I'm going to go heavy on the pictures again, because they took me forever to select, edit, and prepare, and because I'm so sleepy I can hardly think straight enough to put intelligent sentences together. (And I'm starting to really regret that after-dinner serving of ice cream; I can't wait to curl up in bed and wish away my sad tummy until the morning.)
Nana has been encouraging us for weeks now to plan an outing in New York City, whether with or without babies, and we finally decided yesterday on where we wanted to go (The Met) and how we wanted to go about doing it (baby-free). So, shortly before lunchtime, she dropped off Tom, Mei Mei, and me in front of the museum and sent us on our merry way. Then she headed back to NJ to share in the babysitting duties with Papa and Uncle James.
The merry band of museum-goers forged ahead, braving heavy crowds and moderately long lines to take in the wonders on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These included:
The Temple of Dendur (relocated from Egypt upon completion of the Aswan Dam),
 |
| A statuette on display within the temple |
the Annual Christmas Tree...
... and Neapolitan Baroque Creche,
a Confection Model of the museum,
some cool-looking instruments,
and interesting armor and weaponry.
 |
| Worn by King Henry VIII |
Admittedly, it was nice to be walking around as "free adults" once again- so much simpler, and comparatively hassle-free- but Tom and I both missed the kids at various times, and thought of them often. I even had Mei Mei snap this picture of a bear sculpture outside the cafe, because I thought that Abby would have gotten a kick out of it.
I felt pretty eager to get home once our ride arrived to take us back, but since we were already in the city, we agreed to drive by and try to catch a glimpse of the tree at Rockefeller center. The traffic was pretty atrocious, however, and I tried to stave off my frustration with it by amusing myself taking pictures of the various buildings creatively decorated for the Christmas and Holiday season.
 |
| Hanging snowflake |
 |
| Fancy jeweled serpent |
 |
| Pretty wreath |
 |
| Wintery design |
 |
| Glittering belt and lights |
 |
| Giant bow and climbing cats (the cats showed up only as bright yellow orbs, sadly) |
Finally, the tree! I was barely able to capture it as we cruised on by.
Of course, the most welcome sight of all was that of my two babies as I walked in the front door. Nothing quite like them in all of New York, or the rest of the world, for that matter.
