Family Travel // New York City, NY

Years ago I promised our redheads we would take them to New York sometime for the day.  Then, life happened...and pregnancies and school and girl scouts and church. When we found out we were moving back to Utah (and how quickly we were moving) I knew we had to get that trip in and quickly.

Today was the day. I seriously debated the wisdom of this decision, since I am 38 weeks pregnant. But when would we ever be so close again?  So we planned and went.

We left home around 10am and took the 2.5 hour drive into Manhattan.  We ended up arriving around 1pm and parked our car by Battery Park in a pay lot.  Then went on our way and promptly forgot where that pay lot was located (...foreshadowing).

We strolled through Battery Park to the water's edge so our kids could see the Statue of Liberty.  Ella was adamant about not going on a ferry or boat to get close to it, and I was definitely happy with the dry-land alternative.

On our way out of the park we walked over a Subway grate that was blowing air furiously upwards (a la Marilyn Monroe) and our kids LOVED it.

We left Battery Park and headed towards the Subway station to get to the Brooklyn Bridge.  On our walk we passed the newly opened 9/11 Memorial.  It was the first time we have ever spoken to our older kids about what happened on 9/11 and it was a lovely Memorial.

While there on the Plaza, Bianca struck this pose and stayed completely still for a full 5 minutes, convinced that strangers would think she was a statue. I love how crazy she is.

We stopped at a tourist store and got these super-cheesy, Statue of Liberty crowns...because you kind of HAVE to.  Right?

We hopped on the Subway and headed South.  We kind of sucked at navigating the Subway, but got much better as the day progressed.  Jude was a bit freaked out by the noises and lights at first, but he didn't cry.  But his face in this shot is really showing his trepidation.

When we arrived at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge we spotted the famous Wafels & Dinges cart.  This cart is featured on Food Network and other food channels all the time as the best Belgium Waffles you can get in the US.  They have even spawned a raft of copy-cats including the Waffle Love truck in Utah.  We had to stop.  And man, they were pretty darn amazing.

We had already walked a decent amount by this point and when we got to the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Evangeline said she was too tired to walk.  So she and I decided to catch a cab while the others went across the bridge.

Here's my cab-buddy waiting for a taxi.

Ella declared this walk her favorite part of the day.  Crazy kid.  At the base of the Bridge we met up with the walkers and headed to Grimaldi's.  This is when the day begins to unravel.

We wait in line at Grimaldi's for about 30 minutes...not bad at all.  When we get in we place our order immediately. And wait....and wait...and wait.  Bianca entertained the waiters by singing them songs while we waited. They loved her.

While we wait three other parties are seated by us, order, get their food and leave.  Still waiting.  I was so bugged that at the third pizza delivery I actually kind of yelled at our waiter (which I never do...ever). I didn't call him a name or swear or anything I just barked, "What?! Where is our food!!!"  He came with it soon after, apologized and....it wasn't good. Last time I went to Grimaldi's it was the best pizza of my life.  This time, not even close.  Ugh!  Meanwhile we had wasted 2 hours of our day!!!  I was super mad.  You don't want to make a woman THIS pregnant wait for food.

After lunch we took everyone to the potty.  Apparently it wasn't enough because in the middle of our Subway journey Bianca peed her pants.  We wrapped a sweatshirt around her waist....and that was it. We carried on with a wet, stinky, little girl.

We got back on the Subway and started the long ride to Central Park.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was dusk and the Carousel was closed (stupid Grimaldi's!).  The girls saw the park for a bit, visited with carriage horses and we headed straight to Dylan's Candy Bar. 

If you don't know, Dylan's Candy Bar is a 3 story store of just candy.  I had told my kids stories about it before and they really wanted to go.

We let each of our kids fill the provided candy bags 1/2 full with ANY candy they wanted. Holy cow. I'm pretty sure they will never forget this experience.  It was pretty amazing and the store was crazy-fun!

Now, we were spent.  It was 90 minutes passed Jude's bedtime, but he remained the happy, little, easy-going, boy he is.  Seriously, he's soooo sweet.

We walked to the Subway station and headed back to the parked car.  We took one stop too many and ended up on the wrong side of Battery Park.  So we walked....and walked...and walked.  At this point Bianca peed her pants AGAIN.  This time she soaked the sweatshirt around her waist.  Oh geez.

We just kept walking.

Bianca was completely fascinated with the tall building all day.  She said, "Mommy, please let me climb to the very top of this building and touch the sky!" So cute.

About this time both my cell phone and Matt's died.  We had no GPS. We were lost.  This was pretty awful.  We truly walked miles.  Miles.  I thought I might go into labor.  I finally sat down and told Matt to go find the car and then come pick us up.  It turned out, at that point, we were only about 1-1/2 blocks away from the car, but I didn't know that and I was starting to melt down.  Finally we all got into the car. We stripped Bianca down to t-shirt only, wrapped her in a fresh sweatshirt and settled in for the drive home.

It was a great day (despite the issues at the end) and I am so glad we went!  Our family will always remember this day.