Summer Fun 2013: King of Weekends

This weekend, we went to NYC.

Saturday:

"My little-town blues are melting away."

We stayed on the 42nd floor of the kids' favorite hotel.  

We were in town to see The Lion King, the kids' first Broadway show.  It was wonderful!  Sis liked Rafiki, Bud liked Zazu.  And they "stage doored" afterwards and got autographs of young Simba,  young Nala, Mufasa, Zazu, and others.

Sunset over NJ and the Hudson River.

Here you can see Sis and Mama under the awning of Virgil's, where we got BBQ takeout for dinner.

There is a special AG package at the hotel.  Felicity got her own bed that she also got to take home.

After sunset, we roamed Times Square, perhaps the most crowded I've ever seen it.  And remember, I lived there--19 years ago!

The M&M store and the Hershey store are their favorites.

I liked our late-night Junior's snack--Devil's Food Cheesecake, Strawberry Shortbread, poundcake, and Egg Creams!

Sunday:

We went to the "Art of the Brick" show at Discovery Times Square.  Those are all Legos, folks!  The artist Nathan Sawaya reproduces masterpieces in bricks!

I loved this one!

Pretend the dino is moving, not that it's a bad picture, please.

 
He also does several of his own sculptures, often with empty cavities, like this one.  Amazing and inspiring.

We finished our visit at the Visitor's Center because the kids always like to see the New Year's Eve ball.

The Vegetarian's Dilemma

The kids are in their Lion King phase now, loving the music first and then seeing the movie on Saturday. Now we're lions all the time--Sarabi (me), Simba (Sis), and Nala (Bud).

Including at dinner tonight.

Where we ate zebra legs, hyena brains (hot, because they'd been having evil thoughts!), elephant trunks, and elephant ears. Every now and again, one of them would bound away to "pounce" on another unsuspecting resident of the savanna and then "drag" back some bits.

It was almost more than I could stomach, truly.

Only I did it because they were actually talking about tofu fresh and fried and maybe dried, seitan both canned and fried, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, plus a bit of chicken and pork, all leftover from yesterday's New Year's feast.

It's a sacrifice I was willing to make, as they (mostly Bud) tried all new foods. And liked them.

And now we're listening to Lion King, of course. But this time the Broadway musical, because they really want to see it.

I had thought 5 1/2 was a bit young for Broadway. Especially at, what, $150? a ticket!! But wouldn't that be fun for spring break?? Or maybe for their sixth birthday . . . .