New York, New York

When one of Dustin's very closest friends announced he was getting married in June, I knew that we had to go. He comes from a very proud (and traditional) Russian Jewish family and promised us the wedding would be one to remember.

My girlfriends all helped out by taking the kids for us for our quick four day trip. Dustin didn't splurge for first class tickets, but he did use his status to get us exit row, which was nice for the long flight. With the time change and flight time, we didn't get into JFK until after 5 and then adding in the commute into the city, we didn't get to our hotel until 6:30 pm. Our hotel was right on the river with a gorgeous view.

For dinner, Dustin took me to a Jean-Georges restaurant right at Central Park. The food was delicious and it was so nice to sit and have a conversation while being in the same room at the same time without any other distractions.

We didn't get back to our hotel room until late and I am a notoriously bad vacation sleeper, so I took two sleeping pills. This was probably the worst idea I had in NYC. Poor Dustin woke me up when he accidentally turned on a light in our room when trying to leave to go work out at 10 am. I dragged my butt out of bed so we could run along the river and then a little after noon we headed out for brunch at The Kitchenette. 

After brunch/lunch we headed over to the Met. I am a huge art fan and Dustin is always so sweet to let me spend hours roaming museums. We didn't even make a dent in the collections, but we did manage to see the impressionists and modern art wings before we had to head out for dinner.  We took a stroll through Central Park and grabbed dinner at an Italian place on 7th ave.

 We decided on A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder for our show after we saw a snippet on Jimmy Fallon. It did not disappoint. It was hilarious and entertaining and I highly recommend it. The very next day, it won Best Musical at the Tony awards.

 Sunday we started our day off with burgers, fries and a shake from the Shake Shack. We also made it to the 9/11 memorial which was quite powerful and humbling. The next few hours were spent in line getting to and from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The statue itself was magnificent, the waiting in the hot sun and amount of lines were not. Ellie had done a report on it last semester so I was really excited to see it up close and personal.

 We had to rush back to the hotel and change really quickly in order to get to the wedding in time.

The wedding was gorgeous and definitely a must-not-miss event. I cannot even begin to describe the event.

 The tables were decked out in caviar and bottles of top shelf alcohol. There was a sushi bar and a raw bar along with the appetizers on our table and the 15 hot appetizers. Throughout the night we were served 15 entrees ranging from herring to lamb chops and tongue to three different meat kabobs. Plus the 4 desserts. While talking to the bride, we learned that they wanted to make sure there was enough food so they had the restaurant serve all three of their buffets.

 We sat at a table with Dustin's co-workers, which was perfect because we were the only people in the place that didn't speak Russian (most of the night was all in Russian except for the ceremony which was in Hebrew).

 It was cute to see our husbands in yamakas. All the women looked like Russian supermodels in their ten inch heels and their long legs and gorgeous hair and dresses. We were so grateful Alex and his beautiful bride, Irina, invited us to attend.

After the wedding, which was a traditional Jewish ceremony, the place turned into a night club. There were wedding singers complete with costume stages and strobe lights. Even the bride had two dresses. Most of the music was Russian pop music, but we danced the night away anyway.  Seven hours later, we headed back to the hotel, completely exhausted.

Monday morning we headed back home, anxious to see our children who had been having the time of their lives. Nate had stayed at 3 different friends' houses and went to Cub Scout day camp. Sadie stayed with her friend Brynley, swam, went to Big Surf and sucked up to Molly all weekend. Luke got to stay with his best friend Asa, celebrate his birthday and go to Dino Camp!

Ellie stayed with Meredith and I didn't even get to speak to her once the entire trip because she was having so much fun.

I don't have any idea what they did the whole time, but I did find this little gem on her phone! It was a quick trip but so nice to have some quiet time without anyone demanding anything of me or Dustin. So grateful to all my friends who helped out with the kids to make this possible.