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Olivia’s alarm chirped at 3:30 a.m. to wake them for the GMA concert in Central Park. Cara and I had chosen not to participate in that particular brand of craziness so they were going without us. I’m a light sleeper so I wasn’t surprised when her alarm woke me and I had already accepted I would hear them getting ready and probably not be able to go back to sleep. So when my eyes next opened at 4:30 a.m. (their planned departure time), I jumped out of bed with my heart immediately racing and eyes wide open because I was sure they had fallen back asleep. I yanked the bedroom door open and found only an empty apartment! Somehow they had gotten ready and left without me hearing and were already well on their way. Of course my excited state made going back to sleep impossible (it didn’t have the same effect on Cara).

In a couple of hours Cara and I left for breakfast. We wanted on this trip to eat at a restaurant that had earned a Michelin Star (1 star would do). The main problems were the prices at dinner (as much as several hundred dollars per person), and the fact that you apparently don’t earn a star for grilled chicken or ceasar salad (and the girls weren’t willing to eat foie gras for dinner). Our solution was to find one of these restaurants that served breakfast, this made it both affordable and an experience we could spare the girls.

We took a subway to the NoMad Restaurant. It was a dark, very ornate place with heavy velvet curtains and mahogany furniture that made me think it was originally decorated many decades ago. The glass ceiling of the main dining room (what must’ve been originally built as a courtyard) lightened the decor and gave the whole restaurant a more elegant air. The service was excellent and the coffee was even better (not something I usually even notice since I don’t drink a lot of coffee). The menu was small and there seemed to be a lot of duck involved (which neither of us were excited about). But there were a few more “normal” options. Cara got bananas foster French toast and I ordered eggs and hash. The food was incredible- even better than we expected, so the “higher then our usual breakfast price” was well worth it.

We headed back toward Time Square to meet the girls after the Demi Lavato concert. Olivia has gotten good at navigating the subways and streets, and we found them without difficulty. Cara and I next headed to the Body World Pulse exhibition (another adventure the girls opted out of) while the girls did some shopping. The Body Worlds exhibits feature real bodies preserved through a process called plastination to show intricate details of different body systems and it’s one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen. We got the audio tour and made our way slowly through the exhibit. Both being health care workers we were constantly fascinated by what we saw. About an hour and a half later we came to the end having seen structures with our eyes that we’ve only previously only seen on x-ray or felt under the skin (as in the case of muscles). It was really fantastic.

We met the girls back in time square for some – surprise – more shopping. We found a local pizza place Cara had heard of and then headed for Central Park Zoo which is a small park that resembles the campus of an Ivy League college with its old brick buildings covered in ivy and manicured sidewalks twisting between them.

Next we stopped at Grand Central where we walked through much of the terminal and shopping concourse and had the obligatory New York black and white cookie and a soda to go with it. When Cara was getting her drink Maggie suddenly asked “Do you need a hug Mom?”.  Olivia and I both looked at her, I hadn’t even realized she was upset about anything! But then Maggie quickly corrected us- she’d said “do you need a hugger Mom?” (b/c Cara’s hands are sensitive to cold). We laughed until I thought they’d ask us to leave and so that question became the joke of the trip (and never failed to make us laugh).

We finally moved on to Rockefeller Center and some more sightseeing and shopping both in and around Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue. Dinner at Bill’s in Rickefeller (a hamburger place Olivia and I like that we have been to several times).

Today we logged almost 11 miles and 40 flights of stairs and we were tired to say the least. Our feet and legs were tight and sore and I’d hold Cara’s hand to balance on the subway platform to stretch my quads (so “do you need me to hold your hand?” became funny to us to).

We returned “home” later than we had planned (as usual). We were already getting more comfortable with “our” neighborhood and how to get around. Being in the city always feels so exciting to me that I hate to go home, but on the other hand it completely exhausts me and I’m so glad to relax. But either way we have to rest up for another fun day tomorrow…