Mileophile: June 29, 2014 (New York)

Mile 3004
This was our last day in New York and we had to make it count. We decided to take the poor man's tour of the Statue of Liberty which included a pretty long subway ride and a journey on the Staten Island Ferry which is FREE, Y'all! You go right in front of Lady Liberty and get to ride a boat with all of humanity that is also out to get something for nothing. And, bonus! This adorable homeless couple had snuggled up and fallen asleep right in front of the subway ticket dispenser. Don't mind us, we'll just lean over your spooning selves, you two crazy love birds. And, it was the day of the Pride Parade. I have been to the Atlanta Pride Parade (before kids) and I knew that it might be a tad mature for the kiddos so we opted out of the official parade route. Charlotte commented that she'd noticed that everyone loves rainbows in New York! Why yes, they do! We happened upon one gorgeous 7-ft-tall cross-dresser. Charlotte said, "She was so pretty, I thought she was a Mannequin". John said, "Well, you're half right" (get it, "Man"). He's witty, that one.

After we took the subway back uptown, we grabbed lunch at The Counter. It was right in Times Square, so I was afraid it was going to be too touristy. But, we are tourists and it was great! The kids loved it!
It wouldn't be a day with the Bullington's without some debacle, so after lunch it was debacle:thirty. We departed ways with the boy Bullingtons because the girls were going to see Matilda and the boys were going to theYankees/Red Sox game. We hurried to our hotel to change out of our shorts and I thought it would be very pro-active of me to charge my phone while we primped, and less pro-active to dash out the door without it. Y'all, I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I think it is robbing us of human interaction, but Google Maps is pretty critical in unfamiliar landscape. Not to mention that I have been following Mr. Bullington blindly for 10 days, so I had NO IDEA where I was!! This Talking Rock, Georgia girl can find her way off a mountain, but not out of Times Square. I realized I'd left my life-line en route to the theatre, but I was following a map from the hotel concierge and we didn't have time to go back.

Mile 3006
We made it to the Shubert Theatre just in time for Matilda. If you are in New York, and you have children, or if you don't have children, or if you just have a pulse, you need to see Matilda. It was magnificent! And, get an aisle seat on the bottom and you'll get to see the actors come up and down the aisles (Thanks for the tip, Anna Gray!) It was the most visually stunning, creative, fast-paced musical that I have ever seen and I can't wait to see it again. So, as the girls and I are enjoying Matilda, Sweet Mr. Bullington spies my phone and realizes that I can't find my way out of a poke(chiefly Southern & Midland : bag, sack

a : wallet

b : purse)

without Google Maps. So, he decides that he will walk to the theatre with my phone (with the the boy in tow) and rescue my sweet, lost person. Long story short, we walk out of the theatre quick as lightning back to the hotel so that I can get my phone, and pass Mr. Bullington without seeing him. We hoof it back to the hotel and my phone isn't there.....Awe, snap. I had to use the land line (Just like Little House on the Prairie!)and eventually he made it back to the hotel with the boy and my phone. We were supposed to meet up with our Marietta friends after the show at the Shake Shack, and fortunately, we weren't too tardy.

And, they had secured a place in line, so that was a score.

Mile 3009
I hadn't yet taken the girls "shopping" in New York and I told them that we would do that. It's kind of silly, because most of the stores in New York we have in Atlanta, but they didn't know. You would have thought the H&M of Times Square was Hermes. They indulged in sunglasses and jewelry and bags and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg. And, we got to do it to the head-thumping house music brought to us by a live DJ with no concern for hearing preservation PLUS a live "runway". I missed the runway because I was having to drop the hammer on the shopping daughters. Too short, too tight, you can't show your belly, it can't have an ironically-placed kitten on it, it can't say "hottie" on it, Excuse me, salesgirl, does this come in smocked? 'Member when shopping was fun.....

Melissa and Keily hadn't been to Toys R Us yet so we made a second stop there and rode the ferris wheel. We lost Mae and then found her after Melissa risked life and limb sprinting down an up escalator. That is not a sight I will soon forget. Mae was fine and had quickly found a store security guard when she looked up and didn't see us. Then, poor Mae face planted full force on the sidewalk and screamed like she'd been attacked by a shark. As always, prepared friend Melissa applied band-aids from her bike-tool-deprived NYC first aid kit (it is no wonder she's a Girl Scout Troop Leader, y'all), I commented to her that this is the reason I blog. Because, social media would have you believe that everyone has a perfect vacation and perfect children. Our trips are one mishap after another with some love and hate and laughter and tears thrown in for good measure. And frankly, it's pretty good fodder for the written word.