where we left off

so we left off on monday evening ... well of course after this crazy day we slept in and i think the kids were still a bit jetlagged from the crazy trip.  i woke early to just sit on the windowsill (which btw was like 10' long and 3' deep) to write.  i was inspired by the landscape, the sun, the busy bustle, & the snow.


we didn't get out til lunch so we ate in our room a late breakfast.  took the subway downtown again to this time none other than TIMES SQUARE - wow!!!

the kids loved it, b/c the billboards were so gigantic (note to self:  build vocabulary to include other words than gigantic).  very flashy and tall buildings really had their heads spinning.  it was a bit slushy in the streets due to the snow melting near the buildings, but wasn't hard to get around.  the crowds of course were crazy with tourists, some frustrated, but hey HELLO it's christmas & new york people - deal with it.  even my two traffic light town, gets a little more crowded around this time of the year.


so, of course our first stop had to be to TOYS R US!  this thing is, no i won't say gigantic, massive (i'm working on it - i need a thesaurus), i'm talking three floors baby!  there is a ferris wheel in it along with a big barbie house and 200 ft. jurassic park dinosaur (well at least that's what hunter said).

this guy was pretty scary, claire wanted nothing to do with him! she was "scary to him".

Lego people everywhere!

Really cool stuff, everywhere, up, down, and all around!

i was able to do some "santa" shopping while clint took the kids on the ferris wheel (they are on the scooby doo one)





and boy was it difficult narrowing it down to items that would fit in the plane and being able to hide them from them as i carried giant bags of toys convincing them it was for our godchildren.  the lines were crazy, but i passed the time talking to a lady who worked in the city and was from jersey.  it was probably the first real person i small talked with since getting there.  she actually thought i was from the area or the bronx, b/c of how i said certain words.  the tourists were so grouchy that i'm glad i was able to meet up with a friendly person.


We stayed there so long that it took most of the afternoon and we were getting quite hungry.  earlier in the year, i did a "little" research on nyc and found this jewel near times square, so we stepped on in to a live "off broadway" show in a diner, Ellen's Stardust Diner.

forgot to take a pic of the outside of it, so i borrowed these from another site.  it was a subway train you entered into and the diner was just adorable.

it was fab!!! the waiters and waitresses sang all around the diner, it was quite entertaining, delicious food, but a bit expensive.  but we enjoyed our time nonetheless.  the singers were so good, i told clint that maybe we could move to the city, i could write on my windowsill and he could sing here.  perfect, right? 
we had a great time here, listening to christmas songs, old songs, and new.

we loved this song, sorry about the video, this is exactly why i don't normally film.





and i know crazy as it may be that's it for tuesday, but wednesday was quite interesting - stay tuned.