What do these things have in common you ask??? Well, funny you should ask. I am strict about 8 pm bedtime for LaLa and the Bean. However… on Monday nights there is “The Roadshow”. My son can hear the intro music from anywhere in the house. He gets down-right grumpy if I watch it without him. While Farmboy is out watching Monday Night Football- LaLa, the Bean and I pile up on the couch with popcorn and watch Antiques Roadshow. We marvel how so-and-so bought such-and-such for a dollar at a yard sale only to find out that it’s worth a gazillion dollars at auction.

A couple of weeks ago while watching and crunching, the Bean said, “Momma, I want to go to The Cloisters.” Excuse me? “I want to go to The Cloisters.” Am I hearing things? What do you know about The Cloisters? “There is a famous tapestry there of a unicorn that I want to see.” How do you know about the tapestry? “In one of my Magic Treehouse books Jack and Annie travel to the Cloisters to solve a riddle and release the captured unicorn in the tapestry.” After I picked myself up from the floor, I thought… that needs to be encouraged and rewarded. The Bean is a reader. A lover of books at 8 years old. I’m thrilled.

While watching Leslie Keno discuss a beautiful old Kentucky highboy the Bean went on to say, “I also want to go to the Empire State Building, ride in a taxi, see the Statue of Liberty and ride the subway.” Well, okay then. What can I say? I got all excited and started planning our trip before the next commercial came on. After whipping the Bean up into a frenzy about a quick trip to The City, the next morning I realized that I hadn’t yet breached the topic with Farmboy. Ooops. I wasn’t quite sure how he would feel about traipsing through NYC with a 5 and 8 year old in tow. Sweet man that he is, his response… “Let’s do it!” LOVE that guy!

After cooking two turkeys (don’t get me started about the benefits of brining) and having 12 others over for Thanksgiving Dinner, we left the next day. I packed LaLa and the Bean’s clothes as they packed their cuddlebugs. What a trip we had!

The highlight of my trip? The Cloisters. The Bean introduced me to the tapestry. How did he know that I needed a reason to visit there? Secretly I have always wanted to go. I’ve seen those lovely gardens in magazines. The tapestry was icing on my cake and I now have a lovely porcelin mug to remind me of the magic of The Cloisters, Reading and The Antiques Roadshow.