New York With Katya

As a special treat for mother-daughter trip, Katya and I went to New York City! 

I think Katya was trying to do as much as possible after her mission and before she was going back to school. It was such a blessing to have her around! Of course, I planned the whole trip and we were able to fly to JFK for merely $10 a person with tickets booked with points. We also stayed at a super nice hotel Renaissance New York Midtown in the center of all the action--FOR FREE because of the credit card sign up bonus. Anyway! 

 We thought--ok, we can go in March, it's pretty much spring and warmish. Well...it was definitely NOT! The temperature was in low 40s the whole time we were there.

Our flight got to NYC around 8:30 am (after a very stressful moment of Katya leaving her ID in the car and Robert having to drive back to the airport and then us cutting it really close to boarding time). We grabbed a taxi and felt like we were going to die at least a dozen times on the drive to the city. I did not want to tip the dude. 

We dropped off our luggage in our room as they let us check in early, bundled up and walked a few minutes to...the Times Square! 

You can just feel the vibe of NYC by standing in the middle of that square, it's something extraordinary. 

Katya was trying to help me pose for the pictures. I took off my hat and froze immediately. 

Let me try to imitate Katya. 

Forget it, I am putting my hat back on. 

Met and my favorite girl! 

From Times Square, we walked to the Rockefeller Plaza. Last time we were there, it had the ice rink and the Christmas tree up. 

We walked and walked all the way to Central Park on this beautiful sunny day. We sat down and listened to the buskers by the Strawberry Fields and enjoyed the stroll along the Literary Walk. 

We walked for such a long time after that--stopped by the Manhattan temple but it was closed. After freshing up and changing at our hotel, we had amazing burgers/sandwiches at a tiny place on the way to the Broadway theater. The highlight of our evening was watching Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Broadway show which was absolutely magical and spectacular! Highly recommend it! I will also forever cherish the memory of me and Katya walking to our hotel late at night and her singing the "New York" song:)).

In the mornings we had a routine--stop by the BAGEL shop next door to us. Oh, those bagels were amazing! 

On our second full day in NYC, we walked to the Empire State Building. 

It was one thing that I've done when I was 18 years old, on my long layover in New York in 2001. I decided we could do it with Katya this time. The tickets are quite expensive, but because it was just the two of us, it didn't hurt as much. 

The exhibits on the high floors of the Empire State building were quite informative and fascinating. It was built rather quickly in 1930-31 in only one year and 45 days.  

The story of this iconic building is 1454 ft tall--one of the most famous skyscrapers in the world.

The view from the top was magnificent on this day! 

We took SO many pictures from all sides! 

Here we go. The 4th tallest building in NYC and 6th tallest in the US. 

This is one of my favorite pictures with Katya from this trip. 

In the afternoon, we made our way to Brooklyn Bridge. I really wanted to make the grand crossing but we changed our mind as it looked again so busy with people...and we didn't find a point to do it. 

 

But we did take some pictures of ME! 

And selfies of us! 

From Brooklyn Bridge we walked all around the Financial District, looking for the famous Wall St.  

And for the famous Bull. No, we did not stand in line to touch the Charging Bull. 

We finished off our dinner by having pizza at Bleeker St. Pizza. It was so nice to be in a warm place where we could sit down and relax.

On our last day in NYC, we woke up to absolutely terrible weather. Terrible. It was still quite cold but so rainy. We grabbed our umbrellas and decided to make it to the MET. Well...the line was SO long to get into the museum, that we decided we were not up for the wait. We walked all the way from the MET, through the Central Park, to Grand Central Station. We were just looking for something to do inside. We got some Ukrainian food for lunch at the Veselka cafe and some donuts from the Doughnut Plant to take home to the boys. 

We then made our way to the Highline and walked that normally very pleasant walk. It was very peaceful. We imagined what it would be like in the warmer months. The Highline is like a walking path "above" the city roads, built from the remnants of the old freight rail line. 

By the end of our walk, we were SO soaked as we basically had fish swimming inside our shoes. We got to our hotel room before the late check out, changed/packed up and then ended up waiting for an hour or so at our hotel lobby (which was very large and fancy) for our taxi to take us to the airport. We just didn't know where else to go and not get soaked. 

I wish I could say that we got to the airport and all was well BUT! Nope.... because of the weather, the flights were being cancelled left and right. So after we were all checked in, our flight got cancelled. 

Everyone madly rushed to the Delta counter to get rebooked. I called Delta instead and managed to get us a flight the following morning but out of Newark... that meant we had to get a hotel reservation by EWR and also take a taxi there. I quickly managed to book everything, keeping the receipts (because later on I was able to file a claim to my Amex Delta Platinum card to reimburse us $300 for the hotel!). So yes, we had another night at the hotel, and then we had to figure out the details of our flight once we got to the airport as we technically were showing up at a 4 pm flight instead of the morning flight. It all got sorted and we indeed got on the proper flight and got home before noon.

It was quite an adventure getting home. But the greatest adventure was to spend time and do fun city things with Katya! 

Mark's Winter Tennis Season 2024

As we all remember well at our house, tennis has no real off-season. Mark plays tournaments even during the winter months. So 2024 started for Mark with an L4 tournament in Peachtree, GA, about 5.5 hours away. 

Mark played well, the draw was pretty tough, although he was in the second flight (draw of 64, four flights of 16 divided according to the rankings).

Mark got 3rd in Singles in his flight. 

He played doubles with Connor, against whom he had to play in singles as well, in the consolation. 

The first doubles match was actually a nail biter. The team of Max D and Emery C was very competitive, so we got to witness a great match. Connor and Mark won. Clearly they all had such a good time, that taking a picture after the match was not awkward. 

As I've mentioned before, sometimes it's so hard to get pictures in the middle of the match because it is sometimes quite stressful and distracting. Plus you know...the jinx of losing the point when I am recording is still well and alive. 

At the end of February, Mark played in Charleston. It was another L5 where he played doubles with Connor. They again had a great run but ended up with third place. These guys aim to win and nothing but that. 

Finally, Mark and I went to Jackson, MS to finish up our winter tournaments. It was a Southern Closed L4 so lots of great matches. Mark played really well! 

He and Ross Johnson somehow managed to take the first place in Doubles! Their first try at doubles a year prior was quite disastrous-haha. 

                

And then Mark also finished off his Singles run by becoming a Consolation Finalist. He learned a lot of lessons at this tournament and one of them--you never know what type of player will give you trouble. 

I try to write about these tournaments because after a while they become a blur. Some are a lot more eventful than others, some are in new locations, some require flying and others just driving an hour (hello, Greensboro!). One thing for sure, we need to do a better job taking pictures and documenting them as the clock is ticking. Mark is jut not a huge fan of pictures so we will keep trying our best! 

Three more years of junior tennis--that is very exciting! 

 

Disney 2024: Epcot half day (Day 4)

And thus we reached the last day of our wonderful family vacation. Our flight was not until later in the evening, so we still had a chance to spend at least half a day at one of the parks. 

It's funny how with every morning picture, we look more and more tired. 

We took some pictures of the hotel because it was so awesome to stay there. The Swan is not technically a Disney hotel but it gave us a lot of perks like the ability to simply take a boat directly from the hotel to Epcot! It also had a regular shuttle to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. 

That's us before getting onto the boat. 

Oh yeah, so we headed to Epcot once again! We headed straight to the Guardian of the Galaxy as it's one of the most popular rides in the park and we had to get into an online queue. And it was awesome!!! You can see it in my face-hahaha. This ride goes backwards!!! 

We went to France for more crepes. 

And England for some fish and chips. 

A little slice of Katya's favorite Britain. 

We then took the boat back to the hotel in the afternoon, picked up our suitcases and took a taxi to the airport. 

I love love Disney! It was a successful trip! At the same time we decided that the next time we'll be going is probably when we have grandkids-hahaha. Grateful we were able to do it by using Free Night Certificates from Marriott and Southwest Companion Certificate. It's a win! 

Till next time! 

Lyana.