Last visit to The City for a while

This afternoon Maya, Jonah and I decided to take a break from packing boxes and we went to check out Brett's office. We hadn't been there yet. So we bused and subwayed to the Financial District, walked a few blocks on some winding cobblestone streets, passing the wonderful aromas of ethnic restaurants and window displays of funky boutiquey sorts of places.
Halcrow HPA's offices are on the 32nd and 33rd floor of the building. The view currently is incredible, since it is right across the street from Ground Zero. Without the twin towers in the way, you can see a magnificent panorama across Battery Park and the water. It is amazing. Then, if you look down, you see an enormous construction site. It is massive, and so surrounded by fully constructed buildings that it takes your breath away, particularly when you consider why there is no building there. Thankfully, Maya and Jonah didn't ask, and were focused instead on watching the trucks and construction workers. Brett's co-workers are nice, and an interesting lot, the more so because many of them are from other countries. It really is the quintessential international firm.
We left Brett to the rest of his work day and headed up to Times Square--we have been there several times underground but hadn't ventured up, and wow, it is bright and busy and interesting. I wasn't paying as much attention as I would have liked because Jonah was asleep on my back--he has this really annoying habit of falling asleep on the subway when you least expect it. The subway stations are not exactly a relaxing place to hang out while your kid sleeps, so this is about the third time I have had to haul his nearly 50 pounds of dead weight up and down stairs and escalators while Maya retrieves his crocs, since they invariably fall off his limp little feet while he is sawing logs.
Anyway, he woke up just as we reached the front door of our destination (Toys R Us)--he refreshed and ready to go, and me sweaty and frazzled with muscle fatigue, longing for a latte in a quiet cafe with adults as my companions.
So, Toys R Us, you say? Why go there? Well, this is the flagship store--complete with an indoor 60 foot high ferris wheel, a Barbie house larger than our last home and lego structures that look like real things (like say the Statue of Liberty and Pirates of the Carribean characters). Oh, and a Jurassic park T-rex that is so life-like we couldn't stop staring at it--it kept moving its eyes and sizing us up like it was trying to figure out how to trip the wiring and snatch us off the floor. It was actually great fun, the ferris wheel was a nice way to see the rest of the store (clever marketing, that!) and there were lots of displays and activities for kids to try.
Back home to box packing--I didn't think we had many, but it still feels like a lot of work to get ready to go. Kids played for two hours with their new Playmobils --gotta love those $10 little figure sets, we sure get a lot of mileage out of them. I worked while they played, and Brett got home late after going out with co-workers.
Tomorrow is errand day--Banchi has to go back to the vet to get another health certificate, we need to go to the post office and to the library to return our books. Sunday is probably going to be a home day, then we leave early Monday morning for Jacksonville.