NYC!

Knowing that Wendell's sister Rebecca and her family may not be living in Manhattan much longer, we took advantage of having a place to stay and ventured out for Thanksgiving break. Emily was all smiles on the plane ride.

Here we are trying to decide where and how to get on the subway with all our luggage. We rode the subway to Rebecca's without even one wrong train. We were quite proud of ourselves. Tyler has always wanted to ride in a subway and he got his wish about 100 times over by the time we left.

I think they are a little tired or just bored with the subway after our first transfer.

The Statue of Liberty was our first big adventure on Monday morning. The security to get inside the base of the statue is tighter than at an airport. Unfortunately the statue is closed to venture up to the crown. We had to just see inside by looking up through big windows in the base.

Yes they are trying to stick their heads up the nose of Lady Liberty in the museum. I guess it does give good perspective as to the actual size though.

Megan and Tyler didn't think the Statue of Liberty looked that big from the ferry. They changed their minds fast when we got close to it.

The skyline of New York as seen from Liberty Island.

Megan found a cemetary right in the middle of the financial district. It is attached to the Trinity Church. The graves dated back to the 1700's. I think she is trying to look dead---she made need some acting lessons.

What is New York without trying the pizza? The slices are huge and they really are good.

This is the official spot where George Washington was sworn in as President. It was on Wall Street right by the Stock Exchange. We tried to impress the kids with some history, but I don't think it was the highlight.

Megan was excited to find a police car. We always make fun of her since last year when we were playing a game and she didn't know what NYPD was. She pronounced it NIP-ED and thought it was a word.

The kids are super excited because right behind them is the world's biggest Toys R Us store in Times Square. Yes it was so big that Megan did get lost and have to find a worker. It was a little strange to get a call from the Toys R Us security asking if we were missing a child. I guess it's a good thing Megan has all our cell phone numbers memorized.

Tyler in Times Square in front of one of what seemed like a million taxis.

Tuesday morning was spent visiting the Metropolitan museum or MET. There were really cool ancient Egyptian things along with about anything else you could imagine.

Tyler especially liked the armor and knight room. Too bad we had to go through the Greek statues room to get there. Emily just asked why there were so many naked people in the museum. We just told her to keep walking.

The kids in front of the Teddy Roosevelt statue at the entrance of the Natural History Museum. We had just eaten hot dogs from a food vendor. We tried to have a real New York experience.

Heather and Danny came down and met us on Tuesday for the day. Because it rained that day we spent most of the time in the Museum of Natural History and the Charmin place of course. This was a very kid-friendly museum and we actually spent hours in there. It isn't exactly like the Night at the Museum movie, but some of the exhibits were similar.

One of the highlights of the trip was spending time in the Charmin (yes, as in toilet paper) building. It was a building dedicated to clean toilets and fun for the kids in the middle of Times Square. We went 3 days in a row--in fact one of the workers recognized us on our 2nd trip. Basically there were about 20 individual bathrooms that were cleaned after each use, a dancing stage, a play area with a slide and swing, nice soft couches, and Wii's to play all for free. It really was fun for Emily and Megan. Tyler thought the whole idea and place was very weird. We just told him it's New York.

What a great way to end a great day! A trip to a 3-story candy store. Here they are showing off their purchases. Heather and I bought giant cupcakes. They were so much better than the candy.

On Wednesday morning we woke the kids up bright and early to go to the Empire State Building. The lines get really long as the day goes on. We only had to wait about 5 minutes which was worth the lack of sleep. At the top it was very windy and cold. Luckily there was a nice enclosed area also that the kids stayed in most of the time.

One of the views from the top of the Empire State Building.

At the bottom of the Empire State Building were beautiful Christmas trees and decorations.

The windows outside of Macy's were decorated with all kinds of Christmas scenes. This is a hand monitor of how much everyone believes.

This was the street ready for the parade on Thanksgiving. This was the "VIP" section---definitely not for us.

Emily was in heaven to see horses on the street. The police were very patient and let her pet the horses.

The ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Our feet hurt so bad from walking everywhere that we didn't dare attempt to skate. We did enjoy watching everyone else fall.

NBC studios is located in Rockefeller Center. We did go on a tour of the studio and got to see the set for Saturday Night Live. Megan and I also got to pretend to do the news. For a mere $40 we could have bought our acting debut---but for that price we can just relish the memory.

Our Broadway adventure was seeing the "Little Mermaid." It was so good. Megan really was excited to see it. The costumes, sets, and acting were incredible. This was Emily's favorite part of the trip. Our seats were 4 rows from top, but we could still see everything great!

Right when we got to the Macy's parade on Thanksgiving we were about 20 rows of people back so the kids could not see anything except the big stuff. Everyone around us started putting their kids on the top of a police van. We of course followed suit. Luckily the police officer who owned the van didn't return for a good half an hour. When he did see all the kids he yelled to get off. I've never seen so many kids move so fast. Tyler was down in record time.

The balloons in the parade are really huge in real life. I think they have to be for the mobs of people to see.

This was a picture before a nice man let us all squish up to the front of the parade route. The kids were standing on boxes to try and see. All the kids ended up right next to the gates and had a great view--they only crawled under a few legs. It took a lot of pushing and shoving. This is not a relaxing parade. Anyone who had chairs had them either folded up or couldn't find them. Basically we were all crammed behind metal gates like cattle. It really was a lot of fun.

Wendell tried to get a picture of just how many people were on the streets right after the parade. This doesn't quite capture that this mob extended for blocks and blocks. I guess a million people have to go somewhere.

This is our pre-eating picture. Steve was very nice and cooked all the food while we were at the parade. He did the turkey, potatoes, and yams--plus the dishes that he had used. We were very impressed. All the food was wonderful. Steve's friend also helped and made rolls and pumpkin cheesecake. Great way to unwind from a hectic parade.

After we ate the turkey dinner, we all headed to the pool that is part of the apartment building.

Megan and Tyler trying to play chicken. We didn't know how they had the energy to even get in the water. I sat on the side and took a nap. Good thing they didn't drown.

On Friday we spent the entire day in Central Park. Central Park is full of cool rocks to climb on and streams to play in. The kids played tag on the rocks and even slid down some of the steep parts. Who would have guessed that New York is that rocky? Tyler informed us that this was his favorite part of the trip.

Rowboats in Central Park. The pond is quite large and we actually stayed the entire hour we had the boats. Wendell got to go with Tyler and they made good time around the pond.

Rebecca and I were the lucky winners of taking Emily and Anna. This is about the only time that an adult actually rowed. We spent a lot of time going in circles with the girls rowing. We did get very good views of the bridge that spans the pond.

The fountain in Central Park made famous in the "Enchanted" movie. Without water it is not quite so cool looking. Tyler did find quite a few coins hidden in all the cracks.

This was the favorite floor of the kids at FAO Schwarz. They got to try out "carpet skates". Basically, there were plastic shoes that were slick. Amazing that they could sell for $30.

Of course we had to visit every toy store which included FAO Schwarz. We were there on the Friday after Thanksgiving and there was a 5-10 minute line just to get in the store. We saw the famous "Big" piano and all the toys imaginable in a 3-story store.

Before we left New York we went to Macy's to see Santa. The whole experience is very Disney-like. The line starts in what looks and sounds like a train taking us to the North Pole. Once out of the train, the line winds through a forest with all kinds of toys and winter scenes. It was definitely the best waiting experience for Santa we have ever had.

This was a talking tree in the magical forest on the way to Santa's house.

Santa at Macy's. This was our second time through the line and Emily informed us that the first Santa we saw was the real one and this was just a helper. He was a little scary looking.

Emily on the airplane ride home. Twisting her hair and sucking her thumb. I think we finally wore them out.