On April 27th, my mom's 50th birthday. Since my cousin Renae couldn't come over for cake that evening, I decided to take the both of them out for lunch. We went to a famous Italian restaurant in Brooklyn called Lenny and Johns. Which by the way has been around for fifty years as well. I had chicken parmigiana with bake ziti. Renae had rice balls and my mom had monicotti. The two of them shared zucchini sticks. I also shared garlic knots with them. It was a yummy lunch.
After lunch we went back home and my dad made us delicious Irish Tea. I gave my mom her gifts from dad and I. From me, mom got a IPhone 7 charging dock, a charging cord and something else but I forgot what it was. 😜 My dad got her an Alzheimer's hoodie that said "Memories Matter! Fight against Alzheimer's!" An HQ Trivia mug, and a shirt that said 1969 on it.
Later that evening, Uncle Lou made steak and Brendan made delicious broiled potatoes. I'm not a fan of steak but I did a well done piece. Grandma came over that evening and we had tea and cake. I got her a cake from her favorite bakery in Brooklyn called Michaels. My parents loved the cake but my grandma didn't but thats okay. It's important that my mom enjoyed it more than anything else.
On Sunday my brother Ryan and my sister in law Victoria came over for the day. They brought their dog LuLu with them. She's a Cavapoo. Around noon, Henry and William came over. They loved LuLu as much as everybody else. While the lovebirds were here, we did some organizing. The men helped bring the treadmill upstairs from the basement into the living room. Us ladies made space for the treadill. The men helped us move one of the recliner chairs to the other side of the living room so the treadmil could fit.
Turns out we didn't have enough Italian food because we ended up ordering pizza from this new pizza place in our neighborhood. The pizza was edible and defiantly had flavor but it wasn't as good as Knapp Street Pizza. But I would defiantly order from them again to give them a second chance. Henry really loved it because he had three whole slices. Keep in mind, he's not a big eater.
Grandma came over to see the lovebirds and to meet her new granddog. LuLu is a small dog but she will grow but not to be a big dog like a St Bernard (😂 you'd need a big house for a St Bernard) Anyway, she loved her grand dog. She and Victoria talked for a couple of hours.
Later that evening we had a simple dinner. Heated up some Tyson Chicken Tenders and french fries. Was a nice simple dinner.
The following weekend, Friday and Saturday. My mom and I stayed in a hotel in lower Manhattan. Aunt Bug (my mom's oldest sister) was flying in from Houston for my mom's part three birthday celebration.
Since we were the first ones at the hotel, my mom told me to text Renae to ask her to bring some chips and soda over. So I did. When she arrived she said, "Geez you guys are so demanding!"
We stayed up till midnight to chat with Aunt Bug and Renae. Then we fell asleep so we could wake up and start her Saturday adventure.
On Saturday we got up around eleven and went to Pret-A-Manger for breakfast. Usually when I ever walk pass one of these expensive places, I always keep walking. Last time before this time, like three years ago, I walked inside to buy myself a soda (before I stopped drinking soda everyday) I cringed as I handed over three dollars and fifty cents. Surprisingly the croissant was really good. Not as good as the ones in Paris but edible.
After breakfast we walked in the rain to the 9/11 Memorial. My mom's first time. Honoring the lives that were taken by terrorists way back in 2001. Finally the rain stopped, we walked to the Oculus. The Oculus is this white building shaped like a mohawk. They turned the building into a mall. Also two built in train stations. One for Brooklyn and Manhattan. The other is to get from Mahattan to New Jersey.
Renae met up with us. We took the 1 Train to Times Square 42nd Street. All four of us attended a Pro-Life event. more than ten thousand people showed up. Of course the Abortion protestors marched around our event. But that didn't stop us! It was a Christian centered event by Focus on the Family. They had music and speakers.
Three hours later, we took the train to 14th street and found a diner. Hard to find diners now a days. But we found one and it was delicious. BIG portions though. I had my chicken tenders with curly fries. The fries were amazing but the chicken was too thick for me.
Afterwards we walked to a book store called BookStrand. The book store isn't my cup of tea but I did find a magnet that I loved and bought. The magnet said, "SAVE YOUR DRAMA FOR YOUR LLAMA!" We took the six train to china town and got dessert. Renae and I got icecream and mom and Aunt Bug got rice pudding. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
On Sunday since mom and I don't believe in women preachers, we went to Barnes n Noble to look around. We grabbed a snack at Starbucks then ended up buying two puzzles. We took the train back home and later that evening we spent three hours at grandma's talking.
The following weeekend, my mom and I went to Henry and William's birthday party. Henry was turning six and William was turning four. They had a smaller party this time. Only family members were allowed to come. Aunt Amy made a Lagansa which was actually pretty good. We socialized, had snacks and drinks, ate dinner and had cake. Was a warm day too. Perfect for an outdoor event.
Safe to say I had a great busy couple of weekends.