We have had a VERY BUSY past 3 days with early mornings and late nights and LOTS & LOTS of walking. As I sit here writing this post, my kiddos are all still asleep….and it’s almost 10:30 am. We have built in a day of rest here before heading up to Boston.
We finished our third week of travel in the Big Apple. I had brought my daughter to New York City for her 13th birthday, but it was the first time for my 2 boys. They had 2 requirements – Empire State Building and that “big toy store” in Times Square.
Easy, right?
Apparently not in the summer time.
It seems the whole world comes to New York in the summer time. We encountered crowds every where we went.
Times Square was packed – see?
But we managed to make our way through the crowds to see the BIG Toys R Us for my little guy. And then we got out of there as quick as we could and in time for our reservations for Serendipity – we just had to have a Frozen Hot Chocolate!
Day 2 in New York City
Today started with a big Mom Fail that I learned the hard way. We went to the Empire State Building at 11:00 am. And we encounter this:
I had thought this was just the line for security and once we were through, we’d be on our way. Um. No. There were 4 additional lines we had to go through. An hour and a half in, we bailed. No sense in spending the whole day waiting in a LINE!
So I took the kids to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. I have been to the memorial several times, but I wanted to see the museum. It was very well done. It was emotional and a wonderful tribute to all those who lost their lives that day. Many have asked me if it was appropriate to bring kids. It has graphic images and video. I felt it was good for my older children to learn what happened that day. It is a part of our history. However, it was way over my 6 year old’s head to understand what we were looking at. I’m not going to recommend a certain age to take your kids, as I feel each parent knows their kids the best.
And that night, we attended a special screening of Ant-Man with an introduction by the star, Paul Rudd. My boys were very excited to see this movie and I was very excited to see Mr. Rudd. Here’s more on that event here. BTW – the movie is fantastic! Go see it!!
Day 3 in New York City
Determined to make up for the day before, we headed to the Empire State Building at 8 am, when they opened. Guess what? We walked right up with NO LINES. Best tip if you want to go in the summer!
We also took in the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
And then spent the afternoon in Central Park:
We rented sailboats to play with. And listened to incredible artists singing and playing instruments. And watched these incredible bubbles being made. It was lovely. The weather was gorgeous and it was a wonderful way to complete our 3 days in New York City.
We booked a photography session with Flytographer in Central Park too. Samantha, our amazing photographer, followed us around and snapped pictures of us playing. You didn’t even know she was there. I’ll tell you more about out time when I get the pics, but know that it is a really neat way to capture your vacation.
I’m so happy we redeemed our day with the last day. We walked almost 8.5 miles but because we really took our time, it was a wonderful day.
Take a look at all 3 days:
Austin2Boston Day 17: We Love Philly!
