Being All the Uncle I Could Be

The other weekend Kristen and Cory were in New York with their kids for the first time ever (ok Ellie actually came here once as a baby and we'll get back to that later). They were on their way to Europe and basically I had 48 hours to show Blake, Rachel, Ellie and Walker the true meaning of uncle.

We started off with a Saturday morning trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I'd never been to the Statue of Liberty before, but I had been to Ellis Island. What was great was the kids weren't super interested in it and the crowds were very light so we went to those two islands and back pretty quickly.

Back in Manhattan, things were now in my hands. I walked them up Broadway to Hamilton's tomb and past the New York Stock Exchange (which, yes, isn't on Broadway, ok, I know) and to the Shake Shack for lunch.

While everyone was using the bathroom I was able to run over to Fulton street for Broadway tickets and back before they were even finished. Then we walked through the Oculus to the 9/11 memorial.

There’s me and my sister

Considering they arrived in the middle of the night the night before and had to get up early to get to that statue, some of the group went home to nap and some of us stayed awake and kept walking! We walked up Church street to Hank's (no photo) and I took the kids to see Taylor Swift's house and the Ghostbuster firehouse but since they didn't really care, no photos. We went to Washington Square Park and walked through the Village then met up with everyone else at Frankie's. As we often cook from the Frankie's book, is was time for the kids to see how their uncle's cavatelli compared to the originals.

when you show that you can do the monkey bars but also your’e nearly too tall for the monkey bars

Learned something: Rachel had never heard of a manhole

From there we took a nice walk up the Highline, and then 10th Avenue, all the way to our Broadway show. The nice walk turned into a brisk speed walk but we made it to the show on time, considering the needs for bathroom breaks, it was a minor miracle. But also I believed in our team the whole way and knew we'd make it.

The show that we saw was the Play That Goes Wrong, which I had seen with Mom and Dad in November and I had a feeling the kids would laugh at. Walker liked it so much he sat with his hand in his mouth for most of it. But the big surprise: after the show star Ashley gave us a backstage tour. I hope the kids someday understand that this doesn't happen after every show. And after the show: a little Times Square time plus some cookie time before I bid the crew adieu.

Sunday morning we caught some church before looking around Lincoln Center and using the bathroom there. Then we had lunch at Sweetgreen where they acted like they'd never prepared seven salads before. Still, those salads and bowls were a hit.

From there, a walk through Central Park to the Met

Oh look, the Yamato tugging a bunch of ducks…

At the Met I gave a speedy tour of stuff that I like and think is cool, plus a visit to the stuff I hadn't seen yet on the roof. Was surprised to find all the Edwards stopped dead in their tracks by the Catholic clothes exhibit.

Everyone having a good look at my favorite statue

Loves carnitas? Loves carrots?

Cory showing Walker a guy waiting to shoot a gopher with a bow and arrow

Then, a little Levain break before I took everyone open to have their eyes opened at the Breuer. After the Breuer we walked down 5th Avenue to St Patrick's and since everyone had been so well-behaved they got to take a Subway Ride as their reward (everything else had been walking or Ubers for these Utah fancy-pantses). Here I realize that there were so many things I didn't take photos of!

The train ride really re-energized the group and everyone had a pretty good time looking at expensive sneakers at Stadium Goods and then, while Cory took most of the crew to Laduree I went with Kristen and Ellie to recreate a photo from Ellie's visit in 2007. Look at these two masterpieces! 

They look a little better together on Instagram than here.
After the photoshoot we joined everyone at Laduree and then got down to business with a little food tour that also included Prince Street Pizza, elotes from Cafe Habana, tacos and gorgons at Otto's Tacos (which my visitors attacked like a bunch of Dickensian orphans) and then Cory came through with the take out Honeybutter Chips and Ice Cream from Oiji.

Then on Monday I got to eat with the kids while their folks had a crummy meal at Cosme.
We decided to go to Eleven Madison Park.

Just kidding, actually we ate a TON of Korean fried chicken above a Korea town food court. And then got a little dessert at Made Nice, which actually is run by the Eleven Madison Park people, a factoid the kids found interesting enough.

And then Kristen and Cory showed up and I had to get back to work and they had to get to London!