New York

By Mindy

It started as an attempt to see Mary Poppins in October when it opened in New York and, as you see, we succeeded in December. All I have to say was Mary Poppins was "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". We sat on the front row (which the girls thought was tops). The performers looked at them many times and the orchestra percussion bounced us in our seats. It was fun, lively, and not exactly like the movie. We actually liked the play better than the movie. It was complete with stage tricks like Bert tap dancing upside down on the stage's ceiling. As you all know "Every Day's a Holiday with Mary" but because of her, we said HELLO to a holiday in NEW YORK CITY. Eldon stayed home with the little boys. (see his blog for a day-by-day blow of his time as a single dad.)

I'm not sure the girls realize how lucky they are. Our regular visits to New York are to see one of my favorite people, Jennifer. We met Jennifer and her husband Blake on Eldon's first week of MBA school. We were inseparable for two years. Blake now works in New York and Jen in NJ so we go to visit them. Blake has a broadway ticket connection and we love broadway tickets, so a beautiful relationship continues to bloom.
This is their house where nothing is blooming except for some reindeer and their cute 5 year old Cole. What can I say, we packed in as much in as we could. We, of course, headed to Rockefeller Center along with the every other tourist in New York. There we saw another show, the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Show. (Amazing).
The whole time we were there the girls were obsessed with ice skating. The sheer novelty of ice skating outside in the middle of the city with jackets on was too much for these San Diego girls to pass up. We went to the Statue of Liberty on the day it was 6 degrees and I thought of Mom Thomas. Mom and I went to the Statue about 13 years ago and I made her climb to the top of the crown. A lot has changed since then. First, Mom will not try to impress me by overcoming her claustrophobia in one day. Second, you can no longer go to the top of the statue. You can only go inside and look up her dress at her frame. You are allowed to look only after you are "sniffed" for explosives ( humiliating).

Now it's back to reality and on to the things a mom should've been doing in December instead of galavanting around New York.