Last Friday night we had dinner at a favorite taco place, and then Jude sweetly says, “Can we go downtown? Just to see everything? It reminds me of being in New York.” We grinned.

When I was fifteen, my sister and brother-in-law took me to NYC for Thanksgiving and it’s pretty safe to say that it rocked my world in a major way. I’d traveled a fair amount prior to that thanks to my parents, but this time was different somehow. It was eye-opening and exciting – I knew I was a city girl at heart.  And for the past few years, Simon and I have dreamed about taking Jude to New York. Won’t he think this is so amazing? we’d say to each other.

We didn’t take a big trip over the summer since we were getting settled at Carlton Landing so my trip to attend the BHG Stylemakers’ workshop was the perfect excuse to stay in the city for a few days and introduce Jude to one of our favorite places while doing some fun touristy things as well.  While I was in the workshop, Jude and Simon went all over town and even took the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. Jude’s teacher at school had told him to say hi to Lady Liberty, and he took her seriously!

My favorite highlight was taking him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I wanted to also hit up the natural history museum, but then I realized that at school right now they’ve been doing an intensive Egyptian study, and what better thing to do than to take the kid to see the mummies at the met?

He ate it all up – he actually took US on a tour of the Egyptian section. “See this? This is what they put in a sarcophagus,” he says, pointing to the mummies. “They wrapped the bodies in LEMON CLOTH.”  HAHAHA (was that linen cloth?)  Then as we sat admiring the gorgeous room where the Temple is situated, we were approached by the Met’s film crew. They were shooting a video for their staff on people’s experiences in the museum and kindly asked Jude for his impressions. I would pay big bucks to see that clip!

Favorite moments:

“MOM! Let’s put our clothes on right now and go over to see the Today show being filmed!”

“IT’S A RAT! I SEE ONE! THERE IT IS! I SEE A RAAAAAAT!” – screeched while waiting on the subway platform.

“Can we have room service?”  “Can we just catch a cab?”  (note to self: I’m traveling with Jude when I’m old. He’s my kind of traveler)

“Hey, would you take a selfie with me?” – Jude to the FAO Schwarz doorman

“It’s so loud here.”

“Can we go back to FAO Schwarz?” (said at 8pm)

“Can I borrow your phone to take a picture?” And then later discovering approximately 50 different photos on my iPhone of paintings seen in the Met. He was snapping nonstop.

“Dad, I found this show on TV. They take a man and a woman and put them in the wilderness. No food. No water. No clothes. And they have to SURVIVE.”  We cried laughing in the other room – I think he found Naked & Afraid. The next day, I found the following photo on my phone from our visit to the Met. Ahem.

Food highlights this time (see previous posts on NYC eats):

Momofuku Noodle Bar – don’t forget to have dessert (OMG THE RITZ COOKIES)

Sarabeth’s for brunch

Le Pain Quotidien (great healthy kids’ options and lovely fruity desserts)

Since Jude was tiny, I’ve believed strongly in giving him experiences. You just can’t beat travel as the best teacher of all. Will he remember everything? Probably not – but you absolutely can’t tell me that there’s no value in it. We saw the gears turning in his little red head the entire trip – his world expanded exponentially.  Love this kid so much.