A city, a baby, some tennis and a bunch of Schmutzes

Remember back when Clark turned 30?  Well, at the end of summer we completed the birthday celebration by heading to New York City for the U.S. Open and quality time with the Schmutz siblings (sans Kent, whom we missed).  Clark's comments in red.
We flew in on a Wednesday (can I just say that 2-hour flights are delightfully short?!) and that evening we did a little birthday celebrating for nearly half the Schmutz clan (4 bdays within 2 weeks of each other).  We all stayed at Annie and Yahya's place in Flushing, which was cozy and toasty and fun.  It's a summer in New York City, so things are naturally a little sticky and sweaty.  It was hard to sleep with covers on and the smells were really something at times in the neighborhood, but the morning walks with Emmett were super pleasant.

On Thursday, Vaughn and Clark headed off to Flushing Meadows for a full day of tennis.  Poor Clark didn't wear sunscreen and got a nice sunburn on exactly half of his face. I did wear sunscreen, I just failed to reapply.  I did look exactly like Two Face for a day or two though.

The US Open was amazing. I want to go back every year.  We bought passes that allowed us to go from court to court, but we found the one court we wanted to stay at and sat mid court first row.  Jo-Wilfred Tsonga was warming up and it was amazing to see him workout.  He's the 5th best tennis player in the world, a hulking 6 foot 5, 220ish pounds and super nice.  My highlight was when he stayed and signed autographs, even after suffering a crushing defeat.  The way that fans asked him for his autograph, like it was a matter of life and death, was entertaining.  He happily obliged all the ones he could.  On top of that, we saw some great live tennis.  Just a wonderful day all around.  Fourteen straight hours and I didn't get tired of it at all.  While the boys were watching Jo-Wilfed Tsonga, Maria Kirilenko and Sloane Stephens, Margaret and I where showing Emmett the city.  We took a 45-minute train ride into Manhattan where we walked around Times Square, ate yummy pastries from Magnolia and covered nearly every foot of Central Park.  That last part wasn't entirely intentional; we may have gotten a little lost trying to find the boat house, but at least we got our exercise for the day!

Emmett was on cloud nine at the playground in Central Park.  I was happy that I packed extra clothes in the diaper bag because he got soaked playing in the splash pad area.  After all the play, he was ready for a nap in the stroller while Mags and I took the loooooooooong way to the Loeb Boathouse Cafe.

Later that evening, Margaret and I left Emmett with his cousin and joined the boys at the U.S. Open for the night matches.  Down below, you will see Arthur Ashe stadium, which might be the largest tennis stadium in the world.  We watched Roger Federer absolutely dominate Bjorn Phau and then watched Venus Williams lose a long and tough, 3 set match.  The matches didn't end until almost 1 in the morning, which meant that Vaughn and I watched tennis from 11am to 1 am the next morning.  Just awesome.

The next day Clark and I let Emmett get in a good morning nap before heading back into Manhattan.  We visited the 9/11 Memorial, which was a really neat experience.  The reflecting pools are both beautiful and somber.  It is impressive how they evoke the exact emotions that one should feel there.

The survivor tree.

After visiting the memorial, we headed uptown--on foot.  It was a long walk, but we saw lots of the city and snacked on a few slices of delicious NY pizza.  We met up with Margaret, Vaughn, Celia and Benson at Madison Square Park.  Emmett got to adventure around another playground (I was not prepared with an extra outfit, so he got stripped down once he decided to play in the water) and the rest of us enjoyed some Shake Shack for dinner.  The Shake shack is a fun place.  Really delicious shakes and pretty good hamburgers.  I accidentally ordered a burger with no condiments on it. Oh well.  We weren't going to worry about it.  The line was about a 90 minute wait.

Before heading home we checked out a place called Eataly.  It is appropriate to describe this place as the IKEA of food--but Italian food, not Swedish.  It was huge and busy and all the food looked fantastic. I enjoyed some exceptional chocolate milk.  Emmett was a trooper--handling the day with a [mostly] happy disposition despite being out way past bedtime and having had only one nap.

The rest of the trip we stayed close to home and explored Queens.  Our down time included watching lots of tennis and funny youtube videos.  Our out-and-about time included yummy food, pedicures (I only got a foot massage, I swear) and exploring Flushing Meadows Park.  

Yummy Chinese food.  Khalil was a rock star with the chopsticks.  Emmett was awesome at getting food all over his face.

 The cousins were on a more equal playing field this time around.  They kept busy shooting baskets and playing with the aunts/uncles.  All the adults managed to take plenty of incriminating/adorable photos of the two of them.

In Corona, we found a delicious empanada shop.  I can't wait to go back there.  We ate them in Flushing Meadows Park, site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fair.  Also, pictures weren't allowed but the Queens Museum of Art has an amazing scaled model of NYC and all five of its burrows that is the size of a large room.  It is seriously impressive.  

The Unisphere

Celia and Benson attend a neat little LDS ward in Queens.  Emmett doesn't look super impressed but the rest of us enjoyed the meeting.  The first counselor turned out to be a friend of my grandparents, which was a fun connection.

We sure love spending time with these folks.  Lucky to have family close enough that we can all get together now and then!