It was an alarm clock sort of morning, but not til 8:00 am. Then it was a long wait at Starbucks so we had to eat while we walked to the American Girl Store. We had a painting class at 10:00 am.
The instructor began with a simple instruction... “Draw your pumpkins on the canvas”... no further direction or advice on how to make authentic looking gourds. Within 5 mins, Sammy whispered that she was frustrated and with tears in her eyes, asked for a break. So we stepped out of the classroom only to be smacked by the crazy busy noises of the cafe. We quickly ducked down the employee entrance to the kitchen and asked a waiter for advice on an escape.
A manager found us a quiet space, brought us drinks, and checked on us regularly. As I held my girl and reassured her that her pumpkins were fine in quality and value, I became frustrated with myself for missing the signs... for not realizing she was upset before it got to this. Ugh. I guess in some way this trip has tricked me into forgetting what a struggle adventures can be... which in and of itself is incredible. For four days, we haven’t had a single issue or even hiccup. I dried my own tears and decided to be grateful instead. It took almost 30 minutes to calm down but even then I could tell my girl was fragile. I set her up for success in every way I knew how and we re-entered the paint class. The teacher approached and told me that the manager had found a quiet place for us to paint together. And so we were escorted to another room with couches and end tables fully draped in plastic and our very own little paint studio. Oh thank you American Girl.
We painted around 45 minutes and when the final glitter was added, we headed out for lunch in the cafe.
We wrapped up a little before 1:00 pm and headed back to the hotel. The route we usually take along 6th Avenue was completely transformed into a street market... over 6 blocks of vendors of food, clothing, and all things for the tourist. It was actually really cool.
After a quick rest time, we headed up to Central Park. We walked it since this was an area of town we hadn’t seen yet. And along the way we found Donut Project... a small bakery I had read lots about so we stopped in to see what the hype was all about.
It was a little hole-in-the-wall place with amazingly large donuts of all sorts of creative flavors. Seriously we took one of the “Black Gold” to share but I wanted to try them all. We crossed the street and found a bench in the park to enjoy it.
We had almost an hour until our carriage ride was scheduled so we decided to head over to the playground but on the way we saw these amazing rocks that you could climb and decided that was a much better use of our time.
How fun! I could have stayed for hours!
We got to the carriage ride a little early and Peter got us loaded up and whisked us away with Bazooka at the lead.
The tour was great! And Peter pointed out so many iconic spots and views in the park from movies, history, etc. I really enjoyed it. We did have a stop about halfway where we met a photographer to take some shots of the two of us. But those pics wont be ready for a few weeks. As we wrapped up the tour, Sammy was snuggled in enjoying her movie. We both had a great time!
By the time we had wrapped up, I was feeling hungry... so I suggested Ruth’s Chris for supper tonight. I mean, how many chicken strips can one eat in one 4-day trip? Sammy loves steak so I knew it was a plan. We called for a table and walked the 6 blocks to the restaurant. Yum!
On our walk home, we passed through Rockefeller Center and considered ice skating until we saw the crowds gathered so we decided to watch a bit instead.
My feet were getting pretty sore by now, so we took a pedi-cab (rickshaw) back to the hotel.
We snuggled in bed to watch a movie... and I hate to admit it but this Mama fell asleep for like 45 mins. My sweet girl woke me as Ice Age 4 was wrapping up to see if I wanted to get a snack. So I placed an order at Starbucks and we ran across the street to pick it up.
Back in our room, we put on our PJs and settled in for another movie.
What a great way to wrap up another excellent day!
