Goodbye NYC...
New York.
It is a place unlike any other, and I have had the privilege to call it home for the past 9 years. I’ve eaten “mad” bagels and ordered countless “pies.” So many trips to the bodega. Killed too many roaches to count. Schlepped my groceries and stroller (often at the same time) up endless flights of subway stairs. Mastered folding up a stroller, while holding children and bags to get on the bus.
I’ve watched my children all grow up in arguably one of the best cities in the world. I’ve watched them hail taxis, visit world-renowned art exhibits, enjoy Central Park as their backyard, watch amazing Broadway shows and ballets, and attend some of the best schools in the country. Raising my small children in NYC has been no easy feat, but being an NYC Mom is a badge I have worn with the greatest of honors.
I love everything about New York. But I am most grateful to this city where I met my husband, welcomed 5 children, and buried 1. New York, you forever have my heart.
I’ve been reminiscing a lot lately, looking through hundreds of pictures over the past decade in New York. I am using this space to remember all of these precious moments, if you care to continue with this post! Warning, it’s long—we’ve lived a lot of life in NYC.
2011. Ron and I both moved to NYC. We met in October and had some of the best fun galavanting around the city together!
2012. Ron proposed to me on a camping trip with our best friends in Cape Cod!
2012. Ron and I got marred in Dix Hills, NY.
2012. We moved into our very first home on the Upper West Side. It was 350 square feet, and all of the windows looked into an alley. But man, oh man, was that location amazing. Our favorite neighborhood we’ve ever lived in.
2013. We welcomed our first child and only daughter, Alynne Tiffany.
2015. We moved uptown to Harlem where we enjoyed our most spacious NYC apartment ever!
2015. We welcomed our first son into our family, Fynnlan Seeley.
2017. We moved into our most recent home in Hells Kitchen. We’ve loved every minute of being in the thick of midtown Manhattan! Some of the best food and so close to everything!
2017. We welcomed and said goodbye to our son, Roman Xavi.
2018. We welcomed our son, Jackson Graham into our family.
2020. In April, we welcomed our 5th child and 4th son, Luca Quinn amidst the peak of the Covid Pandemic in the epicenter of it all.
2020. In the summer, we packed up our home and said goodbye to NYC.
And now for some random photos and memories from our time in NYC!
So many awesome date nights around the city! One of our favorite things to do was just roam the city together, usually ending up at Barnes & Noble by the end of the night :)
Picnics are a way of life in NYC! We loved packing up lunches to go play in the parks and picnic with friends every weekend of the summers!
Brunches are another staple in New York life. One of our all time favorite brunch spots is Jacob’s Pickles!
Living in NYC, we never owned a car. So our 4 kiddos all spent time being carried around the city by us!
For New York parents, strollers are like our cars. Every family owns at least two. You typically need a lightweight one that is easy to fold up for getting on the bus, or easy to carry up and down subway stairs. And then you need a more robust stroller to haul groceries, multiple children, run with, etc. We’ve had our fair share over the years!
Every little New Yorker rides around the city on scooters, it’s a right of passage! This was one of my favorite phases, to move beyond strollers and still be able to walk far distances with them on strollers! It’s quite amazing how they navigate the busy streets of NY!
And of course, NYC is not complete without public transportation! Both big kids can fully navigate the NYC subway and bus systems. They know how to get to the bus stops and stations and where to get off. They always help me carry a multitude of things, especially on the bus when I have to fold up our stroller and hold the baby. Many diapers have been changed, tantrums thrown, sandwiches eaten, books read, and Aly even learned to tie her shoes on a long train ride to the zoo last summer.
And one of my favorite parts about living in NYC, lots and lots of walking to get everywhere! I’m always amazed at our kiddos stamina to walk places (frequently a mile at a time!).
Not having a car meant often times getting caught in the pouring rain! But we usually tried to make the best of it :D
Little Aly helping Papi hail a taxi!
We have also enjoyed lots and lots of bike rides around the city. Since I have been pregnant for a good portion of our time in NYC, it meant that most of the time Ron biked with the big kids and I would meet him at our destination!
We always took time to stop and smell the flowers!
We spent lots and lots of weekends in Central Park! In fact, the first day Ron and I hung out was in CP!
We sure do love the beach, and we would make the 2 hour train ride to the beach several times each summer! One summer, I took both kiddos to the Rockaways on the ferry by myself, while pregnant…I didn’t do that again.
Another favorite place to venture to was Governor’s Island. We loved to bike down to the ferry and spend the afternoon playing on the island.
Though winters often felt like they lasted forever in New York, we did enjoy getting to go sledding, ice skating, and just playing in the snow. A favorite memory was when Fynn was a little over one, and Aly was convinced that Fynn was going to go in the “ocean!!” In reality, it was the Hudson River, and it was several hundred feet away haha.
Every Fall we went apple picking at Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard. We always had a big group of friends join us, and it was one our favorite traditions as a family! I will certainly miss those apple cider donuts! Each year, we would buy a dozen and freeze them, and immediately forget about them. It was always a wonderful surprise to find them tucked away in the back of the freezer in like April!
We took too many trips to count to the Bronx Zoo and the Central Park Zoo! Our favorite was the monorail at the Bronx Zoo and the penguins at the Central Park Zoo!
Splash pads were always a must on the hot summertime days. Our absolute favorite was in Tribeca at Pier 26, we frequented that one a lot on the weekends. We also loved the fountains on top of the Natural History Museum!
One of my favorite things about raising kids in NYC was the access to all of the world-renowned museums. Ron took the kids to the Natural History Museum for Papi Dates constantly. The kids always knew exactly where to find the giant whale and the dinosaurs. My favorite museum is the Transit Museum. It’s underground, and you can climb around on old subway cars! We also frequented The Met, The Moma, the children’s museums, and The Intrepid was literally at the end of our street!
What NY childhood is complete without Mister Softees?
We were always so grateful for our friends who lived right on the Macy’s parade route! We always had prime access to watch it, and it was a fun tradition with friends!
One 4th of July, we were lucky enough to get to watch the fireworks from our friends’ rooftop in Brooklyn!
Our little ballerina has been inspired by some of the best!
Most years we visited Santa at Macy’s!
Halloween in NYC was always unique. I loved trick-or-treating in our building, where weather didn’t matter. One year we actually took the kids to Governor’s Island for a pumpkin carving festival!
Alice’s Tea Cup was always a favorite Mami/Aly date spot!
We took the kiddos to their first Yankee game last year, and we got to do it in style! We were given box seats, which was amazing!
What is New York without Broadway?! Aly’s first Broadway show was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We went with some friends who had a friend in the show, so afterwards Aly got to walk around on stage and meet all of the cast. And “Charlie” even lived next door to us! Later, I won 4th row seats to see Frozen with Aly! And most recently, I took Fynn to see Aladdin. Living in NYC, I was determined to take advantage of all the Broadway lotteries. After years of entering, last year I really hit my stride and saw at least a dozen shows! Ron saw his first of several shows last year. What a way to end my time in NYC, especially as Broadway is now closed.
And speaking of Broadway, how special is it that our son was in a Broadway show! Jackson played Bobby Carney in the Tony Award-winning play The Ferryman. He is one of only a dozen babies who have ever been on Broadway in all of history! Jackson may not remember his nearly 2 years of life in NYC, but boy does he have a great story to share!
Window watching was always a favorite past-time of the kiddos when stuck indoors. There was never a dull moment outside!
Soooo many hours spent at playgrounds. Since most New Yorkers do not have backyards, everyone spends so much time at playgrounds. We could always count on at least a few friends being at the playground at any given time! We loved our local train playground, and we also loved to venture around the city exploring some really awesome playgrounds!
Ron has been going to the same barber for the past decade. In the past few years, Fynn has been able to join him. It’s been lots of special Papi/Fynn time. Though, Ron is probably happy to not have to trek uptown with three boys to get haircuts haha.
I’ll certainly miss both of the kid’s schools. Aly attended PS 51 for Pre-K and Kindergarten, and then moved to Chelsea Prep’s G&T program for 1st grade. Fynn attended PS 51 for Pre-K. Both schools have been so wonderful! I personally can’t believe our 5 year old was navigating a school bus by herself through Manhattan, but I know Aly will sure miss riding the school bus! One very New York memory from this school year: One day after school, it was raining and it was also a dance day, in which I had to quickly get Aly off the school bus, onto a city bus, and then onto the subway…also with both boys, stroller, backpacks, etc. Aly came off the bus with a huge poster board presentation. I quickly calculated that I could not add that to my load for the evening, so I laid it out to her real quick. We decided the best course of action was to take a picture of her with it before tossing it in a trash can in Times Square haha.
Ah, laundry. We were fortunate enough to always have laundry in our buildings over the years, but never in unit. I think part of me will kind of miss being able to do 8 loads of laundry at one time though!
Oh, construction. New York is always under construction. When we first moved into our most recent apartment (3.5 years ago), they were just beginning construction on a building on our corner. That building was going to be a Target! I spent 3.5 years waiting for the convenience of a Target in walking distance. Sad I never got to see that dream come true!!
I know our apartment was only 800 square feet, but I will really miss it. It has been home for the past 3.5 years, where we welcomed 3 of our 5 children. Our kids have befriended our doormen and maintenance staff, constantly being spoiled with treats and surprises. The families in our building are unparalleled. It’s been so unique to have so many kids right in our building for our kids to grow up playing with. Our actual apartment may have been tiny, but I like to think it made us closer and caused our kids to really use their imagination!
I will also miss our amazing doctors and access to phenomenal medical care. My babies were always in great hands!
I’m not sure if I’ll miss this pier or not haha. It was definitely a lovely option at the end of our street, right next to the Intrepid. But we spent the last 4 months of our time in NYC living on that pier. We found so many creative ways to play on that slab of concrete. It was our only space of refugee outside of our apartment during Covid. I was grateful for a space to go to, but I think I’ve had my share of it to last awhile!
Here is just a mix of photos that just seemed very “New York” to me. I’m grateful for all the kids got to experience in their time here. I could fill a book with all of the awesome memories we have created here! We will particularly miss our friends and family here. We’ll miss having Ron’s side of the family close by, and it is hard to imagine doing life without our network of friends. Some of us have been friends since before any of us had children! We’ve been through a lot together. I find it comforting to know that these friends will not just be our New York friends, but they’ll be friends that last us a lifetime!
Hands down the hardest part about leaving NYC, leaving behind Roman. Wow, has that been tough. Ron and I said goodbye to him at his memorial last weekend, and that was excruciating. You feel like you’re walking away from your child, abandoning them. It ranked right up there with the moment the nurse wheeled Roman out of our hospital room. It’s a feeling unlike any other, and one I hope others do not have to experience. Your head can know that Roman is in Heaven perfectly happy and safe, but it’s a whole other thing for your heart to understand.
Roman, my prince, New York was your first home too, but know that we carry you in our hearts forever.
Finally, here is the vlog that Ron created of our last weekend in NYC, where we came back long enough to pack everything up and put it on a moving truck! So very bittersweet.
And just a few more photos of NYC…
