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We were wiped out!

Five full days in New York City was so much fun.  It was also so tiring, cold and crowded.  I don't think it got above freezing the whole time we were there.  The "feels like" temp got to about 25 degrees.  We had fun, and I'm glad the kids got to see the city at the holidays...it's a beautiful place.  Would I do it again?  Not until they can all walk, put their winter gear on themselves, and keep track of all of their winter gear by themselves.  Am I glad we went?  YES.  I love New York and love to share it with the kids and Ben.

On the way home Samuel threw up twice and the battery died, but we made it home Christmas Eve around 10:00.  What a fun Christmas present.  Next year...Hawaii.

Wednesday in NYC

We went to the New York Transit Museum in the early afternoon (slept in very late.)  It was right down the street from the hotel.  It is pretty cool, as it is in an old, closed subway stop.  It was cold however.  They have displays about the building of the subway, the Money Train, the buses, bridges and streets of NYC.  They also have about 20 old subway cars, showing the progression of transportation in NYC.  They have a display of all of the old tokens that have been used, and it was fun to see the tokens that we used when we used to go to the city when we were growing up.

Driving the NYC bus was a hit for all!

After the Transit museum (where I picked up a replica of the A train (which I used to take to work) which fits the Thomas the Tank engine track) we went back to White Castle.  This time...no ketchup.

We headed over to the 5th Avenue World of Disney store, which was going out of business (everything 50% off, unless it said NYC..then 75% off) and spent about an hour.  We met my sisters at The Strand when we were done.

We headed off for some Chinese food, and then got some yummy canoli's.   After that we headed back to the hotel.  The ride back took us through the 8th Ave subway station...this was a tourist spot on it's own.

According to google, this station was recently renovated and includes works of art by Tom Otterness called "Life Underground", including a sewer alligator.

Finally back to the hotel where the boys watched the University of Utah football team.

Tuesday in NYC

We started out going to a puppet show in the Swedish Cottage in Central Park, but alas, even though we had been to the building before, we were unable to find it in time to make the show.  Oh, well.  It was a beautiful, sunny, maybe 30 degree, day, so we played in Central Park.  That was fun for a little while, and then Sadie had to use the bathroom.  So, there are bathrooms in Central Park (not many) but most of them are closed for the winter.  We made our way across (1/2 mile) and down (probably another 1/4 mile) the park to FAO Schwartz.  That took quite awhile (maybe 45 minutes), but no accidents...thank you!

We spent awhile at FAO Schwartz playing and then headed out to see some of the 5th Ave windows.  We made it past one store and decided "forget it!"  It had turned miserable while we were in the store.  We headed to Herald Square, where we got some lunch at KFC and went to what had to be the world's smallest and busiest Game Stop.  That didn't last long. 

We headed over to Macy's to see a puppet show of Miracle on 34th street.  This was fun, cheap, and I would definately recommend it.  After that we headed back to the hotel.  We were tuckered out.  We grabbed some Starbuck's hot cocoa and Ben went out later and got us some White Castle (which unfortunately had ketchup on them...weird).

Monday in NYC

Our family enjoys going on tours of baseball parks.  So, a couple of weeks ago I ordered tickets to tour the new Yankee Stadium.  It was a good tour, and a beautiful park...but the tour of the old stadium was far more interesting.

Getting there:  We had the whole subway car to ourselves and the kids finally got to treat it like a playground.  That plastic raincover over William's stroller was a lifesaver against all of the harsh wind.

Sadie in the Yankee Museum

Model of Yankee Stadium (courtesy Sadie)

Family at Monument Park

Samuel and Henry in Dugout

After the tour I wanted to go to the Bronx Botanical Gardens for a huge Christmas display, but after a number of wrong subway rides, and wandering around (trust me...subways are easy to navigate, but kids can be a bit distracting) we stopped for lunch at a McDonalds.  At this point I looked up the Garden on my phone and realized that it was closed on Monday...Oh well.

We went to Times Square instead.  First, the M&M store.  As we walked from the subway stop to the M&M store there were people in line at the 1/2 price ticket office.  I turned around and told Ben that even if they were giving out free tickets I wouldn't stand in that line...it was FREEZING!  I was expecting the stores to be busy, but they were scary busy with last minute holiday shoppers.

Then it was off to the Hershey store.

We also went to Toys R Us, but I didn't take any pictures becuase I was afraid to let go of my kids hands (that's how busy it was.)  There was a huge line for the cashiers.  As Samuel and I walked by, I overheard a woman ask a worker, if these cash registers weren't working (I guess she didn't notice the ginourmous line).  The worker looked at her, paused, and said "Yes, the line ends over there."  The lady looks around and says back "Are you sure?"

For dinner we went to Totonno's for pizza.  We heard of this place from a show on Food Network.  The pizza was great.  The 2 bus rides to get there...not so fun.

I'll get back to New York City updates tomorrow

So, I was cruising Facebook and stole these pictures of my hometown (Grand Junction, CO)

...sometimes forget how pretty it is.

The Bookcliffs

Grand Mesa

Ah...the big cow restaurant (I don't think anybody every remembered the actual name)

This just makes me laugh, and it makes complete sense to me.