There were only two things they couldn't get the hang of and one was not touching the bottom of their shoes all the time. You know, walk though the city, the subway, through garbage and then sit down and tuck your knees to your chest while rubbing your hands on the bottom of your shoes. They did this 10 times per day. (Although Joseph won The Gross Award when he was shopping for a souvenir car and was test driving it on the floor. As he knelt on the floor testing the vehicle, he sneezed and a sneeze ball flew out of his nose and landed on the floor by the toy car. As quick as a flash, he scooped it up with his finger and jammed it back into his mouth. I can't even.)
The other thing they couldn't get the hang of was being quiet in the apartment. Kids run everywhere. And they don't run like delicate predators such as cheetahs, barely whisking the floor. Nope. They run like scared prey such as elephants.
Those 2 troubles aside, we did have a blast though and even did new things that Larry and I have never done in the 20 trips we've made there over the years.
We spent one day at Snug Harbor on Staten Island. Despite the quick rain showers we encountered on the Ferry ride, the day quickly shaped up to be clear and beautiful. We enjoyed the Botanical Gardens, with a maze (complete with hedge maze, castle, and secret garden) and the Chinese Scholar's Garden. Also on the property was a 4-floor children's museum that was almost empty of children. I usually can't last 5 minutes in a children's museum, but we were able to let the kids explore this one at their own leisure.
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| The rainy Ferry ride to Staten Island |
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| Joseph's expression!! |
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| Read the plaque. The maze was like the dreams of my childhood for a secret garden like this. |
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| He adores her. |
The kids also got to pick shows to see. Abigail picked Wicked again. (It is her 3rd time to see it in 10 months!) Joseph picked the Gazillion Bubble Show.
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| I don't have a great concept of large powers of 10, but there really might have been a gazillion bubbles. |
Another fun pastime in NYC is to eat. We love going to the Greenwich Village/ Lower Manhattan area for this sort of thing. If you are going to NYC and want to know where to go, my suggestion is that you just walk down Macdougal Street and around NYU. However, I do not recommend you ever let a child buy a "firecracker junior" from a Mr. Softee ice cream truck. The picture on the truck is of a small popsicle thing, but in actuality, it is a giant sticky mess.
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| Never again. |
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| Pomme Frites |
We also enjoyed time playing in Central Park.
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| Abigail was our coxwain on this trip. Her directions were "Leftish. More middleish. Leftish then straightish." |
We also went to the Natural History Museum. We saved the Gem and Mineral Room for last because it is my favorite but I wanted to make sure the kids got to see the exciting other things like dinosaur bones and animals and things about outer space. But in the Gem and Mineral Room they got a 2nd wind and it ended up being their favorite thing in the museum.
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| He was indignant that I said a Head Butting dinosaur was his ancestor. This was 3 minutes after he (accidentally) bashed me with his skull. |
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| Oh my god she cracks us up! |
The kids were exhausted but said they loved "living" in NYC.
