New York, New York! Part 2

Finally we made it to my Godfather's house. Really, there is no other name for him. He is actually my Godfather, and he will make you sleep with the fishes if you cross him or his family. We were exhausted, but so excited to see everyone. And of course, my awesome Aunt and Cousins had real NY pizza and bagels waiting for us! Aak! I practically drowned myself in that pizza. Even Mario said it was the best pizza he ever ate and he would never like any other pizza again. With that as a kick-off to our 5 days on Long Island, I was a happy, happy camper.

It was such a wonderful and CRAZY busy week, that I will just hit you with some highlights here...

~The food was AWESOME. I mean, a lot of food is good, and you can get good food anywhere. But, there is something about food in NY that is just so much...BETTER than anywhere else. We stuffed our faces with pizza, drank gallons of good coffee, bloated our bellies with fresh seafood and more. I've never seen Mario (my picky little bird) eat so much at one time. I think we all came back a few pounds heavier, but it was soooo worth it.

~We went to the town of my birth to walk around on the docks. Port Jeff is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Luigi liked throwing broken shells off the dock and watching them float down in the water. Peach loved the boats. At one point, Mario looked at me and said, "Mommy, this seems so familiar to me. Are you sure I haven't been here before?" "No," I replied, "you have never been here before. But, this is where Mommy was born. Isn't that cool?" He took my hand, looked me in the eye and said, "I knew our hearts belonged from the same place." And then my heart swelled with joy that my son and I share so much.

~We drove out one day to visit my Aunt Brooklyn (named as such because she is not only from Brooklyn, but she personifies the Brooklyn spirit perfectly), and we took the subway into the city for the afternoon. I thought sweet Luigi's head was going to explode from excitement when the F Train came rushing into the station. His eyes were wide and he was paralyzed with wonder over such an amazing sight. We got on the train and he clutched the Zaz's hand, eyes still wide, ready to take in every last drop of that train ride.

~Once we reached the city, we visited Nintendo World. Mario never wanted to leave. In fact, he even asked one of the store workers if he could have a job there and move in. We had a fast lunch and then the Zaz and Aunt Brooklyn took the Goombas to the giant Toys 'R Us on Times Square, while Bowser and I made a quick side trip to the most beautiful store in all the land--Tiffany's and Co. (More on that in a minute...) The Goombas loved the toy store. They had ice cream at Scoops 'R Us, Luigi had his picture taken with Iron Man and Spiderman, Peach got to dress up as a princess and Mario posed with a huge T-Rex. I'd say a good time was had by all. By the time we met back up with everyone, Zaz and Aunt Brooklyn handed the kids back to us with frazzled looks on their faces. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Luigi begged them to go up and down the escalators about 35 times.

~Tiffany's was awesome. I am like a magpie. I will go for anything that sparkles. And there was a LOT of sparkle in that store. On the 2nd Floor, also known as the Diamond floor, Bowser said, "Go ahead! Try something on!" Not wanting to be greedy, I chose a diamond eternity band, less than a carat total weight. It was beautiful! It was also $22,000. That was when I asked to be directed to the Sterling Silver Floor. And I am happy to say that I walked out with my own little blue box that will sit on my dresser forever.

~My Aunt Mets' wedding was beautiful. (Yes, she loves the Mets!) She was a perfect bride. She is my Dad's sister and he walked her down the aisle. I was honored to read a lovely poem during the ceremony. She and her new husband are a perfect match and I wish them many years of happiness. And... The reception was rockin'! My incredibly awesome cousins offered to come get the Goombas early so Bowser and I could party the night away, which is exactly what we did. Thank you so much K and T for taking such good care of my babies!!! It was a great time and for some reason, at the end of the night, Bowser and I managed to walk out with about 15 of the wine bottle guest favors. Hmmm... I have no idea how that happened. **wink!**

Before we knew it, our time in New York had come to an end. Mario and I cried when we left. I already miss my family so very much. We said good-bye to our hotel room and dragged out all of those bags that were now even more stuffed from all the loot we acquired during our stay. I'm sure the hotel was not unhappy to see us go. I'm still waiting to see if they send a bill for the 3 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that was ground permanently into the carpet in our room.

We made it back to the airport and prepared ourselves for the trip home. It was a 7 p.m. flight. Surely after our long and tiring week, the Goombas will sleep on the plane, right? Stay tuned to find out.....

Cheers!
~Daisy