Fun Friday Outing

We had a little outing to the city on Friday night - and endured the cold to tell about it! :)

My cousin Hillary is in town, and she had been in the city sightseeing during the day, while I had some things to do at the school (Bryson Jr. had an activity with his class and it is Scholastic Book Fair time - which means I live at the school for about 2 weeks...I do look forward to this event and love every minute of it! It's one of my favorite projects by far!). Madeleine had Activity Days at the church, so I told Hillary that we should meet up at Shake Shack for dinner - it's just a block over from the F train where we come down to the church, and it's a well-known burger joint here in the city....and rather good. Problem is - the line is almost always very long and I don't like to stand in line and wait for my food when I'm hungry. However I thought with the cold maybe we wouldn't have the problem of the usual crowds. Who eats outside in these conditions?! People that have the Miller blood in their genes that's who! I was right...there was not a line when I went - but more on that below....

Here are some pictures of our lovely - icy weather! We've had some icy rain along with many parts of the country during the past few days, so I had to take a picture of the kiddos walking down the subway on the sheets of ice over the snow. It is pretty how it shimmers in the sunlight - but I prefer the plain, regular snow....ice is not very friendly.

We made our way over to Shake Shack once off the subway...I forgot how busy both the subway and sidewalks of the city are during "rush hour". It was a bit insane, but thankfully we were rewarded at Shake Shack with seats under the heaters set up outside. We quickly overtook 2 tables with our things while we waited for Hillary....and the kids played in the snow while waiting. Blessing & curse - the kept warm as they were moving around. Curse - they were sweating a little bit so when they finally sat down they to eat they quickly turned to freezing!

Madeleine and Hillary

We enjoyed our Shake Shack burgers, fries and FREE custard....crazy to eat outside in the cold, but fun for most of the time! After I took the food to the table, the kids asked for waters so I went back up to the "shack". While waiting for the waters I was talking to the people inside working.....it was warm by the window so I was trying to pass time without looking obvious that I was trying to stay by the warmth! After I told them that my cousin was here visiting from the L.A. area and that we were really enjoying our food - she said "So, do you want free custard then?!" She assured me she was serious, and I hesitantly gave her the number of just the kids - thinking I could have them split, and then she told me to give her any number - the sky was the limit! So with a laugh, I told her we had 6....and I walked back to the table where we were all already freezing with 6 orders of free custard to enjoy. The teeth definitely started to chatter as the kiddos ate that treat!

Aoi and Madeleine - inseperable friends....

Aoi loves Activity Days and likes to come with Madeleine to each one!

we told him to swallow first....ewww gross!

This is a new color combo - Blue and Orange on the Empire State Bldg. Interesting. Not my favorite color choices, but I still just love to see that building throughout this city.

With numb toes and fingers we started to walk back towards the subway --- forfeiting our idea of walking down the 6 blocks to the church. We were just too cold! Then we passed by 'EATALY' a place that I've heard about and have wanted to go in. We quickly turned around and went into warmth. And an amazing marketplace that focuses on all things Italy. It was amazing!

We walked around in awe of the beautiful produce, the many varities of cheese, pastas, bread. They have a little place in the middle where you can stand and eat sampling of food and wine.....the latter being something we wouldn't really need, but the food looked and smelled divine! It's definitely a place that I want to go back again and buy more than the Dried Tomato Tuscan Loaf that came home with us....and perhaps next time I'll go with a few less children - everyone we talked to would look at the 4 kiddos and say, "Are all these yours?!" Madeleine would usually pipe up with - "Well she has 3 of us, and this one is my friend" as if that explained so much, but still people who are only use to 1 and maybe 2 children in the city were agog. Simply agog! (thank you Music Man line)

Since our piggies were toasty warm - we went back out into the brisk air which didn't feel nearly as cold and walked down to church, where Madeleine and Aoi enjoyed a lesson on sewing for Activity Days and the boys enjoyed play time in the Nursery.

Happy Days. I think Friday nights are going to be my new Date Night. I love having some time with the kids in the city, and since we'll be coming in every Friday night for Madeleine's activity (she has a new leader who is actually planning activities which is fabulous!) ---- I think we are going to make a list of places we want to see that we can see in a short 2 hour window before we head over to the church. We'll be in the city anyway, and this way it will help me chisel out the wish list of places to see in the city if we do move out to the burbs this summer.

And the other upside....if I can't date my husband on a Friday night, I might was well take out my kiddos.....they are cute too! :)

Here is to next week's Fun Friday Adventure!