A lovely NY weekend

We finally had one of those weekends where it really felt like we took advantage of living in the big city. In about 2.5 days (use, JD is at work today ...) we managed to take the fusspot to her 4th borough, visit some of the more iconic shopping spots, eat both good take-out and on "Curry Hill" for lunch today and in general take 3 buses, 1 boat, and 11 different subway rides ...

random thoughts thereafter:

- Nothing will make you feel older than taking the Staten Island subway line at 10 pm on a Saturday night. We were on our way back from a party, and feeling pretty adventurous that we had made it all the way out there and stayed out so late, apparently the night was just starting for 99% of our fellowship subway and boat companions. And apparently despite the night still being quite so young, none of them felt the need for anything more than tank tops and mini-skirts. And yes, the fusspot was the only stroller on our particular voyage past the statue of liberty (and for the record, we visited the Island for a 3-year-old birthday party. Oh, and to meet the 3-year-olds new sibling. Nothing is more relaxing than snuggling someone else's sleeping newborn for an hour, and then handing him back when he wakes up).

- The following makes a pretty full (and granted, exceedingly yuppy) Sunday for a family including one stroller and one super-waddling mother:
a. Crate and Barrel (to purchase 4 new 95 cent juice glasses. No, I don't regret our decision to allow the fusspot to use real glasses at the table. Yet).
b. Jamba Juice for a delicious snack
c. Uniqlo (which has apparently undergone some type of massive customer service overhaul. Everytime I stopped for more than 2 minutes to wait for JD, a sales person brought me a chair to sit on. Seriously. I may consider just going to browse again soon. For those of you not familiar with this chain, it is the Japanese equivalent of a cross between H and M and Gap. Nice, trendy clothes but not too pricey. I would highly suggest not losing your husband in the store if he happens to be wearing a tight t-shirt, jeans, and longish black hair. Just saying. And despite being a little 'larger than normal,' I still grabbed 2 super-soft sweatshirts for nursing and new pajama bottoms.
d. B and H. The crazy, crazy camera store run by religious Jews somewhere overlooking NJ in midtown. I had no idea that the fusspot would love it quite so much but between the merchandise moving on conveyor belts overhead, the free bowls of candy on every shelf, the super-friendly store employees, and the plethora of other toddlers she would have happily stayed for hours (well, we did actually. She would have stayed even longer. We now have a new tripod, new flash for a big camera, and new point and shoot. It doesn't sound like much but JD must have consulted every single employee about all 3 purchases).

And then today we took the fusspot to a "big playroom" to take some photos, aka Grand Central. Yes, the fusspot and I rolled around on the floor of Grand Central, but we certainly washed our hands afterwards before digging into Indian food. Thank goodness it was not too crowded because the fusspot certainly has no sense of stranger danger whatsoever at the moment (not that I mind). And the great thing about taking photos in such a public place is that when she started to look tired, we just offered her a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie and she was off again. If any of the belly shots worked, I may post one here later.