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So, off we headed to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight on a Sunday morning (got up at 3:00 a.m.), since that was the flight with most seats available. At this point, the kids are really seasoned travelers. The boys are old enough to sit by themselves, and since we often get the last seats, it is so helpful not to have to try and finagle last minute seat switches as the doors are shutting. For Mikayla's part, we rented the TV; yes, the one for $7.99 that no one ever rents. It was the best $7.99 spent of the whole trip. The kids got their picture taken in the cockpit. Wonder how that happened?
In any case, we arrived in New York by 10, jumped on a bus that took us right through Times Square to Grand Central Station, and then landed at our apartment via subway around noon. It is just amazing how quickly you can be in "a whole other world."
So, after dropping the bags at our apartment (a relief) we headed to Times Square for food and entertainment. It was the weekend, so there was an extra dose of activity, with street artists, break dancers, and yes, a naked lady painted heavily like a flag (no picture of that one). TJ got invited up as a prop for the break dancers which was hilarious!
We also stopped in at FAO Schwartz, which houses the famous piano from the movie "Big," and the Hershey Chocolate store.
I'm always amazed at how people live and function in New York with so little space to share. Here was a parking lot we passed. The irony of my parking lot at work, and having to walk a good 1/8 mile from my parking spot to the building, is not lost in these moments.
We were soon tired and ready to head back for the night. We were also planning on hooking up with Tom Zook, Scott's first cousin, who has lived in New York for years. Come to find out, that in the largest city in the U.S., he lived only 4 blocks from the apartment we had rented! We had NO knowledge of this in advance, even as we were scrambling at the last minute to find a place to stay. Seriously? This is amazing. Once we arrived back at the apartment, he was literally there in 2 minutes. Wow. Tom took me to get some groceries at his little neighborhood store. (The plan was to cook a big breakfast at the apartment each day prior to heading out.) We stopped by his place on the way.
Day 2
Technically day 2, we were woken up at 3 a.m. by a loud knocking on our door. Luka started calling from the front room "Mom, Dad, someone's here!!" Indeed. No less than 6 New York firefighters, in full gear and axe in hand, walked in asking "is there a water leak?" Uhhhh....what? Turns out, the flapper on our toilet had malfunctioned, and water was pouring out of the toilet and mostly into the apartment below. I mean, not just overflowing, but pouring through their ceiling. The renters below had evidently tried to knock on our door, but we didn't answer, and actually they didn't think anyone was there since they hadn't yet seen us that day. The firefighters basically stopped the overflowing and walked out saying "thank you and sorry to bother you." The boys just sat in their bed in the living room the entire time watching the show. Why the HECK did I not stop to ask for a picture of all this?
Well, after a 2nd restful night (not) we headed out to Little Italy, Chinatown, Washington Square Park, and again, Times Square. While having a nice coffee and pastry break, I spent too much time in the tiny bathroom with Mikayla who said, "I have to poopie until 10." Okay?
The kids liked Chinatown, and they didn't, as we suspected. So much to see, but smells pretty bad! We had a perfect meal underground at a hole in the wall in Chinatown. We saw whole live pigs being carried from truck to basement which was fascinating for all of us. We kept reminding the kids that this is how some people live, every single day.
So, we ended the day at Times Square. The kids just couldn't seem to get enough. They had pizza again for dinner; I had a salad. (Note the hats for the boys. That was a day 1 purchase in Chinatown. We spent the next 3 days looking for one for Mikayla because she wanted a pink one.)
Day 3
We headed south of the island first to Ground Zero. The kids have started learning about 911 in school, so it was perfect timing with the anniversary just having been a month prior. They asked a lot of good questions (and some not so good). Only problem we had was a police officer yelling (nicely) at Mikayla not to throw rocks. With his thick Bronx accent and tone of voice, it really wasn't intended to be mean at all. :=)
We then grabbed lunch to go, with a bathroom stop, because one of the hardest parts of New York is finding a bathroom exactly when your kids need it. We forced them to go anytime there was an opportunity, for sure. Often it was me who was most uncomfortable!
The thing Luka wanted to do most was visit the Statue of Liberty. He really enjoys history at school, and he loves to read historical fiction (my favorite as well). Actually, of all the times we've been to New York, Scott and I had never been there either. So, off we went. Let me interject here that the weather could not have been more perfect every single day. No wind, no rain, and 70s and 80s. I was loving that, especially on the ferry over to Liberty Island which I know can be so cold. Additionally, the tourists were very minimal, so everywhere we went we practically walked to the front of the line with hardly a wait!
Speaking of the ferry, on the way over, TJ lost his tooth! We were eating our sandwiches to go and he crunched down on something hard and announced to the boat, "Mom, my tooth came out!" I'm not sure how many he has lost. With 3 kids, I pretty much keep track of the first one and that is about it.
I digress. We made it to the Liberty Island, with great views of the city and a fun ferry ride. We had tickets to actually go inside and up to the pedestal, but not the crown, as the kids will surely point out. To the pedestal, it is 217 steps, or 10 stories, both ways. Mikayla was determined and walked up every single step on her own. She was quite the trooper!
Why do pictures of the Statue of Liberty seem so different when they are from your personal camera?
We ended the night in Brooklyn, with more first cousins! (Well, sort of. We did give in to the kids begging to go to Times Square AGAIN.) The kids were all excited to see "the babies" Ella and Olivia, as we all were. It was nice to have a meal in a home instead of a restaurant. The kids had pizza (you see the theme, I am sure) and we had Thai food. Was so great to see Renetta and Mike, though it was certainly much different than time we had spent together previously in NYC! Mikayla and the boys just held Olivia and Ella for quite some time as the girls seemed pretty content. Mikayla, even today, seems to think of them often and says, "Mom, you 'member the babies in New York? Elwa and Owivia? 'Member?" She was so excited to give them the Texas Onesies with a heart on Houston...a great find on Etsy!" And, she was more than happy to open the presents for them...
Day 4
Unfortunately, we focused much of the morning around Luka's massive amount of bug bites, which we thought had to be some sort of reaction to something since he was the only one that had them. Not sure why we don't have a picture of them, but they were pretty miserable. After hitting the walk-in clinic at a CVS, we were told he was just so sweet the bugs chose him over everyone else!
By noon, we headed for the Empire State Building for a different view of the city. All the kids were very fascinated by the audio tour, and TJ and Luka were determined to hear about every single landmark. They were curious about how we were not in fact at the top of the building, but instead at the Observatory on the 86th floor. We were a bit hesitant to do this tour do to the cost, thinking once we got to the top, they would quickly get bored and we'd need to head right back down. Honestly, in the end, we really impressed with their attention span and so glad we did it. (Except...did I mention I spent 20 minutes of that time in the bathroom on the 86th floor with Mikayla taking a poopie? Always the ideal time...)
And one more thing about this tour...we were on it with a very large Amish tour group from Millersburg. They all had name tags indicating where they were from. We rode down the elevator from the 86th floor filled with Amish from Topeka, IN. And yep, they knew Bob Kauffman, from Topeka, who has worked on all the Schmucker owned Hondas over the years. And no, we have no pictures of the Amish, looking very out of place at the top of the Empire State building. I know they can't be in pictures, but can't they even take sightseeing pictures without themselves being in the pictures? I really did not expect to have a conversation with the kids about the Amish resulting from a trip to NYC...
One last thing we had to do was to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. This was on Mikayla's bucket list, because Scott kept telling her we were going to see the bridge that is in the picture on the wall at the Brooklyn Bagel shop, a local Woodlands bagel joint.
It was late-afternoon when we started our trek, and just gorgeous weather. We took our time and enjoyed the beautiful views of the city as the sun started to set. It was just amazing! The kids can regurgitate some facts about the bridge, like it took 14 years to build the bridge, there were up to 600 people working on it at one time, and at least 20 people died while building it. And oh the questions we continued to get about how they could have died...
We ended the night with some cousin time with my first cousin Luke Gunden, and Tom again. Note, we finally found the pink New York hat for Mikayla.
Much of Day 5 was spent packing and figuring out logistics, but we were able to have one last rendez-vous with cousins Luke and Tom before heading to the train station. We said good-bye to our little apartment, and headed for Union Square park to hit the local hamburger joint and hang out.
Subways
We bought subway passes for the week, knowing with three kids we would already be doing a lot of walking. The subways alone are a learning experience. With all the performers both underground and on the trains themselves, we were never lacking entertainment. Sometimes you are packed in with people, and other times you have the train to yourself. The kids quickly learned the danger of the trains, and how to wait for them and ride them safely. The video is of one of our favorite underground performers.
Walking many blocks with suitcases was not un-stressful. Scott took the lead, and I was the caboose, with Mikayla on my back. We covered probably 6 blocks+ in a train-like fashion, with the hopes of making it to the train station all at the same time.
Scott and I became intimately familiar with the metro map. The blue star is our apartment, and the yellow stars represent most of the places we visited. It is really amazing to me how much ground we covered in our time there. Our kids were fantastic travelers, which is so awesome, because we plan to do many more family trips in upcoming years. Our jobs won't take us on a 3-year assignment overseas, like a lot of families around here, but we can offer them the gift of travel, and we plan to make the most of that!
And so off to the over-night train from New York City, Penn Station, to Elkhart, Indiana. I have to say, I was not overly excited, but turns out the flights were full, so we were glad to have confirmed seats on the train. (And the chairs are much wider than an airplane.) I'm not sure we will choose to do it again, but it was definitely a good experience for all. Too bad I had to spend another 15 minutes in a dirty train bathroom though, with Mikayla pooping.) At least this time I wasn't missing out on a view of New York City...
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