Winter visits

Earlier in the week Stacey and Mia arrived for a 6 day visit that had been postponed from October. It was actually supposed to coincide with Mia's 13th birthday last April, but hey, things happen and it was shoved off til now. Just when it was getting chilly again and we were predicting more snow for the Northeast. Luckily my sister absolutely adores New York City and has passed that on to her kids. So they weren't deterred by a little chill in the air. We hit the ground running with a Central Park stroll and tea at Alice's Tea Cup the first afternoon. Then lunch at Chelsea Market and a walk through Washington Square Park the following day. A friend called to offer some tickets to a show that night and just like that we were on our way to Union Square to see Fuerza Bruta with Irene in tow. We capped off this ladies night with some delicious ramen at Kambi and cereal milk soft serve dessert at Milk Bar. Oh man, it's been a while since I hit the city this hard! But it was all fun and easy to come up with once we had a few ideas for each day. Today we made it to SoHo for Mia to get her hair cut at Arrojo with my girl Claire and then off for a day of shopping along Broadway and over to Arturo's for a late lunch. Being this fabulous takes a lot of work, but we were all willing to put in the time. And hey, it's not every day--or year--that you get to treat your niece to such a whirlwind trip. She is tracked out from her year-round school at the moment so it's even better that we're not competing with vacation crowds while we're out having fun. Tomorrow is our first day to take Elisa and Carolina around with us too. Hopefully we find something that works for all ages. But having just the big girl for a while was nice. I'm pretty sure she liked it too.