Cati and the City!

I still have lots of other stuff to update you on – Max’s baptism, Cati’s end-of-the-year program, my fundraising to support brain tumor research, Gussy’s “Toy Story” phase – but I just have to fill you in on our NYC trip, first!

Catalina, my mom, and I spent Memorial Day weekend in the Big Apple with my brother and his wife. There are no words to describe how much fun we had, or how proud I was of my little girl and how she handled our big trip, or how thankful we are for Matt and Julie’s hospitality and generosity!

I have a million pictures, so, chances are, this update will wind up being split into several postings. Bear with me!

We left for our girls’ trip on Friday morning. It was tough leaving the boys, especially since I have never left Max for more than a night. It’s not that I didn’t trust Louie to take care of them, it’s just that it was hard to let go for even a few days. Oh, and Gussy was sick with a cold. That made it even harder to leave, but I managed to do it and here we are at the airport:



And, here is Cati in her first NYC yellow cab ride:



We met up with Jules and Bibi, then we went out to meet Matt and some of his colleagues at their after-work hangout. Yep, the first place I took my five-year-old daughter on her first trip to the city was a bar and I’m not ashamed of that fact!



It’s not as scandalous as it might sound…we sat out outside and there was no smoking going on around us. But, Catalina was really impressed with this little stage that she saw during her trips to the bathroom, so we took a picture there before we left:



Next, we had wonderful sushi at one of their favorite spots:



Then, we were off to have a decadent treat…sundaes at Serendipity 3. There was a wait at Serendipity, so we walked down to Dylan’s Candy Bar, which is a little girl’s dream!

Giant chocolate bunny:



Candy embedded in the floor, Barbie paintings on the walls…like I said, a little girl’s dream!





After our candy purchases, we went back to Serendipity. Fancy frozen treats all around, but the sundae that Cati and Tia Jules shared was the prettiest and probably the tastiest:



On Saturday, Tia Jules had a special event planned for Catalina. She made her an appointment for some adorable Japanese nail art at a salon in Brooklyn. We stopped for lunch, first, at Patsy’s in Matt and Julie’s neighborhood. I’m still dreaming about the salad and pizza that we ate there! Next, we took the subway to Brooklyn’s Willamsburg neighborhood. Here are Cati and Tia Jules before Cati’s first ever subway ride!!





Cati was really great on the subway. Maybe a little nervous, but she took it all in stride. She could hardly believe that we were riding in a tunnel under the water!

So, here we are at Hello Beautiful. Catalina and the owner’s dog, Chance, bonded right away…until Chance messed it all up by snipping at her to get her attention. From that point on, she was too afraid to pet him.



Catalina and Tia Jules, sharing a leopard-print, high-heeled-shoe chair, while looking at Japanese magazines to choose the designs for Cati’s nails:



Cutie, little Cati having her nails done by Naomi:



Here is the chair she was sitting in!



The adorable finished product (a panda, a heart, a flower, a bow, and lots of little jewels):





Cati and Masami, one of Julie’s colleagues:



I had my nails done exactly like Cati’s, except I threw in a skull-and-crossbones as a nod to Tampa and little Gussy! Here we are with Naomi and our nail art:



After another subway ride, we wanted to see Julie’s office at the fun and crazy Pat Field store on Bowery.

Cati in the dressing rooms:



Cati in the wig salon and Tia Jules showing her one that looks just like cotton candy:





Next, we took at quick trip to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty from afar. We were really excited to see her, but not enough to want to take the trip to Ellis Island. We’ll leave that for another time. Cati started getting tired and hungry at that point – and I don’t blame her because the adults were tired and hungry, too. We hopped in a cab to take us back to their neighborhood and Catalina promptly fell asleep in my lap. Sweet girl! Tio Matty had to carry her to dinner.



She perked back up just in time to eat, thanks to a funny trip to the teeny-tiny bathroom at Jackson Hole. Apparently, Bibi kept bumping into the hand dryer and turning it on because there wasn’t enough room for two people. I’m not even kidding…we could hear Catalina and Bibi laughing all the way back at our table! BTW, the hamburgers at this place are humungous (more like huge meatballs than hamburger patties) and they also make a mean veggie burger!

We went back to Matt & Julie’s place and fully intended to go back out to Times Square to hit the Hello Kitty store, but we were all way too tired (Julie and I were actually asleep by 8:00!).

I’ll fill you in on the rest of the trip tomorrow. It was so much fun, be sure and check back for the pictures from Little Mermaid on Broadway and the carousel in Central Park.