It’s not easy, being a tourist in a city you once thought you’d call home. I should know. I’ve skulked around Manhattan on various trips over the years, wasting precious time feeling bitter over the fact that I don’t live there and likely never will.

But this time, that didn’t happen. Ray and I took the girls to NYC for a hunk of spring break — two days in the city, two days with his relatives in Queens — and this time, instead of being pissy, I geeked out.

It’s hard not to, with Sophie in tow. This is a kid who insists on not only thanking the pilot for flying the plane, but holding up the line of anxious fliers trying to get to the terminal (and the bathroom!) to give him a long hug. She helped the bellhop with the luggage, told the taxi driver where to go and marched right up to the clerk at Mood (the fabric store of Project Runway fame — Annabelle and I were in heaven there, and even Ray was impressed) to ask, “Where’s Heidi Klum?”

In short, Sophie knows how to enjoy herself. The only downside was bad weather, and when forced to walk in the rain, Sophie took to bleating out sadly, “Taxi! Taxi!” as she avoided puddles that even she found too cold for a good splash.

We ate teeny tiny chocolate mint chip ice cream cones at Sweetie Pie, quizzed the clerk at Mood about each season of our favorite show, fell asleep at the planetarium and gawked at the Empire State building out our hotel room window. All four of us gawked at a snout-to-tail pig meal served up at a nearby table at dinner one night.

My dear friend Amy lives in a building with a key to Gramercy Park, so we found a dry(ish) moment and some daffodils, then I thoroughly embarrassed Amy by insisting we walk into the lobby of the chi-chi Gramercy Park Hotel and snap some photos. And then I made her go to the Coffee Shop in Union Square (of Sex and the City fame, though, since Amy’s a true New Yorker, she didn’t know why we were there).

We did have a small scene in the hotel elevator when I caught Sophie staring at all the numbers and had to hold her hands to keep from repeating that scene in Elf where he presses every button to see them light up.

And really, how could it be that the huge but skanky ToysRUs at Times Square didn’t have a single Yo Gabba Gabba item in stock?

Still, overall, it was a pretty darn magical trip — and for once, I was happy to be there and even sort of happy to go home.

Up next, The Best Part: Meeting Leo.

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