asleep as we walked to 90th Street and Columbus. 
The streets were full of people and trick-or-treaters all the steps were wonderfully decorated, not a bad place to spend Halloween.
We had dinner at Raku ii Japanese Restaurant. Sushi was great!
Then, later in the night we had a ladies night at the Manhattan Cricket Club, a speakeasy located inside of Burke and Wills.  Our favorite drink was the Just a Kiss Away. 
Our last day in the city and we started with breakfast of champions; Macarons we bought the night before while trick or treating, on our walk to breakfast at Miss Lily's.
Our breakfast was good but not great, I was bummed to find out NYC doesn't serve alcohol on Sundays until noon so I couldn't get my One Love Bellini with my brunch.
to get our coffee fix we stopped at Brigadeiro and got a latte, and a sweet treat comes with coffee, it was like a ball of sugary goop rolled in decadent toppings {but I always choose the rainbow sprinkles}, it wasn't quite caramel, nor cream, nor cookie dough, not sure how else to explain it, but delicious goop is how I'll try.
yummy. 
we walked around SoHo for a bit before catching the subway to the airport.
Goodbye NYC fall weather, you were kind to us and we'll miss you.
and goodbye beautiful buildings and art culture...
..., until we meet again.


Where are your favorite places in the Big Apple? Something I should add to my list for next time? 



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