Happy Birthday from New York City

Tuesday was my 29th birthday and it was a fantastic one. We started the day off with a classic NYC breakfast - omelets with potatoes and toast. We then went ice skating at Bryant Park. It was a good place to ice skate. We liked it even more than the time we went ice skating in Central Park. There was a fun Christmas village all around the rink and a giant Christmas tree. These types of experiences are what make New York such a magical place to visit at Christmas time. 

 After we were done skating, we found some Mac and cheese and chili for lunch. We also had these epic hot chocolates with giant marshmallows. We explored the Christmas village and found a pair of pink kitten winter gloves that Alison had bought for Skylee. 

We then headed uptown to explore Central Park. We started up above the Met and walked down to the edge of the park and all the way across. We love Central Park. It was a fairly quiet day in the park. We meandered among the many trails not really worrying about where we were headed. As we walked we talked and recalled some of our favorite New York memories. We have shared a lot of really fun experiences in New York. 

We were in the mood for a treat and we weren’t too far from the world’s best cookie so we headed to Levain Bakery and each got a cookie. I had another chocolate peanut cookie - I am convinced this is the best one. 

We swung by the Natural History Museum and spent a few minutes walking through a few of our favorite exhibits. I really enjoy this museum. I think my favorite part is the dinosaur collection. They have rooms full of huge fossils. 

We headed to Time Square. It did not take as long to get there as we expected.  So we had a few minutes to hang out before the highlight of the evening - Hamilton. We could not have been more excited. We bought these tickets nearly one year ago.

We had very high expectations going into the show and it crushed our expectations. It was easily the best musical I have ever seen on Broadway. Everything from the singing to the nuanced acting to the staging and the cast were all superb. I don’t know if I will ever see a show this good again.

There are so many thoughts swirling through my head about this musical. I could not do them justice here. I do have a few observations I want to remember. One of the things I truly love about this musical is that it is the America of today (a diverse and dynamic society) telling the story of the founding of this nation. In every way, this musical captures America, but especially in the music. While the story is primarily told through hip-hop this show uses the entire American songbook: reggae, ballads, barbershop harmony, and gospel, among other genres. It is inclusive in a way that our nation aspires to be. Hamilton is big, brawling, diverse, contentious, loud, joyous, powerful, and full of love, much much like our country. I love this show because it tells the history of our country in a forward-looking way. When George Washington sings, history has its eyes on you, he is talking to the audience. This show makes the revolution something that did not just happen a long time ago, but rather, it is an ongoing effort to build a nation. The central question of this show asks, what happens now? One of Hamilton's final statements in the show is, “Legacy. What is a Legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see." The men and women who came before had their opportunity to plant the seeds of this great nation. The opportunity now falls to us to continue to plant seeds and build a nation that we can be proud to pass on to our posterity.

After the show, we stopped by Junior for some cheesecake. Just like that my birthday was over. This was one amazing birthday.