Empty

the apartment is empty now. It's always been barren and sterile, but now, after three days of being filled with laughter and love (and a little bit of bickering), it seems even emptier than before. We had a wonderful weekend, despite dismal weather for most of the first two days. We walked a ton (especially for little 7-year-old feet and for 12-year-old feet with bad arches), and it was magical to see this place through their eyes. Everything was exciting to them, even things as mundane as the revolving doors and the yellow taxis. And the things that aren't mundane? Well, those things flipped them out entirely.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the weekend was the trip to the Empire State Building. We'd originally planned for it as a Sunday morning thing, but after the day was so horridly rainy all day, we couldn't believe that it cleared up so nicely later in the afternoon. We had dinner at the apartment, along with a fabulous chocolate cake from Buttercup bakery, and even though the table we sat around was 1400 miles from home, it felt complete because we were all there. Then we watched a few Looney Tunes cartoons from his birthday DVD collection, and decided on the spur of the moment to head down to the ESB at night. A quick check of the webcam reassured us that visibility was 20 miles, so we grabbed our CityPasses and a cab. Luckily, with the CityPass, we were able to skip the lines and head straight to the elevators. The gasp and squeal of delight when we went out onto the observation deck was well worth the entire trip.

Haven't run in a week. I was considering going out tonight, but the physical exhaustion of th weekend, coupled with the emotional letdown of being left alone is a bit much to deal with. So instead, I'm going to sort through the 300+ photographs and let the memories we created this weekend linger a little longer.