Labor Day Wrap Up

After our Saturday in Central Park, I still had enough energy to plan another city outing on this holiday weekend. With Nacho gone it was only a question of where I wanted to drag the girls on my own. Fortunately, our friends Amanda and Max were also looking for something to do and when the idea of the Natural History Museum came up, they were game. So we trained it in, stopping at Shack Shake for lunch first, and met up with the Lefers around 1 p.m. at the museum. The kids were thrilled to have each other for company and off we went. Of course, I still remember Elisa's initial reaction to the dark, animal-covered exhibits of years past. She was barely two when we first took her there and she was not a fan. Even the dino bones couldn't make her smile. And I hate to say it, but not much has changed. She still cowered and dashed from room to room asking if things were "dead" or "real" and if the people were once alive. Deciding on our agenda for the day, the gem room came up and I thought it was an excellent choice. Who doesn't love pretty rocks? And they aren't even dead. So off we went and the whole crew had a great time.

Later after the museum, we wandered over to Max's parents' apartment a few blocks away to cool our heels and let the kids play. It was one of those hot, muggy afternoons that even I couldn't tolerate at a park, so I was happy for the offer. The kids tore into the playroom whipping out costumes and dolls, baby carriages and plastic figures with wild abandon. By the time the rain hit, we were high up and safely watching the torrential downpour soak the streets. A pizza and some snacks later and it was time to get started home. We took a detour to a nearby park to see how wet things were and then snaked home on not one, not two, but THREE trains (there were delays on the downtown 1). By the time we made it in the door, I was a touch past exhausted and sleep and staying home sounded pretty good for the rest of the weekend. But alas, we managed to make it to SGP for a Labor Day picnic on Monday. And that my friends is all you need to make your holiday weekend complete. It was another total sweatfest which meant I  wanted to simply sit and not move for several hours. And I pretty much got to do just that. The girls ran and ate and let me alone for a while, and in return I let them have two different ice cream treats. They were worth it. And hey, this being the last summer holiday, I figure we're back to real life this week....boo.