Month: April 2016

Lady Liberty

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Well, we’ve officially wrapped up our first visit to the city that never sleeps, and we’re starting to feel as though we’ve never slept. We are leaving with SO many great memories, and of course, souvenir magnets to remember them with. 

Today, for the big finale, we visited Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty. Between the two of us, Ashley and I only have 1 relative who immigrated to the U.S. while Ellis Island was open. Ashley’s grandfather on her father’s side came here from Italy during that time. Unfortunately, he came through Canada, so we had no records to look up at Ellis Island. Nevertheless, it was a very cool experience to see how so many people came to this country. imageimageOf course, the Statue of Liberty was one of the highlights of the whole trip. It was magnificent up close, and the view of NYC from the island was unbeatable. Sadly, the kids weren’t tall enough to be able to go all the way up to the crown, but we did get to climb up to the pedastal. imageimageimageimageimageNow, let’s play a little game with these next couple of pictures. I spy something… small and cute! Can you see? Check the bottom-left corner. imageimage

All in all, it was a fantastic first visit to the Empire City and we can’t wait to return. We did have a few observations as to how the city was different than we had expected.

  1. Quieter – We really expected a louder, bustling city with yelling, honking horns, and lots of noise. It was much quieter than we thought it would be on the streets, in the subways, and in the public places we visited.
  2. More Peaceful – There were so many places to sit & relax. It was much easier than we expected to find a place to just kick back and have some time to yourself. 
  3. More Polite – I don’t know if it’s all the stereotypes or what it is, but we really expected people to be much more rude. In fact, we felt just the opposite. Everyone was very nice. People held the door for others, constantly offered up their seats to us and others on the subway, smiled, said hello – basically all of the things we do down south. We really could not tell any difference in the level of politeness of people in general. 
  4. Less Crowded – With it being the most populated metropolitan area in the U.S. (almost triple the 2nd place L.A.), we really expected more lines and more crowds. Obviously, the tourist attractions were often a little crowded, but other than that it felt way less crowded than we expected. We never stood in line long for a restaurant, never had a hard time finding a table anywhere, never had a problem hailing a taxi, and just never felt over-crowded in general. Maybe it’s our years of experience visiting Walt Disney World, but NYC seemed quite well-suited to handle the population. 

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed keeping up with our escapades. We love getting to share them with everyone, because although we are having fun, we miss you all very much! 

Now it’s back to real life! Time for Kaden and I to focus on finishing up the school year strong and get ready for Kaden’s birthday in just a couple weeks! 

14 Hours

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That’s right, 14 hours! Are we crazy? Probably. Are we exhausted? Definitely. But, did we just spend 14 hours straight exploring New York City with 2 children under 7? You bet we did!

It all started as we entered the city through the Lincoln Tunnel just before 8AM this morning. After getting dropped off at the Port Authority and grabbing a little breakfast, we hopped in a taxi to the Empire State Building. The kids (especially Kaden) had been so excited about the chance to ride in a taxi (it really is the little things). imageWe made it to the Empire State Building shortly after they opened and were able to breeze right up to the observation deck with no lines. The view was as described, and then some. Pictures do not do it justice, and we could not have asked for a more perfect day for the view. We were all quite amazed.imageimageimageOnce we planted our feet safely back on the ground again, made a beeline (or more specifically we rode the B line) to the American Museum of Natural History. This, of course, is the setting for the original Night at the Museum movie, which is a favorite of our boys, so they couldn’t wait! imageimageimageimageimageimageimageAfter several hours exploring the museum, we headed across the street into Central Park. With all the time we had been spending on our feet so far, the kids (yeah, that’s it – the kids) needed a little rest. We found a nice peaceful spot in the park to relax for a while.imageimageOnce we had some energy back, we made our way over to Oak Bridge & Belvedere Castle as we explored more of Central Park.image 

 
imageAnd of course, a day isn’t complete with these two until they have found a playground to climb on. So we made our way through Central Park to the Ancient Playground near the Met. I know what you are thinking, and no, the playground isn’t ancient… That’s just what it’s called because it is designed to resemble ancient ruins. It’s actually consistently ranked one of NYC’s top playgrounds, and we could see why.

imageAfter playtime, we grabbed dinner at a local place called Fresh & Co. and it was delicious. After dinner it was time to go root, root, root for the home team. And even though it was a shame that they didn’t win, it was just cool to get to take the kids to Yankee Stadium. imageimageimageimageAbout halfway through the game, we decided to beat the crowds to the subway and make our way back. We crossed back through the Lincoln Tunnel just before 10PM, thus completing our 14 hour day in NYC. 

It really was a day full of fun and adventure for all of us. Tomorrow morning we are finishing our little mini-vacation with possibly the most anticipated part of our trip – a visit to Lady Liberty. I look forward to sharing the rest of our trip with you all tomorrow. But for now, I’m exhausted so I’m gonna hit the sa… ZzZzZz

 

The Big Apple

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Well, we just wrapped up day 1 in NYC and it was pretty awesome. I have to admit, Ashley and I were blown away at the first sight of the city as we drove through a part of New Jersey and first spotted the skyline from a distance -it was incredible! None of us have ever been, so we were easily as excited as the kids (probably more, actually). 

Today, we took the Staten Island Ferry for our first trip into the city. There is no better way to enter the city for the first time than to cruise by the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Governor’s Island as you approach the iconic skyline from the water. imageimageSo, what does our family do when we visit New York City? Well, the same thing we do everywhere else… Find a great playground for the kids, of course! We jumped on the subway and ended up at the Pier 25 Playground right on the Hudson River. It was beautiful and the kids had a blast!imageAfter a little play time it was on to lunch. We decided to check out a NYC original! It was incredible. imageAfter grabbing some grub, we walked to the nearby 9/11 Memorial. We had already had the chance to explain what happened on 9/11 to the boys when we visited the NYS Museum in Albany, so we just gave them a little refresher before getting to the memorial. The pools were beautiful, and seeing all of the names etched around the two pools where the buildings once stood was very moving. And of course, the new One World Trade Center is absolutely gorgeous! imageimageWe concluded our first (short) day in NYC with a walk to Battery Park and a visit to the new SeaGlass Carousel. It was very cool and the kids loved it (and so did Ashley). imageimageimageEven though we were done for the day in NYC, we certainly weren’t DONE. After getting back to Staten Island, we headed over to ‘Hoboken, baby!’ Home of the Cake Boss. The kids love the show and this has been one of the things they’ve been most excited to do. We met Buddy’s sister Madeline and got some yummy treats. imageimageWe finished the night with dinner at an excellent Cuban restaurant in Union City, Mi Bandera. The food was excellent!

The kids were wiped out and fell asleep quickly, which is good because we’ve got a LONG day tomorrow! We’ll be in NYC ALL DAY and hitting lots of awesome places, and we are looking forward to sharing it all with you!

An Erie Day in Albany

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Today, we had a great day together as a family. It started with brunch at a beautiful little cafe in Schenectady, NY, followed by an early showing of The Jungle Book at the local theater. The boys LOVED the movie (and so did mommy & I). After the movie, we headed over to a local park we’ve been wanting to check out called Peebles Island State Park. It is a beautiful little island just north of Albany situated at the joining of the Mohawk & the Hudson Rivers.

What we didn’t realize before exploring the area, was that it is also just across the river from Waterford, NY and Lock #2 of the Erie Canal. The kids loved getting to see the canal up close and learn about how it works. It was great that they actually got to stand on the doors of the canal lock.

We ended the afternoon with a walk through Waterford to a great little restaurant called McGreivey’s. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was even better. All in all, it was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast! Next, it’s on to NYC in just a couple days.