Day 2
Friday was a workday for the adults, with Caley leading a meeting in Manhattan and Caleb and I working our way through a list of tasks for Neapolitan Labs. By afternoon, though, we’d wrapped up our work and took the girls into Manhattan to meet Caley for their anticipated evening which began with the Rawther Fancy Eloise Tea Party at The Plaza Hotel.
Nola and Emmie grab a selfie before we left.
Walking the streets of Long Island City to the 7 subway line.
The girls jumped on a second subway for their tea party night.
Emmie wasn’t a huge fan of the tea or the sandwiches, but she was pretty happy to come away with an Eloise goodie bag and headphones from the gift shop. Next up on the girls’ agenda was a stop at Sephora, which Emmie may have been anticipating even more than the tea party. Caley reported Emmie loved trying out all of the testers and helped all of the girls purchase a couple of things before leaving the store. Their final stop of the night was at Junior’s, where they started with root beer floats and ended with cheesecake.
Emmie was pretty excited about her headphones purchase.
All of the girls enjoyed root beer floats before their meals at Junior’s.
Nola and Emmie in Times Square.
Post-SEPHORA with Emmie and Nina.
Lyft was the evening’s mode of transportation, with the girls not wanting to do a ton of walking or subway rides between stops. After the longer Lyft ride back to Long Island City, the fun continued as the girls did crafts and tried out their new Sephora purchases.
Nola and Emmie added some makeup to Nina.
While the girls were conquering Manhattan, Caleb and I took the 7 subway train to Citi Field, where the Braves were in town to play the Mets. The Mets were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their 1969 World Series win all weekend, including Friday’s giveaway of mass-produced replicas of their 50th anniversary jerseys. The Braves handled the Mets, and fans in the ballpark generally seemed displeased with the state of the team and its front office.
Of course, a trip to Citi Field meant dinner at Shake Shack.
The obligatory post-game selfie for the McMillin Family Baseball Log.
Caley sent us a text on our way home to let us know the girls were interested in showing off their makeup. When we returned to Long Island City, we watched the video of Nola and Emmie’s blindfold makeup challenge and let the girls try out their makeup regimen on us. Emmie wrapped up another late night a bit after 12:00, while Caley, Caleb, and I stayed up until sunrise catching up.
Post-event selfie with Emmie!
Days 3
The view from Caley and Caleb’s place in New York City. Manhattan is just across the river.
Our Saturday agenda was focused on Neapolitan Labs, so Caley and Caleb lined up their go-to babysitter Emily to come over and watch the girls for the better part of the afternoon and evening. Nola and Nina had both recently gotten bikes, so Emmie shared with them on rides around Long Island City’s extensive park system along with a stop at the nearby splash pad.
The kickoff of our afternoon work session, in matching Neapolitan Labs t-shirts.
Caley, Caleb, and I spent the afternoon at Sweet Leaf Coffee & Tea, having a small room mostly to ourselves as we worked on election websites, marketing emails, and growing the Neapolitan Labs business. We checked in with the kids before heading out for dinner and bowling.
Our working spot at Sweet Leaf Coffee and Tea in Long Island City.
Late-night bowling to end our evening.
Day 4
Skinny’s Cantina is typically a fixture in my visits to New York City, and that was the spot Caley, Caleb and Nina went for Sunday brunch. Emmie was more interested in Shake Shack, as was Nola, so I took them into Grand Central station for a lunch of hamburgers and French fries. I’m a big fan of Shake Shack but occasionally forget how crowded their New York City locations can be. We waited in line, waited for our food, and then walked around the dining concourse to find a few chairs available to dine.
My second Shake Shack, the first for Emmie on this trip.
Of course, the girls wanted shakes.
Chocolate Chip Pancake cupcakes from Baked by Melissa’s are a must for any trip to NYC.
We returned to Long Island City and spent time in Gantry Plaza State Park, with the girls riding bikes, playing on the playground, and building a bit in the sand. We spent the evening doing a little shopping, taking an Uber SUV to Queens Center Mall, where we perused the LEGO and Disney stores until the mall’s 8 p.m. closing time. After much discussion, we settled on Cheesecake Factory for dinner, mostly since it was in the mall. The food surpassed my tempered expectations, and we closed out the meal by sharing a couple of pieces of their signature cheesecake.
Emmie had fun riding Nola’s bike around the park.
Emmie was happy to pose for photos at the playground. The kids wore swim outfits, but the splash pad had closed for the afternoon by the time we arrived.
Caley gave Emmie a bit of a break from walking on our return to their place.
I talked Emmie out of buying anything while we were at the mall, but told her she could look online with Caley and pick out a cat watch when we returned home, which she was doing here.
Day 5
Our final day in New York was filled mostly with work, as we spent most of our day inside. Caleb took the girls outside to the nearest park while Caley and I took an afternoon call for Neapolitan Labs. All day long, Emmie had been fixated on a trip to the beach, and with some help from Nina, the girls’ persistence led to the adults’ willingness to get a car to take us to Rockaway Beach in Queens, to watch the sunset along the Atlantic Ocean.
Emmie tried out Nola’s scooter on our walk to Black Star for breakfast.
The ride to the beach took longer than we hoped, via an unfortunate combination of bad traffic and a wrong turn, but we made it by 7:30 and made the most of the waning evening light. In the end, the trek was worth the effort. The sand and ocean were refreshing for all of us, and Emmie had a blast collecting shells she found in the sand. The fact the largest shell she found had not been taken earlier in the evening became a conversation the rest of the night, and the trip.
Nola is only 18 months older than Emmie, but she seemingly 18 inches taller!
Emmie holding some of her shell collection from the evening.
We capped our evening out with a short walk to a cute ice cream shop we’d seen upon entering Rockaway Beach. Service was a bit slow, but the ice cream was good and the sandy space behind the shop was incredibly charming. We sat in beach chairs while the girls tried their hands at bags and giant Jenga before gathering our belongings and ordering our ride home.
We’d never eaten a real dinner, so Caley placed an order from Taco Bell, to be delivered a few minutes after we arrived back in Long Island City. The near-midnight delivery turned out to be a crazy disappointment, as every item we’d ordered with meat was made with beans: a Doritos Locos Taco, with beans. A chicken burrito, made instead with beans. And so forth. Fortunately, Caley had ordered enough chips and cheese that we at least had some food before calling it a night.
Terrible Taco Bell.
Day 6
I rode with Caley into the city, where I spent a little time working from Starbucks before reuniting so she could help with a few gifts I planned to bring back for Amanda. After a final stop at Baked by Melissa to load up on their remarkably delicious mini cupcakes, I took the subway back to Long Island City to make another final stop for the trip, for lunch at Petey’s. The rest of the afternoon flew by as we did an impromptu taste test and wrapped up a few Neapolitan Labs tasks. The girls said goodbye and we jumped in a car for LaGuardia airport.
The girls had an impromptu candy taste test before we left for the airport.
Despite a scale of 1-10, every candy pretty much received a 0 or a number much larger than 10. There weren’t a lot of nuanced takes on the candy sampled.
Nola said her final goodbye to Emmie before going to basketball.
One final taxi ride!
When I booked our return trip, no direct flights were available, so we settled for a reasonably straightforward set of flights on United through Chicago O’Hare Airport. In the LaGuardia terminal, it felt like we’d gotten lucky with our flight, as Chicago weather and delayed flights slated for before and after our 6:00 p.m. departure. The flight was unremarkable until an announcement was made that we were circling Chicago due to FAA-mandated, weather-driven flight grounding at O’Hare. Shortly after, we were given the news that due to plane fuel levels, our flight would be diverted to Indianapolis with the next steps yet to be determined.
A happy photo at LaGuardia Airport, before we knew of our flight craziness.
We spent a solid half hour at the gate before we were able to get off the plane and stretch out in the Indianapolis terminal. We were greeted by several hundred other passengers whose American, Southwest, and United planes were also diverted. Emmie was ready for dinner, but all of the restaurants had closed for the evening. We almost stuck it out in a long line for a single vending machine, but I noticed a cart of free treats set up by one of the gates. We made our own diversion, from the vending machine line to the snack cart and picked up Cheez-its, Doritos, Rice Krispy Treats, and some bottles of water to share.
Off the plane, in the Indianapolis Airport.
A second announcement was eventually made that our flight would not be resumed on Tuesday, so we needed to find a place to sleep and return to the airport for a 9:45 a.m. departure the next morning. I booked a room at the cheapest, closet Marriott property, a Fairfield Inn and Suites — which, as a bonus, had a free shuttle which was a few minutes away from the airport. We quickly grabbed our bags and boarded the shuttle for the 15-minute ride to the hotel.
After checking into our room, we made the call to the nearest Domino’s to order a pizza and cinnamon sticks to share. The crazy travel day combined with a long delivery time to give Emmie the opportunity to extend her streak of post-midnight bedtimes. She managed to stay awake for a piece or two of pizza before retiring for the night.
A little ABCYA kept Emmie entertained on my computer, while we waited for Domino’s.
Extra Day
When we left the Fairfield Inn, our expectation for the day was to fly to Chicago and then hang around for nearly 12 hours until the 9:00 p.m. flight to Des Moines where we had been rebooked. When we checked our bags in Indianapolis, we were given some great news: confirmed seats were available on a morning flight, and we’d make it back to Des Moines just after Noon. Emmie and I had a great trip and loved our week in two major U.S. cities, but we were thrilled with the news and the opportunity to reunite with Amanda, Noah, and Emmie!
Loading the plane for our final flight!