If you visit New York, you must go to Levain Bakery on 74th near Broadway (on the westside). Our friend, Kelly, recommended it because she knows our affinity for treats. We were skeptical- we are very picky about our desserts. We had to go the first day because if it was good enough, we would need to go again before we left. We walked the 32 blocks up to 74th from Heidi's apartment and it was well worth it. There are only four types of cookies: chocolate chip with walnuts, oatmeal raisin, chocolate with peanut butter chips, and chocolate with chocolate chips. Jason hates raisins, so we bought one each of the remaining three and shared them. They were all exceptional, but my favorite was the chocolate with peanut butter chips. As you probably guessed, we went back on Monday for more and also added brioche with chocolate chips to our order. It's a good thing we did a lot of walking!
Something else we were able to do while we were there was go to a movie at an actual theater! We took advantage of that and went three times during the weekend. We saw True Grit (excellent and not as gory as No Country for Old Men), The King's Speech (fantastic, but when isn't Colin Firth amazing?), and just for fun because it was Valentine's Day we saw Just Go With It. We really wanted to see The Fighter and Black Swan, but between sold out shows and bad timing we missed them both.
While we were galavanting around New York, Rya stayed home with Grandma Linda and had a great time. Grandma Linda took her to preschool on Valentine's Day just long enough to participate in the festivities. She handed out her valentines and then got a whole bag of goodies in return. She also stood up and "sang" (mostly she just looked around at everyone else) Happy Little Heart with a few other kids. She was excited to see us on Tuesday and even happier that we brought her some new "friends" for Valentine's Day (Grover, Abby Cadabby, and Bert).
Rya is talking non-stop. Non-stop! Here's a list of things you'll hear her saying throughout the day:
- I'm a person.
- I don't have to go potty. I already went today.
- When I ring the bell no talking. You be quiet. (Must be from preschool?)
- Mommy, can you help me please?
- She wants her shoes on (pronoun confusion!).
- I love Mommy and Daddy (that's our favorite).
- Mommy (or Daddy), I'm so happy.
- How 'bout Pirates Booties.
- Daddy's real name is Jason.
- Mommy's real name is Memamie (close enough!).
- Sesame Street please! Bert's Pigeon Search!
- Big, heavy car (talking about the Suburban)!
- No, I do it!
- Had fun at preschool.
