It rained all night. We walked in the rain and jumped in the puddles and were soaking wet when we got back to the hotel, but who cares? It was perfect.
We "slept in" and went to a Belgium Breakfast joint for breakfast. It was drizzly and we were so dressed up for the Bar Mitzvah, it felt extra special. My legs were so cold, but the rest of my body was warm. Kind of like that feeling of a crusty, warm, toasted bagel with ice cold cream cheese on it. :)
Mmm! Belgium Hot Chocolate!
They gave us bread for the white chocolate "nutella-like" spread. It was SO SO good!
We ordered a simple farmers spread.
We may have had a little sweet treat too.
This place was too much. It was a quaint little bakery on the West Side and we were enjoying and giggling the entire time.
I wanted to take one of these home and have my kids just ravage through it, but we had too many days left of the trip, and let's be honest here...who could not eat a warm fresh loaf of bread like that?
We bought a few of these jars for the babes to try.
Then we walked down to the temple and waited for the family to arrive.
There were 3 boys going through the Bar Mitzvah today.
My cousin, Sam, did a great job. He read his Torah portion better than the other boys and was so poised through the whole 2.5 hour ceremony.
The parents were part of the ceremony, the grandparents, and the cousins too!
Yes! I got to go on the Bimah with my cousins and say a prayer and sing a song too.
Nathan thought all of this was so cool, which it was.
Sam's speech/talk started out with a little family history on my Grandmother's side. I learned about my Great Grandma LuLu (Louise) whom I loved, and named Bridget Louise after. After that, Sam read in Hebrew part of the Torah in Moses where he was standing up to Pharaoh demanding that he let his people go. Sam interpreted it, and based his project on this scripture passage/portion.
Sam is very musical. He is an artist. So his project was to write a song, have it produced (which is in the works) and it be the theme song for this huge anti bullying website. Sam also has partnered with the website to stand up to bullying and will be working with them on their campaigns. Seriously, what a cool guy!
After the Ceremony we walked to Grays Papya.
THE place for a hot dog. We grabbed one off the street a few days ago and got a dirty dog, but nothing compares to Gray's.
We saw some guys doing pipe work and we were staring like Prince Edward was going to pop right out of it! Such nerds. Haha.
There it is!
Mmmm, the line was so long for these puppies.
They were delicious. We even went back for Breakfast they were soooo good.
We enjoyed the afternoon and then got ready for the reception.
This was the first time we got pictures of all the cousins together. I can't wait to see what it looks like.
Me 30, Steph 27, Joanna 19, Gerald 17, Sam 13, Aiden 9, and Issac 8.
My Dad's cousin Louise (yes after the same person), My uncle Richard, Marsha's husband, and Marsha, my dad's cousin. When I first met Louise I was 9 and she told me that big feet meant big brains. I thought she was SOOO cool when I was little. She is 6 foot 3 inches, I believe. I wanted to be just like her because she made tall and awkward...cool. :D
Aunt Karyn (Richard's wife) and Joyce.
My cousins Joanna (19) and Karyn (their mom) and Gerald (17)
Me and Steph
Joanna, Isaac (8) and Gerald. My youngest cousin is 2 years older than my son. CRAZY!
After Apps and Cocktails it was dancing time.
Sam is a fantastic dancer. The blue shirt is Aiden (9) Sam's brother, and my cousin.
My cousins are either really young, or really old. I can't decide. When I was born, my Uncle Jon was 15. So, its my parents fault that they had kids so young and that I am so old. hehe.
They called that adults to the floor, and guess who was the FIRST one to get out there and dance...
can you spot who?
yup, Nathan. What a goober.
My beautiful Aunt Elyse and Uncle Jon.
Sam had his face superimposed on his favorite band covers. They were awesome.
Hava Nagila Dance
For the guest book they had a photo booth.
Here are our pics.
We got to take home a copy!
After this was the toasts and the candle blowing.
My favorite part of my Uncle Jon's speech was that he said Sam was cool by association, because he and Elyse were cool. That is pretty much how we feel about our kids. ;)
Nathan and I snuck out 30 minutes early and took the subway to Times Square, so we could see it lit up!
Look what we found in the many subway stations. MORE tile!
We made it and found this place! YAY!
Times Square!
What a cool vibe!
We came home, via subway and could barely move our legs up the stairs.
What a night.
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