NY love...and influenza

I woke up Thursday with a serious case of the yucks. Sinus pressure. Cough. Throat and ear pain. I should have known it was coming. Emme's preschool had the day before sent a(nother) notifying email to the parents: "strep confirmed in the purple room."Argh--such a memo inevitably means that the illness of choice (in this case, strep) bounces off my three year old and directly into my ear, nose, and throat. And hunkers down like a festering zit. But I was in denial, and so I ignored my worsening condition. Not just because of what happens to the house when I'm sick (and by that I mean those who inhabit the home--don't even get me started on the mounds of laundry, old toddler underwear wadded in the corners of inappropriate rooms, dog whines begging for walks, meals, teethbrushing!). But because we were taking a trip, to NY.  


Two days later  and here we are, zooming up I-95 to grandmother's house we go.


Yes, we like to rock it Bowie style. That's just how we roll. (Like my sultry cigarette-puffing voice here)

We spent the day in NJ, me hacking and flopped on the couch, the kids swirling around their grandparents happy as can be. 


The next morning we left the kids with my mom and headed into the city for a day/night trip. For those of you without small children, you just read that sentence and thought nothing of it. Great, you're headed into Manhattan. Whatevs. For those of you with small children, however, I know what you're thinking. You're jealous and thinking--no way!! Freaking awesome! And it was. We did stuff like this:

(P.S. the High Line is SOOO cool, and what a transformation in the area from when we lived in NY!)

When we were chilly enough to finally cry UNCLE we traveled over to our favorite place for hot chocolate, City Bakery, where you get a free 70 pound brick of marshmallowy goodness with even the teensiest little cup of hot choco in existence (as was mine,on the left):



































Followed by some nutritional enrichment at the fabulous Zum Schneider

And then off to a quiet dinner. Well, or not so much. You see, remember that "strep in purple room" warning that I ignored? It was still in full effect, and I was rallying as best I could, but I was dog sick. And still, I pushed through. Because right around the corner was SAMUELO'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY DINNER. And it was worth the make-it-work mentality I had to embrace. Because A) our NY friends are awesome B) Freemans did a superb job hosting us in their wine room C) And most importantly, my hubby deserved this birthday surprise. And surprised was he. 

A few hours--and Tiki drinks later--and we found our way back to the hotel, where we both proceeded to cough and moan and whine all night about our sickness, which Sam had since developed as well. No funny business happening on our ONE NIGHT OF FREEDOM. Damn you, preschool!!!! 


And still, even with (I've since come to realize) a sinus infection, ear infection, bronchitis and strep throat, it was glorious. Date nights rule. 


P.S. My name is Kaysie Brown, and I was thinking of giving this blogging thing a whirl.