I was kinda worried about how this weekend would turn out.... the thought of taking 4 children who are 5 years old and younger to New York City for the day and then taking them to a wedding the following day. It could have been a nightmare. There are days when taking the boys to the grocery store is a complete mess. To our surprise the boys were AWESOME!!! All of them! We were in the city for like 7 hours (walking most of the time) and not one of the boys complained even once. We actually kept suggesting that they ride in the stroller or on the step part of the stroller and neither wanted to - they wanted to walk. Of course Bryson rode in the stroller because he's only 2, but even in the stroller he was content for hours and hours. First we took the subway to Ground Zero... actually it was several blocks from Ground Zero, so we started out the day with a nice long walk. Then we stopped for lunch at McD's which was all decked out with a pianist playing a baby grand - of course the food still tasted like McD's and the bathroom still stunk. After lunch we took the subway to the other end of the city and went to the Central Park Zoo. It was really nice and just the right size - big enough to be interesting, but small enough to keep the attention of young children. They had a great children's zoo with lots of hands-on activities. After the zoo we were going to attempt to take the subway to Time Square, but for some reason we ended up walking the entire way. Many, many, many blocks. We had to wake Cameron and Bryson up when we got to Toys R Us. The TRU in Time Square has a 4 story ferris wheel inside. We were going to ride it, but the line was too long and the boys were pooped. After TRU we headed back to the parking garage. Oh, and we figured out how to "beat the system" when it comes to riding the subway. It was supposed to be $2 per adult - there were 5 of us and we rode the subway twice - that should equal $20, but we only paid $12. We discovered that if you have a stroller then someone needs to go through the turnstiles and go around and open up a gate. When the gate opens, alarms go off as you push the strollers through (so that the subway attendants can keep their eye on who's going through the handycap gate). Anyway, as we pushed the strollers through the gate and the ear piercing alarms went off... nobody seemed to notice or care. We had already paid for 5 subway tickets the first time we rode, but the second time we rode we ended up going to a subway station that didn't sell tickets. We were stuck trying to get through the turnstiles with no tickets. That's when a stranger said "I'll swipe my card and you can just give me $2". First of all, there are signs posted all over that it's illegal to pay for a swipe - but we were desperate to get on that subway (and we're tourists who don't have a clue). Once the guy swiped the card, we were then able to have one person go around and open up the handycap gate -- and we all went through. The alarm wailed and the subway was fairly crowded and 8 of us went through the gate - no one cared. So, we illegally bought a ticket and then 4 of us rode for free. We didn't mean for it to happen, it just did.
On our way out of the city we were in bumper to bumper, creap and crawl traffic. After a terrific day, we were finally at the point where things would fall apart. Gabriel started screaming and wouldn't stop. As if that wasn't frustrating enough, Cameron started yelling "I HAVE TO POOP!! I HAVE TO POOP!! I HAVE TO POOP!! NOW!" over and over and over. There we were stuck in traffic. We finally pulled out of the traffic into a residential area of NYC. There was no place to go potty. We kept driving around - as Gabriel screamed and Cameron yelled to poop. We finally found a store, but there is nowhere to park along the street in the city. We ended up just double parking in front of a fire hydrant and Chan took Cameron to the bathroom. It would have been worth getting a ticket and a fine just to stop all the screaming. Of course I don't blame them - they were exhausted...and when ya gotta go, you gotta go! I crawled into the backseat and sat with Gabriel. He was fine as soon as I got into the back with him - I guess he was just lonely. Once Gabriel stopped crying and Cameron emptied his bowels, everyone calmed down. Of course we got lost trying to find our way back to the highway, but we eventually got there. Amazingly the boys stayed awake almost the entire way to the hotel - about 2 hours. We had a really nice day -- and to top it off, the weather was BEAUTIFUL!!! A perfect Spring day... oh wait, it's Fall. We got to enjoy the beauty of the changing leaves with a bright and sunny sky and perfect temperature! Or, as I like to say, there was "no temperature" - which is when it's perfectly comfortable.
The next morning we ate breakfast and swam at the hotel then headed to the wedding. The reception was from 5pm-10pm... again, all the boys did great! They had a wonderful time dancing.
Even after all the traveling, all the sight-seeing, an all-day/night wedding and more traveling... we had a really good time! Again, it could have gone very differently, but thankfully it went well. I think the boys were just so thrilled to have mommy, daddy, aunt sasha, uncle aaron, uncle george and baby bryson there with them all weekend and it kept them content and happy.
To view NYC/Wedding pics click HERE
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