We5Kings Love NYC: Day 2

This is the day I was looking forward to the most - mainly because I knew it would be filled with all the things that the kids would love. We slept in (again), ate breakfast (again), grabbed coffee (again) and took a stroll through Central Park (again) on our way to the destination of the day.

The forecast was filled with showers until early in the evening, but we were lucky on our stroll and missed them. (But the girls got some use out of their darling new rain boots).

I mean....this.

After a **quick** mile and a half through the park, we arrived to our destination for the day...

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY... the kids were so stinking excited, and we were, too!

We downloaded the AMNH app (TOTALLY recommend) which has recommended tours that you can follow. They actually have a Night at the Museum tour which was awesome since the kids LOVE that movie. It took us to all the major highlights that inspired the movie and kept the kids excited about the next stop. It also kept the whining at bay since the museum is huge and requires lots of walking.

Here they are with "dum dum", "Rexie", and the mammoth...

and "Dexter", "Teddy" and the elephants.

And of course there was TONS more to see...Emersyn really loved all the miniature dioramas - she of course made up roles for each family and played pretend through the glass. Radley loved all the Native American displays, sharks and the film we saw, "Secret Oceans". (Can we pause and reflect on how freaking cool an octopus is - y'all. This film was CRAZY - like the entire world that exists in the ocean is mind blowing. And as an adult, with 2 degrees, you would have thought that I would have grasped that concept by now, but heavens above, it's INCREDIBLE!" Landry had the most fun with the animals because she could identify them and pretend to make their noises.

They also loved the Discovery Room which I also highly recommend. You have to get tickets for a specific time frame to play so we picked this as our last stop of the day to keep them looking forward to it. You get 45 minutes inside and since they limit the number of children at a time, it wasn't crowded at all. They had a special area for kids 8 and above that Radley loved but everyone's favorite spot as the dinosaur excavation where you got to find bones and then assemble a replica. I kind of wanted to play. 

We spent all day here - from open to close and never got bored. There is so much to see and discover that you could really take 2 days to see it all.

Three things had me overwhelmed in wonderment...

1. Titanosaur

The newest fossil in their collection which is being unveiled this weekend. This beast is so large that his head sticks out of the room. He doesn't fit. Y'all. That is crazy!

3. The Giant Sequoia Tree

This sequoia tree stump that dates back to 400 AD and stood for 1400 years until it was cut down by lumberjacks. I almost teared up thinking about the day it was cut down. The kids could not believe that a tree could be that large so we've already made plans for a Route 1 vacation when Radley is 15 for them to see them in person.

3. The Blue Whale

This exhibit hall is simply amazing. Walking under this beautiful creature of the sea is just overwhelming - I have never felt so small or enormously grateful at the same time. God is pretty darn incredible to have created such beauty in our world - if only we as humans would respect these creations a bit more.

By 5pm the museum was closing and it was time to head out for dinner. The kids thought this statue of Lincoln on the way to the restaurant was hysterical.

I had been looking forward to taking the girls to Alice's Tea Cup since we booked the tickets. The food is divine and the atmosphere is so much fun - little girls (and big ones, too) are invited to wear fairy wings while they eat. This tea shop is known for its scones and obviously it's tea. We never order anything but water when we eat out so the kids were THRILLED when we let them pick their poison. Radley and Landry chose chocolate milk and Emmy got some OJ. Everyone but me feasted on scones for dinner and I had some butternut squash soup and a gluten free BLT...heaven.

It's funny what sticks with kids ... Emmy's teacher sent me an email when she got back to school to let me know that she kept talking about drinking from that pretty tea cup and eating "stones" after going to the "newseum". 

The last adventure for the day was quintessential NYC... a carriage ride through the park!

Emmy and Landry voted on a white horse and carriage and they were even more excited when the inside was purple.

Radley just wanted a seat on the outside and he's a happy kid.

And my seat wasn't so bad either.

One last stop for a sweet treat and day 2 was done.

We headed home to rest up for the big adventures ahead...