With James in school since January, our weekends have been even crazier than usual. Over the summer, James and I decided that it would be good to have a mini-family vacation this fall. He thought he could take a few days off work, and we were thinking we'd drive to Atlanta to see the aquarium, with stops on the way down and back. When we mentioned it to the kids, they had a counterproposal: New York City. Ellen and Garth took their kids last year, and I guess Brady and Rudy had caught wind of that trip. James and I didn't have any strong arguments against the idea, so I booked a long weekend with points at the Marriott in Times Square.
We drove to Beth and Bill's house in New Jersey on Wednesday night, arriving around 10 pm. Spending the night there gave us a place to leave the car and a convenient point to get on NJ transit into the city. We caught a train around 10 am on Thursday morning to Penn Station. The train ride was about an hour and half, but it passed quickly while we were looking out the windows.
After checking in, where Brady sweet talked the desk agent into giving
us a room on a higher floor, we went in search of lunch. I had scoped out a decently reviewed pizza joint somewhat near Times Square, but James got cold feet at the last minute and didn't want to add migraine to his list of big apple fun. We crossed the street and hit the classic NYC chain: Shake Shack. Not a bad choice - tasty burgers and shakes at a price that didn't completely break the bank, all within a couple blocks of Times Square!
Finally, we were off to explore. At the top of the
list for the boys were the stores that Mary Emma and Kate had told them
about. We hit the
Times Square highlights: ToysRUs, M&Ms, Disney, Hersheys...
With the Lego Empire State Building, and my nerds with some Nerds...
They did pretty well walking among the masses of people, but I think they were definitely floored by it all...the lights, the people, the weird Times Square mascots...
We kept on going up the streets, headed to Rockefeller Center and the Lego store. I dragged them into the MoMA store, where we ended up spending a solid 45 minutes. Rudy had a full on epic battle waging among the knights in the kids' section.
We had snagged discount tickets to Aladdin that evening, so we eventually made our way back to the hotel for a quick snack (fig and fruit bars, packed from home!) before the show.
Goofy kids in the hotel room, showing off our good view (if there is a such thing) of gaudy Times Square...
Arriving at the New Amsterdam Theater. Rudy couldn't stop watching the sign, so you can see the progression in the pictures below. 1) Rudy watching the sign instead of looking at the camera (there are actually several of these pictures, taken in succession. 2) Rudy with his arms crossed, pouting because we were all getting frustrated. 3) Finally - smiling for the camera!
I love the beautiful old theaters! This show was AMAZING. The genie was fabulous, and really made the whole production work. Well worth the excursion!
After the show, we were all pretty wiped. We watched these street performers for a bit, and did our best to avoid the scantily clad ladies (generous description, really) posing for pictures. Even in its new "cleaned up" state, Times Square still feels more than a little shady, especially at this late hour. We wanted a little bite to eat and found a somewhat sketchy deli to get a few slices of pizza and yogurt as a snack. After that, it was straight to bed!
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