Mom & Grandma Visit NYC!

(mom, grandma and i at Sardi's)

I was so blessed this weekend by my mom and grandma's visit to new york. The last time my grandma was in NYC was when she made a special trip for my mom on her 18th birthday! It was a short, sweet and JAM-PACKED weekend!

As noted in a previous post, Jeff visited with fraternity brothers in San Francisco this weekend, so it was truly a "girls weekend." While we explored and enjoyed Brooklyn and New York City, Jeff biked over 20 miles exploring San Fran and visited Nappa Valley (I'm a little jealous of the Nappa Valley part of his trip - maybe we can go back someday together.)

Mom and Grandma flew in Friday evening. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local restaurant, Chez Oskar (the spicy lamb-burger was delish!) Mom and I decided it was time for my grandma to get on facebook - so we set her up with an account. Hopefully someone back in Michigan will walk her through the steps so she can actually keep in touch with all of her family (my grandma had 8 brothers and sisters; 8 children; 17 grandchildren and 2 grandson-in-laws!)

We got an early start on Saturday...had coffee at Dunkin Donuts (of course) and swung by Target. My grandma bought jeff & i a coffee maker - something we never bought or registered for because we aren't big coffee drinkers....BUT we are excited to serve our guests coffee - Jeff's parents like coffee with their dessert. After breakfast, we drove to Manhattan (about a 10 minute drive) and stopped by Macy's on 34th street. The inside was already decorated for Christmas :) After our shopping adventure, we headed up to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes! Festive and fun :) After the show, we went to Sardi's for a drink - my grandma took my mom here for her 18th birthday! It was so special :) Later, we went to Long Island to meet Jeff's mom for dinner....delicious Italian food, of course. It was nice to dine with 3 of my most favorite women :) We were exhausted by 7pm and fell asleep watching a movie on the couch.

(mom & i in front of macy's)

(macy's is all decorated for christmas!)


(officially in the holiday spirit after seeing the "rockettes"!)

(mom and grandma in times square - i love the advertisement behind them, "grab some buds" - haha)

My mom and grandma left at 7am this morning - I think it was a good thing that Jeff won't be home until later tonight...I still go through mini-meltdowns when my mom leaves NYC/I leave Michigan...Jeff is probably sick and tired of my emotional outbursts and obsession with home.

I think the funniest part of the weekend was when my mom, grandma and I were discussing death at lunch. My grandma said, "Sometimes I talk to Grandpa." My Grandma has Grandpa's ashes in her home. Grandma gestured by pretending to left the top off of his ashes, waved and said, "I say things like, 'Hi! Good riddance!'" I don't know why I thought that was funny, but it was.

Next weekend, Jeff and I will be hosting 8+ people (our bible study) for a Thanksgiving Potluck at our apartment. We are really looking forward to it! It so happens that my mom will actually be in town again while Allan attends some training -- so she's going to come to Brooklyn Saturday morning and help me prepare for the dinner :)

Alas, only 1.5 weeks until Thanksgiving and 6 more weeks until I'm home for a whole week at Christmas.

Much love.