Our cool points have been taking a beating as of late, and we’re barely staying afloat at 34 cp (alright). Well, we’re still up in NYC and having fun, so that’s gotta be good for something. Here’s a rundown of what’s been going on.
- There’s a very fun place for kids to play, but the membership fee was quite steep (for us frugal Floridians). We took the boy there for a free promotional night, and I must confess, I got a little misty-eyed seeing how much fun he was having.
Here’s this amazing 1 and a 1/2-yr old who’s been lugged around the Southeastern US and Europe, and now plucked from his quiet, comfy Florida home and dropped in the middle of loud, hectic Manhattan. I reminisce about what and who we’ve left behind, but at least I understand why we’re not there anymore. Cool Baby does not have that luxury.
Cool Mum and I realized that we moved here for our excitement and fun. We needed to sacrifice a little to give the boy some fun and excitement all his own, so we bought the membership pretty much the next day. [+10 cool points]
- We’ve never seen the Food Network show Throwdown, but my co-worker told me about a bakery on the Upper West Side that won one episode for the best chocolate chip cookie. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about the place.
Last weekend, after some time at CB’s new stomping grounds, we walked through the falling snow to the renowned Levain Bakery. Again, our cheap selves would normally balk at a $3.75 chocolate chip cookie, BUT this is how it was described to me:
“huge mound”
“crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle”
“warm with melted chocolate chips”
“like eating a hamburger”
I felt destined to patronize the bakery, so patronize we did. Some out-of-focus shots of these little mounds of heaven:
Oh man, those pictures bring me back. Anyway, I feel pretty cool for having what the Food Network thinks is the best chocolate chip cookie in New York, and that we didn’t let $3.75 each stop us. For one moment, I guess I felt like a real Manhattanite, and not a crazy weird miserly neurotic who keeps track of how cool he is using a points system. [+5 cool points]
- Tomorrow, we plan to meet friends for brunch at The Shake Shack, take CB to his play place, and CM might take a dance lesson. And none of those things involve a laptop (unless I get creative). I can’t remember the last time, if ever, we met someone for “brunch.” I feel like we should take a chopper out to The Hamptons on Sunday. Who are we and what have we done with the Cool ‘Rents?? [+10 cool points]
For the last week and a half, life has involved working and moving stuff from one apartment to another little by little. I’ve felt out-of-touch from news, the election, and the blogosphere.
I don’t think I’ve spent so little time on the Internet in a while. I wish I could say that it was some planned fast from the Web, but no – it’s just been crazy busyness.
However with all of the craziness of life, God is shining through. In amazing ways, He is ordaining our time here. It’s obvious to us that He’s moving and designing everything here in NYC for our family.
Right now, I’m working on a post that will hopefully look back on how everything has unfolded and God’s hand on it all. That is, if I can get some more good time online. Not a guarantee anytime soon.
You all are so cool for sticking around! +10 cool points all around!
It’s a good thing we walked 2 miles to church this morning. Our effort to save $8 in bus fares was richly rewarded. Here comes another dorky fan moment for the Cool Family!
As the previous post mentioned, we decided to walk to church. East Side to West Side, across Central Park around 10am. As usual, Cool Dad and I argued about which path to take while standing in front of the Great Lawn. We took the path I had originally planned for us (you’re welcome, CD).
A few moments later, CD was pushing the stroller and I was walking by his side. We noticed some men in black suits with radio earpieces. I casually looked up and noticed a very familiar man walking with two women. He was walking RIGHT past us and his face was shining in the sun. The sunglasses and height triggered my memory–BONO!
Here comes the dorky part. I stopped dead in my tracks after he passed, grabbed CD’s arm, and said “That’s Bono!” We both looked back and saw police golf carts following the group. And “casually” we turned the stroller to follow them. Yeah…we were really playing it cool. There’s no way we looked suspicious at all. [-10 cool points]
As we followed, the group seemed to be gaining speed and leaving us behind. We strained our eyes to see the back of his glorious head and noticed three people were trailing behind and then veered to a separate path to the right. The men in black continued around the Great Lawn.
“Surely the security guys wouldn’t leave Bono and his two ladies (we think one was his wife Ali) to fend for themselves,” we thought. This clever security tactic led us away from the man himself, as two of the security guys made an interesting loop ahead of us. They ended up coming right toward us. One guy on each side of us, while they headed back to where we last saw Bono.
“Say hi to Bono for us,” we said politely as we continued on to church. (Okay, we just wished we had said that.)
The moral of the story: Always listen to your wife when it comes to directions. You might end up running into the biggest and coolest rock star in the world.
