New York City

We spent a day and a half in New York City.  We arrived in the afternoon of the first day, and we stayed in a hotel a few blocks from Times Square.  We immediately went out walking.  Our first destination was Times Square.  There were a lot of characters in Times Square- a lot of people dressed up like characters- Strawberry Shortcake, super heros, there even were two women dressed up like Wonder Woman, but they were only wearing a thong- the rest of the costume was painted on.  Nate was fascinated by the last ones.  In Times Square we went into the M&M's store, and the Toys'R Us that was there.  We went and got some NY style pizza then walked up to Central Park.  The kids loved to run up and down the big rocks in Central park, unfortunately we got there pretty late and the play area was closing.  We also went to the Apple Store, which had only a glass front and was underground...and open 24 hours.  Then we walked back to our hotel.  The round trip walk was about 3 miles, and the kids were quite tired.

 The next morning, Jayne, Ken and family came down from Massachusetts to spend some time in the city with us.  First we rode a boat along the Hudson River to see the city and the Statue of Liberty. 

 Right next to where the boat departed, there was a museum on an old aircraft carrier boat, the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.  There were some really cool aircraft to look at and some interesting displays that the kids could climb in and look at.  

 In the museum, there was a submarine from WWII that we got to climb through and look at all the spaces. 

 The Space Shuttle Enterprise is parked on the very top deck of the aircraft carrier.  They don't let you climb in it, but you can get up close to the nose of it and look at it.

 The last thing we did in the city was to ride the subway to the 9-11 memorial.  I thought the memorial was really well done- there are two large holes in the ground where the footprints of the buildings are, and they have been turned into fountains.  When you look at it, you feel it is appropriate, it feels like there are two big holes there in the city where the buildings used to be.

 Around the outside of the memorials are listed the names of all the victims in the attack.  They even have listed "and her unborn child" for those women who were pregnant when they died.

 That evening, we went to a dinner show at a place called "Medieval Times."  It was really fun, the food was good, and the show was great.  

Each part of the seating was designated a specific color and we were assigned to cheer for a knight.  The nights rode horses, played javelins, did a few riding games and then fought with swords.  It was a well done show.

We really enjoyed NYC, but by the time we were done, we were exhausted.  We drove to Jayne's house that evening.  On the way, somewhere in the middle of New York state, I got pulled over for not turning my brights off fast enough.  The police must have been bored because when he returned my license and told me I was good to go (no warning or anything), he stayed and chatted with me and Jayne for a half hour.  The kids kept waking up and crying, but he still talked on and on.  It was a little crazy.