It's that time of year

NYC - Day 3

So this post has taken me forever to write, mostly because we hit the ground running as soon as we got home. Ahhhh life!

Sunday morning we woke up on schedule and I took myself downstairs for a coffee and a quick call to my brother to run through some last minute details. Matt got Jack some breakfast from the hotel restaurant and we headed off to Fox Studios only about 5 minutes behind schedule. It was honestly the only time I was nervous the whole day. Once we got through security, we were taken to the green room. In my mind, a green room is this luxurious, semi-private space with areas to prep and relax before going on tv. But this place was busy! There was a guy dressed as a Baskin Robbins ice cream cone (it was national ice cream day or something), a bunch of dogs and their handlers for a segment about keeping dogs cool in the summer, and the inventor of the cronut (http://dominiqueansel.com/cronut-101/). 

Side note: Since we got to NYC, Matt asked almost everyone we talked to who lived there about the cronut. People apparently line up for hours for the chance to get one before they sell out. Only after we sat next to its inventor for 30 minutes did we find out his connection. Turns out he was there introducing his newest creation - the frozen s'more.

Back to the green room. I got called into hair and make up, which I was not expecting. 

Jack, meanwhile, stayed pretty focused on playing with his trains and watching The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Netflix. The Netflix app is a traveling parent's best friend, by the way. 

Soon enough, it was time to head outside to the set. I had asked the producers to let me get in a few minutes early to get Jack used to the edge and the cameras. I had also asked, days ahead of time, how the water temperature would be controlled. I never really got a straight answer until

I got in the water - and the answer was that the water temperature was in no way controlled. They filled it from the tap at about 2am that morning. It was so very cold. 

My first thought was that Jack could not get in - but he was pretty eager to swim and did not like that I was in a pool without him. So after a minute of catching my breath, I let him get in with me. To my surprise, no tears! He was clearly not a fan of the temperature, but he splashed around a bit and was generally happy. Things were looking up! I let him hold on to the edge and go under to grab the edge and all was well. 

And then I let him swim. I think moving around in the cold water made it feel colder and he. was. not. happy. By then, we were less than 30 seconds from the promo so we just made due. Most of the interview was a blur for me and, although Jack was not delighted, he did amazingly well the entire time. You can watch the whole interview here minus the teaser, which I think was the best part: http://goo.gl/0muK1

Side note #2: About four different people offered to get Jack ice cream after the segment. Really? 

As soon as the show went to commercial, Matt got Jack and got him out of the wet, cold clothes and wrapped up in nice, warm towels. I got to stay in for a bit longer to do the After the Show segment (which you can watch here: http://goo.gl/S42b5n). Then Matt had to help me out of the pool because I couldn't feel my feet - seriously. 

The rest of the day was great! We got brunch with Greg (bonus points for spotting him in the "crowd" during the show) and checked out of the hotel. They locked up our bags so we could see some sights before leaving: we went to Top of the Rock and back to Central Park. 

Matt got a Gray's Papaya hot dog and I saw a live model showing of her Lulu in the window if the Lululemon store. 

We walked and walked and walked and finally it was time to meet our car service at the hotel. One of my fellow Instructors met us there and we got to visit which was really nice. 

Then we packed it up and went on a pretty scary ride to LaGuardia. Let's just say the driver did NOT want us to be late.

Little did he (or we) know that our flight would be delayed by over two hours. We were lucky that friends of ours were booked on the same flight so we got to visit in the airport while we waited. Silver lining. Jack was a champion - he watched Thomas, played with his sticker book, ate Cheerios, watched airplanes out the windows - all with a much better attitude than most of the adults. And when we finally made it on the plane, he got to sit in the co-pilot seat. 

Before we made it in the air, he was out. Can you blame him? Live national tv before you're even 2 years old can really take it out of a kid. 

Cheers to a great trip!