A Day On The Town (With The Kids)
Dec. 29th, 2008 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redaxeI've got all week off, to burn spare PTO. The kids have the week off for Christmas break. M, though, has to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week.
That means I've got a couple of days to be Daddy, no boundaries and no requirements. We have an ongoing cleanup of their room going, and there's homework in the usual lots for holidays, i.e., enough to get them to do some daily, rather than driving them frantically on in the last weekend. (So far, mostly so good in that department. We had a scare today when Z lost his homework packet, but it's now found and he's done today's allotment.)
I believe that it's good for residents of a place to do most of the touristy things in their hometown at least once. In New York, that means getting out to parades (Easter, Thanksgiving), going to the observation decks on high buildings (I've promised Z that we'll try for the Empire State Building in the spring, when it's warm but not scorching), and, at Christmas time, seeing the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and various store windows.
Today was the day for those last. So we got up relatively early, got out of the house and made a stop or two (at the bank to deposit a check; at our friend J's place to arrange for her to host a playdate tomorrow, rather than today as she'd suggested), and headed into Manhattan. (Yes, I sometimes say The City, but yannow, we live in it too, as my taxes show.) It was right about as we got onto the train that I realized I'd forgotten the camera, but at least the new phone has a not-bad one, so I may have some shots from it to show later.
Lunch at Wendy's later, we wandered through Rock Center, seeing the tree (it's big, but somehow not as large as I remember other ones being), and emerging on Fifth Avenue, we encountered Saks Fifth Avenue's windows. This year they're based on A Flake Like Mike, about a special snowflake who marches to the beat of a different drummer. Fortunately, rather than becoming a sheeple, the herd decides they like the idea of individuality and all snowflakes become special.
From there we headed down Fifth Avenue, and entered the NYPL to see the original copy they have on display of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, becoming a TV show in the process of climbing the stairs. Unfortunately, the book was basically the entire exhibit (there was a video with some of the book being read, but it was essentially tl;dr for that ;-) Too bad, but hey, there's still the book to read, so that's to look forward to.
Out the door, down Fifth Ave. again, and we saw the windows at Lord & Taylor's. Boring, we all agreed; they are fairly old-fashioned, sedate dioramas in classic Christmas red and gold with some movement. With me holding out the carrot of ice cream at Coldstone Creamery, I got the kids to complete the odyssey down to 34th Street and across to Sixth Ave. for Macy's windows. Some recent years have been bad ones for Macy's; this year, they were the clear winners. They're maybe a bit loud, but they're colorful and comical and interactive; they're about making the season, and while they show all mechanical processes, they all come back to the point that it's about heart, soul, and love. If you can, go see them in person.
Walked up to Coldstone (42nd Street west of Broadway), had some ice cream, came home. Not a bad day, except for the excitement about Z's homework pack wandering off for a while. I'm for some dinner and another chunk of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. (Yes, I'd recommend it, even only 1/3 through.)
Hope your day was as good.
That means I've got a couple of days to be Daddy, no boundaries and no requirements. We have an ongoing cleanup of their room going, and there's homework in the usual lots for holidays, i.e., enough to get them to do some daily, rather than driving them frantically on in the last weekend. (So far, mostly so good in that department. We had a scare today when Z lost his homework packet, but it's now found and he's done today's allotment.)
I believe that it's good for residents of a place to do most of the touristy things in their hometown at least once. In New York, that means getting out to parades (Easter, Thanksgiving), going to the observation decks on high buildings (I've promised Z that we'll try for the Empire State Building in the spring, when it's warm but not scorching), and, at Christmas time, seeing the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and various store windows.
Today was the day for those last. So we got up relatively early, got out of the house and made a stop or two (at the bank to deposit a check; at our friend J's place to arrange for her to host a playdate tomorrow, rather than today as she'd suggested), and headed into Manhattan. (Yes, I sometimes say The City, but yannow, we live in it too, as my taxes show.) It was right about as we got onto the train that I realized I'd forgotten the camera, but at least the new phone has a not-bad one, so I may have some shots from it to show later.
Lunch at Wendy's later, we wandered through Rock Center, seeing the tree (it's big, but somehow not as large as I remember other ones being), and emerging on Fifth Avenue, we encountered Saks Fifth Avenue's windows. This year they're based on A Flake Like Mike, about a special snowflake who marches to the beat of a different drummer. Fortunately, rather than becoming a sheeple, the herd decides they like the idea of individuality and all snowflakes become special.
From there we headed down Fifth Avenue, and entered the NYPL to see the original copy they have on display of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, becoming a TV show in the process of climbing the stairs. Unfortunately, the book was basically the entire exhibit (there was a video with some of the book being read, but it was essentially tl;dr for that ;-) Too bad, but hey, there's still the book to read, so that's to look forward to.
Out the door, down Fifth Ave. again, and we saw the windows at Lord & Taylor's. Boring, we all agreed; they are fairly old-fashioned, sedate dioramas in classic Christmas red and gold with some movement. With me holding out the carrot of ice cream at Coldstone Creamery, I got the kids to complete the odyssey down to 34th Street and across to Sixth Ave. for Macy's windows. Some recent years have been bad ones for Macy's; this year, they were the clear winners. They're maybe a bit loud, but they're colorful and comical and interactive; they're about making the season, and while they show all mechanical processes, they all come back to the point that it's about heart, soul, and love. If you can, go see them in person.
Walked up to Coldstone (42nd Street west of Broadway), had some ice cream, came home. Not a bad day, except for the excitement about Z's homework pack wandering off for a while. I'm for some dinner and another chunk of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. (Yes, I'd recommend it, even only 1/3 through.)
Hope your day was as good.
