Spring Break: the rest of it

Prepare for a spring break photo extravaganza.  We spent until Thursday afternoon in New York, where it appeared that the magical spring fairy came, and overnight the weather was perfect, the trees became green, I found parking within five minutes (twice!), and every other spring-breaker went home since their spring break ended with Easter and Passover.

However, we got a little preview to our spring break vacation this year when the Burton clan made our place a little stop on their own spring break tour.  I felt no compunction about taking the kids out of school for the day and heading up to Philly to see some of the sights, including the boring old bell with a big crack in it--and that's a direct quote from at least two of my kids.  After the Liberty Bell, a walk about Independence Mall, and a tour of the Betsy Ross house (including a demonstration from ole' Betsy herself), we went to find some cheesesteaks and pulled-pork and brocoli rabe sandwiches at the Reading Terminal Market.

We loved having them visit, and it was a great time for catching up, talking late into the night, kids playing together, and working on the grand plan of someday marrying off our perfectly-matched children.  See, look at how cute those babies are together!

Once in NYC it was all sorts of good times.  We started the week with a trip to the Dinosaur playground in Riverside Park.

And the girls got to go with Sha-sha to get their nails painted.

And because I haven't been a parent for 10 years without learning anything, Max got his own special outing.  He wanted to go to Chinatown to hunt down a particular kind of hat.  Amazingly enough, we were successful, despite the fact that it wasn't one of the only four different hats that every single store on the street is carrying, which is how Chinatown works--in case you've never been there.  We found it at the very last store...hiding. We celebrated with a hot dog from Gray's Papaya on the way home.

We also went to the High Line, an old elevated subway line on the west side that has been recently converted in to a park. We'd never been there before and I'd been meaning to check it out for a while, and since it was a sunny day we packed a picnic and ignored the stares that accompanied walking through Chelsea with four children.  It was fantastic. And it wasn't until after they'd bagged the donuts we ordered when stopping at the at the Donut Pub that I realized that I'd left my wallet at home.

There is a section of the High Line with a little water exhibit, which after about two minutes Saul decided it didn't matter that he wasn't in swimwear and he might as well lay down in the water anyway.  

We then went over to Central Park with Sha-sha and our friends M & L to take a ride on the carousel and spend the rest of the afternoon playing at  Heckscher playground.

We met up with M &L again on Tuesday to tour the Intrepid.   

Just two preggers women out with our cumulative brood.

Since this was the trip of doing things we'd never done in NYC before, on Wednesday we drove up to the Bronx Zoo (and this time just M came with us).  This was mostly so that I could say that I've driven in the Bronx all by myself and so that Max could get a chance to wear his new hat in a somewhat wild setting.

On Wednesday night, Sharon took the kids out for a treat and sent me away with a gift certificate for a manicure, her unlimited metro card, and her blessing to take the rest of the night off.  Once my nails were a deep red, I went shopping and then to the late showing of Meek's Cutoff at the Film Forum. (Amazing.)

When we came home on Thursday, it turned out that spring had come to Delaware too.  The blossoms were out on the azaleas and dogwoods, and the lawn was knee-high.  Wasn't I only gone a few days? We finished out the week with the first trip of the season to Woodside Farms for icecream.  Ahhhh....and only a few more weeks until we're finished with school and the good times can continue.