September 27, 2016 - Tanya's Trip to Florida & Bahamas Cruise - Day 4 - Visit to New York City & Trips on the Horizon

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 10 DAYS

Love Visiting with My Cousins

Hey there and hello!

Can I just say how much I'm loving this weather!!  Yes - it is so crisp and delicious outside the past few days - truly Fall Weather and I'm loving it!

Well, now that I binged watched "Crazy Ex Girlfriend" and finished watching  18 episodes, I'm feeling rather ... lonely lol.  I got very attached to "Rebecca Bunch" and her whole crew.  Ugh - now I have to wait for the new season. 

Instead, I've been immersing myself in the kids' school work and studies.  We are determined to get all 4's this trimester.  The girls have been working VERY hard and so far, they are on the right road!

Now that school is back in, I'm back to being a short order cook.  French toast, baked sweet potatoes, eggs for breakfast;  then I get cooking on dinner early, because these kids love eating "dinner" after school as they are usually famished when they get home.  
​Then they have a light snack at what would normally be dinner time and that is when I'm making wraps and sandwiches and cutting up fruit and veggies for the next day's lunch  WHEW!!

Yesterday, I made a hearty veggie soup.  I added lots of potatoes to make it really thick.  Since Kelsey was home sick all day, I was non-stop cooking.  French toast, chicken, hot lemon water and honey, cucumber and she even polished off half a cantaloupe!!! 

Is it feed a cold, starve a fever or the other way around?  Well, I can attest that we definitely fed this cold!

I couldn't agree more with this statement!
And no one agrees more with this than Tanya.  We are a family devoted and somewhat obsessed FOODIES!

Today will be a foodie kind of day.  Let me tell you what's on the agenda....

My dear cousin and her gang are planning to meet up with us in the afternoon so we could once again, catch up before they leave on their Bahamas cruise and until we are together again in Disney World in Orlando.  

Fortunately, there is a great eatery close by my house that serves LOTS of vegan food and delicious, healthy smoothies.  The plan is to go there for a light meal this afternoon.

My only concern is Kelsey -- she is home yet again with a cold (insert sad face). So, now, my plans may need to be altered so that I may have to bring some food in for her and make our visit a short one.  We'll see how my little girl feels after sleeping in and resting.

It's also a very icky day - wet, rainy - so it may be adding to her continued not feeling well. We shall see.  Otherwise, us moms will pick up some goodies for the kiddies and bring them back home.  I know Kelsey will be heartbroken not to say goodbye (even if temporarily) to her cousins.

I need to share with you guys for a moment...this past year (since last September) has been such a difficult one for me.  

There has been so many changes, a great deal of loss and mostly, the sadness of having friends and family who I thought cared about me, act like me and my kids do not exist and even worse, turning against me, lying and spreading rumors about me.

HOWEVER!  It has also been a year of growth and new discoveries.  For a period of time this past year, I put my traveling shoes away and put my plans on hold.  

Now, I'm not saying I'll be roaming the world to the extent my dear cousin is, but I have put a few exciting things on the calendar and I'm hopeful, the bulk of the dark cloud hanging over my head is a thing of the past.

With today being Travelin' Tuesday here on T.C., I thought I'd share some of the places I hope to visit in 2018 and 2019...thinking about my travel bucket list is sure to pull me more and more into a happy place and get back on track with my life!!

Sicily, Italy

Taormina, Sicily (www.baiataormina.com)

As I mentioned yesterday, last Fall (September and October, 2015 to be exact), I did a weekly blog about the various cities throughout Sicily that would be on my list, when I finally get to the place of my paternal ancestors.

Below are the links to those previous writings, which I hope you will enjoy reading about.

Tanya and I have briefly touched the surface of this trip - potentially for the Summer of 2018. This will also mark the end of Gianna's elementary school years with her graduating from 8th grade, so I thought, what better time to visit this amazing island off the coast of Italy!!

The one thing that Tanya and I both wholeheartedly agree on is that if and when we do Sicily, it needs to be a long enough trip to fully visit all the important places and immerse ourselves in the culture and history.

It would also prove to be an amazing opportunity for Gianna who will be working on her Congressional Award, and this trip would be ideal for the "Exploration" aspect of this prestigious honor in researching her Sicilian heritage.

Ok - so here is what we are thinking overall, but clearly not the full extent.  We would like to make our way around the entire island (as best we can) and see (at minimum) the following cities:

Palermo: Click Here 
​Caltanissetta: Click Here   
Ragusa: Click Here  
Siracusa: Click Here  
Taormina Click Here 

Taormina is the place Tanya and my great-grandfather and grandfather (respectively) was born and we both yearn to visit the place of his birth. 

Croatia

Croatia (credit: www.telegraph.co.uk)

Tanya and I have been talking about this destination for a few years now.  It was more of a "Tanya & Elisa" trip - similar to our European Rail Trip in June/July 2015.

After reading an article in a travel publication about a cycling trip in Croatia, I was filled with excitement to visit this country...and include some cycling.
(Yeah, I know I hate the heat and I' not as much of a trooper as my "little" cuz, but I think it's worth planning something with a bicycle lol).

One thing we agreed on is that we will need at least two weeks to fully explore the number of islands in the archipelago and that we should coordinate this trip in the warm weather to enjoy it more fully.

So this may potentially be a Summer, 2019 trip.


Israel

Israel at Easter (sizedoesntmatter.com)

It's been a number of years since I have had The Holy Land on my must-see travel destinations.

And from my research, one of the most beautiful times of year to visit Israel is at Easter.

On Easter and the preceding Holy Week, Jerusalem fills with pilgrims from all over the world. For Orthodox and Catholic Christians, celebrations focus on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where six historic denominations have marked the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus since the fourth century.

According to goisrael.com:
"On Palm Sunday pilgrims come streaming down the Mount of Olives singing hymns and bearing palm fronds, reenacting Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1-10). Another highlight is Maundy Thursday, when the Patriarch washes the feet of his priests in imitation of Jesus (John 13:1-15).
 
On Good Friday, a procession of thousands along the Via Dolorosa mark the Stations of the Cross (Mark 15:16-37). On Saturday, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Ceremony of the Holy Fire, when thousands gather to await the miraculous lighting of the Patriarch’s candle from within the tomb.

The crowds are tight and excitement runs high, but the sight of the flame jumping from taper to taper held by the chanting faithful inside the darkened church is unforgettable."

This is surely something I want to experience and with my children of course.  Tanya has not had the same urgency and interest in visiting the middle east as I have, but I'm surely hoping I can convince her!!

This might be a wonderful trip for Spring , 2019.

So, here is how my calendar is looking (tentatively) based on the above outline and what is already on my travel schedule:

October, 2016: (Columbus Weekend):
Disney World

Spring, 2017: (Easter Break):
London/Paris

June, 2017: (Week after School ends): Cousins Road Trip to Chicago

Summer, 2018: (Late June/July):
Sicily, Italy

Spring, 2019: (Easter Break):
Israel

Summer, 2019:
Croatia
​
​Wow - that's a great deal to look forward to!!!

Yesterday, I took a quick ride over to a local vegan bakery to pick up some goodies for all of us.

We'll probably have some pics on tomorrow's blog with us indulging in the sweets!

See ya back tomorrow!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: NEW YORK

NYC Food Crawl

Welcome to another day in my life! LOL

So...how's it going out there? It's going pretty swell here in NYC for us. Enjoying our visit, and eating up a storm - especially yesterday.

Did you remember that we did a bit of a Food Crawl yesterday (vegan of course)? It was my first ever Food Crawl and what better a city to do it in than The Big Apple?!

We had an amazing time, and as much as I wanted to order more off of some of these menus - I had to limit myself a bit...but just a bit.

Luckily the kids and I were doing plenty of walking between chowing down, enjoying the city, doing some people watching and of course giving us time to digest. 

I'm a mover. I can't tell you how much it irks me to walk behind people who are S L O W. It's like get out of the fast lane and pull over already!
And then the worst are the morons who are not looking where they are going, but instead they are staring at their handheld device (smart phone or what have you). WTH

I've got places to be, and my legs just don't move that slow. Perhaps I need to be weighed down and lugging around bags to slow me down. But guess what - I'd merge out of traffic into a slow lane. But I guess that's just me - apparently not enough people have learned this type of courtesy.
Okay it kinda sounds like I'm on a rant here, when in fact we had a wonderful day and like Elisa had been mentioning the fall weather was delicious and wonderful...meanwhile I was getting text messages that the temperatures in SoCal were up in the 100's - ohhhh noooo waaaay - I do not like the sound of that. So glad to not be dealing with those temps!

Now let's get on with the show...

The day started out at my Grandma's, where Cosette and I spent our morning enjoying her company. 

​Meanwhile Dominic and me dad went to go play some good old fashioned handball. But since my dad doesn't really get out and do much exercise these days - when they got back to the house Dominic hadn't even broke a sweat and my dad came back completely wiped out! 

Handball is BIG in NYC and taken very seriously. 

According to NYmag.com - Handball was introduced to the city by Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century, the sport crowned its first men’s singles champion in 1923.

According to the Parks Department, there are some 2,000 handball courts in 560 parks in New York. 

Personally I don't think I've ever seen a handball court on the west coast and when I mention the sport they have a completely different ballgame in mind!

On the East Coast they use a tiny small hard rubber black ball, and on the West Coast they use a large ball (the size of a Volleyball). 

Oh well. Enough about that.

Back on with the feature of the day and our Food Crawl!

Heading into the city (c)travelincousins.com

Our first stop was Blossom in Chelsea - and boy we were looking very forward to this meal!
The restaurant has many NYC locations and their menu remains one of our favorites. 

About to dig into our first meal (c)travelincousins.com

Yum! (c) travelincousins.com

Heading to our next meal (c)travelincousins.com

After our first meal we went straight to Terri which has really yummy sandwiches and wraps, but we decided to order to go rather than sit there and immediately eat another meal. So off we went...

Waiting for our sandwiches (c)travelincousins.com

Next stop was to satisfy our sweet tooth and since By CHLOE just opened her sweet shoppe, that was a high priority for us and the only place on our food crawl that we haven't already been to in the past...
​

Strolling into Greenwich Village (c)travelincousins.com

Oh yeaaaaa - vegan desserts! (c)travelincousins.com

Walking in the village (c)travelincousins.com

By this time we were ready to eat some more and headed to yet another go to in the village - Red Bamboo to enjoy some appetizers and desserts. (Did I mention that the desserts from By CHLOE were to go).

Mangia! (c)travelincousins.com

Ice Cream Shake? Nope it's a Boston in NYC (C)travelincousins.com

By this time we had filled our tummies enough - for we still had dinner waiting for us at my Grandma's!

Do we love food or what? I know Elisa agrees!!

Heading out of the city (c)travelincousins.com

While at my grandma's, another cousin came over to visit with us and we spent the night laughing and playing charades - which really cracked us up!

I'm luvin all the travel on Elisa's calendar and surely look forward to all the trips that we have planned together! 

Alrighty let's see how today goes....

I'll be back tomorrow to let you know,
​-T