Bright Lights Big City... and then some

Well, I wouldn't say that Wednesday morning was exactly pleasant. After what seemed like a short 2 hours of sleep (wait... that is short! ha), I got behind the wheel of my car, fairly sure that my sleep deprivation would fail me on a sobriety test, and drove myself to Hobby Airport at 4:30AM for my flight to NYC. Upon arrival, the desk clerks were about as awake as I was when it came to checking me in. Thirty minutes later, with only one person preceding me at the check-in counter no less, I was good to go (or rather just good to wait for another 30 minutes in the security line) and in desperate need of a, well I don't know... nap?!  Conclusively, I give JetBlue customer service an "S" for slow and sedated... however the airplane was really neat. Every seat had their own T.V. screen, controls, etc. TOTALLY fabulous. Therefore, the actual flight gets an "R" for relaxing and for lack of a better word, just plain rad. Thus given that "R" precedes "S" in the alphabet, I guess its safe to say that I really got out of that hella morning what should come first... a means of transportation to one of the greatest cities on earth. A billion rounds of stellar techno and HBO therapy later, I was fit to frolic in the Big Apple!

Upon arrival, I immediately realized that my outfit had a serious character flaw... tights. It has to be illegal for a city outside of Texas to be that hot. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to be back in one of my favorite places, even though I would be at risk for a heat stroke in Times Square until I could check in 3 hours later. Our troops were stationed at The W, right next door to the Hershey's store... bravo! Given that our clan does indeed have its own population sign (one that always seems to be growing I might add), we were forced to be stationed in three hotel rooms. This type of situation is when my tuition and Starwood points on my American Express comes in handy. For the remainder of that day, we spent the majority of it catching up on sleep, roaming, and trying not to trip and locals with one of the strollers. After much deliberation and ticket searching, Kaitlyn managed to land us four tickets to see the Adam's Family on Broadway, staring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. 

So, Kaitlyn, Clayton, Hannah and I set off for out 8pm viewing of the play. It. Was Fabulous! Nathan Lane is simply amazing, hilarious, and nailed the part of Gomez. Seeing that I am an Adam's Family enthusiast myself, I greatly enjoyed it! In order to pass the morning hours away the next day, we decided to raid the Toys R' Us in Times Square. The kiddos all enjoyed a farris wheel ride while I scoped out the goods. Among some notables, I discovered a new brand of Huggies that was made to look like jeans. Did I buy them? Of course. After spending time in antfarm-ville, Barbie world, and Jurassic Park reincarnated,  I met Regan during her lunch break in Rockefeller Plaza after having explored a bit more of the area, and following lunch I strolled over to Central Park where Kara and Taylor had fallen into carnival heaven in the midst of health hazardous rides and tasty hot dogs. 

One pair of sunburned feet later, we returned to the hotel, showered, and then caught taxis over to Regan's place for a scrumdidlyumtious family dinner. It was really fabulous to have a mingling of the parents and a showcase of our child circus! Dinner and a show, who'd have thunk?With our smiles and stomachs filled to each his own quota, we returned happily to The W. The next morning, I woke up and shared my final goodbye's and "Ally" hugs with the family. It was a very bittersweet moment... as some people left my life temporarily, an experience crept in and took their place. I am going to miss them so much, especially since this is the first family vacation to Block Island with them in 10 years that I will miss! I mean... I'm not complaining, just feels strange. In order to shake off tears and too much of a thought process, I roamed around and then was lucky enough to snag a few wonderful hours of catching up with my Pi Phi Big, Mary. We had a great time walking around Union Square and enjoying froyo and a smoothie at "Recess." We also got to see Timmis which was so nice! Continuing on with the "Richmond" theme of the day, I met up to have dinner with Regan and some other Richmonders as our last pow wow before abroad. Currently I have pitched camp in the Regan household am enjoying not being the only ginger for once!! Woo hooo! And then my friends, tomorrow is the day! We will leave around 7pm from JFK in New York and will arrive in Heathrow (London) the next morning where Regan and I will link up with Camuso and then tryout a bit of exploring in the city before our next flight to CAPE TOWN!

Until I breach the Equator for the first time ever....

Hopper XOXO