They Grow Up So Fast: East Coast Trip 2015

Phew! We spent the last day and a half in New York City and we are wiped out! I think the Vales family are not big city people (the kids point out that we are not from LA but the suburbs) . New York City is exciting but all that over-stimulation is a bit too much for us.

We left Philadelphia on Monday morning. It is amazing how you can leave one major East Coast city at 10 o'clock and be in another by noon.

Ugh. Toll roads. We paid quite a lot in tolls between Philly and NYC, the most being the bridge to Staten Island which was $14.

The kids were quiet for a while and then just plain silly.

We got settled at our place in Staten Island (for a fraction of the cost of a place in Manhattan or even New Jersey) and took the ferry to Manhattan. Carter had a headache and was a big grump for most of the ride. By the way, the ride is free, takes about 25 minutes, and is really very smooth.

After departing the ferry, we stopped for lunch at the one place we had wanted to eat a meal in NYC, a restaurant called Fraunces Tavern. It was the place that Washington said farewell to his troops (or something like that). It's a three story building among the giants of the financial district.

Carter got the most expensive kids meal I think we've ever paid for: $13.00! It was good, but as Carter would say, seriously?

My yummy sandwich

We walked from the tavern to the Brooklyn Bridge. It isn't a huge distance, in terms of Manhattan, but it was a long walk, especially when you add all the distance it takes to actually get onto the bridge (we were walking along the river).

It is pretty cool to be on that bridge. The lines of its design are beautiful, as are the views from it.

We walked all the way across and then rested for a few minutes in a park before taking the subway back under the river to the 9/11 Memorial.

We did our best to explain to the kids what happened on September 11, 2001. The memorial that has been created is moving and beautiful but is too abstract for the kids to understand. We tried to make sense of it for them without scaring them.

The survivor tree. Apparently it was pulled from the rubble and replanted to symbolize the resilient spirit of the survivors.

Freedom tower is beautiful, especially with the blue skies and clouds reflecting on it.

There are just so many names.

Still rebuilding.

We then walked along the river and Battery Park to the ferry terminal. We had parked in a structure in Staten Island that locked up at 8pm, so we needed to get the 7pm ferry.

On the ferry back. I found a spot on the back of the ferry with an amazing view of the city.

Our second day started out better than one guy's. We found that some delivery truck got into an accident with an NY Corrections prisoner transport bus. Whoopsie!

Back on the ferry for day 2

and the subway

to Times Square!

Woah. Talk about overstimulation!

Here's one of the kids' favorite stops in NYC... the giant Toys 'R Us in Times Square. We had fun exploring!

We ate lunch at Carmine's near Times Square. They claim to be a New York institution. I will say that their portions are huge, expensive and tasty. Ashlynn's kids meal had four huge meatball "sliders" that we the size of some hamburgers I've eaten.

Back through Times Square on our way to the New York Public Library and other sites.

A walk through Bryant Park on the way. I wish it hadn't been raining so we could have stayed to enjoy it!

"It THAT the Empire State building?"

My library lovin' girl on the way to a big library.

The map room

The entrance lobby

The main reading room was closed. Bummer. Here's the door!

Next stop: Grand Central Terminal (train station)

We decided to go upstairs to get a good view of the room. What did we find? An Apple Store! The kids were thrilled to play on iPads for a while.

We walked up Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Plaza. We had considered going to the Top of the Rock to see the view (I read that in some ways it has a better view than the Empire State Building), but we opted out of spending about $100 to get a cloudy view on a rainy day.

Ashlynn took a couple of photos

We also visited the Lego Store at Rockefeller Plaza. Check out the cool mini-version.

Ohp! One last selfie at the plaza.

Atlas and Ashlynn

St. Patrick's Cathedral is pretty much right across the street. We went there to check it out and get a little peace from the craziness of the city.

Of course it was under construction!

Their Piata statue

We walked a few more blocks north and got to FAO Schwarz. We were there on its second from last day being open. It was kind of sad, thinking of it's history (like in the movie Big) and seeing the somewhat picked over remains.

We met up with our friend Tim (yes, same one we saw in DC... he's actually working in NYC but his wife transferred to DC so they split their time in the two cities on days off). He found us in the Star Wars section, which was just about right.

We then headed over to Central Park.

Look! The Plaza Hotel!

Ah, Central Park! Just what is needed after time in New York City's craziness.

Our kids were THRILLED to get to climb on rocks. In fact, they happily declared that their two favorite things about NYC were going to the big toy stores (we didn't even buy anything!) and climbing in the park.

Strawberry Fields

We had a quick spin through The Museum of Natural History

After that we walked to Tim's compact apartment to relax for a little while (and to see what a NYC apartment looked like).

We ended our time in the city with a New York pizza dinner at Grimaldi's. It was good pizza!

Oh, but we had to wait a little bit for a table so we watched people and cars (and taxis).

We took the subway one final time to catch the ferry back to Staten Island. The subways are pretty dirty and run-down, but I did enjoy the mosaic tiles!