NYC! Holiday whimsy and magic!
We had a surprisingly AMAZING time in New York this weekend!
So, we left early-ish Friday morning (not early enough to avoid getting stuck in rush hour traffic on 95 trying to get out of Massachusetts). West threw up 3 times in the car on the way down. I had been prepared with a bag for him to puke in, but by the third (and most volumninous) time, the bag was a goner and his trajectory missed the bag almost entirely. OMG. I wish the kid had inherited my steel stomach, I've always been able to read in cars with no problem and don't get motion sick. Oh well.
So, we finally pulled into the city, found the Museum of Natural History, and parked in the garage there. Ate some overpriced crappy lunch at the museum first, and then we explored it for a while. West was so excited! He was so happy to see the dinosaurs, and he was just a delight of learning and wonder the whole time. We saw the big blue whale, the Easter Island statue, and a bunch of the different cultural exhibits (we watched Night At The Museum the night before to fully prepare). We really could have spent tons more time there, and West asked to go back a few times over the weekend, so we'll have to make a return trip some time.
We wanted to hit Times Square that day, though, so we got on the subway and went down to square. The Toys R Us there is closing next month, and we've always wanted West to see it, with the giant dinosaur, giant Lego stuff, and ferris wheel. We went to Toys R Us, the Disney store, the M&M store, and the Hershey store. I though the toys would be the biggest hit, but West was most excited about the M&M store. Go figure. I guess it goes to show that he's kind of spoiled with toys but he doesn't get candy all that often. I thought all the big screens and craziness would be cool to him, but he didn't seem to care much about all that stuff.
Went back to retrieve our car and drove over to Brooklyn to our hotel- the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott. Luxury! It was comfy and a nice place to stay (not the nicest, I really liked that Japanese hotel we stayed in a few summers ago). There was even parking right next to the hotel, and I think it was actually just $25 a day, including valet service. What the what! They did try to charge us for wifi after telling us it was free, but it was pretty easy to sort that out at the end. Anyway, we got ourselves settled then set out to Park Slope to meet a friend (hi bunnyroo if you're around here still!) for dinner. Had a great dinner and then it was time to get the little dude to bed.
Saturday was the day I was most trepidatious about, because Drew was playing a nerd game all day and West & I were on our own. But it was a huge success! We all got breakfast at a diner in Brooklyn, then went our separate ways.
West and I took the F train into Manhattan. We got off at Herald Square, right by Macy's. Looked at the windows, and then I thought, foolishly, that it was early enough in the morning, might as well try to get into Macy's Santaland. We waited in line to get into an elevator to go up to the 8th floor, then saw the enormous line for Santaland. It was probably a two hour wait. We said nay nay, got lost trying to get out, got yelled at by some dudes when I went out a door that apparently I wasn't supposed to go out. One guy was like "didn't you read the sign?" And I said "yeah, the sign says no re-entry, and I didn't want to re-enter, I wanted to leave. It doesn't say not to go out the door." He laughed and said to his buddy "she's got a point."
After Macy's we went to the Empire State Building. I had sprung for a VIP skip-the-lines pass, since West could get in free, so I just needed to buy one ticket. So worth it! Seriously. There are a bunch of lines through the process of getting to the observation deck, and we really did skip them all. I've always wanted to go up the Empire State Building, and never have until this weekend. Being up there with West was so fun, he was in awe of it all.
Next, we started walking. West really wanted a pretzel, so we got a street cart pretzel. We found ourselves in front of the New York Public Library, so he got to see the lions. We went inside, and West really liked looking around at the exhibits and art they had. I think he would have stayed longer, but it was getting close to lunch time so I pressed us on to Grand Central. I thought he'd like seeing the train station, especially because it's in a bunch of the New York books we'd been reading, but it was really crowded, and I guess you've seen one train station you've seen them all, he was not super impressed. SantaCon was in town that weekend, so there were already tons of drunk people in Santa suits crowding around. We left the station and went in search of some pizza, found a little hole in the wall place and got a couple of slices.
Next, we started walking up to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. We went by the Lord & Taylor window display on the way, and that was pretty spectacular. Ok, so, it turns out that everyone who goes to New York wants to see the 30 Rock tree. It was so crowded, it was hard to even move down the sidewalk to get there. We managed to get a glimpse, then bailed out on getting any closer. West wanted to go in the Lego store, but there was a line to get into the store, so we abandoned that idea. There was a fancy chocolate store next to it, and West was easily bought off with a tiny expensive chocolate duck.
Walked back down toward Bryant Park. I'd had the notion to check out the holiday fair there, but by the time we got there we were both super tired and done with walking. Despite a ton of misgivings, I broke down and bought a ticket for a double decker tour bus from a guy on the street selling tickets. Totally sketch, but it worked and we got on a bus. It was the cheapest possible tour bus option, and we discovered as it went along that the "hop on hop off" is misleading because if you don't hop on at the start of its loop you'll never get a seat later in the loop. There were a lot of angry yelling people whenever the bus made a scheduled stop and no one got off, so no one could get on. West fell asleep hard on the bus, and was epically mad at me when I had to wake up before we got to the stop where I wanted to get off.
We got off the bus at Battery Park so we could see the Statue of Liberty. West was mad and cranky and didn't really appreciate it, but he's seen it, so that's something. I had hoped we could maybe catch a ferry ride, but it was late in the day and I thought he'd fall asleep again if we were on a boat. So we got on the subway and went back to Brooklyn. Watched a bit of tv in the hotel room while we waited for Drew to finish his game, then we went to dinner.
Saturday night after dinner I set out on my own to see SLEATER-KINNEY! It was a great show, I'm really glad I went. It was pretty much the same set they played when we saw them in Boston earlier this year, but they did play a cover of the Ramones' Merry XMas (I Don't Want to Fight). I love that band so much.
Sunday we were going to head home in the morning, but it was so gorgeous, we were like "why don't we stick around for a while." We went to Junior's to get breakfast to start our day. Checked out, got our car, and drove over to the Central Park area near the zoo. We went to the Central Park Zoo, which West really liked. The big hit of the morning, though, was the playground near the Met (it's called the "ancient playground" because it has a vague pyramid theme). Finally had to shut down the fun and get started on our drive back north.
We stopped late in the afternoon in Connecticut at Dinosaur State Park for a bit of fun and a road break. It was cute, and a decent way to stretch our legs for a while. And West got to touch a snake there, so there's that.
So that's our trip. West was so great and delightful pretty much the entire time. I'm so happy that we finally got do the cheesy New York holiday stuff and we got to share some really amazing experiences with West.
So, we left early-ish Friday morning (not early enough to avoid getting stuck in rush hour traffic on 95 trying to get out of Massachusetts). West threw up 3 times in the car on the way down. I had been prepared with a bag for him to puke in, but by the third (and most volumninous) time, the bag was a goner and his trajectory missed the bag almost entirely. OMG. I wish the kid had inherited my steel stomach, I've always been able to read in cars with no problem and don't get motion sick. Oh well.
So, we finally pulled into the city, found the Museum of Natural History, and parked in the garage there. Ate some overpriced crappy lunch at the museum first, and then we explored it for a while. West was so excited! He was so happy to see the dinosaurs, and he was just a delight of learning and wonder the whole time. We saw the big blue whale, the Easter Island statue, and a bunch of the different cultural exhibits (we watched Night At The Museum the night before to fully prepare). We really could have spent tons more time there, and West asked to go back a few times over the weekend, so we'll have to make a return trip some time.
We wanted to hit Times Square that day, though, so we got on the subway and went down to square. The Toys R Us there is closing next month, and we've always wanted West to see it, with the giant dinosaur, giant Lego stuff, and ferris wheel. We went to Toys R Us, the Disney store, the M&M store, and the Hershey store. I though the toys would be the biggest hit, but West was most excited about the M&M store. Go figure. I guess it goes to show that he's kind of spoiled with toys but he doesn't get candy all that often. I thought all the big screens and craziness would be cool to him, but he didn't seem to care much about all that stuff.
Went back to retrieve our car and drove over to Brooklyn to our hotel- the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott. Luxury! It was comfy and a nice place to stay (not the nicest, I really liked that Japanese hotel we stayed in a few summers ago). There was even parking right next to the hotel, and I think it was actually just $25 a day, including valet service. What the what! They did try to charge us for wifi after telling us it was free, but it was pretty easy to sort that out at the end. Anyway, we got ourselves settled then set out to Park Slope to meet a friend (hi bunnyroo if you're around here still!) for dinner. Had a great dinner and then it was time to get the little dude to bed.
Saturday was the day I was most trepidatious about, because Drew was playing a nerd game all day and West & I were on our own. But it was a huge success! We all got breakfast at a diner in Brooklyn, then went our separate ways.
West and I took the F train into Manhattan. We got off at Herald Square, right by Macy's. Looked at the windows, and then I thought, foolishly, that it was early enough in the morning, might as well try to get into Macy's Santaland. We waited in line to get into an elevator to go up to the 8th floor, then saw the enormous line for Santaland. It was probably a two hour wait. We said nay nay, got lost trying to get out, got yelled at by some dudes when I went out a door that apparently I wasn't supposed to go out. One guy was like "didn't you read the sign?" And I said "yeah, the sign says no re-entry, and I didn't want to re-enter, I wanted to leave. It doesn't say not to go out the door." He laughed and said to his buddy "she's got a point."
After Macy's we went to the Empire State Building. I had sprung for a VIP skip-the-lines pass, since West could get in free, so I just needed to buy one ticket. So worth it! Seriously. There are a bunch of lines through the process of getting to the observation deck, and we really did skip them all. I've always wanted to go up the Empire State Building, and never have until this weekend. Being up there with West was so fun, he was in awe of it all.
Next, we started walking. West really wanted a pretzel, so we got a street cart pretzel. We found ourselves in front of the New York Public Library, so he got to see the lions. We went inside, and West really liked looking around at the exhibits and art they had. I think he would have stayed longer, but it was getting close to lunch time so I pressed us on to Grand Central. I thought he'd like seeing the train station, especially because it's in a bunch of the New York books we'd been reading, but it was really crowded, and I guess you've seen one train station you've seen them all, he was not super impressed. SantaCon was in town that weekend, so there were already tons of drunk people in Santa suits crowding around. We left the station and went in search of some pizza, found a little hole in the wall place and got a couple of slices.
Next, we started walking up to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. We went by the Lord & Taylor window display on the way, and that was pretty spectacular. Ok, so, it turns out that everyone who goes to New York wants to see the 30 Rock tree. It was so crowded, it was hard to even move down the sidewalk to get there. We managed to get a glimpse, then bailed out on getting any closer. West wanted to go in the Lego store, but there was a line to get into the store, so we abandoned that idea. There was a fancy chocolate store next to it, and West was easily bought off with a tiny expensive chocolate duck.
Walked back down toward Bryant Park. I'd had the notion to check out the holiday fair there, but by the time we got there we were both super tired and done with walking. Despite a ton of misgivings, I broke down and bought a ticket for a double decker tour bus from a guy on the street selling tickets. Totally sketch, but it worked and we got on a bus. It was the cheapest possible tour bus option, and we discovered as it went along that the "hop on hop off" is misleading because if you don't hop on at the start of its loop you'll never get a seat later in the loop. There were a lot of angry yelling people whenever the bus made a scheduled stop and no one got off, so no one could get on. West fell asleep hard on the bus, and was epically mad at me when I had to wake up before we got to the stop where I wanted to get off.
We got off the bus at Battery Park so we could see the Statue of Liberty. West was mad and cranky and didn't really appreciate it, but he's seen it, so that's something. I had hoped we could maybe catch a ferry ride, but it was late in the day and I thought he'd fall asleep again if we were on a boat. So we got on the subway and went back to Brooklyn. Watched a bit of tv in the hotel room while we waited for Drew to finish his game, then we went to dinner.
Saturday night after dinner I set out on my own to see SLEATER-KINNEY! It was a great show, I'm really glad I went. It was pretty much the same set they played when we saw them in Boston earlier this year, but they did play a cover of the Ramones' Merry XMas (I Don't Want to Fight). I love that band so much.
Sunday we were going to head home in the morning, but it was so gorgeous, we were like "why don't we stick around for a while." We went to Junior's to get breakfast to start our day. Checked out, got our car, and drove over to the Central Park area near the zoo. We went to the Central Park Zoo, which West really liked. The big hit of the morning, though, was the playground near the Met (it's called the "ancient playground" because it has a vague pyramid theme). Finally had to shut down the fun and get started on our drive back north.
We stopped late in the afternoon in Connecticut at Dinosaur State Park for a bit of fun and a road break. It was cute, and a decent way to stretch our legs for a while. And West got to touch a snake there, so there's that.
So that's our trip. West was so great and delightful pretty much the entire time. I'm so happy that we finally got do the cheesy New York holiday stuff and we got to share some really amazing experiences with West.