Our family took a mini vacation this long weekend to NYC.  We really have the travel bug and want to take advantage of the girls time off of school to explore places. Justin and I used to love going to NYC, which we did a few times a year when my sister lived there.  The last time we were in NY was seven years ago!  It doesn’t seem like that long ago but it was a few months before I became pregnant with Avery and Emerson and the last year my sister lived in NY before moving to London. Crazy how time flies!  Anyway, Justin and I like walking and exploring, taking in the scenery and the free stuff, and eating good food.  So that was our mission with kids while still trying to keep it exciting for them.

We took Emerson out of school early Friday to leave for NJ where we spent the night at Mary and Russell’s house.  Avery was out sick Friday as she had been the prior two days at school, thus we didn’t need to take her out early.  We arrived at Mary and Russell’s around 7:00 and enjoyed their hospitality and company as always.

Saturday morning Russell graciously drove us into the city and after we checked in at our hotel, drove us to the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History.  The girls had a great time exploring the space and mammal exhibits.  After staying there for a few hours, we crossed the street and entered Central Park right by Strawberry Fields.  The girls experienced a NY hot dog! Then we leisurely strolled around the lake coming out by the Boat House and then walking through Central Park Zoo.  I thought maybe we would go in, but that was before I realized it wasn’t a free zoo. We then made our way back towards the hotel stopping in Bloomingdales along the way for a bathroom break and then at Serendipity, where I thought the girls would get a  kick out of having a massively beautiful milkshake, but apparently I wasn’t the only one with that same idea.  It was 4:30 so I thought with the off time we would get in, but the amount of people waiting was so abundant that I didn’t even bother asking what the wait time was.  The girls were disappointed, I promised we would find the girls ice cream somewhere else but as you know when you are specifically looking for something is the only time you can’t find it!  We arrived at our hotel before we found ice cream so again the promise of ice cream was made for later.  We actually wanted to fill the girls up on dessert since the place we had dinner reservations at later in the evening was truly an indulgence for Justin and I with very little on the menu that would be appealing to the girls. Once we arrived back at the hotel, we checked in our room.  We were told the happy hour started in 5 minutes so we quickly unpacked so we could partake in the “free” happy hour.  We downed a few glasses of wine and nuts before we freshened up and headed to our dinner reservations.  Our dinner reservations were at Tolache on W. 50th.  It was perfect because we got a chance to walk through Rockefeller Center and by Radio City Music Hall.Dinner was good but Justin and I certainly didn’t enjoy it as much as we would have had it been just the two of us.  The staff didn’t appear to be too keen on the fact that three of the five persons in the reservations were kids.  While it certainly wasn’t a kid restaurant, there were a few others who also had kids so the fact that our waiter really didn’t even make an attempt to connect with us, was disappointing. They rushed us out the door…in seriously in less than an hour, we were done with dinner. The food itself was great and Emerson loved the flank steak, rice and beans.

After dinner we were in Times Square.  Justin and I normally don’t go to Times Square as we aren’t keen on the big tourist attractions and Justin is always weary of crowds for security reasons, but I felt like the girls needed to experience it…at least for a few minutes. We then stopped in the M&M store since Mila had told the girls about it and they wanted to go. Not certain of the pouty faces…perhaps it was the disappointment of Justin and I not letting them buying anything. 

Even though we didn’t go to bed until close to 11:00, we had a pretty good nights sleep.  Harper slept on the pull out couch by herself and Avery and Emerson took turns sleeping with Justin and I alternating nights.  Rock Paper Scissors determined who took turns sleeping with who.

Sunday morning we slept in later than I thought we would.  My alarm went off shortly after 7:00 but after I saw everyone was still sound asleep and the black out curtains made it feel like it was still the middle of the night, I hit snooze several times until close to 9:00!  I hopped in the shower while everyone still slept.  Slowly everyone else woke up and showered.  It had been raining so we were purposely being slow as the forecast said the rain was going to taper off.  When the rain didn’t let up as early as anticipated, we opted to go to brunch right around the corner from the hotel, The Smith.  The wait was an hour and a half but they had some spaces at the communal table, which we were able to snag up right away eliminating our wait time. The food was good, although pricey…very pricey!  Emerson’s apple juice cost $6!  After breakfast it was still raining some so we headed back to the hotel room for a little longer.  By 1:00 p.m. the rain stopped and we were on our way.  We walked to Grand Central Station.

We then went to the Empire State Building, although we didn’t go to the top. We then walked to Madison Avenue Park on 23rd and the girls had fun playing on the playground.

Next we walked to Union Square where the girls enjoyed the street performers, specifically this man juggling.  He was actually pretty darn talented!  

When his performance was over, we told the girls it was ice cream time!  We had promised them ice cream the day before and when we were unsuccessful in finding it, the promise rolled over to Sunday.  They hadn’t asked about it in quite a few hours so I wanted to show them that they didn’t need to pester us about things for them to happen.  Avery and Harper and along with their dresses and hair indulged in chocolate ice cream.  Emerson indulged in blackberry and true to her nature stayed pretty clean.

It was after 3:00 by the time the girls finished their ice cream.  We decided we didn’t have enough time or the girls enough stamina to walk to Battery Park so we hopped on the Subway.  We took the 5 but as usual I didn’t understand the limited weekend subway service and it didn’t stop at Battery Park.  We were forced to get off at The Brooklyn Bridge if we still wanted to be in Manhattan!  We decided since we were so close to go for a short stroll on the bridge but with the need to go to the bathroom, that stroll didn’t last too long.  We then made our way to South Seaport.  The girls were getting a little tired and cranky so when they saw a playground and asked if they could go in, we said yes.  Two minutes after they were playing I spotted one of my sister’s friends and her family.  I had never met her before but I recognized her from my sister’s wedding and pictures I had seen of her before.  Anyway, I introduced myself and we chatted for a few, took a picture together to send to my sister, and she told us about the free bus loop that would take us to Battery Park from South Seaport!  After the girls played for a few, we headed to South Seaport. The girls each bought themselves a fidget spinner (the latest craze) from a street vendor (I negotiated 3 for $10) with their own money and they were ECSTATIC!  Seriously, they were so excited to have their own fidget spinners.  Honestly, I thought they would ask for something else since they still had birthday money remaining, but they were quite content with their purchase. Justin and I then grabbed an adult beverage (or two) at an outdoor bar while the girls played with their fidget spinners.  We were sitting at a big picnic table in a cool location; weather was beautiful, and it was chill and awesome.  Honestly, it was amazing.  I’m sure the fact that I was buzzed after one beer had something to do with it, but it is moments like this with my family that I feel so content and happy.  While we were hanging out there I got blessed by a Hasidic Jew.  Emerson had previously called me out on it when I earlier said no thank you to a Hasidic Jew on the Brooklyn Bridge asking me if I was Jewish.  (I thought he was trying to sell me something).  Anyway, Emerson and I talked about it afterwards and she asked me if I would say I was Jewish the next time.  Well the next time came when Justin was grabbing us beers.  My Hebrew was so horrendous….I’m sure the Hasidic Jew boy with peach fuzz was internally laughing hysterically. By the way, the Hasidic Jew families with young kids are the cutest families ever.  Anyway, after our drinks, we were going to scratch Battery Park but when the free bus was literally at our feet and the ride was less than 10 minutes away, we hopped on.  Where we hopped off, we could see The Statue of Liberty from afar.  We took a picture of it on the phone so Avery could see it.  We honestly stayed there for less than 10 minutes but at least the girls could say they saw The Statue of Liberty.  Justin had fun taking pictures of the girls.

As we made our way to the Subway, we saw behind us Freedom Tower. Justin had wanted to go to the World Trade Center Memorial but we knew it would spurn to many questions from the girls, and while the time will come that they will be exposed to harsh truths, they are still at an age where we can foster their innocence without sacrificing their knowledge…that time won’t last long though so we are savoring the days while we can.  We got off the subway at Grand Central Station and on the way back we looked for a pizza joint that was appealing.  We did have dinner reservations at The Stanton Social but I cancelled them…it was hard to do because I felt like we scored with getting these reservations but the truth was it wasn’t a kid’s restaurants and we had already subjected them and ourselves to that the previous night.  So we settled for a slice of pizza at $3 a slice.  It was fine…not to die for, but not bad.  We finally made our way back to the hotel room close to 8:00 p.m.  A few minutes later we went back out for one more drink.  We didn’t want to go far so we went to a restaurant down the block.  The reviews said it was good but overpriced.  While that normally would have turned me off, there weren’t many options right around us and we literally wanted one drink.  I figured even if it was overpriced it really wouldn’t add up too much. Justin and I each ordered a beer and I ordered cookies off the dessert menu for the girls.  The cookies were disappointing!  I expected overpriced, which they were ($10) but I still expected them to be good…i expected warm melt in your mouth cookies and these were definitely already at least a day old).  We were back at the hotel by 9:00 where Justin gave the girls a hose down in the shower while I packed.  NY is dirty and seriously dirt was just caked on the girls!

Monday morning we went to NY Jumbo Bagels on 56th and 3rd.  We opted to go somewhere that was good, reasonably priced, but that wasn’t insanely popular with lines out the door. Avery enjoyed her plain bagel, Harper her plain bagel with cream cheese, and Emerson her bagel with lox.  Justin and I equally enjoyed our bacon, egg, and cheese on a whole wheat everything and a cup of steaming hot coffee.  We stopped at Buttercream Bakery on the way home for some dessert as I hadn’t yet indulged in any NY dessert.  We got cupcakes to go…two for me….a pumpkin that I ate with the rest of my coffee when we got back to the hotel and a chocolate buttercream.  Both were absolutely delicious.  Russell picked us up at the hotel again, which was awesome, and then after a quick bathroom break at Russell and Mary’s house, we were back on the road.  We made great time and even made it back in time for Avery and Emerson’s ballet class.

I can’t stop thinking about the fact that we ran into my sister’s friend. It wasn’t so much the specific friend but when you think about the chances of it, it is just crazy.  We took a few turns and changed our plans slightly that day…had we not done that, we wouldn’t had run into her.  It makes me wonder about all the times that you just miss someone too and have no knowledge of it. Anyway, it was just so symbolic of life….and how all things, even the so called “wrong turns” happen for a reason.

What would I have done differently:
– paid a donation instead of the suggested fee for the Museum of Natural History.  Since we were only there a short time, I totally would have been okay with that.  Not to mention that the primary reason we went there (the Hayden Planetarium) was a special exhibit and I had thought it wasn’t…thus I didn’t even purchase the ticket that allowed us to experience it.
– Stay at the same hotel…but book for 4 persons allowing us to stay in a smaller room with two queens (the girls can triple up for one weekend)! Also, potentially ok directly with the hotel versus Expedia.