Haver you ever met one of your favorite bloggers?

I did.

Is it creepy to drive 2 hours to attend a storytime with one of your favorite bloggers?

I hope not.

Because that is what we did this past Saturday.

Backstory:
A year or so ago, I was talking about blogs with my brother's girlfriend, Maria. She asked me if I read the Rockstar Diaries. I hadn't so I went and checked it out. 

I was immediately hooked, as it seems a lot of people are. 

I have been following Naomi and her family's blog and her instagram feed for some time now and last week she posted that she and her husband, Josh, would be at the Strand bookstore in NYC on Saturday, June 8th to read some of their favorite children's books.

So I texted Maria and asked if she would be interested in going up to the city with me and spending the day...of course making the storytime event and then just walking around the city and Central Park.

She said yes.

We made plans. I researched trains, parking, subway, lunch....I just like to do that kind of stuff when I am traveling somewhere. Control freak? Maybe-yes.

We left around 8am and I flew like the wind to the big city, my goal being to get there before 10am and get the early bird parking rate - which we did. And Maria brought her adorable nephew, Ryder, along for the trip. He is so cute and such a good baby!

We got to the subway and took the N down to Union Square Station. Avery loved riding the subway. And touching all the nastiness along the way.

The bookstore was only a block or so from the subway and we made it there in plenty of time.
It is a really cool bookstore, and if you like books it is definitely worth a visit. Had we not had a 2 year old and a baby, Maria and I could have stayed in that store for hours.

Back to storytime.

It was fun! Both Josh and Naomi read a couple books. A few of them Avery knew from the local storytime my sister takes her to so she knew the hand motions and stuff. They had their kids there, Eleanor and Samson who are just as cute in person as they are in photographs.

Naomi reading "We're
Going on a Bear Hunt"














Maria and I got the chance to meet and talk to Naomi. And she is one of the nicest, most humblest people I have met. She was just sweet. She was kind to every single person she spoke to. Which made me like her even more than I already had. It was well worth the drive up there.

After storytime, we were all getting hungry so we made our way to Eataly on 5th Ave. That place was a zoo! And not really the place to drag two little kids and a stroller into. When you are hot and hungry.
So we walked over to the Shake Shack in Madison Square park. There was some festival going on and the line was ridiculous. We finally ended up at  Jewish Deli on 5th Ave. It was good and we had a chance to rest and cool off and you really cannot go wrong with a Jewish deli.

Then, THEN, we hoofed it all the way up 5th Ave to Central Park...almost 3 miles! It was nice out and there are so many good stores - a lot of them the flagship store for the brand - along the way.

Of course by the time we got to Central Park, Avery was out.

But then Maria and I spotted 2 of Avery's favorites so I HAD to wake her up:

She was pretty starstuck

We left the city around 4:30 and I can say we had a great day. The kids were fun and I think they both liked it. I am planning on another trip in the near future.

Central Park

Thank you, New York, for such a fun day! We will see you again, soon!

xoxo