New York In A Day

This guy about sums it up.  What do pigeons do?  Poop and make annoying noises.  Okay it wasn't all bad, only mostly bad.

Here's the deal.  About a month ago I decided to make Steve plan a quick trip to New York to attend a Yankees game for the last season in Yankee Stadium.  He came up with a million excuses and so I basically forced him.  He was going to go alone until some of my family members decided it sounded like a fun trip.  I went along for the ride.  

Three days before the trip Lizzy pukes in her crib.  I didn't think much of it because it was a one time thing and then she was fine.  Two days before the trip, Will gets sick.  Puke his guts up sick.  The poor kid was sooooo dang sick!  The next day I get sick (puking my guts up).  We were so hoping somehow Steve would avoid this.  No.  The night before the trip Steve is puking his lungs out and I decided enough is enough, we're canceling this stupid thing.  Not to be.  Steve decides to wait out the day and see if he thinks he can make it through the airport.  Sure enough, we decide to go.  

Our lovely sitter comes, the kids are happy because she is wonderful and they love her and we're off.  The flight is the stupid Jet Blue redeye which I have taken before and HATE with all of my heart.  In fact, I'm not such a fan of Jet Blue (seriously, why all the hype?).  Needless to say, no sleep.  How does anyone sleep on an airplane?  Most uncomfortable flight of my life.  

Is this sounding like a fun, smart plan yet?  It gets better.

So we land and hit the ground running.  We leave our bags at the hotel and run over to the Empire State Building.  I have never been so I really wanted to go.  It was really cool.  I only wish they didn't make it so touristy.  Let me explain.  When you go to the Eiffel Tower, you buy your ticket and up you go.  When you go to St. Paul's Cathedral, you can get your headset and off you go.  When you visit Notre Dame, you take a peek and on you go.  They don't let you do this at the ESB.  There are people yelling from every corner about how you MUST have a map because if you don't have one, how will you know what you're looking at?  They have a compulsory photo stop where you stand in front of a green screen (on which they later superimpose a photo of the ESB) and they snap your picture like a mug shot.  It is not until you get to the top that you are left alone to see what you came to see.  It's just so tacky.  I'm sorry to speak ill of any US tourist sight, but there you go.  

Here we are atop the Empire State Building.  Steve was being sassy to my Mom and therefore looks like a nutter.  

So we're completely exhausted at this point, what with the no sleep, the barfing, the taking care of sick kids...  Whatever.  On we go.  

Actually, on we didn't.  Steve and I went back to the hotel and slept on the couch in the lobby.  Yes, that's how we roll.  When we woke up, we went over to Otto, the famed Mario Batali restaurant in Greenwich Village.  Oh, how choice this restaurant is.  So choice.  We had an amazing cheese plate for an appetizer and then pizzas.  And for dessert, what else?  Gelato.  Only Mario can match that sweet sin of Italy.  So many others try, only Mario Batali succeeds.  We had three different flavors; salted caramel, creme fraiche, and olive oil.  If you could but taste it, you would understand!  Yes, I said olive oil.  With salt.  

Now by this point we had to hustle our buns back to the hotel so Steve could get ready for the game.  I was overcome by nausea so my Mom and I took a nap and then planned to go out that evening.  This was not to be.  I was so sick.  I think it was just exhaustion but I COULD NOT get myself together to go out.  Duh.  My poor Mom.  We stayed in the room and watched "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" which is very cute, but still, duh!  

Steve was very excited to attend a game in this historic stadium.  The stupid Yankees played their hearts out (actually they didn't) but lost to Boston.  I REALLY hope it was fun anyway.

There's Steve and my Dad at the stadium.  Go Yankees.  

Okay.  That night I call our babysitter just to check in again on the kids.  Everything had been fine earlier in the day and everyone was having fun.  I suppose this ill fated trip could not allow that to be.  She got the pukes too!  Puking her brains out.  When I called the kids were already asleep so she said "we're fine, Haley (my sister) is coming over tomorrow (she and her family had already had this sickness, we thought) and she'll help and we'll be fine".  I felt so bad.  Here I am in New York and there she is puking in between reading my kids bedtime stories!  

So we go to sleep only to be wakened in the morning by my Mom who says, "get up, Courtney's sick (our sitter) and so is Haley".  What?  We all thought she'd had this!  I guess she didn't have it bad enough because it got her.  It got her good!  We weighed our options of flying home early (not really an option) etc. and decided to have Steve's Mom come and get the kids and then have my other sister get them later so my mother-in-law could go to a wedding.  OH MY GOSH!  Haley hears about this and is feeling well enough by the afternoon that SHE goes back and gets my kids and takes them to her house.  At this point I feel like the jerk of the year.  

What do you do when all hell has broken loose at home and you're stuck in New York?  You go to Purl Soho, of course.

Such a cute store.  The Koigu selection was INSANE.  I restrained myself to only two hanks of Koigu and two hanks of some lovely Sheep Shop wool/silk.  Whatever, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more had I not been laboring under the crushing guilt of the entire Bendixen/Linton clan caring for my "possibly still contagious" kids.  

Now, to add insult to serious injury, my Dad got sick on the plane ride home (didn't puke thanks to my genius packing of phenergan (anti nausea stuff from when I was pregnant)).  What a joke.  I told Steve that this was the second to last sacrifice I was willing to make in the name of sports (he's going to a BYU football game in Seattle next weekend).  He IS NOT the insane sports enthusiast this makes him sound like.  I swear.  But I can only take so much!  I always knew I didn't like baseball.  It makes me sick ;)  

We're home now and all is mostly well.  Will has an ear infection and I'm sure Lizzy will too by Monday (you know how these things work).  I think you will all understand the picture at the beginning of this post now!  I REALLY hope all is well with the rest of you.  Have a great week.