more NYC fun

our first full day in new york was a super rainy and windy one.  still, we got ourselves ready to head out and make the most of it.  here's my obligatory OOTD selfie:

we decided to go over to times square and check it out.

while there, we checked off one of the bean's must-dos and walked into the giant line friends store.

this store is, of course, just like the one in hollywood - with lots of cute BTS merchandise and displays autographed by the band members.

meanwhile, teddy and cocoa were living their best lives at the doggy resort back at home.  i really appreciated the texts and pictures that they sent me throughout the week.

we were hungry, so we headed out to check off another item on the list - katz's deli.

there was a bit of a line to get in, and once we got in the door the attendant handed us this:

it was crowded and bustling with activity in there, and it was interesting listening to the chatter all around us.

the bean and i tried our first egg cream - well, i guess it's more like *i* got to enjoy this egg cream.  because it contains bubbly seltzer water, it was a hard pass for my soda-hating child.

it went nicely with my pastrami and corned beef sandwich, which i enjoyed while sitting next to a picture of hunky chris hemsworth.

our afternoon activity took us to pier 36, where the hub escorted us to the entrance of the balloon museum before beating a hasty retreat in search of a cigar lounge to relax and unwind.

the museum was filled with all sorts of crazy art installations comprised of inflatables in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors.  i'm no art buff, but it was fun to walk through and look at everything.

before we were allowed entry into one room, we were instructed to don these lovely shoe covers:

and it was basically a big ass grown-up ball pit, filled with thousands of emo black plastic balls and a light show that changed colors and moods.

after we left the ball pit, we found ourselves in a room full of all kinds of instagram-worth photo ops.

when we were finally done in there, we met up with the hub and spent some time walking around the city.

and i'm including these because they make me laugh and because i'm, like, 10.

there were lots of eyerolls from both the bean and the hub for that last one, but i wasn't gonna miss my chance.  you know how much i love a photo op.