The kids and I have started another adventure! This time it’s the Big Apple to visit my brother Tyler. I woke early to pack and then an excited Zoe got up and got breakfast and got moving. She had been looking forward to taking the bus for a while now. Mom and Dad took us to the Walmart parking lot where the Megabus comes and waited – our 10am bus didn’t get there until 11! And, it was packed. It’s a double decker, so we searched up and downstairs in vain for two seats together. I finally just had to ask a guy to move so Zoe and I could sit together. I didn’t buy Avi a ticket so he was on my lap. The bus was nice, though. Had wifi, a bathroom, nice comfy seats. Really cool. It stops once on the way to New York City for a little rest stop at a gas station. The driver cut it short to try to save everyone some time.
The kids did great on the bus! Zoe cried when Nan and Grandpa Joe walked away, but was soon happy to be looking out the window for the city. Eventually she fell asleep. Avi bounced on my lap for a while and looked out the window until he fell asleep, too. So, just past Bellefonte we all took a nice nap until the rest break. I woke and hoped they would both stay asleep, but no luck. So we got out briefly and ran around in the grass. We also discovered that Zoe’s gatoraide had leaked all over the floor. She put the cap on wonky (like I always do) and it got the floor under her seat all wet. Her little bag of toys was soaked, doggy was a bit moist, and the girl behind us’s bag was moist on the bottom. She was ok with it and it all dried out pretty well during the rest stop. The next 2 hours Zoe played quietly with her animals on the seat beside me. Avi ate snacks and then nursed and then…slowly…fell asleep again. For a bit he stood up on the floor between my legs and played with stuff on my seat. I rested my eyes as well when he fell asleep and was awoken by Zoe laying on me with her legs up the window beside me saying, “wah wah, dada, wah wah, da da” in baby-talk. It was funny and perfect since we were just starting to see the city skyline. I got stuff packed up as we went through the Lincoln tunnel and Zoe just ooo and awwed at the buildings and people.
The bus dumped us out at a corner with scaffolding. I grabbed our backpack from under the seat in front of us and then waded through the crowd to grab our stroller from the under bus storage. We packed really light so I could just have a small backpack to fit in the stroller basket. Avi rides the stroller, Zoe and I walk. Zoe also brought a tiny backpack of toys that she carries. Tyler’s girlfriend Rosalie was to meet us, and she texted that she was enroute so I thought I had time to find some snack. I used my handy new iphone to find some donuts – which turned out to be kind of tough since there was so much construction in that area. Then we returned to the bus stop to find Rosalie waiting! She walked us over to Tyler’s office for his current project. It’s just near the Flatiron building. It was fun to see the tiny hovel he works in – it’s inside a super nice office with lots of other people we got to meet. Very cool. Very fancy.
After that Rosalie led us to the subway and we rode back to Tyler’s apartment. Its a great little place above a driving school in Astoria. Nice big kitchen, and a big bedroom / living room with his giant TV and lots of cords. We spent a bit putting the cords behind stuff and covering his electronics with a towel. Avi seems to be more interested in the ball we brought and deshelving books. Fine. We walked out to Astoria park for some rides at the fair! Zoe’s favorite was the tornado! It was a cool big ride similar to a merry mixer, but you spin the seats yourself. She went twice – once with Rosalie and once with me. We all rode the carousel, too, though Avi was not into it. He kept leaning off his horse onto my shoulder. Tyler was home when we got back and we spent the evening with some Indian food delivery and Shaun the Sheep on netflix.