Weekend Getaway

This past weekend I went with 7 other ladies to NYC. By myself. No kids. No diapers. No naps (though I probably could have used one). No husband. It was fantastic! Things we did included, watching our friends finish the Tunnel to Tower 5k, visit the 9/11 memorial site (not the waterfalls though since you need advance passes for that), eating Red Mango frozen yogurt, seeing the Bodies exhibit, walking under the Brooklyn bridge, seeing Billy Elliot, going to Shake Shack, walking through Times Square, eating at Norma's, getting pedicures and manicures, eating at Max Brenner's, visiting Sotheby's, shopping, eating at Kesté, and loads of walking and metro riding. Here's the photographic evidence.

The whole group of ladies. Half runners, half spectators.

Cheering squad.

Some saucy NYC firemen.

One World Trade Center under construction.

The entire trip included a lot of self portrait shots.

There needs to be a Red Mango in Rochester.

Upon telling me that I have beautiful eyelashes the employee at Sephora asked if I wanted to spice them up with some mascara. I was a little hesitant.

Cute cobblestone street in South Street Seaport.

No time to walk on the bridge so we settled for walking under it.

The lovely box office employee who was so kind (sarcasm). We accidentally had the time of the matinee wrong and showed up an hour late for Billy Elliot. Luckily we were able to come back for the night show and use our tickets to get new ones.

Very excited for the show.

Group shots.

The show did not disappoint. Amazing dancing and set.

The remains of Shake Shack for dinner after the show.

See, another self portrait.

On the way out of Shake Shack I spotted the little kid who played Michael in Billy Elliot. We stopped him and asked to take a picture with him. It was his last show and he was phenomenal.

Breakfast at Norma's. Those little glasses of orange juice were $9!

My fruit filled waffle. It was divine. A bit pricey, but divine.

Freshly done pedicures. Gotta love Groupon.

I asked for a pain au chocolat, and I thought it would just come on a plate. This was the presentation. A+ for that, but the $7.95 price tag was a little steep. I should have just gotten the $2 take-out version.

Mmmm.... lava cake.

With an antique mirror in Sotheby's.

According to the waiter this was "life changing" pizza. It was really good, but I don't think my life has changed.

Everything is better in a cute little bottle.

Some sassy travel companions.

After all that eating, I think I gained a couple pounds. Can you tell?

Not that I don't love my family, but I guess every now and then you need a little time away to make you realize just how good you've got it. I really do have it pretty good. Ben was so nice to encourage me to go on this trip and to offer up taking care of the kids while I was gone from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning. He did everything. The naps, the diaper changes, bed-time, baths, feedings (which Eleanor hardly took a bottle the entire weekend), church... everything. By himself. Even I can't say I've ever done that with two kids. He says that they were great and did really well. He must have done really well himself because Eleanor didn't want anything to do with me when I got home. When Ben tried to hand her off to me so he could go to work she gripped on to his shoulder and cried. After feeding her and putting her down for a nap she woke up and treated me as if nothing had ever happened.

I missed these two little kiddos, but traveling by myself sure did have its perks.