Raising the J(bar)a: New York!

I was talking to my brother on the phone after returning from Indiana and filling him in on what was going on in our lives. When I told him about our upcoming trip to New York, he asked, incredulously, "you're traveling AGAIN?!" Yes, a mere five days after we returned home from Bloomington, we hopped on a plane and headed for the big city. This time, Claire stayed with Brian's parents in Kalamazoo, which of course changed the entire nature of the trip. It was the first time I had been away from her overnight, and while I was lonesome for her, it was wonderful to have a mental break and know that she was in good hands.

Brian and his twin brother Jeff turned 30 on May 13th. Months ago, Jeff's girlfriend Lauren contacted me about coordinating something special for their birthday, and we ultimately decided that Brian and I would fly out to NYC to surprise Jeff with a weekend of fun (our presence is the best present! ;)). This was originally a surprise for Brian, too, but I ended up telling him what the plan was a few weeks beforehand after he started asking a million questions.

The weekend was a whirlwind. We got in on Friday evening, sat on Jeff and Lauren's beautiful deck for a while, then went out to dinner at, like, 9. In this season of lameness, Brian and I are usually in BED by 9, so it was exciting to experience the world at that hour. We got back, hung out for a while and enjoyed some cupcakes, then went to bed after midnight. In the best news of all, Brian and I slept until 9 am, a full three hours later than normal, and were able to hang out in our PJs, drinking coffee, without anyone meowing in our faces or trying to shove things into the electrical outlets.


Blurry birthday candles

Water taxi-ing

The rest of the day was full of food (enormous stuffed French toast and, later, a root beer float made with Speculoos ice cream), a lot of walking, and a ride in a water taxi. Lauren was kind enough to get us a room at the Archer Hotel, where the manager sent a bottle of champagne up to us in celebration of the twins' birthday (weirdly, he was originally from Kalamazoo and knew some friends of Brian and Jeff's). After we headed our separate ways to shower and change, we hung out on the rooftop bar for a bit before making our way to our murder mystery dinner. So fun! Brian and I were reminded of the time went to Tony and Tina's Wedding back in Vegas in 2007.

Awaiting the taxi

The show was mostly funny and occasionally dramatic with a twist at the end. We headed back to the hotel, popped open the bottle of champagne, and relaxed for a couple hours until Brian and I decided to call it a night. I spent my first Mother's Day eating bagels at Laguardia, then flying on airplanes all day before at last arriving back in Grand Rapids around 4. We were so, so excited to be reunited with our girl, who, thankfully, had a great weekend with Grammy and Papa.