New York City

Every year, we try to go somewhere for the 4th of July.  This year, we had this amazing opportunity to go to NYC for 8 days to visit my sister, who is living there for the summer.  We took Gwen with us, and she was such a trooper.  She slept on both flights, nearly the entire way, and the part she wasn’t sleeping during, she was smiling and chatting it up with the flight attendants.  We were so excited to see my sister, her husband, and my niece and nephews.  And they were excited to see us…well, actually, I mean they were excited to see Gwen. She really is the star of the show now.  We are pretty used to it.  My sister lives right near Central Park, so that’s what we did when we first arrived.

The next day, we headed out to the Empire State Building with my sister and her kiddos.  It was really cool to be somewhere that you always hear about.  The sky was pretty clear, so the views were pretty good.  I can’t believe how big Manhattan is.  It makes our little SLC look so tiny.
Since we saw the Empire State in the morning, my sister offered to take Gwen back to her apartment and put her down for a nap so we could go out exploring Times Square.  It was super crowded, but what in NYC isn’t?  Also, it was HOT.  Our whole trip was HOT.  We were always sweating and feeling sticky.  I really wanted to buy this biggest Hershey’s bar in the world, but Dan wouldn’t let me, and let’s be honest, Hershey’s chocolate really isn’t THAT great.
That evening my sister and her family left to have a weekend trip to DC.  They so graciously let us stay in their apartment while they were gone, so we saw some sights that they had already seen and didn’t really want to do again.  That night, we went to the Brooklyn Bridge.  We actually loved it, and it might have been one of our favorite parts of the trip.  We started out on the Brooklyn side and hung out down by the pier.  It was cooler down there because of the ocean breeze, and the views were amazing.  We ate some ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, and it was delicious.  We tried to eat at Grimaldi’s Pizza, but the wait was about 2 hours, so we decided to forget about that.  After we had our ice cream and walked around the pier for a bit, we made our way across the bridge at dusk.  It was beautiful and by the time we were half way across, it was dark and all the city lights were on.  Gwen kept falling asleep in her stroller, and every time I’d try to take a picture of her, she’d wake up. 
On Friday, we went to the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  It was the hottest day of the trip and the air was muggy and stifling.  Gwen was pretty unhappy just because of the heat, but still did great.  We just dragged her around, and she’d fall asleep on us in the backpack, despite the heat.  The statue was really cool.  It’s always been on my bucket list, so I’m happy I finally got to cross it off.  Ellis Island was really cool.  It was air conditioned, so that made it nice, and the history was really cool to read about.  I learned a lot!

After we got back from Statue of Liberty, we headed to more cool buildings, and hit up the Natural History Museum.  It was really fun, and I wish we would have had more time to explore it.  It was huge!  Dan really loved the dinos and so we spent a lot of time exploring that exhibit.  Gwen was happy to have a cool place to rest her cute little cheeks, and slept the whole time we were there.
On Saturday, we headed out to Governor's Island and it was really fun.  We rented a little cart bike and biked around the island.  We had a little picnic in the park and enjoyed the view of Manhattan from there.  After our picnic, we walked by the ocean and then, once we had walked a complete circle around the island, we caught the ferry back.  It was a really relaxing day, and fun to be out and just get away from the crowds for a bit.
On Sunday, we headed out to West Village.  It was ok, but nothing spectacular.  The streets were made of cobble stone, and there were a few cute shops around.  We did have some pretty amazing cupcakes at the famous Magnolia Bakery, and found a Juicy Couture store that had really cute baby clothes, that I had to really use some self control to refrain from buying a few things that were seriously over priced, but really cute.
Later that night, my sister and kids were back, so we put Gwen to bed and headed out on the town. We went to Times Square, and it was NUTS! I couldn’t believe how many people were still out, with tiny kids that were screaming and ready for bed. Poor babies. We had some authentic New York cheesecake from Juniors Bakery.  It was FANTASTIC.
On Monday, we hit up the Museum of Modern Art, which was a total bust.  Luckily, we didn’t have to pay to get in, but it was pretty ridiculous.  Danny and I both left saying that we weren’t sure if we were just really under “cultured” or if we were just really smart. Some of the “art” was pretty pathetic.  For instance, in the photo below, you will see the words “A wall pitted by a single air riffle shot”  In this piece of art, the artist felt that the words them sleves were art enough and didn’t actually even shoot the wall with an air riffle.  We were both very confused, and thought it was pretty pathetic.
After the MOMA, we did a little shopping, and then headed back to the apartment and met Tara and kids for our trip to Coney Island.  It was a blast.  Sure, it was pricy, and pretty much just like a giant carnival, but with better rides, but it was really fun.  It’s right on the beach, and there is this huge boardwalk with little restaurants and ice cream shops.  We had a really fun time.  We had an authentic “Coney Dog” from Nathan’s Hot Dog stand, and it was good, you know, as good as a hot dog can be. 

And now it’s Tuesday.  My sister again watched Gwen while we headed out to do some shopping and see the financial district, and Ground Zero.  I found a really cute dress at the biggest JC Penny ever, and all the stores are HUGE.  It was fun to get out and be on our own.  Ground Zero was really cool, I thought.  They have 2 pools with 30 foot waterfalls where the original towers stood.  They are still building the new WTC buildings, and WTC 1 is going to be 1776 feet tall, the 4th tallest building in the world.  There was a little info pamphlet and it was actually really interesting to learn about what they are planning on doing with the new WTC buildings and area.  We also got to see Goldman Sach’s NY office, which is HUGE!!  Dan went inside and had a meeting there, but I wasn’t able to go in.  Then, we visited the World Financial Bank, and it, of course, was massive. 
First & bottom pic are world financial center, and 2nd pic is Goldman Sach’s
Then we headed to the MET.  I cannot believe how huge that museum is.  It was so cool.  There is so much to see there, you could literally spend all day there and still not see it all.  It was really cool.  And on our way there, little G decided she was too tired, and it was too bright outside, so she pulled her hat down over her eyes and fell asleep.  It was so cute.  She was totally out.  She also loved having Halle pack her around in the back pack all day, and Halle was so excited to spend some quality time with her favorite cousin.
That night, we went out with my sister, her husband, and my niece and saw NEWSIES!! It was amazing, and brought me to tears.  We was so much fun.  We went to this little diner before the show called Ellen’s Stardust Diner.  It’s this little diner where all these aspiring Broadway actors and actresses wait tables and sing Broadway tunes while they are doing it.  The food wasn’t great, and it was SERIOUSLY overpriced, but I thought it was a really fun environment.  One of the waiters sang to my niece and she was so embarrassed she started crying.  It was so cute and sad, but Newsies made up for it.  Seriously.  It was amazing.
Happy 4th of July!!  We started out the day by going to the botanical gardens in the Bronx.  It was a little intense getting there, but the gardens were so beautiful.  Not exactly what you’d expect botanical gardens to be like, but a lot of the flowers were out of season.  It was really fun though, and the grounds were beautiful.  It was super hot, once again, but it was still fun.

After we got back, Dan headed down to the banks of the Hudson to save us a spot to watch the fireworks.  Poor Dan.  He waited in the hot, hot, hot sun to save us a spot to watch the fireworks.  By the time we got there, they were barricading the streets, but we found a nice officer to let us in, and finally found Dan.  There were SOOOO many people!!  The fireworks were really cool.  They light them off from 4 different barges on the Hudson and we had a great view and could see all four lines of fireworks.  Also, I had to feed Gwen, and there was no where to sit, I was just going to stand, but Dan suggested I sit in the stroller…so I did.  And he thought it was so funny he just had to take a picture.
And that concludes our first family vacation, a trip to NYC.  It was so much fun, but if we ever make it there again, I’ll make sure to go in the spring or fall so we don’t have to endure the heat. :) Thanks Tara for letting us crash with you, for watching Gwen for us, and for the over all GREAT time!  We already miss you!