Ridin' Along on my Automobile

Cooper's Backstory

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to Cooper's school Open House. His math/science teacher is the same one Peter had in sixth grade. He was very friendly when he greeted me and said lots of kind things about both Peter and Cooper. Cooper's language arts/social studies teacher believes that kids need the afternoon to spend time outside and pursue their own interests, which translates to her giving almost no homework. I appreciate that. Cooper likes both teachers.

Each kid in Cooper's language arts class had an autobiographical paragraph on the front of their locker. Cooper's was muuuuuch longer than anyone else's. I'll do my best to transcribe it, editing some identifying details but keeping his spelling and punctuation.

Hello my name is Cooper and I am 11 years old. I was born in Utah on March , 2008. I like to read books, play outside, play inside, run, build, and many more other things. My favorite food is pancakes. I love them with syrup, bacon, eggs, and chocolate milk. I love the color blue. I have no allergies. I have 4 other siblings. 2 brothers, and 2 sisters. I love to sleep at night. I get tired often. Normally, I have headaches, and feel sick, but I have alot of energy. When I was born, I was almost born on the road. My dad drove very fast, well over the sped limit. Luckily, we did not get pulled over, and made it to the hospital right on the knick of time. The nurse tried to check us in and do all the paperwork, but my mom said that she was going to have me. So, now I am in 6th grade, and love math. It's my favorite subject. I also like social studies. I love to learn about Ancient Civilizations and Greek and Roman Mythology. I also like to write a lot. I write stories. I never ever seem to finish them. Sometimes I start a story and completely forget it until I find it later somewhere in a box or in a binder. I am almost never organized except for my locker, which is tidy. As you can probably tell, my handwriting is kind of sloppy. I try to write neat, but whenever I write neat I am very slow, and take along time to write. I am in 6th grade Pre-Algebra. I want a house.

There were several sections that made me smile, a few that made me laugh, and one that made me raise my eyebrows. He included his birth story? His non-existent segues are awesome. Here's a picture of that tidy locker. And the last line? All the kids (and the mom) want to buy a house instead of renting, that's what he's talking about. I really hope his teacher doesn't think he's homeless.

Gathering Data in Person

Before the New York adventure, I attended the beginning of the year Open Houses for Cooper, Phoebe, and Sophie. Peter's was the same night as Phoebe's, so Bryan and I used the divide and conquer approach.

Sophie's teacher is perfect for her! She is warm and effusive and in constant motion. She sings with the kids throughout the day and has hand motions for them to remember what they're learning. I believe she is an answer to this parent's worried prayers.

Phoebe's teacher is married to Sophie's teacher, which is pretty awesome. This is the first time Phoebe's had a male teacher and it took her a few weeks to get used to it. But he's a great teacher and Phoebe feels more connected to Sophie since their teachers are married.

As a way to introduce themselves, each kid in Phoebe's class wrote about the best part of themselves. Phoebe wrote about her brain, a fantastic choice.

Can you read what it says? I'll keep her spelling and punctuation.

"The best part of me is my brain becaus It helps me stay alive, see, hear, smell, and taste. It helps me make decisions and It helps me know when I'm in danger My brain helps me Think but, the very best part of my brain is my imaganation all great authors have an Imaganaition and I want to be an author and a teacher."

For the Folks Playing at Home

Anyone curious about the titles of my travelogue posts? I've been quoting/referencing Broadway musicals, of course. Here's the answer key:

• The Greatest City in the World - Hamilton
• Never Fear, Brooklyn is Here! - Newsies
• Saturday in the Park with Tom - Sunday in the Park with George
• Manhattan, I Prepared for You - Thoroughly Modern Millie

Were you able to correctly identify any?

I take way too much delight in titling these posts...

Manhattan, I Prepared for You*

Our Broadway binging was over, but we weren't quite done with New York. On Sunday morning we got up and took the subway to the Manhattan Temple, which is also the location of a regular meeting house. We knew we wanted to attend the 9 o'clock Sacrament Meeting, what we didn't know was that it was a Young Single Adult ward. The talks were great, but I definitely missed my family and my regular family ward.

With just a few hours left before we needed to head our separate ways, we took the subway south and caught a glimpse of Lady Liberty.

 Photo credit: Brett 

After some wandering and searching for the right subway station, we made it back to the hotel. We gathered our belongings and headed for our final New York bucket list item: The New York Public Library. I would expect nothing less from our little book club.

Photo credit: Brett  

It's a gorgeous building, inside and out.

Photo credit: Brett  

Since we were nearly out of time, we made a beeline for the children's department, the home of the original Pooh Bear and friends. They live in a glass case and are worn, but it's the kind of worn that comes from being loved so much. That's the type of worn that I aspire to.

Photo credit: Brett

Also, Lego lion.

And this is what the entryway to the library looks like. It is so beautiful!

Photo credit: Brett

I had waited too long and had to run. We said our goodbyes as Brett went to the hotel to retrieve her suitcase before going to JFK and her flight home to Utah and I hustled over to Port Authority. I was so proud of myself for not getting lost at all. And it was pretty important that I not detour, I got to my gate just before they started boarding. The two-hour bus ride home was pleasant and restful, though I wish I had known we couldn't eat during the trip. My snacks stayed in my bag and I focused on the book I was listening to to distract from my hunger.

Bryan brought all the kids to the airport (bus station) to pick me up. The first thing Phoebe said to me when I opened the door was, "You look younger!"

True story.

I am happy to report that I was a calmer, happier, more fun mom that first week. And all those positive benefits lasted an entire seven days. I'm only slightly less fun now, still muuuuuuuch better off mentally and emotionally than I was before the trip.

Big thanks go to two people for making this adventure possible. Thanks for trekking all over NYC and binge-watching Broadway with me Brett! It was an absolute delight! And huge thanks to Bryan for not only keeping everyone alive and fed while I was gone, but also providing a fun weekend for the kids. Need proof? Here are the pictures he sent me while I was gone:

They ate fun food, watched movies, and played video games. Several sisters at church on Sunday asked Bryan and the kids how everything was going in my absence. Sophie was quick to explain that they had had the BEST TIME EVER!

I think we all benefited from my reset.

*Final quote in the title for this trip, anybody want to guess what it's from?

Saturday in the Park with Tom*

I had high hopes of posting this on Friday, but mom duties won out and I had to shelve it. How on earth did you all handle the suspense of waiting the entire weekend to hear about the rest of the adventure?! Okay, I'm teasing...sort of.

Saturday morning started with a beautiful walk to Central Park. We planned to grab some breakfast on the way, but somehow all the restaurants disappeared so we had our first meal of the day from a cart. Cart food is expensive, did you know?

The highlights of that beautiful park included:

a giant chess competition surrounding Bethesda Fountain,

the awesome views from Belvedere Castle,

Photo credit: Brett 

Photo credit: Brett  

a tour through Shakespeare's garden,

Photo credit: Brett

a visit to the Strawberry Fields memorial,

Photo credit: Brett

and a celebrity sighting. Brett suggested we perform our favorite Shakespearean monologues while in the Shakespeare garden. I said no. Why? I felt super self-conscious performing in a garden whilst tourists ambled by, but I pushed through that and we retreated to a bench to look up monologues. While sitting there I saw a man dressed in black running clothes and a black baseball cap pulled low, jogging with his dog. He was talking on his cell phone and I heard him say a few words in a familiar English accent. As he passed us I realized why I recognized his voice. I gasped, grabbed Brett by the arm and said, "That was Tom Hiddleston!" She looked at me, a touch confused. She had no idea who he was. "Loki!" was my response. That's right, the actor that played Thor's mischievous brother in the Marvel movies ran by us in Central Park. She suggested we invite him to join us for our monologues. We really should have.

Yes, we have video footage of the monologues. No, I will not post it.

After Central Park, we were famished. Apparently cart food doesn't last forever. This may only impress my brother Jordan, but we got lunch from the Soup Nazi. Or rather, we got soup from the place on which Seinfeld based the Soup Nazi. There really were instructions posted to step up to the window, money in hand, order quickly, then move immediately to the left. We followed the rules, but there also wasn't a line when we got there.

The soup was amazing! I had the ravioli soup and it was one of the best things I ate all weekend. Bonus, it was also one of the most affordable. For $6 I got a cup of soup, a slice of crusty bread, and a banana, all part of the meal. I plan to go back next time I'm in the city.

Once our bellies were full, we went to our fourth Broadway show of the week. Come From Away is about what happened to the planes that couldn't enter US airspace during the 9/11 attacks and the days that followed. Thirty-eight planes were rerouted to the tiny town (that, for refueling purposes, had a giant and mostly unused airport) of Gander, Newfoundland. The locals jumped to action and fed, housed, and clothed seven thousand stranded passengers for at least five days.

You guys, it was transformative.

I'm sure seeing this musical the week of the eighteenth anniversary of 9/11 made it more profound for me, but beyond that, it was a fantastic piece of theatre. There are twelve actors, six men and six women, and they each play several characters. The character changes happened by adding a hat and changing how they walked or throwing on a different coat and suddenly speaking in a different dialect. The set was spartan, but the tables and chairs on that stage became airplanes and classrooms and restaurants and animal shelters and homes. Everything and everyone worked so cohesively.

This was the best show we saw during the whole adventure.

Afterward, we stumbled upon the stage door, so we got some autographs.

Photo credit: Brett

This woman was my favorite. She played Beverly, the first female pilot for American Airlines. If you have access to the soundtrack (I listened on Google Play Music), listen to her song Me and the Sky.

Photo credit: Brett  

He was so funny! His comedic timing was spot on.

Photo credit: Brett  

One other wonderful thing that happened after the show? All the audience members I passed on my way out were sharing their own experiences from 9/11, where they were, what they were doing when they found out, how it impacted them. When the show began we were mostly strangers. When it ended we were part of a community. That is the power of theatre.

Photo credit: Brett

Come From Away is a short show,  it doesn't even have an intermission, so we had a long stretch in the afternoon. One big park wasn't enough for us that day, so we made our way to Highline Park. We detoured at Carlo's Bake Shop first.

The carrot cake was shockingly not super sweet. I sampled it, sans frosting.

 Photo credit: Brett 

I had never heard of Highline Park until Brett said it was something she wanted to see. It's a park, populated mostly by wildflowers and cool art pieces, built on an old and unused elevated train line. We walked nearly the entire 1.45 miles. I'm really glad we did it.

Photo credit: Brett  

We were running out of time by the end of our walk, so we got on the subway and headed uptown, back to the theater district. We stopped at Kodama Sushi for dinner.

Photo credit: Brett  

It was scrumptious. Also, that girl totally photo-bombed our sushi picture.

 Photo credit: Brett 

After dinner and before our final activity of the night, I took a minute to call home and say family prayers with Bryan and the kids. I stood against a building near the restaurant in a well lit and populated area, Brett took the opportunity to pick up a few souvenirs. Just as I finished the call, out of the corner of my eye I saw two young men walk toward me. As they passed in front of me one of them whispered very quietly, "I have cocaine if you want some." I was so shocked my brain had trouble making sense of what I'd heard. By the time I figured it out, they had disappeared into the crowd.

I'm not sure what about me sent the message that I was interested in such a product, but they were quite mistaken. 

After my run-in with a drug dealer, we went to our fifth (Peter's reaction, "So, you're basically binge-watching Broadway") and final Broadway show: Tootsie! It was laugh out loud funny, but also had sooooo much profanity. I'm really glad I was able to see Santino Fontana in his Tony-winning role, but I don't think I'll be recommending this one.

 Photo credit: Brett 

We tried to find the stage door, but took too long and didn't get Santino's autograph. We did get to chat with the actor that played the best friend, the funniest person in the entire show, so that was cool.

Then we stumbled back to our hotel, because it had been a full day!

*Yup, this title is referencing something too!

Never Fear, Brooklyn is Here*

On Friday morning we slept in! I got a full nine hours of sleep. It was glorious. Then we made our way to the Stardust Diner just in time for the beginning of lunch. The servers all sing, which was really fun, though not conducive to conversation.

Do you see the server standing on the tables behind us? He was singing something from The Lion King (possibly He Lives In You?) and sounded fabulous.

Photo credit: Brett

Then we hopped on a subway and rode to Brooklyn, my first time in that borough. It didn't feel like NYC at all, there simply weren't enough people. We went to Prospect Park, which I know from the Danny Kaye movie Wonder Man, but Brett knew because the Battle of Long Island, a big Revolutionary War battle, was fought there. We hiked through the park, searching for the war memorials.

Photo credit: Brett

When we decided to head back to Manhattan we left the park on our search for the subway station and found this amazing Civil War memorial. After our year of reading about the Revolutionary War, we spent 2018 reading about the Civil War, so this was an especially cool discovery.

Then we made our way back to Federal Hall.

Photo credit: Brett

We saw a section of the balcony where George Washington stood when he was sworn in as the first President of the United States.

Photo credit: Brett

This is the bible that Washington placed his hand on to be sworn in.

Photo credit: Brett

After Federal Hall, we paid a visit to the Fearless Girl.

Photo credit: Brett

Then we saw her old neighbor, the bull.

Photo credit: Brett

Our next stop was unplanned, but delightful.We stumbled upon the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Customs House, which is home to the National Museum of the American Indian and various national archives. I do love archives, so we wandered inside for a bit.

Photo credit: Brett

After that we went to the 9/11 Memorial. It is a beautiful and solemn place. I felt a great sense of reverence while there. I'm sure it was even stronger because the eighteenth anniversary of the attacks had been just a few days before.

Photo credit: Brett

At this point we were very hungry. We wandered a bit looking for food and unintentionally walked into Chinatown. Well, we couldn't let that opportunity pass us by, so we ate some yummy Chinese food. While we were there a group of four men sat at the table next to us. I suspect one of them was famous because he wore his sunglasses the whole time he was in the restaurant and appeared to have a couple body guards with him. No, I have no idea who he was.

Then we went to our third Broadway show of the trip. Hadestown, winner of the Best New Musical Tony for 2019, was phenomenal! It's the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in a depression-era post-apocalyptic world. I know, it sounds weird, but it worked. And the music! Oh man, the music was gorgeous. I think the Fates were my favorite part, their harmonies were so tight, I loved it!

Photo credit: Brett

Photo credit: Brett

You'd think we'd be crashing at this point, and we kind of were, but we had to stay up a little longer. We filled our time with scrumptious cheesecake at Junior's. Yes, I will sometimes eat cheesecake. I figure it's mostly protein, right?

Photo credit: Brett

Photo credit: Brett

Then we stumbled out onto Times Square just in time for the Midnight Moment, a semi-immersive art exhibit shown on the digital billboards in Time Square from 11:57 to midnight every night. We had the time slightly wrong so we sort of missed it. No, we saw it, we just didn't realize what it was until it was over.

Photo credit: Brett

Photo credit: Brett

And that's when we finally got our tired selves back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

*What am I quoting now?