chicken little

We left New York behind to go and see my parents in the Pacific Northwest. They took such good care of us. A major highlight for Clover was the beautiful garden that my mom keeps. Not to mention the 8 week old chickens she was taking care of. Clover wanted to visit them about fifteen times a day.   The big hit was to get to feed them.   As he held out grasses and leaves they like to eat, he'd say in his tiny voice, "nom nom nom."

Rain or shine he wanted to go out and say hello. And my parents were kind enough to oblige him.

the best time to visit the Statue of Liberty

Isn't Lady Liberty pretty? That picture is not mine, of course.

This picture is mine. I think the best time to visit the Statue of Liberty is when it is not pouring down rain.  In fact, I recommend this whole heartedly. Even though the memory of our soggy sight-seeing endeavor makes me smile. We made it only to Battery Park. 

When we decided to go and see Lady Liberty it was sprinkling ever so lightly uptown.  When we arrived at the metro station above ground we were greeted by a downpour. It was only at that point that Clover had enough of being in the stroller and did not under any circumstances want to get back in it.  It didn't look like the rain was going to let up any time soon. Clover was the only one with a rain jacket.  Félix and I were without an umbrella, without jackets of any kind. Félix was pushing the stroller and Clover was holding my hand.  Trying to hurry him along to get out of the rain, I didn't see that he had lost his right shoe about 5 meters back. He was SO mad I was making him walk in the rain. His sock was soaking wet the poor little guy.

 We decided to cross the street to try and wait things out at a Starbucks.  It was packed with people doing the same and Clover needed to get some serious wiggles out.  We took a door leading to a long entryway for an office building and let a now sockless Clover run up and down.  He kept waving to the security guards and smiling.  I was relieved that they just waved and smiled back and let us continue to hop around in the hall.  We decided we would make a run for it.  I mean we were so close already.

So we ran out in the rain as quickly as we could to spot the Statue of Liberty and then headed back to our place to get warm and have some lunch, slices of pie from Bleecker Street Pizza. Once warm and dry at home, Clovis promptly fell asleep for an afternoon nap. We all did.

top photo via

in New York

I'm not really sure where to start. This trip was so much fun. The only thing is I took so few photos. I wish I had taken more but sometimes it is just so nice to partake in the moments instead of observe them behind a lens. So a majority of phone pics and a few rare snapshots by our regular camera will have to do. 

We had a great little apartment in Greenwich Village just off Bleecker. It was such fun little neighborhood to hang out it in. So many good spots to eat and cute shops to browse.  Not to mention all the great playgrounds, Clover loved it. We did too. I want to go back.

Our first morning, in town we headed up towards the Natural History Museum and then wandered over to Central Park. 

We took a break on the benches and enjoyed the people watching. 

We had so much fun walking all over the city. We strolled all along Fifth Avenue and stopped in to see a place I have always wanted to go, The New York Public Library. Clover snoozed in his stroller the whole while.  The reading rooms are so beautiful.

And would you believe that Félix got to meet President Obama? Okay, not really, but he did get a wave from the President going by in his motorcade.  That counts, don't you think? We randomly happened upon the route that had been road blocked as he was departing the city.

On a rainy afternoon we got to meet up with my cousin M and her sweet little girl, S. She suggested that we hit up the children's museum on the Upper Westside. It was perfect and so fun to catch up. I can't wait to see them again. Hopefully this summer. Right, M?


So tell me, what do you think of New York? Have you been? What are your favorite spots and things to do in the city? 

back in the swing of things

We are back home in France. Vacation was wonderful. We are battling fierce jet lag but I have high hopes for a more traditional sleep schedule sometime soon. In the meantime,  family naps with the sound of tennis rallies and the muffled cheers of the crowd at Roland Garros feel so indulgent and entirely relaxing.  The shortcoming of sleep is a small price to pay for such a wonderful trip. It was just the best! Expect an abundance of highlights in the coming days.