Wrong day not to bring my camera

As yesterday was a gorgeous day, the fam and I decided to take a day trip into Manhattan...you know to blow the winter cobwebs from our collective cabin fevered brains. Since it was a last minute the decision, we scarfed down what my body told me was a second breakfast but the clocks all said early lunch, and made the mad dash to the train station. I didn't want to miss the once every hour train cause I just might get into something else and not want to go. Needless to say, we made the train and the boys, as usual were more thrilled with the train ride than anything else.

We managed our way out of Grand Central and through the crowded streets to the Fireman Museum on 51st street btwn 5th and 6th aves. Uh, blink and you'd miss it. I was sort of dissappointed by the size and lack of stuff. I know NYC real estate is at a premium, but a little effort would have gone along way. There was a partial fire truck that you could sit in (would have been better if there were flashing lights or something), some gear mounted on a wall and some patches from other fire houses around the nation, then the shop. I definitely would have bought fireman inspired raincoats for the boys or some plastic fireman hats if they had them. Hello? Get a bigger space, have some working lights and sounds on the firetruck, have miniature fireman gear for pictures, charge for admission and make money. Gosh! do I have to think of everything!
As we walked 51st street towards Radio City. I began to notice all the patterns around me. From the grates in the street to the artwork on the buildings. Totally inspiring me for knitting patterns. I really wished I had my camera. I never noticed how beautiful many of the buildings were! But I really wished I had my camera for this next piece of narration!

Having had enough of the whining from the two little ones, actually it was just the 4yr old complaining about walking too much, we decided to grab some "linner". Where do you go when you want to eat in Manhattan on a Sunday? Since Mc'D's is banned from our family, we rounded the bend on 42th & Madison to TGIF's, steps away from Grand Central. We were seated by an exhuberant waiter, which a welcome change from the cold, unfriendly NYC crowd. The warm fuzzies faded however, when I got the menu and perused the prices. I swallowed hard and bit my tongue, nobody wants the skunk eye from a hungry husband. Besides, we were not in the boonies anymore. We ordered our meals and waited. As the sticker shock wore off, I discovered that I, too, was hungry. My stomach did a happy dance as the waiter ambled up the steps with that humogous tray on his shoulder. The happy dance was short lived when movement was detected in my peripheal vision. We had company! A roach crawling on the wall above my son's shoulder made his way out of the dark corner in anticipation of the feast. My husband, a man who would rather die then draw attention to himself, quietly swished the offensive creature and was looking around to discard the pulverized exoskeleton. I flashed him a "you've got to be kidding me" look. The kids didn't even notice and dug into their meal. Annoyed as hell, I stopped them in their tracks and said oily, "let's pray over this garbage before we get sick!". Recovering but only a little, I reach for a frie on my son's plate. It was the most horrible thing I tasted...it tasted like that frie your child dropped the day before in his car seat... ah come on, I ain't the only one. The bread was crunchy and not because it was toasted but stale! The burger was recycled and cold. WARNING: TASTE YOUR KIDDIES' FOOD! This is not the first time my children have gotten bad food from restaurants. I'll bet they (restauranteurs) are counting on the fact that you don't taste it. At this point I'm really annoyed. I've got to pay alot of money for substandard food that I can hardly get down, plus the substandard entertainment...ie, the roach. I just want it to be over. Mid-way through, my 2 yr old starts doing his scared whine/cry. "There's a bug on the table". Another freakin' roach??!!!??? At that the meal was over! I held my tongue no more and called for the manager. He seemed embarassed and was very focused on keeping our conversation contained. After some apologies, he asked us to disregard the check. You betcha! We were outta there! Now the City has joined the listed of banned places to eat.

By the way, that horrible meal would have costed around $60.00! I guess they charge more for the entertainment. We did tip our waitress as it was not her fault.
TASTE YOUR KIDDIES' FOOD!