As the move became more likely and my online searching was nearly incessant, we booked a flight for us to see the areas I had been researching firsthand. We decided to bring along our seven year old, to do a trial run of parenting around the city.
Initial thoughts on our move
When the possibility of us moving to NYC first came up, I envisioned this super hip, chic lifestyle awaiting us. New York seemed like the coolest place to raise a child, period. The diversity, the learning opportunities, all of the arts and culture–the possibilities of things to do there are endless, of course. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect based on other peoples’ encounters, New York online publication write-ups about the different areas, (and honestly, maybe a little bit based on movies and TV shows).
Mark, on the other hand, was more interested in the suburbs. This came as no surprise to me: he grew up in the suburbs of Houston and had, many times, tried to convince me into moving out of the city. We butted heads a bit on the matter.
Our visit: Manhattan
Our first days in the city, Mark had to work. Tobias and I took advantage of the free time by exploring Times Square, sitting in the first row of a Broadway show, touring Central Park, and visiting an art exhibit that I had been seeing all over Instagram.