11.08.2011

Start spreading the news...

We left last Thursday
We had to be a part of it, New York - New York.

Grabbed our comfy shoes
For a long few days
Walking through the very heart of it
New York, New York

If we can make it there
We'll make it anywhere
We loved our visit
New York, New York...


Okay... I'll stop now. But let me just say that we had the
Best.Trip.Ever. 

Not going to lie, part of me was freaking out going crazy panicking a little nervous.
Wednesday night we took pictures with the lovely Sarah Giles (coming to a mailbox near you for Christmas 2011), threw some pjs on the kids and drove to Houston to stay with our friends, the Bryants. 

5am was an early wake up call but we all did great - even the kids! We made it to the airport, and onto the plane and we were off! (That nice gentleman to the left of me traded seats with Ryan after this pic so we even got to sit together!) 


 Then it was time for our first taxi ride! And no, they are not cabs - they are taxis. Radley insists. 
;)


We made it to Niki and Joes, put our bags down, freshened up a bit and then headed out for Ryan's favorite part of the trip - pizza. Radley ate that entire piece and Emmy ate half of one. They must get that from their daddy!


The weather was perfect. Crisp and cool - not quite cold enough for heavy coats but great for layers and jackets and my favorite hat. We hit the jackpot! We wandered down 7th Avenue to "the park" - ya know, Central Park and just strolled along. And I know it sounds so cliche and silly, but it was just wonderful. All of us together just laughing and site seeing and having so much fun. 

 Our first excursion on our "big city" tour was the Central Park Zoo. Now, while I am no New Yorker, I have been lucky enough to visit several times now but have never made it to the zoo, so I was just as excited as the kids! Sadly, the children's zoo was closed for renovations but we still had a great time seeing sea lions, leopards, snow monkeys, polar bears, penguins, butterflies, bats, red pandas (seriously the most adorable creature on the planet) and even got to watch Dora and Diego in 4D!


 Radley loved the "4D" - when Dora would fly through the rain forest, the theater smelled like rain, when the monkeys opened a banana the theater smelled like banana and when Diego flew his plane over water we all got splashed. (Emmy did not love that part).


I can't even begin to express my obsession with the cuteness of this child. 


Radley as a ferocious snow leopard. He has been trying to jump as far as them for 5 days now. I'll let you know if and when that happens. :)


 He loved the monkeys!


Ryan paused for a minute to soak up some brain power. 

Then it was back to the park to play on the world's greatest playground. Radley was so inquistive and wanted to know everything, a few questions:

1. Why do the dogs pee on the sidewalk?
2. Why is that man running?
3. What is that man selling?
4. Why is that lady sleeping on the rocks? (this was interesting to explain)


Radley had a blast and could have done this the entire four days we were there. 

Again with the cuteness!

And then she thought she could climb up those rocks, too. (And she did!!!)

Climbing the tower to save the princess! 

Sadly we had to call it a night because the sun was going down and I was getting hungry! :) 



A few things we learned about traveling with small ones (specifically to NYC) from day 1:
1. Go with the flow - which we did. We didn't have any set plans just an idea of what we wanted to do.
2. Bring snacks. 
3. Diapers can be changed anywhere - even in the middle of a park in Manhattan. 
4. You don't need to spend a lot of money to make kids happy. Just your love attention and a real cool rock wall. 
5. We would move to NY if we didn't have to work and could just do fun stuff all day long!

Up next... FAO Schwartz and the Museum of Natural History...

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