Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Big Apple Escapade

Author's Note:  I wrote about this for my personal narrative/memoir because it's a very fond and unforgettable memory of mine.


It was surprisingly NOT an invigoratingly cold-feeling afternoon in the Big Apple on December 26th. Maybe I was a little far stretched by having two pairs of gloves, ear warmers, and a hat  on. Anyways, my family embarked on a trip to New York City for the day to basically do everything "tourists" do. I do hesitate calling us tourists because we've already been there 5 times and have lived near there,  but love it enough to go back. I was ecstatic to return to such an, I guess you can call "magical" place that I have many fond memories from.  Once we finally parked our car, my cousin Kelly, Aunt Kerry, Mom, sister Ashley, and I headed towards Rockefeller Center to ice skate. In the meantime  my Dad, Uncle Jim, brother, and other cousin James went to the spot that John Lennon was murdered at.  My brother is an absolute Beatles fanatic , so that explains the death site visit for them.

  We were waiting in line for about one and a half hours before we could even get our skates and pay. Let me tell you though, those one and a half hours were not as atrocious as you would think they would be. They were actually kind of entertaining. I snapped  pictures of the golden angels spread out throughout the plaza, but if you want to know something about being mesmerized , let me tell you about the beautiful Christmas tree. The 74 foot Norwegian spruce was twinkling with lights and dazzling with ornaments. As I stood there admiring it, my mom called out to me,

 " C'mon Grace, it's time to get skates"
     

I acknowledged my mom and scurried along. The blonde lady handing out skates was most definitely  in the Christmas spirit because she had on elf shoes and a priceless jingle bell hat which I thought was just awesome . In a confusingly high pitched voice she asked me,
 
 " What size are you sweetheart"?
   
  I told her my size and she handed me a dark blue pair of skates. I swiftly laced up my skates and was ready to go. The five of us cautiously stepped onto the ice, awaiting that  inevitable moment for one of us to fall. My cousin, sister and I started getting the hang of things by picking up speed and practically prancing on the ice  while my Mom and Aunt struggled to get a steady pace going.  Watching the ice shave up against my blades reminded me of why I love ice skating and doing little family things like this. A woman who saw us trying to get pictures approached us,
  
 " Do you guys want me to take a group photo for you?''
    
 " Yeah, sure! If you don't mind" My aunt told her.
   
  So the lady took our picture, and must I say it's a quite admirable one. The glistening  Christmas tree next to us, us with rosy cheeks, and the whole splendiferous  city before us. It was perfect. After time escaped us with fun, we decided to get off of the ice, but I knew I could've skated longer. Before we entered the small recreation room, I turned around one last time to take a final glimpse of the rink, and continued to follow my sister to the skate return. Once all of our skates were off, we decided to grab some hot chocolate at a local café  to reward ourselves.

  " Oh my god, that was so much fun" my sister  squealed.

  Everybody nodded in a satisfied agreement. The five of us all ordered the same thing at Café Mocha. A double fudge chocolate hot cocoa. Just thinking about it made my mouth water. The café was a petite, but very cozy place. The walls were painted a deep purple, and candles of different scents were burning everywhere. A fireplace was lit giving it the perfect affect.

  We all sat there in the brown leather chairs, sipping on our drinks nearly scorching our tongues. All of us started to reminisce about our humorous moments, like when my cousin tried to save herself from falling by kicking the air but fell on her butt anyways.
I could tell that we were all pleased, so I knew the rest of our "touristy" day was going to be very enjoyable. My mom spotted  the rest of our family outside of the café, so we exited Café Mocha and approached them. Gathering together and exchanging  memories of our first activity, we were contemplating where to go next. I decided to give a hint of our next potential destination by smiling and saying,
  " Hey, who's looking forward to some original New York cheesecake?"


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