{"id":14034,"date":"2012-07-26T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/?p=14034"},"modified":"2013-01-12T18:25:08","modified_gmt":"2013-01-12T23:25:08","slug":"city-visit-from-country-mouse-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/city-visit-from-country-mouse-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"City Visit from Country Mouse Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"My best friend from college and I have five children between us, aged 2-7. They are finally at the age where traveling with them is not a complete nightmare. We began an annual summer visit tradition last year where we would alternate our visits. Last summer, we spent a few days in their bucolic suburb outside of Boston. The kids happily played for hours in the backyard, discovering beautiful Robin eggs, getting soaked in the sprinklers and riding bikes. We went to an old-fashioned ice cream store, barbequed on their deck and even made it into Boston a few times. This summer, it was their turn to come to our city. It was her kids\u2019 first time to Manhattan and from the moment they arrived, I braced myself for a country mouse\/ city mouse dichotomy.<\/p>\n

\"\"For starters, the closest they had been to an apartment building was a hotel. We explained the role of our doorman and they were fascinated to learn that every time we needed to leave our \u2018house\u2019 we had to use the elevator. It was a scramble each time for who would get to hit \u2018door close\u2019. Once in our apartment, they realized there was no \u2018upstairs\u2019 or downstairs\u2019 and that we would all need to share our ONE bathroom (a fact they found as hard to accept as we still do)! They scampered around excitedly and were finished exploring pretty quickly. As if on cue, I heard 2 very loud signals and told them quickly that a \u2018blast\u2019 was imminent from the subway construction taking place half a block away. We all gathered at the window and they were dumbfounded when our building shook as though we were in the midst of an earthquake. Given the heat wave, we decided to take a quick walk to the closest playground to cool off in the sprinklers. When I told them how we don\u2019t have a car and that we walk mostly everywhere, they looked at me as though I had three heads. Our short 3-block walk \"\"felt like an eternity to them and they made themselves heard with countless variations of \u201care we there yet?\u201d At the playground, they tried to make the best of the heat, but I laughed when William commented that he couldn\u2019t believe they had to travel SO FAR just for sprinklers. Once home for the night, we settled in for a cozy evening, with VERY close sleeping quarters.<\/p>\n

\"\"The next morning, we started out for the Museum of Natural History. They were more excited for their first city bus ride, and subsequent subway ride, than for the museum itself. \u00a0They were giddy and a little nervous, being extra careful to pick the right seats, and stay far from the platform. When my daughters mentioned that sometimes we see rats on the tracks, they thought it was a joke. At the museum, we were one of many who sought relief from the heat in the AC of a spacious museum. My friend remarked that they had never been anywhere in their lives as crowded as the museum that day and I chuckled since I actually thought the crowds were nothing compared to the ones you find on weekends! We made our way around the dinosaurs and space center at the only pace that happens when you\u2019re with five kids and a stroller. After lunch, they unanimously voted for the bus over the subway since it gave them a chance to \u2018see more of the city\u2019 and all of those strange yellow cars. Our no-brainer destination? The NYC mecca of CANDY\u2026 Dylan\u2019s Candy Store. Upon entering, they flipped out and roamed the three floors of endless candy aisles wondering how to spend their allotted candy cash. Without a doubt they were more impressed with the variety of jellybeans than the enormous whale at the museum.\u00a0 We made it home just missing the insane thunderstorms. Given the horrific driving conditions they were elated to learn that they would stay an extra night. They loved coming to get the mail with me and were fascinated by the bank of mailboxes requiring keys. When we took the garbage \"\"down the hall to put down the chute, they looked on with a look of wonder. They couldn\u2019t believe that we had to take the elevator, with our laundry and detergent, share machines with our neighbors and PAY for each load!!! The best was seeing their reaction to our building\u2019s \u2018backyard\u2019. It was inconceivable to them that our outdoor space did not have one blade of grass but instead was a concrete area with a shed holding community bikes and scooters.<\/p>\n

\"\"As they got ready to get on the road, one of them wished out loud for another thunderstorm so that they could extend their visit yet again. My friend and I got teary at the sweet hugs and kisses our kids exchanged and snapped a million pictures hoping to capture the genuine connection they\u00a0 had effortlessly made with one another. After they pulled away and headed back to the \u2018country\u2019, we headed to 16 Handles and Fairway. A few hours later, my friend texted to me to let me know they had arrived home safely. William was playing \u2018traffic cop\u2019, mimicking what he had seen on the entrance to the FDR. Katie was busy playing \u2018Big Apple Shopping\u2019 with a cart of pretend candy. And two-year-old Tommy was just happy to be back in his spacious home, stomping around without anyone telling him to go on his tippy toes because of the complaining neighbor downstairs. From what I remember from the fairy tale, the country mouse and city mice did not really enjoy visiting each other all too much. For us, it was the opposite, a wonderful visit for all. While it was an eye opening adventure for our country mouse friends, it made us, city mice, take stock of all the eccentricities which are unique to NYC living, and realize once again how proud we are to show it off to visitors!<\/p>\n

\"\"Prior to becoming a stay at home mom, Mina was an HR Recruiter for years. Now her time is spent happily juggling the demands of two young daughters while trying to expose them to the endless adventures the city has to offer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor\u2019s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Guest writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My best friend from college and I have five children between us, aged 2-7. They are finally at the age where traveling with them is not a complete nightmare. We began an annual summer visit tradition last year where we would alternate our visits. Last summer, we spent a few days in their bucolic suburb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":511,"featured_media":14037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"schneps_byline":"","schneps_post_style":"","schneps_post_source":"","schneps_syndicated_read_more":"","schneps_post_source_sitename":"","schneps_post_source_shortname":"","schneps_post_source_url":"","schneps_post_source_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,51,60,45,42,17],"tags":[46,44,59,47],"class_list":["post-14034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-kid","category-dads","category-grandparents","category-moms","category-preschool","category-toddler","tag-activities","tag-education","tag-entertainment","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/city-visit-from-country-mouse-friends\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"City Visit from Country Mouse Friends","url":"http:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/city-visit-from-country-mouse-friends\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/city-visit-from-country-mouse-friends\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/07\/City-mouse-1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/mommybites.com\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/07\/City-mouse-1.jpg"},"articleSection":"Big Kid","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mina McKiernan"}],"creator":["Mina McKiernan"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Mommybites New York","logo":""},"keywords":["activities","education","entertainment","travel"],"dateCreated":"2012-07-26T13:00:32Z","datePublished":"2012-07-26T13:00:32Z","dateModified":"2013-01-12T23:25:08Z"},"rendered":"