NEW YORK CITY

With Nate having a week off for Spring Break we knew we needed to do something exciting - the problem was just deciding what.

We threw a bunch of ideas around, never really making plans until finally, the Monday of the break we decided - let's go to New York!

So...we left the next morning and headed to Brooklyn to stay with Bryan and Julie. It was quite the adventure, and we had a GREAT time. It was our first true family roadtrip just taking the kids somewhere new. As they always are, they were great travelers (Bella would ask us how far we were from places by asking "how many movies away are we?" as she rode along with the DVD player in her lap and earphone on her head - it was really quite cute).

Now...I need to warn you...some (more like all) of the pictures you're going to see on this post aren't the best ever, in fact some are downright awful...ha ha. You see my darling hubby (with the best intentions ever) talked me into buying a little point-and-shoot to take around the city so that I didn't carry around my big nice camera.

Such a nice thought - truly.

Well, turns out the point-and-shoot was awful, so nearly every picture we took came out blurry. LAME!! Needless to say, it's already been returned. And I'm still in the market for a good point-and-shoot. Any suggestions?

So...the first day we drove to Hershey, Pennsylvania and stayed the night at a hotel there so we could visit Hershey Chocolate World in the morning. I don't know if it's all kids, but our kids love staying in hotels. They get so excited about it that they can't sleep - as we tried to go to bed, they just laid in bed energizing each other so they had to be separated (Nate lucked out and got Bella for the night - she actually lets you sleep - Sophie on the other hand, not the best sleeping partner). I now totally understand why Bryan felt the need to tie Chris to the hotel bed on one of our family trips...but that's another story. Ha ha.

Hershey Chocolate World was a blast!!




The highlight of the day was creating our own candy bars. We chose the kind of chocolate, the inclusions - i.e. cookie pieces, chocolate chips, toffee bits - and then designed the cover. We had to gown up, complete with hair covering, as we walked along the conveyor and watched as the candy bars being made and packaged, then picked it up at the end. The girls thought it was pretty cool as they ate their bars later (they actually tasted pretty good too!).





Nate made our bar. Such a goon. Ha ha.



Also we rode a "It's a Small World"-like ride that explained how chocolate was made (not Sophie's favorite part - she wasn't a big fan of the ride), we got some free samples, and wandered through a couple of exhibits. Overall it was definitely worth the visit and I'd suggest it to anyone who has the opportunity!



After leaving Hershey, we made our way to Brooklyn. We'd done the bulk of the driving the day before, so it was only a few hours, before we saw the beginnings of the city. There hadn't been much traffic anywhere during the drive until we hit the city and then it seemed like there were cars everywhere. In fact, Bella's first question was "Where are all the trees and why are there so many people here?" That made us laugh.

As we were making the last little push before entering the Holland Tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan, we were looking out over the city's skyline when the "New York" song came on the radio. Ha ha. How appropriate!

So of course I turned it up and we rocked out as we entered the city.




We made our way through Manhattan, across the Manhattan bridge and into Brooklyn (and I thought Kentucky's road had big potholes - I won't complain anymore). It was definitely a shock coming from the country, but what a sight as we explored the city! The girls were amazed with the size of the buildings (who wouldn't be, right?) and Sophie loved going over the bridge.



We found Bryan and Julie's apartment (second floor, very nice and spacious for the city - we were impressed) and the girls were ecstatic to see Tayla. We hadn't been there 5 minutes before the three of them were running around wildly and playing - cousins, so fun. Speaking of cousins, Bella was in love with Baby Addison. She played with her, looked after her, and tried to help take care of her - she's very much in the "little mommy" stage and it is so cute.


That night we experienced the subway for the first time with kids - now that's an adventure right there. We headed down to the Brooklyn Bridge to enjoy some pizza from Grimaldi's (as recommended by Oprah and Julie) and play at the bridge park. Bella and Sophie didn't quite know what to make of all the noisy trains at first, but Sophie (loving trains as much as she does) was so excited about being able to ride them. The pizza was great and the views at the bridge at sunset were awesome - great way to end the day!


And as you can see...this camera was driving me nuts. Here is one of the only pictures I have of all of us...and it's blurry! SERIOUSLY?! Ha ha.)




The next day Bryan was on call so Julie was our guide as we headed out into the city. But first we had to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with some rainbow pancakes! Yummy!



We took the kids on the Staten Island Ferry - what great views of the Statue of Liberty (or the Eiffel Tower according to Bella) and the city! Plus, the kids just loved being on a big boat!







After getting back to Manhattan, we headed up to Ground Zero to see the construction on the memorial. Everything was still blocked off, but there was an exhibit up a block that told the story and showed the future memorial. Just being there and standing amidst the buildings were the tragedy occurred was emotional - the sheer size of the Towers isn't easily appreciated without being there between the buildings that remain and looking up to realize how much taller they were than those still there.

Sophie is too little to really understand what happened there, but Bella took it all in and was asking lots of questions, not understanding why anyone would want to hurt so many people - what I realized as she asked me this is that I didn't have a good answer for her because there isn't one. What a horrific event! But how important it is for us to always remember and hopefully avoid anything like it in the future.


After leaving Ground Zero we headed up to Canal Street. Giddy!! I was all about trying to find some purses while I was there - Erin and Cynda have both told me that this is the place to go. But the prospect of purse shopping with a 4 year-old, two 2 year-olds, and an infant didn't sound promising so we found a Dunkin Donuts and dropped off Nate with the kids to enjoy an afternoon treat. (Isn’t he the best?!! Love you, honey!)

Canal Street is interesting - lots of merchandise with merchants ready to haggle. Julie and I had fun looking around and playing the price game. We found some good stuff and I ultimately ended up with 4 new purses (we did have to come back the next night to finish up the shopping though). The funniest part - watching Nate walk down Canal Street with three little girls in tow. Ha ha. He was quite a sight - but he had them all holding hands and under control. What a guy! =)


To end the day we took the kids to play in Central Park - the nanny mecca of the world. It was quite interesting to see all the nannies there, but the funniest sights were when the mom would be there with the nanny - really? Ha ha. Anyway, the kids had a great time and were utterly wasted as they all fell asleep on the subway back to Brooklyn.


Bryan had the next day off, so we all headed into the city again. This time, we went to Times Square (talk about a literal sea of people). I can't even imagine what it would be like to be there on New Year's Eve with a million people - I don't think it'd be for me.





We wondered up and down the streets looking at the stores, we looked down Broadway and spent some time in both the huge Toys-R-Us and The Disney Store. Between the two, I'd definitely recommend The Disney Store - they know how to do it right. Inside Toys-R-Us there was a full size Ferris wheel, which of course was a must…until Tayla started crying out of fright – and they wouldn’t let her off. Not nice. Ha ha.





Next we headed over to Rockefeller Center where we sat down to eat our PB and J's for lunch and watch the people ice skate. Right across the street from there, we found Bella's favorite stop of the day - the American Girl Doll store. She was first introduced to American Girl Dolls at Grandma Noorda's house during Christmas and now after seeing this store, Bella is officially a fan! It was almost too much for her to have to leave without getting one, especially because she picked one out that looked a lot like her, but we told her maybe for her birthday. It's cute to see her get so excited about them.


Finally, we ended up at Central Park again. It was a little warm, so it was nice to sit under the trees and enjoy the shade. A great end to the day!


Thanks Bryan and Julie for letting us crash your apartment, we had an awesome time! We're already getting excited for Easter!