Mom and Dad in NYC - Part Two

On Friday, I met up with Mom and Dad near Rock Center after work.  We checked out the decorations there before heading to Magnolia's to pick up another yummy post-show treat.  After my dad's very unusual run in with my landlord (who was in essence remodeling the entire kitchen on a Friday evening), we headed out to Georgio's before going to see Jesus Christ Superstar.  This show was a bit different than Godspell.  It wasn't quite as enjoyable for me for a couple of factors.  1 - It was straight music...no speaking at all. 2 - The theater didn't have much room/space at each seat and we were in the center of a row so we were a tad squished and uncomfortable throughout the show.  With that being said, I did really enjoy a couple of the songs, particularly the title song :)

Rock Center decorations...

Mom was excited so see the Easter Bunny...

Gotta love Magnolia's :)

We had to get to sleep pretty early on Friday night since I was participating in the Scotland Run 10k on Saturday morning.  Check out my post about that race here.

When we got back from the race we just relaxed and then dyed some Easter eggs.  I hadn't
dyed eggs in a few years so it was pretty fun :)  The colors didn't stick very well, but we had a good time anyway.

That night, we met up with Chris and his parents for dinner at Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse in Brooklyn.  We took the subway which turned out to be quite an adventure.  I was tired and distracted when I double checked what subway line we should take prior to leaving my apartment.  This being the case, I misinterpreted that we could take either the N or the R train.  Boy was I wrong.  The N train has a 86th Street stop in Brooklyn, but it is most definitely the WRONG one.  I knew something was strange when we got off the train and the station was completely run down.  Then I got a very bad feeling about our situation when we were walking out of the turnstiles to exit the station and someone jumped the turnstiles right in front of the booth with an MTA employee inside it.  For all of you non-New Yorkers, this is NOT GOOD...and was a little frightening as I was beginning to realize we were for sure at the wrong end of 86th Street, our reservations for dinner were in less than 10 minutes, and I had no clue how to get to the right end of 86th Street without going back into the craziness of that subway station.  As I was asking some random passerby for some indication of how far we might be from our destination, we saw a bus.  This seemed like our best bet at the moment so we ran for it.  Luckily, the driver said his last stop was our destination.  Relieved, we sat down near the back of the bus.  Then, I began to panic about being late.  I wasn't sure how far we were away from the last stop and my phone wasn't much help at this point.  Finally, a nice man (we decided he must have been an angel) helped us out.  He said he knew exactly where we were going and would make sure we got there without any (more) problems.  He also said we were 20 minutes away.  Thankfully, Chris and his parents were patiently waiting when our angel pointed us in the right direction.  I was only slightly embarrassed for making us late since I'm not exactly known for my great sense of direction anyway.  Needless to say, we enjoyed the hibachi dinner.  Mom and Dad had met Chris' parents back in the fall before our little European Adventure, but it was nice for us to all get to spend some time together again.  We had a much less adventurous trip back into Manhattan at the end of the night.

flaming onion....hibachi is always fun :)

Sunday, we went to Calvary Baptist for the Sunday morning Easter service.  The service was good.  I especially liked the hand bells.  It was also pretty cool that they opened up the doors at the end of the service while the whole congregation sang Handel's Hallelujah chorus.

After church, we headed out to the most interesting event of the trip - the Easter Parade.  The parade consists of all kinds of people dressed up in costumes and with fancy/tacky hats.  They just walk up and down 5th Avenue for about 8 blocks around the Rock Center area waiting for you to snap a picture of them.  Here are some of the best and craziest of the 2012 Easter Parade.

these guys took it to a whole new level....

Love the butterfly decor!!

 

this guy was hilarious!

how did she even get this crazy hat to midtown??

cute couple :)

a bit overboard, but that seemed to be the theme for the day...

After we'd seen enough at the parade, I took them over to the new NFL offices.  They enjoyed seeing all of the interesting new things there.  We ended our day with some Jamba Juice and a trip to The Counter (post to come about this very unique and interesting Times Square establishment).

Dad LOVED Jamba Juice....

As always, it was difficult to see them off on Monday.  I always have such a great time with them!  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful relationship with both of my parents.  They are truly phenomenal people, and I am very blessed to call them Mom and Dad.

Andrea :)