Well hey everyone!
Hope you all had a great holiday season and I wish you all a wonderful 2024!
My New Year’s resolution this year is to publish these blog posts in a timely fashion.
And that resolution? I’ve already broken it on account of this is the first post about a trip we took like 2 weeks ago. Yay me.
Anyway tho. I’m back with another trip-related blog series. And while this one isn’t Disney-related…
…this one takes us to New York City at Christmas time you guys.
Annnnnd it’s like us and my brothers and their families and my nieces and their families and like all of us taking my mom to New York City to celebrate her 80th birthday.
See? That’s what I am talking about.
And yeah, there were A LOT of us. There were the five of us (me, Nickie, Owen, Myles, and Hannah) plus obviously my mom. There was also my oldest brother, Chris, and his wife, Paulette, and her son, Jeremie. And Chris’s daughters, my nieces – Stephanie along with her husband, Mikey, and their daughters Sophia and Scarlett and Holly, along with her husband, Brad, and their son, Teddy. The second-oldest brother, Scott, was also there with his wife Carrie and their daughters Gwen and Matilda in from Michigan. And there was the second-youngest brother (next to me), Jeff, with his wife Sheila and their daughter, my niece, Shannon.
For those keeping track – and you better be keeping track because there will be a quiz – that’s a grand whopping total of 23 people.
In New York City.
At Christmas.
Pfft, what could go wrong?
…
…
Don’t answer that.
Let’s just get on with it.
Our 2023 “Happy 80th Mom!!” New York City Christmas 2023 trip: Day 1
Day 1, you guys!
So, you know, start spreading the news and what not.
Because we were heading to New York City today.
Erm, yeah.
And while this was going to be a relatively short 3-day trip to the city, we DID have a jam-packed itinerary.
Nickie, Owen, and I were up at around 7:30. But not for New York or anything. We were up because Owen had to finish a project he was handing in that morning at school.
What a nerd.
He worked on his project until around 8:30AM, at which point I brought him down to school so he could drop it off before second period. When we got back, we got all our shizz together while we waited for Chris, Paulette, Jeremie, and my mom to get there.
We also took the time to say goodbye to the doggos, who we obvs squad would miss so much.
Aw Lilo. She’s such a sweet girl. So well-behaved. She really is a great great dog.
And Stitch. Well, we love Stitch.
Thankfully, my mother-in-law, Sharon, was going to be watching the pups for us at our house AND bringing Stitch’s sister, Abby, with her. So the dogs wouldn’t be too sad for too long.
These three, though. There was no consoling them.
At a little before 9AM, Chris, Paulette, Jeremie, and my mom arrived. They were parking their car at our place for the weekend and we were all taking Ubers into South Station to hop a train bound for New York. Being this trip was only a weekend, this may be the least we have ever packed for a trip we chronicled on this blog. One big suitcase for all three of us and a bag whose main job was to hold whiskey and candy.
That bag was the true hero.
We ended up needing two Uber XL’s to handle all of us and our luggage. Nickie, Owen, and me were in one driven by our neighbor, Steve.
Which was good on account of I am not so good at the small talk with strangers thing all the time.
So thanks Steve!
We arrived at South Station at close to 10:00. And when we got there? More family you guys. We met up with the Pittmans (Steph, Mikey, Sophia, and Scarlett) and the Marshalls (Holly, Brad, and Teddy). It’s like all coming together.
Scarlett was excited.
Though that may have more to do with that stupendous amount of Goldfish Crackers she has in front of her rather than the upcoming trip into NYC.
But whatevz. I’ll take whatever smiles I can get.
Our train wasn’t leaving until 11:00 so we had a little time to grab breakfast. And South Station has this cute little breakfast spot tucked away in the corner.
Ever heard of it?
It’s just lovely.
I opted for the Egg McMuffin meal with a coffee.
And I mean. Of course it was delicious. Doy. It was an Egg McMuffin.
While we were all huddled eating our breakfasts, an Amtrak rep came over and asked if we wanted to take advantage of the Red Cap service. Which was obviously a mistake on his part because I don’t think he realized there were 14 of us. But it did make sense since using Red Cap would mean early seating and assistance getting all our luggage on the train.
It also apparently meant the kids got to drive the train. I mean, why else would they have been given these hats?
Also, I should mention while we were waiting I had to go to the bathroom. And I made the mistake of actually using the bathroom at South Station. Look, if there is one bit of advice I really want you to heed from this blog, this would be it – avoid the South Station bathrooms at legit ALL COSTS.
It was like I all of a sudden walked into the apocalypse. Guys were screaming, there seemed to be more feces than floor and one of the stalls I walked into had a hole cut into the side. Which I’m pretty sure wasn’t for ventilation purposes.
It reminded me of the drug den scene in Wet Hot American Summer. You know the one.
Wait. You haven’t seen Wet Hot American Summer? Stop reading this blog and watch that right now.
Definitely do that instead of visiting the South Station bathroom.
But I made it out alive and re-joined the crew. And soon enough, we were escorted out onto the platform.
See how crazy South Station is? Mikey even forgot how to wear a coat. Place messes with you.
We found seats in the back of the car near the alcohol cafe car.
At around 11:30, Mikey and I made a run to the cafe car where we got a couple Bloody Marys. The guy behind the counter asked if we wanted doubles. And I mean, does anyone ever say no to that question?
OK eh. Let me rephrase that. Does anyone with a alcohol problem say no to that question?
But what I didn’t realize is a double meant two nips to one thing of tomato juice.
Thing was basically transparent.
And that is by no means a complaint. It’s great to be able to still catch the passing scenery when you’re taking a sip.
The train ride from Boston to New York was about four and a half hours and since we had kind of the entire back of the train to ourselves, there was a lot of musical chairs happening.
In addition to switching chairs to pass the time, Nickie also got me a nice DogFish from the cafe a little ways into the trip.
The beer. Not an actual shark.
Which paired nicely with the Sour Patch Big Kids we brought.
Oh also. During our time driving through Connecticut, blackjack was available on DraftKings so I mean. When in Rome.
The good news is I won like 80 bucks on the way there.
The bad news? I also played on the way home.
Anyway tho.
I should also probably cover where everyone else was while we all were on our train.
Jeff, Sheila, and Shannon were flying up from Florida into the Newark airport. There, they were meeting up with Myles and Hannah (on account of both of them are going to school in New Jersey) and then taking the train into the city. The timing was so that we were all going to be getting into the city around the same time and could make our way to the hotel together.
Scott, Carrie, Gwen, and Matilda flew in from Michigan into NYC the night before. So the plan was to meet them back at the hotel. This also meant they got some extra time in New York. Look see here. Here’s Carrie and the girls getting some extra time in New York that day.
We pulled into the station a little after 3:30 and were out on the street outside Moynihan Train Hall by 3:45.
Myles, Hannah, Jeff, Sheila, and Shannon had also just arrived at Penn Station so we waited for them to meet us before figuring out the plan for getting to the hotel. And meet up with us they did. Look you guys. More of us.
This is awesome stuff.
Lookit. My brothers.
So here was what was happening now.
Nickie, Paulette, Mikey, and my mom were all going to be taking an Uber to the hotel to check in while the rest of us walked. The good thing about an Uber making the trip was that they could also take most of our luggage with them.
The walk was only 15 minutes or so and yeah, I mean it was December but temps were like in the 50s today. So it was a pretty nice walk to the the hotel.
Also? Look at these two miracles on 34th Street.
Our hotel for this trip was the Embassy Suites by Hilton New York Manhattan Times Square, which you all might remember was where we stayed when we visited New York City back in February 2022.
Or maybe you don’t remember? Maybe it meant nothing to you? Maybe I mean nothing to you?
What’s happened to us?
…
Anywho.
Because of traffic and what not, we all ended up beating the Uber to the hotel so we waited outside for everyone else to arrive and while we were there? Scott, Carrie, Gwen, and Matilda came down for hellos and hugs.
Of which, of course, I got zero pictures. Because I am the best blogger.
When the Uber arrived, the Uber folks went on in and checked in for their respective parties. Nickie checked in for us and we were up in our room by 4:30.
Well, I mean.
We thought it was our room.
When we checked in, this was welcoming us to our room.
Which probably should have clued us in that something was amiss. I mean, I’m no Columbo but none of us were named Paulette. At least I don’t think…Wayne, Nickie, Myles, Owen, Hannah. Nope.
But I mean, we were all Goodreaus and what not so we figured they just got their welcome screens crossed and Chris, Paulette, and Jeremie got our room.
But well.
As we were unpacking and what not, we texted the family thread to talk dinner and Chris said he, Paulette, and Jeremie still didn’t have a room.
Clue #2.
Oh well. I mean it probably means nothing right?
Let’s do a room tour.
The room is essentially one big room but there was a divider splitting the main bed where Nickie and I would sleep…
…and this area where the kids slept. .
And I mean. Our view wasn’t too bad.
So right. Back to the whole “TV thinks we are Paulette” thing.
As we continued to unpack and get ready for dinner, we heard some familiar voices in the hallway followed by what sounded like someone trying to unlock our door. I opened the door to find…
…
Come on. You know who was there.
It was Chris, Paulette, and Jeremie. Who had also been assigned to this room.
Such a hilarious turn of events..
We called down to the front and when we explained it to the girl at the front, she said she actually didn’t even have our reservation but when we dug a little deeper, it turned out it was under Nickie’s email, which had “Goody” as her last name. But once we found it, they were able to switch Chris, Paulette, and Jeremie into our original room.
So it all worked out in the end but I swear for a minute I was worried we would be bunking with this chick for the remainder of our stay in NYC.
But soon enough, our TV stopped being an idiot.
At around 5:45, we headed down to the lobby to meet up with everyone else. When we got there, Scott was up at the bar ordering some drinks so I got in on all that with this beauty.
Oh dirty martinis. Why are you such perfect situations?
Everyone was downstairs and ready to go within five minutes of me ordering that martini, so I had to do a quick chug before we made our way out into the New York streets, which you guys? They were packed. Like, panic-inducing levels of packed.
The walk to dinner was 15 minutes, which was a bit daunting given the crowds. But, against all odds, our crowd made it to our restaurant in one piece.
Dinner tonight was at John’s Pizzeria.
Yeah. John’s. The reviews were great but I wasn’t sure what to expect. The name “John” doesn’t scream pizza like say a “Joe” or a “Ray” or maybe a “Giuseppe”. It’s just…John. I feel like John may make a better meatloaf or ham sandwich than a pizza.
And yeah, OF COURSE we had a reservation. We were a group of 23 visiting New York during one of their busiest weekends. Come on, man.
And as we walked past the long line of people waiting for a table, it became apparent very quickly reservations were a good idea for sure. I weaved my way to the front and gave the hostess our name. The manager came over, told me to get the party together and wait inside the archway inside for him to come get us.
We were seated within minutes. And as we were led to our table, we walked in on a choir singing Christmas carols upstairs. Which was pretty magical.
The restaurant put us at a long table in the middle of the first floor and as we sat down, I could tell right away this was the right call for tonight. On a travel day, a casual pizza dinner made a lot of sense. Plus, the restaurant wasn’t overwhelmingly loud but it was loud enough to put all the parents with little ones at ease since they didn’t have to worry about disturbing anyone.
Being that we were in Manhattan, this just made sense.
On account of it’s a Manhattan.
Doy.
Pizza was the main attraction tonight, but we did get some starters to kick things off for the table.
Some Mozzarella Wedges (Homemade breaded mozzarella wedges fried and served with our homemade marinara).
Caesar Salad (Fresh crisp romaine lettuce, shaved Parmesan, and homemade croutons tossed in Caesar dressing).
And some Buffalo Wings.
And I could have sworn we got some Calamari too but I have no pictures of it.
Calamari?
More like calamar-I am terrible at blogging.
But look at this picture tho. My brothers and I with the birthday girl.
We are a good-looking bunch.
Oh I should also mention – all the starters were great. I honestly don’t know what I would pick as a favorite. I think I’d be between the wings and the mozzarella situations but I’d get ALL THAT again.
Let’s get some pizza, eh?
We ordered a few different pizzas, including this absolutely delicious Shrimp Fra Diavolo pizza (resh shrimp and fresh mozzarella layered on homemade arrabbiata sauce).
And this Margherita (Fresh mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and basil) and Buffalo Chicken (Mozzarella topped with grilled chicken tossed in buffalo sauce and topped with fresh bleu cheese crumbles).
We also got some Cheese and Pepperoni but for some reason, I don’t have pictures of them. And that’s unfortunate. Because the pepperoni was a beautiful thing.
All the pizza was kind of incredible here, with either the Buffalo or the Pepperoni taking the top spot for me. That pepperoni was all kinds of New York pepperoni. All cupped and greasy. Good stuff.
Eventually, my Manhattan was gone but we kept the “we are in this location kind of” theme going by ordering some Long Island Iced Teas.
Which were…strong.
Great stuff, that John’s. And to cap it all off, the waitstaff brought out a cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to my mom.
Which worked out. On account of it was her birthday trip.
John’s was honestly great. Everyone agreed this was a super-duper first night dinner. Highly recommend.
Time for the walk back to the hotel.
By this time, it was around 8:30PM and the streets? They were still crowded AF.
And while we were able to stay completely together as a group on our way TO the restaurant, we did end up getting separated on the way back.
At some point, it was just me, Myles, Hannah, Owen, and Shannon with everyone else a little bit ahead of us. I am not 100% sure when the split happened, but it may have been when I stopped for a hot dog.
Priorities.
After all, I hadn’t eaten in like ten minutes.
I’m not made of stone you know.
I’m honestly made mostly of hot dogs.
Since it was still early-ish, a bunch of us made the decision to check out the Macy’s holiday window displays.
And erm. We were a little disappointed with them. Nothing there really wow-ed us or anything. They were pretty enough but nothing beyond what you might see in a rando department store.
…
That though? That was because we were at the rear of the store. The real windows were around the corner. We did not know this and therefore were all Macy’s more like You-May-See-Better-Windows-at-a-Rando-Department-Store.
Yeah, I went a long way for that one.
But yep. The windows around the corner were supposedly all kinds of magical. We were such fools.
Fools.
The store was open so I mean, of course we went in.
It was festive AF in there.
We took the old wooden escalators all the way up to Santaland but unforch squad, the big guy wasn’t around. Which was probably for the best. I don’t think I was ready to hear the final decision on that whole naughty vs. nice thing.
There were some food carts set up outside the store and across the street. Scott got some chicken for some reason.
Despite his winning smile, I recall him being less than satisfied with the choice.
A number of others opted to visit the Wafels & Dinges booth.
On account of the smell was all..
There were a lot of orders from our group but here’s a sampling.
This here is Myles’s Elvis Wafel (bacon wafel with peanut butter, bananas, and honey).
And this is Hannah’s World’s Fair Wafel with strawberries and whipped cream.
Oh and this one is Owen’s Dulce de Leche.
This is Jeff.
Really good stuff, those wafels. It’s weird waffle rhymes so well with awful. On account of they aren’t that.
And that’s kind of the end of Day 1. We went back to the hotel and were in bed by midnight, looking out at the city as we fell asleep.
Such a great first day though, right? And get ready for Day 2. Because it kind of rock-ettes.
OK but that’s the only hint I am giving you for Day 2. You’ll legit never guess what we do.
See you guys then!
Next post – Day 2
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