New York visit

Happy Christmas Eve!

This week we made the 13 hour drive up to Philadelphia, we're here at my parent's house for Christmas, and we took advantage of being back up north to take a quick trip back to visit New York City, only 2 hours drive away from here.

We spent 3 days there, staying with friends and stopping by lots of our favorite places and really trying to make it about what the kids wanted to see. The Museum of Natural History was at the top of the kid's list,

Climbing rocks in Central Park was another one that was up there,

We all enjoyed the misty winter beauty of our old city. Being back there for the first time after our move (how can it be 6 months ago already!?) had me feeling nostalgic and completely energized by that energy that is only in NYC, but it also confirmed our move for us in so many ways.

Seeing the city decorated for the holidays was fun and we visited the holiday market at Union Square along with my favorite cafe close by, both of which I had been missing at this time of year,

and more than one of NYC's cool playgrounds.

We left feeling tired, and also feeling like New York city will always be one of those perfect places for us to visit as a family, since we know it so well and there are things that we all love to do there. But we feel perfectly placed at our new home and city in Charleston, which was an end of the year gift for me....
Looking back we have come so far in a year, from deciding to leave New York, to organizing and making the move to adjusting and settling in Charleston, and while it was one of the hardest and most strenuous years of my life in many ways it also was full of the gifts of clarity and strength which have forced me to grow in ways that I was ready for.
So our visit back to NYC reenforced all of the choices that we have made, and for that I feel deeply grateful.