New York City!!!

Okay, so we wasted no time here!  We finished day 2 (Thursday, July 9, 2009) with a bang!!!  As soon as we drove in from Philadelphia, Chris dropped Carlie and I off in downtown Manhattan to see a broadway show.  We were hoping to see Phantom but that was sold out so we opted for Mary Poppins instead.  Here are some pictures of us at the theater!

And after the show, it was just me and Carlie out on the town!  We had to celebrate with icecream from a two-story McDonald's and even successfully hailed a cab to get us to our hotel for the night.  Needless to say, we were extremely exhausted and happily fell into bed!

Day 3 (Friday, July 10th):  Once again we were off running!  Up as early as we could be--dressed and ready to go by 6:30 a.m. our time--9:30 a.m. NY time!  Ugh!!!  But we were ready for another day.  We rode the subway to get downtown--we are definitely the biggest family we've seen in NYC thus far and had lots of stares and smiles at the subway.  Here's a pic to show the proof:

We stayed at an Embassy Suites right next to the World Trade Center site so the kids were able to see where 9/11/01 occurred and where the Twin Towers used to stand.  They were too young to remember this but they do talk about it every year in school so it did mean something to them.  Here is a picture of them next to a Red Balloon Flower Sculpture that apparently has no significant meaning but the kids really liked it!

Our first official stop was Rockefeller Center where we went to "The Top of the Rock."  70 floors in the air!   What an amazing view!!!  The kids had a great time looking through the binoculars and playing the best game of "Eye Spy" ever!  Inside the building the walls were made up of squares made up with Swarovski crystals.  Chris let us in on a little secret...the artist hid little crystal animals in some of the squares.  We had the BEST time searching for the little crystal animals!  Ethan was the best at finding them--I think he would have stayed there for hours looking for more but we managed to drag him away.

    Of course no trip to NYC would be complete without a visit to the FAO Schwartz Toy store!  The kids had a great time seeing this amazing toy store.  There were life-sized lego figures of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Hagrid--the kids are really into Harry Potter right now so that was really cool for them.  Tatum just loved any stuffed animal she could get her hands on.  All the kids loved playing on the giant keyboard upstairs--a mere $250,000 to purchase!

    And then my favorite part of NYC...Central Park!!!  I LOVED this park.  It is amazing to me that in the middle of the busiest city in the United States there is a place to go to escape all of the noise and the craziness.  The park is absolutely beautiful and up kept soo well.  We saw some really interesting performers--lots of musicians and even a lady dressed and painted entirely in gold.  The kids had a great time chasing all the wildlife--birds and chipmunks--there.  Ethan saw a chipmunk and was wanting to go and chase him away but that chipmunk was NOT afraid of humans and he actually charged Ethan!  It freaked him out and cracked me up!  Ethan then wanted a picture with the chipmunk but was afraid to get too close to him so here is a picture of Ethan standing as far away from the chipmunk as possible to get in a picture with him...

Here are some other great pictures of the kids climbing huge rocks and having a great time...

    To top off the night, we went to a park nearby our hotel to play for awhile until it became dark.  We then walked over to a grassy area that had long grass and we were able to see fireflies!!!  It was soo neat!  We had never seen these before.  The kids became really brave and even caught a few in their hands to watch them light up!  It was the perfect ending to a fun-filled and very exhausting day in NYC.  

    Day 4 (Saturday, July 11, 2009):  So we somehow managed to pull ourselves out of bed earlier today--this time difference is a tough one!  We had to get all packed up before we left sightseeing again today.  First thing on the agenda was the Staten Island Ferry.  On the way there we had to walk through Battery Park where the kids got to buy some "Designer Sunglasses" from a strange guy for $5.  Here are our cool kids in their "Designer Shades":

The ferry was great and had a great view of the Statue of Liberty.  We were also able to see some cool ships--one that looked just like a pirate ship--and some awesome lighthouses as well.  

    We then walked over to South Street Sea Port where we had some lunch before heading back to our car to head out of the city. But first...we HAD to take this pic for Papa Frank...

The Kids on Wallstreet!!!

We were glad to be back into our car to sit and relax for a while after these 2 jammed packed days in this city.  We drove 5 hours to upstate NY and saw some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen in the United States--I think Pennsylvania is now one of my favorite states!  It was sooo beautiful!  Chris and I need to come back to kayak someday!  We are now in Rochester, New York.  We had a fantastic time in the Big Apple but we are now definitely ready to slow it down a bit!!!  Here's a picture of Tatum showing how she felt about the whole experience...

We Love NYC!!!