Romeo Victor is safe and sound and we have been reunited! We had a great time in New York, but it feels good to be back “home”.
Today, we had a surprise guest join the Carkeet Caravan… my cousin’s new husband, Ernesto, was in NYC for a couple of days and just so happened to be free and sightseeing today! He was up and at it early and came to meet us for breakfast. I told him we were doing Times Square today, so he purposely didn’t go so that we could all go together. We went to Times Square, visited the M&M store and the Disney store and then headed off in different directions. It was a very welcome surprise and we loved that we were able to spend that time together!
It was interesting being in NYC on 9/11 and we saw a lot of Fire Commanders walking around in their full dress uniforms. We chatted briefly with some NYPD officers in Times Square (Levi wanted to, but then decided he was shy and hid behind me when we approached them). Other than the Fire Department leadership being dressed in their finest and some flowers outside of one of the fire stations, there wasn’t anything unusual about life in the city.
After our morning with Ernesto, we headed back to pack up and check out of the hotel, which took some effort! We were able to leave our bags at the hotel and pick them up later and we took advantage of that. John wanted to visit the New York office of Return Path, so we walked over there. It was about a half a mile from our hotel. When we were in NY 5 years ago, the office was in a different location, so it was fun to see the new space. It also took care of a little dilemma that I was having… I felt like we should have gone to the top of the Empire State building, but the cost was over $100 for the four of us and I just couldn’t justify it, especially since it has been foggy during our time here. I looked at other places that overlook the city and they all had similar expense. It just so happens that Return Path occupies the 41st (top) floor of the building they are in and have spectacular views of the city AND the Empire State Building! We enjoyed visiting with one of John’s co-workers that we met last time and meeting some new ones. We were able to chat with CEO Matt Blumberg and thank him for this sabbatical time. I am not sure I even want to share this, but Matt had a flying monkey on his desk. My kids noticed it right away and asked to play with it. They know what it is, because Jeannie has one, and we sort of broke it’s hand off earlier this year (I bought her a replacement). Well, guess what my kids did with Matt’s flying monkey in about 30 seconds? (I’m starting to think these flying, screaming monkeys have a critical design flaw). It’s a good thing I know where to get a new one!
Even though my kids had snacks at Return Path, we were hungry for lunch and found our way over to a Chick-fil-a for some lunch and then walked back to collect our bags and our car and head back to Philadelphia. We noticed a number of these teeny, tiny NYPD cars around and thought they were adorable, so here’s a picture:
