The most memorable Memorial Day weekend in NYC!

I'm constantly amazing at how many fabulous restaurants, bakeries 
and incredible places there are to eat at in NYC.

When I look at our photos of our trip, it seems like every activity revolves around food.

Eat, sleep and walk.  That was seriously about all we did.  

Hopefully, we walked enough from one eating establishment to the next

 that we worked off some of the calories that we consumed!

Lunch on Friday was at La Esquina, which I first read about on Kimber's blog.  

Once I pulled up their website and showed Dad the pictures of some of their famous dishes, 
we put La Esquina at the top of our "NYC bucket list"

which, by the way, seems to keep getting longer and longer.

Every time we visit NYC, we pack in as much as we can and do as many things as possible on our bucket list,

but we always run out of time and at the end of every vacation, as we are heading to the airport, 

we always find ourselves saying, "well, we will have to do that next time" 

and then we hear about other great restaurants or cool things to do and see 

so our "NYC bucket list" just keeps growing.

The spread at La Esquina.  Doesn't it look delicious?!

The grilled corn on the cob was Brooke's favorite...

and Ashley's too!

Dad added a little lime to the corn.

All of the dishes were so unique at La Esquina.  

We all voted it "One of our new favorite restaurants in NYC!"

and we will definitely make our way back there again.

That night we met up with Brett and we were totally surprised by Kimber and Brett's big announcement! 

 (See blogpost below)

We were totally shocked because we had spent the last 24 hours together with Kimber 

and she didn't seem sick, tired or pregnant at all.

She and Brooke had chosen her outfits carefully so she could hide her little belly 

and they did a good job because she looked skinny and I couldn't tell at all. 

And Kimber was just as energetic as usual as we ran around town, 

eating, shopping* and getting pedicures all day and I didn't suspect a thing,

which made it even more fun because I didn't have a clue!

*Actually, Ashley noticed that she sat down at one of the shops in the afternoon

 and thought that was unusual because Kimber never sits down.  But I totally missed it!

The next day, after making a special trek up to the Upper West side to purchase cookies at Levain Bakery, 
we took a leisurely walk through Central Park.

It was a gorgeous day for a walk and so we took our time walking, eating cookies and strolling through the park...

and we stopped and took a few photos along the way.

We stopped and listened to one of the performers in the park.

As you can see, he was very popular and had quite a few fans who also stopped to listen to him sing.

Favorite photo of the day!

Dad apparently wasn't as impressed with the performer!

Heading out of the park and strolling the streets of NYC...

Brooke and Dad had to stop at Gray's Papaya for a refreshment.

I was surprised that they didn't get a hot dog.  Those two love hot dogs!

I guess they were saving room for the yummy Levain cookies!

We went to Hill Country BBQ that night, which once again, I read about at Kimber's blog.

We love BBQ and it sounded so good that it made our bucket list.

And we are happy to say that it did not disappoint!  It was delicious BBQ!
Who would have guessed that you could find good BBQ in NYC!

Ashley and Brooke voted the Mac 'n' Cheese as some of the best that they have ever eaten!

It was so creamy and cheesy!  I'm really not a Mac 'n' Cheese person but

I have to agree that it was pretty darn good!! 

My dinner, the smoked chicken, a side of beans and mac 'n' cheese and cornbread.  Yum!

Brooke and Dad loved the ribs!

Thanks, Kimber and Brett for the recommendation!

We loved the BBQ and almost felt like we were back in Oklahoma:)!

The kids are excited to see Newsies!  Ashley's all-time favorite Disney musical!

Brett is especially excited... can't you tell:)?!!  Actually he was a very good sport!
When I heard that Newsies was coming to Broadway, I had to surprise Ashley and get tickets for this summer, 
since she would be in DC and it would be easy for her to take the train up to NYC.
Of course, Dad and I decided to get in on the fun and come out to see all the kids and see Newsies!

Glenn Beck was there that night with his son... 
just hanging out afterwards on the streets of NYC!

We all loved Newsies!  The dancing was absolutely incredible!

And thankfully, it lived up to Ashley's expectations!

We rented a car and spent most of the day at the outlets in New Jersey,

along with a gazillion other people! 

 It was crazy packed with so many people but so fun!

And Dad... what can I say?!!  He hung in there all day shopping with his girls!

He definitely deserves "Dad of the Year Award!" for that!

Never have I seen a Dad who was so enthusiastic, happy 
and cheerful about shopping with his favorite gals all... day... loooooong! 
 Never complaining once!

Here we are with all of our bags.  
As you can see, a lot of it is Brooks Brothers bags, which are Brett's and Dad's stuff. 

 Poor Brett, he wasn't even there and now can't defend himself 

and I'm putting most of the blame on him.

But he desperately needed new work clothes and so did Dad.

There were some great deals and I'm glad Kimber talked us into going out to New Jersey.

The drive was beautiful and we had a lot of fun!

That night we celebrated Kimber's birthday by going to Nougatine at Jean-Georges for dinner.

I love this picture of the little girls!  

I mean, how many photos do we have of Brooke with wet hair?! 

Poor girl, she is always has to squeeze in her run in between all the activities

and then hurries and showers to be ready for the next.

Hence, she rarely has time to blow dry her hair but doesn't mind one bit.

And she looks so cute that it doesn't really matter! 

This birthday girl has a lot to celebrate!

Ashley looking good!

Kimber ordered one of their famous drinks.

Dad ordered the salmon baked with lemon crumbs, sweet chili glaze and swiss chard 
and Brett had the proscuitto wrapped pork, glazed mushrooms and sage.

Brooke ordered the caramelized beef tenderloin, organic carrots, and miso mustard.

And of course, I ordered salmon too and it had to be one of the very best salmons that I have ever tasted!

And if you know me, you know that I've tasted a lot of salmon in my day!

It was absolutely delicious!

They brought out a chocolate flourless cake with a candle for the birthday girl!

The little girls with the birthday girl!  Notice Kimber's little bump!  Cute!

How did I miss that last week?!

Such a cute couple and the happy parents-to-be!

Kimber and Auntie Ashley!

The next morning, Brooke had an interview for an internship position

with one of our favorite stores, C. Wonder!
C.Wonder is owned by Chris Burch, ex-husband of Tory Burch and their flagship store is located in SoHo.  
His colorful collection of women's apparel, accessories and home decor is right up Brooke's alley.

She was given the job on the spot!  And will be helping with the visual merchandising this summer
as they are expanding and opening another store in South Hampton.  
It sounds like a great opportunity and Brooke's dream job!  She couldn't be more excited!
And we were all so excited for her that we decided to meet up at Norma's to celebrate!

I had the Banana-Macadamia nut pancakes with whipped banana brown sugar butter!

They were unbelievably delicious!

Ashley ordered the Crunchy French Toast with warm caramel sauce. Yum!

Our C. Wonder intern ordered the Scrambled Eggs and Bacon Breakfast Quesadilla 

with Monterey Jack cheese, guacamole and salsa.

And Dad ordered the Nutella Packed Jacks with Pineapple chunks and Raspberries.  Fabulous!

Such a fun place to celebrate!

A proud mom and her little intern!

She is just a little excited!!  And so am I!!

It was a great way to end our fun trip!

A trip filled with lots of celebrations, plenty of yummy food and 

Brett and Kimber sharing their baby announcement!

The timing of this visit was perfect and we are grateful that we were able to be there for all of the fun!

And to think that it all started because of Ashley wanted to see Newsies!

Little did we know of all the "big news" that was in store for us!