New York City, Day 3

Busy and productive day!

This morning we had our first meal at AQ Cafe, the casual dinning of Aquavite (a five-star Swedish restaurant). Lox and herring, plus swedish meatballs and potatoes. Then we spent some time in the Heimbold Damily Children's Center at the Scandinavia House. Garrett enjoyed the icelandic themed playroom, the Lego Blocks, and especially the Brio trains.

Next we proceeded to Radio City Music Hall. The theater is impressive with gigantic hydrolics for the stage elevators. However, the tour drags on a bit as though they felt the need to extend it to an hour in order to charge for it.

After the tour Andrea and Garrett headed uptown to the American Museum of Natural History, while I headed to get discount theater tickets (tried before RCMH, but had to come back). Got half price tickets to see Mary Poppins @ 8.

Andrea and Garrett arrived at the museum just before they started letting people in for free. I would have gladly paid for the experience, but Andrea made it up to them by buying Garrett a horse from the gift shop. I might post separately on how amazing the museum was, but suffice it to say it completely exceeded my expectations.

After the museum we headed back downtown to meet Crystal for dinner. Unfortunately her recommended spot was totally overbooked, with an hour and a half wait, but it worked out because we stumbled upon a fun restaurant, called Havana, that sat us immediately and we all enjoyed. Garrett slept through dinner, which has become his standard nap in New York!

After some delicious Cuban food, we said goodbye to Crystal at our theater and went inside for Mary Poppins. The musical must take a lot from the book as it is very different from the movie version, but that makes the experience fresh for fans of the movie. Andrea and I both agree that the first half ran a bit long and dragged a bit with plot setup, but the second half was very strong. The actor playing Burt is fantastic, acting and dancing really well and singing perfectly for the part. Without running it, he does an amazing manuever during "Steppin' Time" that had our jaws on the floor. Garrett was so good and only got antsy near the very end.

As a reward for sitting through a 2 1/2 hour show, we stopped at Toys R Us (in Time's Square) on the walk home and picked up a new car.

Tomorrow is our last day, but it has been an incredible trip. We are looking forward to a fun morning and hopefully an easy flight home.

New York City, Day 2

Central Park Day! We had lunch food for breakfast on the go and headed to Central Park Zoo. Met up with Jen, a friend of Andrea's from elementary school and junior high, who works in Manhattan and had never been to the zoo before. We saw the Sea Lions and the Seals being fed. The penguins were just hanging out, but too crowded, so we past right through to the Puffins. We had a great view of the Polar Bears; one was sunning itself and scratching an itch. Then we saw monkeys, turtles, rain forest birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, and red pandas. The children's zoo is full of barnyard animals and some cool fish.

Our next adventure was finding the carousel. Google failed me by taking us clear to the other side of Central Park (supposedly about a half mile) only to come back half way to the middle. But it was worth the walk as Garrett loved it! After a little refreshment, we found the horse carriage rides and rode through the park.

On the taxi ride to dinner, Garrett fell asleep on his Momma's arm. We had a delicious dinner at Turkuaz (Turkish food). Garrett woke up in time to have some, but he decided he preferred eggs and sausage back at the hotel. We rode the subway with Jen to the nearest stop and said Goodnight, then walked a few blocks to the hotel. Garrett is finally having his dinner while we plan tomorrow's adventure. We have too many things we want to do for only one more full day here!

New York City, Day 1 Part II

Ruby Foos was delicious for dinner. They have some really fun sushi and the company was also a lot of fun. Crystal reminded me that 3 of us at the table are CLMAs.

Afterwards we took Garrett to the M&M store and he bought a bag of all blue M&Ms! Then we walked to Rockafellor Center and took the trip to the top. The view is really amazing up there and Garrett enjoyed the lightroom too (impossible to explain, pictures and video should follow when we return home).

Central Park tomorrow!

New York City, Day 1

Slept in until Noon since that is only 9 back in CA. Took the hotel a long time to finally put us in a King room, but we are there now.

Had a delicious lunch and walked up to 5th Avenue. Garrett had a blast in Disney Store and didn't want to ever leave FAO Schwartz, although Andrea and I were expecting a bit more. Andrea found a nice sweater to keep her warm. It's a little chilly but not cold.

Dinner tonight at Ruby Foos, our favorite place when Andrea and I came five years ago (no pressure).

New York City, Day 0

Today was all travel. Ontario to Atlanta was 3 1/2 hours. Garrett was very good, but quite antsy near the end. Seemed like the longest descent in history. Note to airplane GPS makers. If it says "Time to Destination: 0:00" for 10 minutes before landing, you need to go back to the drawing board on that feature.

Garrett played tag and jumping at the airport to get out some energy. Then we got back on the same plane for the second leg of the trip. For some reason this time, we were not allowed to sit in front of the exit row with a car seat, so we had to move back. It's just funny because we had just flown across the country in that row.

Landed in NYC anf took a taxi to the hotel. So much traffic for 10:30pm. Garrett fell asleep on the ride. I was mesmorized by the mapquest display in the back of the cab. Andrea tried not to get sick from the way cabs drive in New York.

The hotel gave away our King bed, but promised one tomorrow. I transferred Garrett into the bed (he gets his own with two doubles), but he woke up and wanted to eat with us. Had a pastrami sandwich and matza ball soup from Carnegie Deli, super delicious. Garrett had some yummy mac and cheese from another deli very close. Then off to bed.

Tomorrow morning we'll explore the city.

New York, Day -1

Too much to do to get ready for our trip and I'm spending most of it playing with Garrett. Citrus Spring video is too frustrating to finish before we go.

Tomorrow will be mostly spent on the plane, so we're planning lots of games and activities to distract Garrett from the fact that he cannot run around. Wish us (and the other passengers) luck!