Or is it New Years 2016? Regardless, we finished up year 2015 and started year 2016 in New York with Lori, Josh and the kids. Getting in late on Tuesday night of the 29th we didn’t get to see the kids until the next morning.
New York:
Our first day started with the three kids coming in to our room to wake us up. A pretty nice wake up call if you ask me. Bryan and I were ready to play and after getting dressed and opening up the presents that we got for the kids we headed out to the Congers Diner for brunch. Big breakfasts filled us all up and coffee gave us the fuel needed for the day. The kids are players and Bryan and I tried to keep up with them; playing blocks, puzzles, wrestling, coloring, reading books, and seeing many of their other toys. We spent the afternoon pleasantly strolling around a lake in Congers, about 2.5 miles around in total, Bryan and Joshua racing most of the way around. Later that night after the kids had their own dinner and once Josh was home from work the four adults were able to have a dinner to talk and eat some of Lori’s delicious green chile chicken tacos. We spent the night talking before out of exhaustion we all headed to bed.
New Years Eve was a busy day but a good one. The plan was to head to the Bronx Zoo and that we did. Getting there just before noon, the seven of us spent the next four hours at the zoo seeing all of the animals and walking our little Fitbits to 10,000 steps. After the zoo we drove a mile down the road to check out the historic Italian neighborhood of Arthur Avenue. We went straight to the market and after checking out all of the vendors; meat sellers, pastries, espresso, produce, wines, etc. we settled on Mike’s Deli, grabbed a table and made our selections. Bryan and I split the Italian sandwich which was super delicious with Italian meats and cheese, peppers and dressing. The table also split a burrata and prosciutto bruschettas, the antipasto platter and the antipasto platter veggie style. It was a lot of food but really good and we were all ready to fill up after our length walk in the zoo. After eating we headed home to get the kids in bed and watched the horrific NCAA college football playoffs. Bryan and I were the lone night owls making it to midnight to watch the ball drop (it helps that we were still pretty much on Pacific Time). Here’s to 2016!!!
New Years Day was a much more relaxed day for everyone in the household. We woke up to go to Mass with the family and after Mass headed into the quaint town of Nyack to get brunch at Art’s Cafe, a turkish restaurant and coffee shop that suited me well that’s for sure! I got their twist on an egg and cheese sandwich with bread that was more like flaky thin layers of phyllo and goat cheese that was served with tomato sauce on the side and a pourover coffee that was not at all bitter. We leisured over our food and coffee, then got in the car for a tour through Nyack, before heading back home. Joshua has had a craving to watch Star Wars so we all settled into the 4th (or first) movie and I settled into a side of Michigan clobbering Florida in their bowl game on the side. After the movie we headed outside to play some soccer and otherwise stretch our legs and get fresh air. After the sun had set Josh kindly picked us up some coal-fired pizzas, strombolis and salads to share for dinner. We said goodnight and goodbyes to the kids and later said those to Lori and Josh before we all fell asleep.
Seattle:
Not asleep for very long though as our shuttle to the airport was arriving at 4:30 am. The hour long ride to JFK and then the six hour flight to Seattle literally spent me but we arrived in Seattle still only at 10:30 am and to sunshine. Once home and dropping off our bags and opening up Bryan’s “It’s Miller Time” sign we set out on foot for a walk and lunch. Bryan and I walked to Madison Park to try out Madison Kitchen. The busy little restaurant was filled with delicious looking food and served us quickly. I tried their turkey meatloaf half sandwich with their brussels and kale salad. All was tasty and Bryan was very happy with his roast beef. We set out again for Grocery Outlet for goods and then home to spend the rest of the afternoon working (for me) and napping (for Bryan). We did an easy reheat meal from Eat Local we had in the freezer and were both asleep by 10 pm completely wiped out!
So ended our 10 day tour of the Midwest and East Coast. It’s nice to be home but I always miss the ones I love when we leave!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 