Monday morning, it was time to head to the city bright and early! We decided to brave public transportation this day, and regretted it almost immediately.
Our original train was canceled and we had to drive to a further where a man screamed and swore at us for walking towards him. We persevered and made it on the train!
And then the subway. After some ticket mishaps, it wasn't too bad. The girls liked it.
First time in the city!
We had tickets to take a boat out to the Statue of Liberty that morning so we walked around Battery Park for a little while then made our way over to wait in line.
We all enjoyed the ride out there, and the girls were so excited!
We weren't able to go in the statue, but we did get to walk around the island.
Do the pose!
Statue selfies
The famous NY skyline
Hanging with this girl is the best!
We ate lunch on the island and then rode back to the mainland. Lots more to see and do!
Next stop, Wall Street and the Charging Bull statue.
NY Stock Exchange
Fearless girls!
Trinity Church. Thank you, National Treasure, for making the kids more invested in this.
The main afternoon plan was visiting the 9/11 Memorial. Very sobering.
Then we took a ride up the Freedom Tower, the tallest building in the US (104 floors).
They had this cool presentation in the elevator on the way up, showing how the city was built.
Incredible views from the observation deck but it definitely seemed like you could feeling it swaying a little, which was disconcerting.
Reagan tried taking lots of panoramic pictures.
We facetimed Lance while we were up there. I'm not sure he appreciated it.
Poorly photoshopped group photo!
On the way back we walked through the Oculus, this cool mostly underground mall.
Benjamin Franklin and soft pretzels.
After miles and miles of walking (I think we totaled around 7), they still had energy to chase the birds!
We walked though Chinatown and then stopped in Little Italy for dinner (after some debate).
We barely caught out train back out of the city (after struggles finding the subway stations, more ticket issues, and very rude employees). By the time Uncle Reid picked us up, we were beat!
We said we were all going to make a grumpy face, but then we all smiled except for Grandma. Oops!
Our night wasn't quite over yet- little did we know we would be battling our new arch-nemesis-- the cave cricket! Giant and able to jump horrifying distances, we unfortunately encountered multiple ones in the basement where Reagan and I were staying. There was lots of screaming.
The next day, we had a well-deserved break in Chester, NJ.
The girls swam in the morning.
Then we spent a delightful few hours at Alstede Farms with Aunt Jana.
The girls loved feeding all the farm animals.
The giant sunflower maze was a great time.
We picked out some yummy treats at the store- they had all sorts of unique things!
And last but not least, blueberry picking! I had no idea blueberries were pink/lavender before they were ripe. They were so yummy! And I'm not even a blueberry lover.
More swimming after we got home and badminton with Kate. She was a good sport to play with them.
Pizza and peach pie to wrap things up. Yum! (Apparently Alfredo sauce on pizza is not a thing on the East Coast and we were the first people to ever ask the pizza place to do that...).
We finished the night off watching the extended version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in preparation for the Harry Potter store the next day!
And it was our first stop! We were so glad to have Aunt Jana as our driver/tour guide in the city that day.
Walking to the store, we spotted the Empire State Building.
Tons of wands.
A floo network!
The architecture of the building was so cool.
We couldn't leave without some butterbeer! Delicious.
We stopped by Bed, Bath, and Beyond's new redesigned flagship store (Uncle Reid works for the company.)
Drove and walked through Times Square.
Lots of iconic stores to check out!
The Disney store
Hersheys store
FAO Schwartz toy store!
Dolls galore.
This rocking unicorn was thousands of dollars. Sticker shock!
Reagan loved this magic pen demo.
3...2...1...
The life-size animals were a hoot!
Lego Store!
Trump Tower
Cool buildings that I don't remember exactly what they are.
Finally got our shirts!
We walked through a corner of Central Park. We were so sad the carousel was closed.
I couldn't believe how big it was, and how it immediately felt like you were miles outside the city.
We came out of Central Park near the Manhattan Temple. Just right in the middle of other buildings!
We could still feel the same special spirit though!
From the temple, we took an Uber back to where our car was parked. Right by our last stop, the M&M store! Where I spent WAY too much on chocolate candy.
By the end of the day, we could barely move! Time to crash before heading home.
Ironically, Sharon had to drive us directly through the city the next morning to get to the airport. We survived but it was scary.
We had time to stop at Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken for some lobster tails.
Yum!
We made it to the airport in plenty of time, but somehow after security I lost my license. We retraced our steps but were never able to find it. Oh well. I replaced it when we got home.
Time to fly home!
While Reagan and I were having the time of our lives in New York, the rest of the family was living it up too. We FaceTimed a lot, but they stayed pretty busy.
Lance was living his best life as a full-time single dad. And by best life, I mean most exhausted life. They went on fun adventures every day. I don't think the kids even missed me!
Seaquest Aquarium
Boondocks
Willard Bay
Surf-n-swim
And of course the park. Multiple times and multiple parks.
And even story time at the library.
I'm so impressed Lance braved all this with the kids. I wouldn't even have been up for half of it on my own. Superdad!
I think they ate pretty well too...
We were so happy to be reunited at the end of the week! Dixie loved her ducky and immediately tried to put herself to sleep.
Reagan invented her own pancakes for every one the next day, while showing off her new shirt.
And a week later, she used the rest of the M&M's to make this yummy treat- the perfect way to wrap up the adventure of a lifetime.
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