Adventures in the Big Apple, part 1

I have a lot of back blogging to do. If I don't, I think I'll be sad, because I have a lousy memory.

Going to New York from Philadelphia is actually pretty easy and cheap. By car it's 90 miles, if you want to deal with the traffic. I don't. By train, it's inexpensive to drive up to Trenton and take the regional rail into the city. Roundtrip fare is considerably cheaper than the cheapest one-way fare on Amtrak from Philly. So it's worth the little extra effort of getting to Trenton and the 90 min train ride that stops along the way. And parking for a day in Trenton is about $10.

In March '09 we took a family outing for the weekend up there. It was really my first time going to NYC aside from a trip in 9th grade that I barely remember--though I have the picture on the ferry in front of the twin towers. I think there's something primal in every American who grew up on Sesame Street to love NYC. I do love it! In the fall I went by myself to see some friends.

But in February, I really took the bull by the horns and went by myself with both boys. When I was a new mom with Ellis, I made a personal decision to not let having kids along daunt me into not doing things I wanted to do. I would find a way to include them. Mostly, that's been a good policy. Having a second kid, has added an interesting shade and I've gotten myself into a couple of sticky situations. (I'm not even going to talk about the Lake of Death, for instance.) But I try to keep a healthy sense of adventure. I won't say I wasn't daunted as I navigated my two little kids through trains and subways.

It was worth it, though, because I was meeting my former college roommate and maid-of-honor in my wedding, whom I hadn't seen in eight years and who was in town visiting her sister. I met up with Bryonie and Vangie at the New York Public Library, where we went in to see A.A. Milne's original Pooh toys on display in the children's section and my kids had fun looking at books. Well, Ellis looked at Arthur books in Greek, and Marlowe caroused with the local toddlers. Then we went to Queen's to Vangie's apartment and visited our hearts out until I really, really, really had to go.

Then the adventure of navigating my kids on the metro from Queens with our strollers and stuff, to Penn Station, and back Trenton and back home. It sounds so simple. And I know there are probably moms who do it every day, because that's how they get around. But in my complacent little life where I load kids up in carseats, it was an adventure. And I'm glad I did it. Because it was a fantastic time reconnecting with my friend. And i'll always treasure that.