We made the mistake of going into the New York City part of our trip completely exhausted. Ellie and Jack had gone to the boardwalk the night before with their grandpa and did not get back until late. Tom and I stayed up past 2am visiting with his sister. It was fun, but just explaining that all the traveling and sleepless nights were catching up to us for this leg of our trip.
The drive from the beach house to NYC was only a couple of hours, but the tolls...holy moly! They charge you an arm and a leg just to get into and out of NYC. I had booked us an apartment on Airbnb that was near Central Park and walking distance to Times Square. We were supposed to meet the guy letting us in at 11. We drove straight to the place hoping we could find free street parking to unload (since it was Sunday), but of course there weren't any spots. So, we drove past and tried to circle around the block. But this is NYC...there is no easy circling around the block in a big minivan. Somehow, I'm still not sure how, we got on a road that was closed, but we saw a small detour sign that put on on a PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY TO THE QUEENSBORO BRIDGE. I am not even making this up. The little pathway got smaller and smaller as we drove. To the left, we could see all of these cars on the bridge, but there we were, hanging over the side, on this little road all by ourselves. Tom and I were both screaming, and I was frantically trying to GPS a way back. For real, it was the most scared I have been in my life. I literally felt sick to my stomach. Later I looked it up and saw that it was a road that used to be for trolley cars, but was converted to a walkway. Luckily for us, no one was on it. Anyway, we made it to the other side and somehow found our way to a parking garage near our apartment. Driving in NYC is no joke.
The apartment was really cute and perfectly located. We decided to take the subway to the Staten Island Ferry so we could take the free ride past the Statue of Liberty. Just a heads up here...the NYC subway is nothing like the Washington, D.C. subway. It is dirty and scary and confusing. Some lines were closed on our route and we had to walk on scary underpasses to get to the right terminal or whatever they are called. We stopped and asked directions a million times. There was one point where the kids went through the turnstiles and we couldn't get thru because there wasn't enough money on the cards so the kids were on the other side BY THEMSELVES. It was a total cluster. Sam was melting down left and right, lying on the floor of the subway station and licking the metal bars. Seriously out of control. We finally made it to the ferry, completely frazzled. Sam was crying about being hungry so we bought the kids pretzel dogs inside the terminal. Sam spilled his and immediately started screaming so we gave him the rest of Ellie's. We finally got on the packed ferry and tried to jockey for a position to see over the side. Sam managed to spill the rest of his food and completely lost his mind. The decibel level of Sam's fits were something that drew attention even in a place like New York City. Once we reached Staten Island, we had to debark and then get back on the ferry to go back. This time we were ready and knew were to go on the ferry to actually see the Statue of Liberty, but all of the kids were too tired and exhausted to really care. They still humored their mama and smiled for pictures, though!
On the subway ride back, all three kids fell asleep. Tom and I mentally crossed off plans for anything that required a subway ride for the rest of our stay.
We then went to Ellen's Stardust Diner in Times Square. It is a pretty well-known singing diner. The line was wrapped around the building, but not too bad because it was raining. Sam slept in his stroller the entire time we were in line. We carried him into the restaurant and he proceeded to sleep through the entire meal...even with waiters belting out show-tunes all around us. The kids loved the diner and the food was pretty good. I would definitely recommend.
I have never seen that kid sleep so soundly. That is how tired he was and also kind of explains why his meltdowns earlier in the day were so very...melty.
Sam woke up once we left the diner and we walked around Times Square and visited the M&M store.
Finally, we headed back to the apartment and crashed for the night.
The next morning, we walked over to Central Park. We loved Central Park. There was so much to do and see. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
After exploring the park for hours, we then walked around NYC a bit more. I will say this, we did A LOT of walking in DC and NYC. Ellie and Jack were total troopers. I was really proud of them.
Anyway, we walked around aimlessly for awhile. We hit the Lego store and the kids each built their own Lego person.
We stopped and got pizza.
And then explored some more.
Finally, we decided to call it a night. Our apartment was right near Serendipity III, the famous dessert place, so we stopped there on our way home.
The desserts were yummy, but waaay over priced. Sam started melting down so I ended up leaving early with him and Tom and the kids met me back at the apartment shortly afterward.
The next morning, we woke up early and started our long 15 hour drive to my brother's house in Tennessee. I was not sad to be leaving New York City.
