nyc in a flash

John was out of town anyway, so on Friday afternoon I decided that I would pack up the girls and take a flying trip to NYC the following day.  I considered it practice for our upcoming trip to France, minus the jet lag (which, fingers crossed, will be more manageable because we’ll be two parents-on-two children?).

I had literally just put the pack-n-play in the car and was patting myself on the back for getting us all packed and Evie nursed during one episode of Daniel Tiger, when I got the text from my NYC brother. “Full disclosure, strong possibility M has pink eye…She is on meds.”  Unfortunately, pink eye is often viral, and incredibly contagious.  As John counseled, one or both of our kids would most likely get it if I chose to continue with our travel plans.  The budding pediatrician in me knew going along with the trip was a bad idea.  But the parent in me…I mean, the car was already packed; we were going.  (If my brother had texted, “We have gastro,” I would have had the car unpacked in a New York minute.)

The trip, realistically, could not have gone better.  Sleep over the first night was a complete disaster, but we expected as much, and the next night was 100x better (hope that we might survive the trip to France).  All the kids (mine and my NYC niece and nephew) seemed genuinely so happy, though it was sad to have to police M a little so she didn’t touch other kids (ugh, it sucks–we owe her huge!).  And it just feels good to be with family.  I feel like I need to take advantage of these small road trips before residency, when a two-day weekend becomes the rare coveted “Golden Weekend.”

We braved the cold to visit the Met.  It was fun to think back on our visit almost exactly two years ago, when Ari was little more than 3 months old!  In similar fashion, we also dragged our great friend Kristen into Manhattan…during the super bowl, in a small blizzard no less (lack of pictures due to engagement in adult conversation while trying to prevent Ari from smashing popcorn kernels too deep into my brother’s carpet).

Although we cherish the fort-making potential of all homes, it felt good to return to our own yesterday: