New York, New York ⇒

We haven't really ever been on a big family trip; France when Elise was 7 months old, San Jose 5 or so years ago and Toronto with my family (parents, etc). Never a big trip with just us, with both kids, so last week we went to the Big 🍎!

We found a nice AirBnB in the Bed-Stuy Brooklyn neighbourhood; an area "in transition" but perfectly fine for us. Being near the C and J subway lines made it really easy to get in and out of Manhattan. And on our last night there, we ran into a block party with a great jazz band!

Day One - AMNH

We didn't want to do a ton on the first day, so we wandered around the American Museum of Natural History for a few hours. I could spend days here; we walked for 4 hours and say maybe 40% of it??

We saw the Rose Center for Earth & Space, a few of the mammal and reptile halls, and of course, the dinosaurs.

Day Two - Broadway

I think our Broadway day was the highlight for most of the family. We walked Times Square on our way to Ellen's Stardust Diner. Ellen's is the cafe staffed with folks who'd like to be on Broadway, so throughout your meal the entire staff breaks into amazing songs, either as solos or a group. We were treated to a staff rendition of One Day More from Les Miserables that was amazing, as well as several great solos, including a "waiter" doing the Muppet's version of FOrget You!

Then we were off to see Wicked! We got very lucky and got to see Jackie Burns do Elpheba. She's the person who has done it the most and when she was raised to the rafters for Defying Gravity...took all of our breaths away. I have never heard anyone sing so powerfully before, simple amazing.

The entire show was perfectly cast and amazingly well done. We all left with huge grins on our faces.

Day 3 - On The Water

We took advantage of a slightly (only slightly!!) cooler day to do the Circle Line's Landmarks & The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

The boat tour was a great way to see many of the great NYC landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, One Work Trade Center, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and several bridges.

One of my highlights was the Intrepid...so many cool plans and behind the scenes looks at how an aircraft carrier worked, not to mention getting to see a Space Shuttle up close! Not a ton of pictures here; spent too much time just wandering around with my mouth agape.

Day Four - Central Park & Sticking It To THE MAN

The first part of our two part Central Park adventure was an hour and a half bike ride around it. What beautiful park. No pics here, spent the time enjoying the sites and sounds.

Earlier that day Christine went to the TKTS in downtown Brooklyn to see if there were any 1/2 price tickets to a show we were interested in. We got lucky (again) and School of Rock was available with great seats (row 5)!

This show is so much fun! It's all about the kids and in this show, the kids actually play their instruments! To find kids this young (10-13) that can act and sing AND play instruments is an amazing accomplishment.

While you aren't allowed to pose with the kids (understandably), we did get a great picture with Dewey.

Day 5 - Central Park & NYPL

Took a chill day and spent it leisurely walking through Central Park, enjoying all scenery and activities. We found Turtle Pond and spent time following the turtles' journeys, found Alice in Wonderland and shared a picnic lunch, and found The Mall and enjoyed all the art and music.

It has long been one of Nella's quests, to go to the NY Library on 5th, and today was the day we made that happen. We even snuck her in to the Rose Reading room! The crazy thing about this place is that it has always been the library; it was built in grand fashion as a place citizens could come and learn.

Day 6 - Science & The View

Can't go to New York and not go up the Empire State Building...so we did! A great way to see the whole city and learn a bit more history.

On our way out, we asked a local where to eat, and got to introduce the girls to some classic NY pizza pie.

We then discovered NYSCI, New York's "Science World" and spent a nice few hours on some cool math/optical illusion/animation exhibits. Girs enjoyed learning how to draw Wile E Coyote.

Day 7 - Muppets and The End

We saved one of the most anticipated attractions for the very end, the Museum of Moving Image aka the one with the Jim Henson exhibit. We actually meant to go to this earlier, but their air conditioner broke and they were shut down for a few days, so we were glad we could actually get there before we left.

This museum is in the Astoria Studios, a famous, but still active, studio where Sesame Street (among many others of course) is filmed. We went because of spectacular Jim Henson exhibit (Christine is a loooooong time Muppets fan).

Their other exhibits are around how movies/shows are made, the cameras, the sound, the makeup, etc. Super neat to see progress.

From that museum we went directly to LGA and flew (uneventfully) home.

A great time was had by all.