SPRAAAAANG BREAK

DISCLAIMER: an obscene amount of gratuitous vacation photos on the way.  

Actually, no.  You knew what was in store when you willingly clicked on this link – Burton face overload coming right up.  Disregard the disclaimer.

Or, wait.  DISCLAIMER REASSIGNMENT (mostly to my family): I chose the group photos where my hair looks the best, so...  #sorrynotsorry 

(Can anyone even handle Preston's sass? He wore that shamrock crown the entire day, btw, and it was kind of the best.)

Last week the stars happened to align ever so perfectly – Christophoni Columbo and I both had the same Spring Breaks, Emily was lonely and needed house guests, Laura needed some winter temperatures, and Mom needed the chance to spoil the four of us rotten.  Huzzah!

[Pro tip: if you know you’re going to be traveling, especially up and down and all around about some subways, maybe check before going to the airport that your suitcase has ALL of its wheels.  Just saying.]

[Otherwise, maybe have on hand a burly brother who will carry your 38-pound suitcase around New York City for you.  Thankfully, I did…have the brother, that is.]

When it comes to our family, we all currently live in different states (and countries) – Tennessee, California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Singapore – so the occasions we have to get together are understandably few and far between, especially since none of us have actually seen Singapore Brother IRL since Christmas 2012. 

(But at least we know he’s alive and kicking and shaving his hair into mohawks, so that keeps us resting easy.) 

Cue SPRING BREAK 2015.

The first half of the week, ¾ of us out-of-towners bunked with E-Fo and B-Fo and their two crazy bubs, eating pizza and watching movies and visiting the park and being cold and shopping and tickling and reading stories and playing Chutes and Ladders (which somebody kept cheating at when he couldn't win).  

PS.  E-Fo and B-Fo have the best snack pantry, FTW.  

(Don't be fooled by Chris' attire.  It was like 35 degrees.) 

PPS.  Emily – I know, I know, I still owe you a new cake plate. Uh...sorry about the other one.

Showing off my new-found pole dancing skills, above.  No critiques, please.

  

Oh, and then there was the time we went to Hershey, PA and it was St. Patrick’s Day and we were the happy recipients of so much free chocolate.  I’m not even that into chocolate to begin with, but hello! This was THE MOTHERSHIP.   It was a fun experience, taking a little simulated tour of the “factory,” complete with lifelike singing cows, all the while I was grabbing Chris’ arm and reminding him how I know about winnowing and! We talked about conching in school!   

Chocolate and cocoa butter and chocolate liqueur and cocoa solids – I knowwwwwww about that stuff! Chocolate people are my people!!

We designed our own chocolate bars, wearing these ever-so-stylish hair nets and aprons, and it was fun to have everything so individualized, even while a whiny 2-year old insisted on being held the entire time.  I mean, he’s cute, but he’s also heavy.  (That’s what everyone says about Chris as well.)

And then we took a little trolley (yes! a trolley!) tour of the city. While I wasn’t busy eating all that free chocolate our jolly trolley guide was handing out, the one snippet from the tour that I kind of glommed onto was that Milton S. Hershey met his wife, Catherine Sweeney, when she was 24.  Hey. That’s (almost) my name.  And I’m 24.  Hmm.  Any eligible single chocolatiers/candy-makers may now step forward.  

Laura deigned to join us mid-week, and we met up with her in The City itself on Thursday morning at our hotel, just blocks from Times Square.  The last time we were all together was at Thanksgiving, which, granted, wasn’t all that long ago, but how nice it was this weekend to be out, having an excursion together, just us sibs + Mom, unfettered by strollers or nursing or nap times.  

We walked up and down and through and back and all over the American Museum of Natural History, only slightly disappointed that nothing came to life while we were there.  But we did see a mummified mammoth face, so…it all kind of evened out.  If anyone has any, I would also like an award for voluntarily going into the marine life exhibit and half-heartedly participating in my own brand of icthyophobia exposure therapy.   

Our first night in NYC, we went all the way to the top of the Rockefeller Center for stunning views of the city just as the sun was setting.  But of course, because I am who I am, I spent almost the entire time on the 67th floor LOST, wandering around aimlessly, unable to find our clan and panicking mildly.  Typical. 

Probably the highlight of the trip for me was seeing one of Johann Gutenberg’s original bibles (FROM 14FREAKING55) with my own real eyeballs.  I know, I know, my European Studies are showing, but I don’t care.  I don’t care, either, about how excited I get when it comes to seeing historical artifacts that I bonk my face into the display cases in an effort to get closer.  It just happens.  The heart wants what it wants, and my heart wants cathedrals and monasteries and illuminated manuscripts and really old bibles, apparently. 

[[Also, a major round of applause to Emily Chief (and Mama KarKar / Laura) for planning our itinerary and navigating us through the subways.  Yeah, sure, I did it on my own when I lived in Paris that one time (remember that???), and somehow I managed to get by, but this trip it was easier to simply throw up my hands, remind everyone how bad I am at geography, and instead just go where my elders told me to go.  Namaste.]]

 
[The battered and well-loved original Winnie the Pooh cast :)]

 

In between me repeatedly asking my family if they would be embarrassed by my dorkiness if I were to wear a hat or have my big camera out and about in a very blatantly touristy fashion, we had so much fun experiencing a new city for the first time.  Well, Laura’s and my first time.  (And then of course I hardly took any pictures with my big camera because it was cumbersome and that’s the kind of person I am.)

But look! Look at St. Patrick's Cathedral! Look at the fun we’re having!  

"Quick, Chris, look pious with me!" 

Most of what we ate on this trip ended up being pizza (duh), but the whole gang humored me enough to trudge through the bitterly chilly wind and unrelenting snow in order to reach my own personal Mecca, Dominique Ansel’s pastry shop.  Dominique, my pastry crush, inventor of the cronut, author of my favorite illustriously glorious recipe book.  He wasn’t there because he’s working on opening a new store in Tokyo, but I could still feel his essence in the salted caramel éclairs and butterscotch banana hibiscus cake.   Swooning.   

And yes, yes, I NEEDED two desserts. Don't judge. 

 

Friday was the first official day of spring, but Mother Nature didn't have time for that bizness.  Instead, she snowed and snowed and snowed alllllll day long, and we worked around it, wet hair/cold noses/damp boots and all.  

Saturday morning we only had a couple hours for exploring, which were well spent at the 9/11 Memorial site.  None of us realized that the World Trade Center had actually been a complex of seven separate buildings before they were all destroyed or damaged in the terrorist attacks.  WTC 1, the Freedom Tower, is the only building they've rebuilt, but rumor has it that there are 3 more skyscrapers in the works. 

(In case you can't tell, our family is big fans of the panorama feature on our phones.  Just wait until you see one of Chris' vertical selfies - you're in for a distorted treat.) 

The memorial site was interesting to visit, though we debated about the propriety of taking pictures and smiling in them at such a locale.  I don't know how to describe the feeling present there, but the only other place I've felt it so profoundly was walking through the cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy.  There's an inherent beauty in remembering, honoring, and valuing all those lives lost, and it was the perfect capstone to our quick lil NYC trip.

Well..that and seeing this giant bull.  

Thanks for the trip, Mama KarKar! 
Thanks for carrying my suitcase and making me laugh, Chris! 
Thanks for letting us stay at your house, Emily! 
Thanks for listening to my embarrassing stories, Laura! 
And thanks for nothing, Brandon!