Dad Turns 60!

Rachel and Nick got the news in December that they would be moving to Brooklyn.  Within a week of finding out when R and N would be there, Mom suggested that our family go up to visit them and to celebrate Dad's 60th birthday.  We all looked at our calendars and Easter weekend actually worked for everyone's schedule, so we started planning. 

We all flew to NYC on Thursday and met at R and N's apartment in Brooklyn.  We spent most of Thursday walking and touring around R and N's neighborhood and some of areas of Brooklyn.  

Friday morning we went to the New York City Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn and then had lunch at Brooklyn Pharmacy with some delicious desserts.  That night we were going to see Newsies, so we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (which despite my 7 or 8 trips to NYC I had never done!).  We walked through Little Italy and took a subway up to Rockefeller to see the Easter Egg display.  

Nick's potato chip caramel sundae. 

We all enjoyed the show and then we took the subway down to our dinner reservations that were at 11:15 pm.  Dad had researched a restaurant he wanted to eat at for his birthday.  The restaurant would not seat parties of 6 or more and Rachel even tried to get them to split us 4/4 and make two reservations but they wouldn't let her do that.  Not wanting to disappoint Dad's only request of the weekend, Rachel and I decided to beat the system.  She called and made a reservation for 4 under "Hatfield", and my David called and made a reservation for 4 under "Walton".  We split up boys and girls, and walked in separately, and then what do you know??? we were seated next to each other.  ah ha! Our plan worked!  We pretended not to know each other for a while, and then we could tell the wait staff had figured out that we knew each other.  All that to say, it was hilarious and ridiculous, but the meal was fabulous!  We left the restaurant after 1:00, and headed back to Brooklyn. 

Saturday we walked a couple blocks to the Brooklyn Flea and spent a few hours there looking around and eating yummy food.  We decided to head back into Manhattan and the girls went to Soho and the guys went up to Midtown to some game store or something. 

Of course, we stopped at Purl Soho again and drooled over the skeins and skeins of cashmere yarn and bright colors.  While we were waiting for the guys to get to Soho, I had two celeb sightings.  I saw Joshua Malina and then Bradley Whitford.  Bradley Whitford's character on The West Wing is probably one of my all-time favorite characters in the history of the world (he's right up there with Mr. Darcy in my list).  

We ordered Thai and played game Saturday night and then packed our bags to head back to destinations.  It was really fun to get to be together.  We don't know when that will happen again, but until then, I'll just be very thankful for facetime, Skype, and conference calls with the fam.  

Oh yea, I also got to spend lots of time with H and F and David and I got to take them for a walk! They are adjusting to their new home quite nicely. 

They miss me. 

Ole Miss Reunion

A few weeks ago (wow, it already seems like ages ago) David had a concert at Ole Miss.  The concert fell at the end of his tour, so I decided that I would meet him in Oxford for the weekend.  Since Oxford is driving distance from both of our families, my parents, brother and Emily, and David's mom were all able to drive down for the concert.  I flew to Memphis Friday, and my parents picked me up from the airport.  We drove to Oxford and ate at one of my many favorite restaurants in Oxford, Bouré.

There were quite a few events going on at Ole Miss that weekend, so the Square was busy with people shopping and eating.  After dinner we picked up some cake from Newk's, (one of the places I think about often and my in-laws are kind enough to let me eat at the one in Nashville whenever we are in town) and took it to our friend's house.  I was staying with our good friends Nathan and Carla and their two sweet girls Henley and Claire.  I was so excited to get to stay with them because I have not seen Henley since she was 9 months old when they all came up here to MSP to stay with us and visit.  I was also excited to get to meet Claire!  Carla and I stayed up late talking, and my parents came to pick me up in the morning to go get breakfast.

Robert and Emily met us on the Square and we spent the rest of the morning/afternoon shopping.  We did stop to eat lunch at Newk's and my dear friend Ann met us there.  I had not seen Ann since our wedding, two and a half years ago, and it was so good to see her.

I can't even begin to guess how many times we ate at Newk's during grad school.  It was at least a weekly event, and sometimes more than that!

Nathan and Carla

David made reservations for a group of 20 at the Snack Bar for after the concert.  We sat around with the Cantus guys and some of David's music faculty from grad school chatting until midnight.  Sunday morning, Cantus was flying back to MSP, but David and I got to stay an extra day.  We went to breakfast with Mom, Dad, and David's mom and then did a little more shopping.

Mom and Dad left Sunday after breakfast, and then we got to meet up with Cody (David's grad school roommate) and his wife Amanda for dinner at Taylor Grocery for some fried catfish, coleslaw, potato salad, hush puppies, and sweet tea.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!!  I can't even tell you the last time I had any of that and I'm sure my arteries are thankful for that.

Monday morning David went to meet with some of his faculty and I went over to my building to chat with some of my professors/supervisors.  We grabbed some Chik-Fil-A on our way back to the airport and headed back to the bitter North.

Oh yea, did I mention that this trip was April 4th and I was flying out of St. Paul after 7 inches of snow had fallen?  I landed in 70 degree weather.  I didn't pack socks. :)