Living in New York.

The cast and crew left... and it was us.  Just our family.  In the Big Apple.

And so we started exploring Adventure Mobile style:  livin' like we live here.

So we hit up the local playground scene.

We found an amazing playground on Water Street with a spray park and all these cool interactive gadgets - some famous architect created it with the idea that the kids would make their own playground from all the moveable tools and objects and pipes and whatnot...  and they do!

We also hit up Central Park: the ultimate in playground scenes.

We figured we would just let the kids run wild awhile after buying some ice cream and orange sodas from a street vendor, and there were these great big rocks right in front of us so...  of course we climbed all over them - as did hundreds of other families and teens and adults from all walks of life.  I love that about NYC: diversity.

When we got to the top of the rocks we saw: the ultimate playground.

Of course I didn't take a picture - so you'll just have to imagine:

Water running through every path, slides and concrete tunnels and grassy knolls and rubberized play surfaces with no apparatus where you could just run and wrestle - a giant sandbox - tire swings and regular swings and more slides - ones with twists and ones without twists - spray grounds and fountains and a clown with balloon animals...

And so we played.

The kids got soaking wet.

We dried them.

NYC: 3 bucks, 2 bags, 1 me.

Former student Billy Borst (our sound tech), playwright Trish Cole, former student Jamie Burroughs (SM - also a fantastic actress), me, and my co-star - beard shaved for the production. (At a hotel in the city)

As a mediocre high school actress I always wondered what the heck I was doing auditioning for every show and coming out disappointed.

My high school didn't allow anyone to be "cut", so of course I made every cast - but I was never anything I thought was "important".  I was always in the chorus or the kid who had a couple of lines or the no-name actor who appeared sometimes in cameo or the "alto who could hold her part well and so needed to be in this group number" but wasn't good enough to be a "principal".  In spite of these casting choices, directors told me I was talented, it was politics.  I wanted the proof in the pudding, and it simply wasn't there.

I loved acting in spite of this.

I loved everything about being on stage and being back stage and being with the people you meet in the theatre.  When I went to college I felt it was time to prove to myself that I could really do this - that I could do something productive with my acting - that I was a good actor...  And so I auditioned.  I auditioned for every show my freshman year and was cut from all of them.

My sophomore year I saw audition notices for Richard III and I thought I shouldn't even bother.  My balloon was deflated.  I figured... those people who cast me in high school... or didn't cast me... they were right.  The director who told me I was talented in spite of those casting choices?  He was just being nice to me.

But something pushed me toward the theatre on audition day for Richard....  And as I walked I prayed:  "God, if you want me to do something with theatre in my life, then I will get a part in this show.  If you don't want me to, be sure my name isn't on the cast list, and I will never audition for anything again."

I made the show.

I was cast as Messenger 1/Murderer 1.  And I was shocked and thrilled and elated.

And after that show - there were many parts to be had.  All of them supporting, but they were parts.  And I was happy to be a part of the theatre community.

My dad took me to lunch once on the way home from college and I told him I was discouraged and that I wanted to be an actor but I never got any leading roles and it was frustrating - and I was majoring in English Education and I wanted to be a teacher but I loved theatre more than I could possibly say.

He told me that he had once also had a love affair with the theatre.  He described it (laughing) as an addiction (which it is).  He wrote a play in high school that won a contest and he had done a little acting and a little stage management and I'm not sure why I was surprised since he plays Biblical characters once or twice a year at church...  He also said that as a teacher I would have time to do theatre as well.  That there were lots of theatres in communities around the country and that he was absolutely certain that someday - I would play a leading role.

I didn't really believe it then, but I hoped.  And I thought...

And my senior year I was asked to act in a little playwright festival at the college.  And I got paid.

I started my own little theatre company with some friends, and I played Lizzie Curry in The Rainmaker.  I thought it didn't really count because we all sort of cast ourselves and there is one girl and I was the only girl in the company at the time... but I had a headshot and I was in the program and people came.

I was invited to participate in the Meisner Method Class even though I wasn't a theatre major.

And after graduation I started my career in community acting in Southern Maryland.

And I watched with closeted envy as students who graduated from college with me went off to act on and off Broadway, and I thought... someday I'd love to act in New York.  I'd love to act off-Broadway in an intimate little house where I can feel the audience breathing and I'd love to make them laugh and cry and I'd just love to hold my own with the other professionals and finally feel like maybe I belong here.

It was a dream I never thought would come to fruition.

I taught high school theatre for a few years and I directed some slam-bang productions with some incredibly talented young people and I coached acting at a small private studio and I had all this knowledge and I ended up finally portraying leading women in many shows and I became a person who was desirable - a person who made others shudder when she showed up to auditions...  I became a "real actor" and yet I hadn't acted in New York and it felt fake and I felt fake and then I portrayed David in Trish Cole's Butterfly and she submitted it to an Off-Broadway play festival and she wanted me to play the role there if it was accepted.

And it was.

And I did.

But that was nothing like the experience of today.

Trish wrote another play, Field Guide to the North America Osprey and I auditioned for the leading role and I got it and my husband landed the leading male role and she submitted it to another festival but this time it was the Samuel French Festival.  And it doesn't get any more legit than that.

And as we parked the bus in Albany at a storage unit and we drove Sally down to The City it felt like flying and colliding with a future I never thought could be I felt young and old and amazed at the way the world works and the way God works and the way life is and why we have the passions we do and why things aren't realized until certain periods and when I got a message from my high school musical director telling me he was proud of me and my accomplishments I thought, "I'm not sure it can get any better than this."

New York City was brilliant in all of the usual ways.  I was privileged to be there with one of the most talented playwrights alive.  To be stage managed by my own former student.  My children were babysat by two former students who are phenomenal artists in their own right.  It was... awesome.  It was our director's first visit to the city (one of the best actors I know), which boggled my mind - how could someone so talented not be in the city...  the world is so crazy.

Trish was offered a relationship with Samuel French as a result of our performance.  This is the best I could ask for.  I acted on an off-Broadway stage with professional actors and I held my own with them.  I acted alongside my husband.  We held hands with our children as we walked down 42nd Street.  I was blinded by memories of all the shows past and all the doubts and all of the wondering what all of this was about and I know one thing:  this is only the beginning.

Family Vacation - Chapter Four

Our second day in NYC was fabulous.

I managed to figure out how to maneuver the stroller through the crowds and we had a plan set when we checked out of the hotel. They also allowed us to check our bags for the day until our train.

In the morning we grabbed some free breakfast courtesy of the Comfort Inn Times Square, cleaned up and packed, then headed out on the town. We planned to meet our friend Hanniel at Bryant Park for lunch.

Our troop headed to Central Park, which is beautiful at all times of the year but especially so in the fall.

The park is great for families and kids and couples and people just out for a run or bike ride or walk and are looking for somewhere away from the bustle of the city. In the summer, each playground area (and there are at least thirty) has a spray park included. We played on two different playgrounds and swing areas, strolled around the park, and climbed on some rocks, which are a prominent feature of the entire park area. Tons of folks were out for their runs or bike rides, walking dogs, and hanging out with their kids.

The playgrounds feature gates around all areas so you know where your kids are at all times because there is only one way in and out of the playground. The swings have their own fence and the little kid playground area has it's own fence in addition to the large fence surrounding the entire playground. The features are old, but durable and the ground is covered in sand under the playground areas to prevent injuries from falls.

After playing at Central Park, we hopped on the subway and headed back to Bryant Park, where we found we were a few minutes early to meet Hanniel, so we watched the ice skaters (you can skate for free if you have your own skates) and rode the carousel ($2 per rider and parents ride free). We checked out the vendors set up all around the park, decided not to buy anything, and met Hanniel. The five of us headed downtown and ate lunch at the Tick Tock Diner. The food was great, the service wasn't so great. The waiter was very polite, but they were out of hashed browns and we weren't even acknowledged after being seated for about ten minutes. Then it took another fifteen to get our check.

Which had us at 2:20 to buy tickets for and catch our 2:45 train.

Hanniel, the kids, and I dashed over to the station while Michael ran all the way back to 42nd Street to grab our bags and then ran to the station to buy our tickets (he had the cash). We ran down the stairs to our train, shouted our goodbyes to Hanniel, and the train pulled out at 2:44. It was a miracle we made it in time, and in honesty, a really fun time trying to make it on time :)

The train ride back was uneventful, and we spent our last night of vacation with Michael's parents relaxing. In the morning, his mom was nice enough to get up with the kids and we both got a chance to sleep in and catch up on our lack of sleep from the trip as a whole. We made it back home after a spin on Grandpa's trike (he was in a cycling accident that rendered him unconscious, broke his back, finger, and nose, and left him rather bloody, so he had to get a trike to continue his cycling hobby - seeing over the handlebars of a road bike was too strenuous for his now fused together neck vertebrae) and a stop at Chipotle for our final meal on the road. Both kids were asleep when we arrived at our usual nest. The Adventure Mobile was a disaster, but it's clean now - though there's this weird lingering stench - I'm sure Maeryn stashed something perishable somewhere in her carseat.

Family Vacation - Chapter 3

I have been to NYC several times in my life, but never with kids. TOTALLY different world with kids.

When we got off the train at Penn Station I quickly realized how different NYC was from Philadelphia and how while I was a single chick cruising the streets I felt wild and independent darting and weaving through the crowds, fighting for my place at street crossings, and walking fast and with purpose at all times... this is not the case for a mom with kids.

I had the stroller. Michael had the luggage. Jonah had his hand on Michael's pocket and the train station was NOTHING when compared to the streets. We made it up the station stairs and headed toward our hotel. The streets were jammed. Up and Downtown are not the same as Midtown, but we came to NYC to see a show and so I'd booked a Midtown hotel. Everything about Manhattan is insanely crowded, and no one in New York has time to be courteous. You can't blame them. You simply can't say "excuse me" 3,000 times a day. You just move where you need to move and do what you need to do to get where you want to be.

It was raining.

Jonah took a LONG time to figure out that walking fast was serious business and that he did not have time to play "don't step on a crack" at 42nd and 5th. The stroller was an adventure in and of itself. Puddles collect at the ends of the handicapped entry ramps at every street crossing and to avoid them you've got to take the time to pop a stroller wheelie and people just do NOT want to wait for you. People aren't used to looking for little people when avoiding collisions, and so you've got to be proactive in protecting your kids.

That first run to the hotel was the worst - especially since our room wasn't ready when we got there and we had to check our bags and go back out onto the streets. Neither of us is as familiar with NYC as we are with Philly so we didn't really know where to go in the rain and cold when we'd planned to hang at the hotel awhile. We ended up at Applebees, which was prices the same as it is everywhere else in the U.S., thankfully, and though Maeryn lost a blue balloon to the ceiling gods in the restaurant, it was a nice lunchtime excursion.

Our first day in New York was sort of a wash. We walked around a lot, just trying to get our bearings and figure out how to do kids in this city. There were other moms with strollers and kids - but they just DID IT. They were street tough moms who knew the ropes and were out to keep their kids safe. I was impressed and tried to take cues from them. By this morning I was doing pretty well.

We ended up at the NYC Public Library near dinner time, where we found the children's area and Jonah made a BUNCH of little friends and played for over an hour. All of the parents were locals and I asked one of the moms for a good place to eat that was reasonable for the family. She sent me to Bryant Park. We had sort of meandered our way through the little place on our way to the library and thought about ice skating, but skate rental is $12 (skating is free - so if you have ice skates, bring them!) per pair, so we balked since we were running out of funds. The moms at the library directed me to the nearest McDonalds. Michael and I opted not to eat dinner in order to save some cash, we got the kids their usual faire, and then headed back to the hotel.

The Comfort Inn Times Square is very small. It would be awesome for one or two people. But not four. NOT kids. Nice place. Clean. Friendly. NOT good for kids. WAY too small.

We met Hanniel, a former student and now good friend and NYC resident, who volunteered to babysit Maeryn (thank goodness!) while Michael, Jonah, and I headed off to Mary Poppins on Broadway. It was great to see Hanni, and GREAT to be headed to a show with our five year old.

The play was magical and fun and well worth the money. Jonah, who is VERY emotionally sensitive, was not afraid for one minute and was totally into the entire thing. He fell asleep before the finale, but got to see most of the story (barring Mary Poppins flying over the audience for her final exit - which was really great to watch) and will talk to you about it for hours if you ask him.

Just for the record, if you are planning a trip to NYC, a Broadway show is a MUST DO. I don't care how much money the ticket costs (if you don't care much what show you see, find the TKTS line in Times Square and rush tickets for cheap the day of), it is worth it. Do note, however, that children under four are not permitted in Broadway houses and if your son or daughter won't be able to sit through it, don't bring them. Don't think "oh, maybe even though they can't do the same activity for more than five minutes including a kids program on TV they'll sit through this expensive and fantastic Broadway play. Don't bring them. If your kid is going to sing along, don't bring them (though some actors ask for the audience to join in and some matinee performances expect it and even encourage it) - though it's cute for them to know the songs to Mary Poppins or the Little Mermaid or what have you, it is not cute for the people in front of the child who paid over $80 to hear a Broadway star sing it - not your adorable little munchkin. It's not a Wiggles concert or even an adult rock concert. It's a Broadway show. No singing along. Please.

Family Vacation - Chapter 2

Following our stay at Great Wolf Lodge, which ended with an awesome day at breakfast at the Lodge, Kids' Wolf Walk (which was eh in my book, but Jonah seemed to have fun in spite of us losing his origami wolf after the event), morning storytime, and another quick trip to the waterpark to take some photos and ride our favorites one more time, we headed to Michael's parents' for a free overnight stay on the way to Philadelphia.

Our original intent was to sleep at their house, then spend the following day in Philly with them, leave Maeryn with them, and take Jonah to NYC as a special excursion with our oldest to see the NYC sites and catch Mary Poppins on Broadway... but it was not to be, as both grandparents had to work, so Maeryn came along for the entire event.

We took the train from Michael's parents' to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, which was a quick ride. Michael and I are very fond of Philly and have visited often, so it's a comfortable stomping grounds for our family. We checked into our hotel on the Ben Franklin parkway and headed out to the Franklin Institute to check out the enormous heart replica (large enough to pump for the Statue of Liberty), some real brains, heart surgery, the planetarium, and several other things at the Institute. I have to admit, I was not as impressed as I'd hoped to be with the place. While there were some neat exhibits, there were also some not so neat ones. They had games and scavenger hunts throughout the building for kids, but they weren't evident until you were halfway through the stations at times, and so the games were lost. There was no one explaining or handing things out, and there was a lot of construction going on in all areas of the institute. The kids' only section is very cool looking, but way too small for the amount of children coming through the place. Jonah would have done VERY well if it was just us and him, but with Maeryn it was sort of a painful experience. It is definitely catered to older kids or gifted kids like Jonah who are VERY into science. Maeryn was mostly bored. She played in the kids' area, but wanted to strip down to her diaper and climb into the water tables, so that didn't work out so well.

We did NOT do well with eating in Philly. We went to TGI Fridays - we knew better, but were starving and it was close to our hotel (which was VERY nice and VERY reasonable - Windsor Suites Philly - highly recommend it for the thrifty family looking for a spacious room - complete with FULL kitchen and huge closets - we used one as Maeryn's room) and we ordered pizza from two places - long story short - if they person taking your order doesn't speak English, seriously consider calling another place, unless you can speak their language as well. I recommend Jake's if you're staying near Center City, and I'm leaving it at that. We had pizza for dinner and then for breakfast.

I must say that Philly is a great city to take your kids. People were extraordinarily helpful - two women helped us carry Maeryn in the stroller and our bags down stairs at the subway station, everyone held doors and told us our kids were cute, and no one was annoyed on the subway when they were a little crazy. Also - the streets are wide with large sidewalks and it is never as crowded as New York.

At 30th Street as we waited for our train to NYC, I went to buy an Auntie Anne's pretzel with caramel sauce. It was $3.90. I only had 2.53 in change. The woman told me not to worry about it and gave me my pretzel for what I had to give her. It restored a little of my faith in humanity.