I'm goin back to New York City, I do believe that I've had enough

Heart-stopping

After only a 3-day trip to NYC, the big one insists that we move back. Not that he remembers living there - he was 10 months old when we moved to Baltimore. But something happened in those ten months to make him different from the rest of us.

We were walking up Amsterdam Ave. one morning, and as we passed an empty parked car, it did that beep-beep locking thing. Did it three times as we made our way up the block. After the third time, Big Man whips around and hollers, "Hey! Whaddaya honkin' at us for!"

I mean, I couldn't have imitated that attitude as precisely as it sprang full-blown from his little head. He didn't even know he was being funny - he was surprised when Bob and I burst out laughing.

They weren't as impressed by the Empire State Building as I would have thought. They also weren't scared even a little bit. I of course nearly fell to my knees in terror as soon as we went outside. I kept trying to get them to hold my hand, I kept clutching their jackets. God, heights make me crazy.

We went to the natural history museum three times, and they loved every minute of it.


Brooklyn Bridge from DUMBO

Our friends in Brooklyn have moved to DUMBO (Directly Underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and we got to hang out at their place with their absolutely adorable little boy and their absolutely jaw-dropping view. If I had that view I would forget to eat.

I managed to get a little shopping in - new jeans, bath stuff, and perfume from the beautiful perfume store. The kids helped me there. They have good noses, probably as a result of not smoking for the last 24 years. We picked out something called Escentric 01, pretty damn pretentious name but the smell is like a drug. The guy who tirelessly sprayed perfume on little paper strips for us was also marvelous with Big Man and Mr. Three. Showed them the tiny dogs who live in the shop, and gave them cologne samples that smell like apple and have a picture of a horse on them.

The Cathedral of St John the Divine is one of my very favorite places/objects in New York City. I could spend ages drinking in all the detail and reading the stories that the images tell. Bob once took me on a vertical tour of the cathedral, scared the life out of me but I loved it. Unfortunately, the 2001 fire that destroyed the north transept has left the entirety of the vast nave off-limits. I still had the chance to sit on the floor with the boys and talk about symbols and stories - Big Man really got it, abstraction doesn't bother him at all.


Mr Three meets the Big Wheel

But the high point for these kids was probably definitely the indoor ferris wheel at Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. They were unspeakably impressed. I always feel a little sour when kids prove themselves susceptible to something engineered to stun them, especially when it makes more of an impression than, say, the view from the top of the Empire State Building. Well, hell, it's the same bummed feeling I get when I am enjoying a magazine and then notice that all the ads are for products we already own. Nobody likes to be a target demographic.

And wow what a nerve-wracking experience that fucking Toys 'R' Us is. Our friend DW lives in NYC but won't go near the place - says it gives her an instant migraine. Luckily, Big Man and Mr. Three are a little young for the whole "I want that!" schtick. We wandered all around the store with nary a request for any of the crap on offer.

I wouldn't move back, not any time soon. I like having a garden and I like being able to get more than 2 errands done in any given day without having to plan a military campaign. It's getting about time I started getting out more though.

I put the best of our pictures on Flickr.