New York Part 2

Day 5

 We went to the Lincoln Centre as there was a free Disney sponsored event called Baby Loves Disco. Lots of cheesy pop songs all in English!!! Camille was really brave and got stuck into the YMCA dancing up on the stage with other children.

 I think I enjoyed myself a little too much! Ed and I danced like crazy with Camille joining us after he had finished being on the stage, but Maxime didn't get so involved, which is strange if you know the boys. I think if it had been one at a time and all eyes were just on Maxime and not 50 other children it might have been a little bit different...!

 After all the dancing we went to Union Square Farmers Market before going to see the Flat Iron Building.

In the evening we ended up in the giant H&M. Maxime loves shopping, and I had a little helper the whole time. He picked out a few things, but unfortunately the bright orange jaquard crop top really wouldn't have suited me..

Day 6

 We went to a church in Harlem to hear the Gospel Choir. I think the plan was to hear it as authentically as possible, but it just meant we had to sit through Mass and there was only a couple of songs. It didn't really float my boat, however there seemed to be a lot of tourists there, many who shared my opinion but they were rude enough to leave half way through. Not really how it should be!

Aftwards we walked towards Amsterdam Avenue to a very cute place called Kitchenette for Brunch. There was such a huge queue outside we ended up reserving a table for 2.30pm so it turned into more of a late lunch, rather than brunch!

 Thew Strawberry Lemonade was so good and had lots of strawberry bits. I love the idea of serving drinks in glasses.

 The boys were busy colouring their chef in all sorts of bright colours.

 While Ed got super excited at absolutely everything and made friends with anyone who walked past. He is ridiculously loud, but I am really relieved that he is pretty much always happy. This way even if people are irritated by the noise they end up laughing at him being so friendly. I don't think I could deal with him if he was a grumpy, screaming baby.

 I'm not entirely sure what this was, other than it is supposed to be an English Muffin. The American's have a different idea to the ones I have had at home!

 Mine was amazing. Wholewheat pancakes with banana slices inside and homemade Granola on the top.

Camille checked out the biscuits and cupcakes you could get to take-away by the front door, just as we were about to leave.

In an effort to walk off some of our Breakfast/Lunch/Afternoon Tea we went back to Central Park where the boys played in a playground and we explored some more of the park.

I then went off on my own as I can walk a bit faster than when we have the boys and I wanted to absorb as much of being in a city/New York as possible.

Conservatory Gardens really is beautiful, but there were too many people to get any good photos. It was such a pretty time of day just before sunset that everything was glowing and all golden.

I wandered around the Upper East side and pretended I was in Gossip Girl for a while before heading to the River and walking down most of the East side of Manhattan. I loved being by the river, with the sound of water on one side and city noise on the other. It was also so lovely to have light evenings, I completely lost track of the time as in Guadeloupe it is dark by 7pm and I hadn't gotten used to the light again.

Day 7

I'm not sure this is what Beyoncé had in mind when we told us we were all Flawless, as i quite literally 'woke up like this'. I had conjunctivitis just before we went away and it clearly didn't like something I had done as it decided to flare up over night, so while the family went to the Museum of Natural History I had a quiet day feeling sorry for myself. I thought it was safer to avoid as much light/pollution/air as possible to give my eye a chance to go down.

Day 8

 I officially have the best host family in the world. Not only did they take me to New York with them, but my host mum knows how much I was loving having Starbucks near (I'm not a coffee fan, but I wasn't sleeping well, and it was really hot, so I was having a daily double shot of espresso, sugarfree caramel syrup blended up with skimmed milk and ice, like a frappuccino). To say thank you for babysitting the night before she brought me back a bottle of frappuccino so I could have it first thing in the morning, with my kale and scrambled egg.

 We went and caught the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We didn't go to Liberty or Ellis Island. I think it was interesting when I went last time, but defienitely wouldn't have been enjoyable with the 3 boys!

 Ed wanted to surprise us when we got off the ferry. It worked. And was especially joyful as the toilets were closed so we had to make do with wet wipes and a cup of hot water. An interesting experience..!

 I hadn't realised until I looked back through the photos, but Camille and I really bonded on this trip. Probably mainly because his little legs hurt from walking and I carried him most of the time so there wouldn't be any moaning!

 Walking up towards Madison Square Gardens we went to see the 9/11 Memorial. It has been done so beautifully, and is startling when you realise how big the buildings were.

 Liberty (The female New York basketball team) had a charity friendly match on vs. Washington and Elsa had got us tickets so we could watch a game at Madison Square Gardens. I'm sure Jay-Z was there watching as well, although I may have just been a little optimistic.

 Estelle wanted photo evidence of her 'foot long' hot dog!

 The boys and I have a new game, it is 'who can give the most/biggest kisses'. It is great, and they love it too. Although Camille changed it to licking sometimes and we got some funny looks...

On the way back from basketball we found a frozen yogurt place near the apartment called Go Greenly. Best frozen yogurt I've ever had. My favourite flavours were Taro (I don't even know what it was but it tasted great) and Graham Cracker (pretty much lotus biscuit spread in an ice cream, but not quite as processed...ish...?) with raspberries, cookie dough pieces and Reeses peanut drops on top.