Back From the Big Apple

New York City was a crazy, busy, non-stop, kind of place, like I've never seen before. I drove us into the city just after 9:30 a.m. - no trouble at all driving there. We dropped off luggage and set out for the Natural History Museum and our first subway ride. The museum was HUGE with something like 44 exhibition halls plus a butterfly conservatory, planetarium, and special exhibit hall. We saw a fraction of what was there. The kids lost interest pretty quickly but they plugged along with us with no complaining. The food court there was fantastic with options for every taste - I was impressed - and not ridiculously pricey either! After the museum we ended up at American Girl Place. In a word - AWESOME! Three levels of dolls, clothes, and books - along with a theater, cafe, doll hospital, and doll salon. Impressive. Becky used up her birthday money and other money she'd saved up there. What a fun place. Here's a picture of Becky and her Julie doll. So cute.

Next we ended up in Times Square - which, incidentally was two blocks from our hotel and we didn't realize it until late in the day! Times Square...WOW! Lights, taxis, tour buses, PEOPLE, stores, restaurants, PEOPLE! We brought the kids to ToysRUs where they have an indoor Ferris wheel. They liked that. The M&M store was cool. And we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. A busy day!

Day two we did the tourist thing and took a Duck Tour. Our guide was very informative about NYC's history and little trivial facts - I like that stuff. Then the bus drives into the water - the Hudson River in this case - and we took a little ride. The city skyline was beautiful from the water.

After the Duck Tour we headed to the Staten Island Ferry for a leisurely, FREE ride past Lady Liberty. It was amazing to see HUNDREDS of people waiting to board the ferry and then once we on board the ferry seemed empty! The thing was HUGE. We all enjoyed the ferry ride and the view was spectacular!

The subway ride to the ferry was the most interesting one we experienced while in NYC, probably because it was the longest. At one point a man with a guitar got on the train and announced that he was there to sing to the kids. Our kids were the only ones on the train so it was pretty entertaining. Then he sang to Katie - the girl in the blue shirt who looks like she's in 7th grade, is actually how he described her. Then he sang to me, the "mommy". "I got sunshine, on a cloudy day". He actually convinced other people on the train to sing along with him - which added to my embarrassment! But it was an experience and fun to remember!

From the ferry we went back uptown to Herald Square. Very cool. Lots of shopping, LOTS of people! It's interesting that they have tourist, souvenir shops lined up one right after the other. They all sell the same, exact stuff, for the same exact price. Hmmm... That's Macy's on the left, below.

After the shopping we headed back to the hotel, got our car, and came home, tuckered out! Now we're just chilling out the rest of the girls' school break. Katie would say her favorite part of the trip was the Duck Tour; Becky's was American Girl Place; and Allison LOVED the subway! I liked it all - especially the little Deli we found for breakfast. Ed loves the hustle bustle city thing so he thought it was great! We had a fantastic time and want to go back - soon!

Shop Talk: I need to finish assignment 8 today or tomorrow. I'm pretty much done. I just need to get my market research done and polish up my outlines. I also have a critique I need to do for my critique group.

Time to get ready for the day!