Ian's advanced drama class does a trip to NYC each year. I don't need to be told that twice to know I want to go and be a chaperone. Ian wasn't initially happy with me being on the trip with him, but he eventually came to accept my presence. He even said when the weekend was over, that it turned out ok to have me along because "I didn't get all up in his business".
The itinerary for the trip was pretty awesome. Part of the 48 hours is spent going to two Broadway shows and doing a workshop with one of the actors from a show. As soon as we arrived, we went straight to the studio and met with the musical director and a member from the cast of "Come From Away". The kids learned a musical number "Welcome to the Rock", along with the dance that accompanies it. The chaperones had the option to stick around and watch or go get coffee, wander around and be back in an hour. Are you kidding me??!! Of course, I am going to stay and watch. I LIVE for this stuff!!
I tried very hard to be on the down low and not be obvious about taking photos/video. However, once the kids started rehearsing, I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I took a chair, put it in the corner of the studio and stood on it to record. Talk about putting myself out there! There was no going back now and hiding!
After the dance number, the kids got to do a 30-minute question and answer period with Julie and the musical director.
We made our way to Brooklyn and visited Smorgasburg, the largest open-air food market. I was in charge of Ian and his two friends, both named Ryan! This was interesting having to keep track of 3 teenage boys among a thousand people and these boys all wanted to go in different directions. I survived and we had a great time! It was such a beautiful day!!
After having lunch, we had free time to walk around Times Square. Then it was time to go to Ellen's Stardust Diner for dinner. Love this place! And having a group reservation is the best way to go.
"King Kong" was the show we saw Saturday night. The funniest part of the trip was when we were getting our tickets for the show as we were walking into the theatre. Ian had big plans to sit next to his best buds. He wanted me to be as far away from him as possible. Ian is quickly shuffling the tickets around, taking the ticket from one person and handing it to another person. He had very little time to accomplish what he wanted to do. Upon entering the theatre, the kids went straight to their seats and the adults went to the bathroom. When I made my way to my seat, I looked at the empty seat next to Ian and realized he messed up big-time! Ian inadvertently had me sitting right next to him! The expression on his face as he is realizing what he had done, is priceless. He asked if anyone around us would switch seats with me. Ha! Not only would no one switch seats, but we all couldn't stop laughing! King Kong had great special effects. The way the creators had King Kong have facial expressions were so cool and most impressive. But the storyline and music was very weak.
On Sunday, we did a guided tour of the 9/11 Memorial. Even though I had been before, I learned quite a bit about the September 11th attacks that I didn't know. Again, another beautiful day to be outside and walking around. We had some extra time and took a walk down to Trinity Church and saw where Alexander Hamilton is buried. So cool!
Lunch was at Carmine's and soooo yummy! They do gluten free pasta perfectly. After lunch, we made our way to see "Come From Away". The play tied in nicely with the 9/11 Memorial tour and it really hit home how wonderful this town of Gander, New Foundland was to the 38 planes of people who had no choice to but to land in their town. Their population doubled! Without a doubt, we all loved "Come From Away" and was moved to tears. After the show was over, we went to the stage door and hung out waiting for the actors to come out. We got to see Julie and tell her how great she did.
Chaperoning this field trip was the best! I am so happy I didn't think twice and not sign up to go. I am pretty sure I had more fun than all those kids put together!
Spring break is that wonderful time of the school year when you are very ready for a break and just want to bust out of town and do something. Do something fun, do something very different than going to school, and do something that will make you happy to have a few days off and can face the rest of the school year with a renewed sense of energy.
This Spring Break we went to NYC as a family. Ian, Samantha, and I love NYC. Jeff had vacation time he needed to use or lose, and while he doesn't love NYC, he does love us and together we designed a few days that would appeal to everyone.
WEDNESDAY:
Took the train into the city early in the morning. We went to a restaurant for lunch called "The Melt" and it specialized in all kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches. They even had gluten free bread and I was able to order like a normal person. ;) So cheesy yummy!
The M&M store is where we ended up next. Oy! This place is nuts and is 3 floors of everything M&M candy, merchandise and whatever else they can think of to sell you.
"The Prom": All four of us went to the matinee show. We weren't entirely sure what to expect as this show is brand new and I knew only one other person who had seen it. And that person was my friend Adam who has seen everything. Really. He averages 255 shows a year. He's seen "Hamilton" with the original cast 8 times!! He saw their 5th ever show when it was first off-Broadway. Yes, he's seen it all. Adam said we would like it. He was right, Team Toppall enjoyed the show very much. It's hilarious and the music is awesome. We downloaded the soundtrack right away and have been singing along ever since. "The Prom" got nominated for 7 Tony's and we got to see 3 of the nominated leads in action. That's always a very cool thing.
We had a bit of downtime after seeing "The Prom" and went back to the hotel to chill.
Dinner was at our favorite Italian restaurant, Trattoria Trecolori. We discovered this place a few years ago and it's our number 1 choice for going to dinner when seeing a Broadway show. By New York standards, it's reasonably priced, awesome food and the service is excellent. It's a sure-fire winner. As long as you have a reservation, you will get in and out as fast as needed. And the place is ALWAYS packed.
After dinner, we split up and Jeff/Sam went to see "Wicked" and Ian/me went to see "Be More Chill". We wanted Sam to see a show we know she would love. And what girl does not love Wicked? Jeff hadn't seen it before and was happy to take her. Both of them enjoyed the show and it was a solid choice. I had heard about this new show called "Be More Chill", again from my friend Adam. Ian and I had been listening to the soundtrack since November and couldn't wait to see the show. It wasn't appropriate for anyone under the age of 12, but in reality "The Prom" was edgier and more of an education than "Be More Chill" will ever be. Ian and I liked the show very much, but we agree we liked "The Prom" even more.
Ian and I's show started an hour later than Jeff/Sam's. So what else is there to do but go get a slice of cheesecake from Juniors. Yum!
THURSDAY:
Jeff was able to meet a friend from college for breakfast, while the kids and I slept in for an extra hour.
10:00am: We had tickets to National Geographic Encounter. This place was a re-creation of what it was like to be in the Pacific Ocean. It was cool and educational and so well done. This was a great way to spend a couple of hours in the morning.
Lunch became somewhat of a mess. The Mexican restaurant I had scoped out earlier was not at all a place we'd want to go to. We ended up eating at a food court in Grand Central Station. It was the best option at the time. We were all tired of walking, hungry, and starting to melt down. Every restaurant we passed by the time we got to this food court, for some reason or another, each one of us vetoed. It wasn't a pretty sight by the time we finally descended on this food court, but it did the trick. We got our 2nd wind and was ready to tackle our next destination.
AKC, Museum of the Dog was next up. They had just moved this museum from St. Louis to a new location in NY. Every one of us loves dogs and was up the adventure to check out the museum. However, it was so disappointing. Beyond disappointing. One of the cool things we had read about was that the museum had a machine that will match what breed of dog comes closest to what you look like. However, every time we did it, it came up with a different match. The rest of the museum was not much better than that. I think there is the potential to do a lot with this idea of having a dog museum, but it certainly fell short.
At this point in our day, the kids and I were up for continuing on and Jeff was ready to head back to the hotel and rest. We walked to Dylan's Candy Bar and was pleased once again with our day in the city. This place is a feast for the eyes and taste buds. With a bounce in our step and bags of candy in our hands, we walked back towards the hotel. However, on the way, we stopped at the M&M store AGAIN and bought Sam a t-shirt she had seen and wanted. We had told the kids they could each get one t-shirt and Sam had seen this one the day before, but we thought it was a good idea for her to wait a day and see if she still really wanted it. While we were there, Ian picked out a t-shirt he wanted too. We made it back to the hotel and had about an hour before our itinerary picked up speed again.
This evening we split up and I had Samantha with me and Jeff had Ian with him. Jeff and Ian have a bucket list of visiting various baseball stadiums and the Yankees were high on their list. They went to an evening game and saw the Yankees play the Padres. It was fantastic spring weather and they very much enjoyed watching the game. And as a bonus, they took the subway to and from Yankees Stadium.
Samantha and I had a very different idea of how to spend the evening. Most of it was spent standing in line at Ellen's Stardust Diner. It took us 1 hr, 50 minutes to make our way indoors. I was determined that we'd spend just as much time inside as we did waiting outside to get in. Samantha and I love Ellen's Stardust Diner, but Jeff does not, so it was the best way to visit without subjecting Jeff to it.
FRIDAY:
We started the day at NBC for the NBC Studios Tour. We were all delighted at how great this tour was. We saw the sets of Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Show, and Seth Meyers, plus got an understanding of how the editing works with visuals, sound, and cameras. The tour ended with our group doing a pseudo talk show with all of us participating in the production. Sam was the guest, Ian and I were in the band, and Jeff was part of the studio audience. So much fun!
After the studio tour, we walked to Serendipity for lunch and their awesome desserts. At this point, it was time to grab our luggage at the hotel and make our way to Penn Station. Of course, we had to make one more stop at the M&M store. Ian decided he'd rather have a t-shirt from the NBC store than the shirt he got at the M&M store. So, we went back to return the shirt we got from the day before. Yes, so that makes 3 trips to the M&M store in 3 days. And let me tell you, this store was a zoo at each and every visit. You'd think no one saw M&M's before.
The train ride was uneventful (which is the way it should be) and we made it back home by 7:30pm in the evening.
We had 3 very long, fun-filled days. We walked everywhere and didn't take one cab around town. We averaged 20,000 steps a day and accomplished all we set out to do. Another trip to NYC in the books.
OUR NBC STUDIOS TOUR VIDEO:
Jeff and Ian at Yankees Stadium
The Prom
Be More Chill
Wicked
National Geographic Encounter
Sam and I waiting in line at Ellen's Stardust Diner
That time we were sitting in the 2nd tier of Radio City Music Hall, 5 minutes after the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular Show started and a full(!!) beer spilled all over Susanne's daughter from the tier above us. The 3rd tier did not extend all the way over our seats below and the beer spilling down was a direct hit. Next thing you know, the 11 of us are moved to the 2nd and 3rd row in the orchestra. It was pretty crazy and surreal.
That time we did all the Christmas decorated window displays and ended up at the Rockefeller Center tree just as the sun had set and everything lit up. As soon as we got there the light show (complete with music) began. Even if we tried to time it for that to happen we wouldn't have been as successful as we were by randomly showing up. Wow!
That time we stood in front of the Bloomingdales window and they managed to take a picture of you while you are standing there and have your head float around the display. So cool!
That time we got the kids awake at 5:15am so we could be at our friend's house by 6:15am to begin our road trip to The Big Apple. We kept the kids going until well past 10:00pm, complete with a 5 1/2 mile walk around the city checking out the store window displays. I'm happy to report no child melted down from exhaustion!
That time each child asked us 10 times each what we were walking to (check out the store windows) and why over and over again during the 1.4 mile walk to officially start the tour at Bloomingdales. They finally got the gist of it once we saw how amazing the windows displays looked and stopped asking.
That time we went inside the Bloomingdales to use their bathroom and upon exiting the store, we decide to take the kids to see Santa on the 7th floor. Santa had no line and allowed us to take pictures for free. I bet this Santa never had 8 Jewish kids all on his lap at once before.
That time Susanne was following the car I was driving and for some unknown reason got in the other lane next to me and didn't realize we were exiting off the beltway. In a move I still can't believe I witnessed, Susanne's car managed to cross 3 lanes of traffic (while probably doing about 65mph) and made the exit just in the nick of time. It actually looked like her car was traveling sideways.
That time we found out the hard way that the parking garage the hotel uses charges a full day's rate ($60) even if you are only 1.5 hours into the next day. The cost to park quickly doubled from what we were expecting it to be. They do not pro-rate.
That time we took the kids to see the Broadway musical "School of Rock" and we all loved it. All of us!
That time we walked one block in the wrong direction leaving Bloomingdales and ended up at Dylan's Candy Bar. I guess we just had to go inside and let the kids pick out some candy.
That time we made a stop at Dunkin Donuts to use their bathroom and the kids asked if they could get a donut while we were there. At 10:00am, Dunkin Donuts (somewhere in NJ) was completely out of donuts. How is that even possible??
That time 3 awesome moms and their kids came together for 2 days and went to NYC just 4 days before Christmas. We accomplished everything we wanted to see and do. We stuck together and made the most of every minute.
That time we left with 8 kids and came back with the same 8 kids.
That rare time Samantha gave me a giant hug and said thank you for an amazing trip. It takes a lot for her to show and express appreciation. It's ok though, Ian more than makes up for it. It was just nice to hear Sam say it too.
That time we took the kids to New York City at Christmas time for the first time and showed them how magical the city looks decorated for the holidays.
That time we were all fearless and victorious.
Bloomingdale's...Sam's head above, Ian's head below.
Santa!
Rockefeller Center tree
Perfect timing for the light show with music
Right before the beer spilled on Susanne's daughter
Everyone needs a best friend in their life who comes along and is up for all the crazy adventures the two of you can dream up. For me, one of those people is Susanne. Between the two of us, there is not a voice of reason or a practical bone in our bodies when we put our heads together. In fact we have list running of all the kooky things we've done with our combined 5 kids that most parents would shake their head at. It's a pretty funny list...One of my favorite stories is when we went to Williamsburg and got a recommendation for a fantastic restaurant for dinner called "Food for Thought". We arrived at 5:30pm and was told there would be a 1.5 hour wait. Despite being surrounded by all these chain restaurants with empty parking lots, we go for it and wait it out. The icing on the cake was when the kids complained they were starving and starting to meltdown from a big day spent in historic Williamsburg. We gave them multiple bags of potato chips to hold them over. A side note: For those needing a restaurant in Williamsburg, I highly recommend "Food for Thought". It's worth the wait! Even with 5 hungry kids.
It wasn't too long ago that we started talking about Winter Break and what each of us had planned. An idea to go to Busch Gardens for the day with the kids has turned into an overnight trip to New York City. We quickly added a third amiga and invited Anna to join us with her 3 kids. Yes, that's right. 3 moms and 8 kids all loose in New York City. What could be more fun?
I was fortunate enough to go to England and Portugal with Susanne and Anna. We did great traveling together for 10 days without any kind of break from each other. Now lets add in 8 very active, very noisy, high energy kids and we'll see how it goes. These kids are all great friends with each other as are the moms. I believe we have the recipe for a getaway we might have to describe as "epic". :)
We have such awesome plans! Given that we are going 4 days before Christmas and expect it to be a busy time, not to mention we are a traveling group of 11, we have our visit pretty well planned out with reservations and tickets bought.
We are going to the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular Show! We are seeing the broadway musical "School of Rock"! We plan to go down 5th Avenue and see the store window displays! Reservations for dinner have already been secured. Seeing the big Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is on the list.
I love New York City! Ian and Samantha have never been there during the holidays and it will be so much fun for them to see how NYC goes all out making Christmas magical.
Susanne and I took the kids to NYC at the end of June 2015. It was high time we returned and took it up a notch in the city that never sleeps.
Take Jeff and me and put us on a train super early on a Saturday morning headed to New York City. See three (yes, 3!!!) shows, have lunch with a seriously cool lady who just happens to be a writer for General Hospital (No way! Way!!), find an awesome NY deli for breakfast that offers gluten-free bagels, all while walking everywhere! Not to mention we managed to fit drinks in with a friend from high school, dinner with Jeff's uncle, and made it to Juniors for the yummiest slice of cheesecake. End the weekend with a train back to D.C. departing Penn Station at 9:00pm Sunday evening, being in NYC for every possible minute we can before having to resume our regular lives on Monday morning.
I love NY! I realize it will never be practical to live there, but it sure is nice to visit. I love the energy, I love the people, I love the skyscrapers, I love the skyline. I love it all!
How wonderful Jeff and I could make this weekend a reality while the kids were at camp.
On the train!
As heard in the "Hamilton" soundtrack, "It's the greatest city in the world."
Jeff and I have been to New York just frequently enough over the past several years that we seem to end up at the same exact restaurants completely by coincidence. It's not until we are inside and seated at the same table that we realize we've been there before, and sometimes twice before. Out of the tens of thousands of restaurants we could eat at, we've managed to randomly pick the same Chinese restaurant, Italian restaurant and diner. It's pretty funny when it happened again this past visit to New York. We've agreed to give up trying to find anything new and just keep visiting what seems to be our favorite places. Hey, if it works, why mess with it?
Nora Ephron sums up my feelings perfectly: "I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance."
I've been having a "pinch me" moment that keeps going on and on and on. There are some things I experience that even amaze myself it is happening.
It all started when I noticed that a baby born on the soap opera "General Hospital" had the same unique name as my neighbor's newborn who was born shortly before these episodes aired. I commented on Facebook to my neighbor what a trendsetter she was. My neighbor replied back and said her husband's aunt was a writer for the show and that is how that happened. Next thing you know, I'm chatting with the writer herself and telling her what a fan I am of the soap opera. I had been watching since I was 5. General Hospital has become a part of me. It's just something I do. It's always there.
Then this happened:
SERIOUSLY!!! The writer I had been emailing with made Ian's name (first and last!!) an off-screen character. Ian's name was spoken by the great Nurse Bobbie. OMG!! I think the kids and I watched this video about 50 times in a row right after it happened. How insane is this!?!?! It should be noted that there are already females character named "Sam" and "Robin" on the show, so that wasn't really an option.
But wait, it gets even better! I get an email saying the studio has a surprise for me and will be sending it to me shortly. In the mail, a signed script by the cast of the episode Ian's name appeared in arrived at my door. HOLY SH*T! I can't believe it and was shaking as I held the script when I realized what it was I was taking out of the envelope. THIS IS INSANE!!!! I've since figured out a great way to protect it and display it. I've put it in a shadow box frame.
After thanking my new bestie, she indicated she'd be open to getting together the next time I am in NY. OMG!! This just keeps better and better. If I am dreaming all of this, please don't wake me up.
Lunch with her on Sunday in New York City was a surreal experience. The icing on the cake? When at the end of lunch she said "We should do this again." Um, yeah...how about every Sunday? Is every Sunday good for you? I am pretty sure I'd never get tired chatting with her. She is fascinating, lovely, and so incredibly sweet.
Our summer got off to a smashing start. We had a trip to NYC planned for the week after school got out. The whole trip was created because of one very big, thrilling event.
We had tickets to Hamilton. Yes, those very hard to get, much sought after, fabulous Broadway show about the Founding Father without a father, first Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. I was able to get the tickets as soon as they went on sale in September 2016 for the June 27th performance. It gave us all school year to look forward to this. And boy were we excited.
As the lights went down and the show started, I got very emotional for the first 5 minutes. I couldn't believe we were actually "in the room where it happens". I quickly got over it and became mesmerized with all the songs coming to life. It was amazing. The show which is close to 3 hours long felt like 5 minutes. It was so very well done. Ian couldn't stop thanking us for taking him and as soon as the show was over, Sam said she wanted to see it again.
We followed up our Broadway show to Hamilton with tickets to go see Kinky Boots the next day. The kids have been listening to this soundtrack all year too. The music is so much fun and the show did not disappoint.
Part our visit was taking a trip to the lower East side and doing one of the Tenement Museum tours. Unfortunately our tickets, which were purchased in advance, were for the wrong day. Oh no! We showed up at the right time, just one day too soon. We didn't have time to go back the next day and was fortunately able to get a refund. We did sit thru the introductory film that was on a 40 minute loop. It was great and hopefully we'll return with the kids one the correct date our tickets are for.
We also met up with a family we know from our elementary school. The mom was Ian's teacher this past year and her son, who is in the same grade, is friends with Ian. They had gotten tickets to see Hamilton the day after us and we found a cool activity to do when we were both in NYC. We went to Gulliver's Gate, a miniature exhibit. From NYC to the Taj Mahal, to a section of Israel, all major landmarks were recreated in miniatures with amazing detail and moving parts. It was really cool and unbelievable to see how small these recreations were.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade had floats the went around the building.
This was the Vienna Orchestra. All the people played music with moving instruments.
Afterwards, we went to lunch at a local diner in Times Square before parting ways for our respective shows. The kids fought over this milkshake. We said they could split it. However, it was a true work of art and unable to be split. So 2 straws it was and of course they were complaining the other was taking too long of a sip.
We were able to meet up with Jeff's uncle for dinner on Tuesday evening. The last few years we've gone to NY we've met up with Uncle Larry. It is wonderful spending time with him and hear his stories about his experiences on being a producer.
I love New York! And to top off our visit we even went to Ellen's Stardust Diner for dinner. It's the place where the waiters and waitresses are all wanna be Broadway stars and haven't made it yet. They are constantly singing to the customers in the restaurant all kinds of music. It is so much fun! It's very loud and Jeff could only take so much. After about 25 minutes he had enough and met us back at the hotel.
Straight out of the vending machine at our hotel. What are the odds?
I really think this needs to be a annual trip. It's "the greatest city in the world". :)
Right before we left on our trip for Thanksgiving, I got to do something very near and dear to my heart. Five awesome girlfriends and I went to NYC solely for the purpose to see Billy Joel play at Madison Square Garden. He has been doing this residency where he plays once a month at MSG and will continue doing so until he stops selling out. It's been going on now for 2 years! We made it to performance #23 and he has recently announced new dates for 2016.
We had a great 24 hours. There is something so cool about seeing Billy Joel play at this venue. Beyond being an amazing performer (my absolute fave!), he played for 2.5 hours straight - without one break. He did 28 songs! A few of the songs he gave the audience two choices and let us pick which we'd want to hear.
Our seats were pretty wild. We got these skywalk seats that were high above the entire Madison Square Garden. In fact, we were parallel to the jumbotron. There was no one in front of us and no one behind us. It was like our own box, complete with plexiglass keeping us from falling over the ledge. These seats were so neat! We had a fantastic view and it was so cool to see all the action below us. I really loved these seats and would pick them again.
The funniest part of the evening came when we walked back into our hotel (It was a Hampton Inn near MSG) and Beth identified former Gov. O'Malley near the entrance. She told us it was him and we didn't believe her. He was alone in the elevator and as we entered, I said to him, "Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like Gov. O'Malley?" O'Mally replies with, "That's because I am him." Without hesitation Tara says, "Why the F--- are you staying here at a Hampton Inn?" OMG! I still can't believe she said that to him. The former Governor said he needed an inexpensive place to spend the night and he has an appearance on Morning Joe the next morning. He was a very nice guy and incredibly accommodating on our request to take a selfie with him. We actually forgot to get off on our floor and ended up going up and down on the elevator a few times. It was very funny.
The whole time we were in NYC felt so surreal. It was an idea that had been tossed around many moons ago. We somehow convinced all of our husbands to do double duty and take over in our absence. There were 4 of us that the Thanksgiving lunch at our kid's schools ended up falling on the Thursday we were gone. We didn't know this was the date that would get chosen until just 1 month prior. All the husbands rearranged their schedules and made it to the lunches.
I know I can't do things like this all the time, so it makes it very special when it does happen. What a great city! What a great night! What a great concert! What a great group of girlfriends!
