The City that Never Sleeps

The day after Christmas we flew out and met Mona and Kevin in New York City. We were all excited about seeing the city but weren’t that excited about the cold. There was one day that was really cold but other than that it wasn’t that bad while we were there.

On the first day that we got there we landed with enough time to land and walk around the city. We ate a late lunch and walked to Rockefeller Square. We ended up not going into FAO Schwarz because there was a huge line but we came back a different day. We did walk towards the Saks building and apparently during the holidays they do a light show. It was really cool but really crowded and we had a really hard time moving around or getting through the crowd after the light show ended. At one point I had to pick up Tess because I was worried that she was going to fall and get trampled. We didn’t spend too much time out and about because we had an early morning the next day.

Our first full day in NYC was spent at Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. It was cold but beautiful weather. When we got there the line was so long and we initially thought we had to wait in that line. We found the right people who directed us to our line which was a lot shorter. It took a while to get through security and to get on the boat but after we made it over it was nice. We then had to go through more security to go up to the base of the statue. We took some pictures and then headed down. By the time we were headed over to Ellis Island the Statue of Liberty started to get pretty crowded.

Ellis Island was pretty cool, and I like that they have explanations for adults and kids. Tess was able to walk through the rooms and listen to the history in a way

that she understands. She loved taking pictures of everything. We gave her one of Clayton’s old iPhone that cant be updated anymore and she took pictures of everything. She really got into the history of this place, it was really neat.

After both Lady Liberty and Ellis Island we headed over to the SeaGlass Carousel. This is something that Clayton and I saw on one of our shows and thought it was cool. It’s an aquarium themed carousel that gives the rider the feeling of being underwater. Tess and I had a blast and I would highly recommend it as it is something different and not your normal carousel. We had a long first day, all we wanted was something to eat and bed.

Our Second day was a good day to do something inside because it rained most of the day. We went to the National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey, this activity was something that I had been looking forward to the most. It was like an aquarium but instead of taking animals out of their homes, Encounter’s groundbreaking technology transports you to theirs.

It was really cool. We were able to play with seals, eels, sea snakes, walk around coral, see a squid fight up close and so much more. This is still one of my favorite parts of the trip. I wish they had one of these closer to home. The best part of this is that it can be ever changing.

Since it was a rainy day and we didn’t think many people would be out and about we decided to try our luck with FAO Schwarz. There wasn’t a long line and we were able to get in pretty quickly. It was very different than I remember it. Tess loved it, she bought a bear. I am glad that we went but its not one of those things that I have to go back. I love my memories as a child of the original store and I think I am going to hold on to those a little longer.

Our third day in New York was a somber one, we headed to the 9/11 Memorial. We had a guided tour of the memorial which was nice but it was cold. We then headed into the Museum and spent quite a bit of time walking around. I think this museum you could spend weeks walking around and still not see everything. This was a hard museum to explain to Tess, because she is too young to fully understand the implications and I would love to go back when she gets older. Most museums are bustling with activity but this one was mostly quiet. It gives you the opportunity to reflect on the day and everything on display.

After we left we ate a quick lunch and then headed to the New York City Fire Museum. This museum was pretty cool, one because we were the only ones there but also because it had so much history in one place. I wish Houston had something like this to be able to visit. We had fun looking at all the historic firefighter stuff. We of course had to take a picture of the 9/11 bull.

Our last day in NYC was a pretty slow day. We woke up to snow flurries, Tess, Clayton and I got dressed real quick so that we could go outside and enjoy the little bit of snow. Tess was so excited because she wanted to see snow the whole trip.

After the snow stopped we headed out to breakfast at this place around the hotel which was pretty good. We then headed to the empire state building and waited in that line. I didn’t think there was going to be that long of a line because it was getting close to New Years Eve and I thought people would be preparing for the events but I guess they had the same thought as we did. The line went pretty fast and before we knew it we were upstairs looking out on the city. 

After the empire state building we headed over the central park and played for a little bit.  

Here are some pictures of us walking around the city, we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the city. I love the city at Christmas time and we really enjoyed the family time.

The next day we woke up early and headed to the airport. We thought that we needed to get there really early to beat the lines but how the airport is set up everyone goes to different terminals and there really weren’t lines. We got there pretty early but we didn’t have to rush. Next up, the rest of the school year. It was a busy one!