New York City, Part II

Our first day in New York I took around 240 pictures and 14 videos. There are endless things to take photos of in NYC, so to wade through that many images and try and choose 15 or 20 to include in a post just wasn't easy. So this is going to be a pretty photo-laden post, but here is what I ended up with after several "cuts."

Waking up in NYC is like waking up in a different world.  Little Mr. was transfixed by what he was seeing as he stood on the table in the corner of the room, taking in the view.  He pointed out "taxis" right away, which surprised us both because it was something he had only just learned about the night before.  The taxis looked like matchbox cars from up there.

If you looked to the far right, you could catch a glimpse of the water.

If you looked to the far left, you could see central park.

We met R, C and their kids for breakfast at the free breakfast bar in the hotel.  It was fancy schmancy!

Little Mr. chowing down on his breakfast of oatmeal, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit.  V is so cute, he gave me a perfect smile!

After breakfast, we hit the streets walking and headed towards the subway!

Little Mr.'s first time on a subway, he was very excited.

Little Brother just hangin' out.

This little gal Z is soon to be a big sister!  R and C are soon due with their 3rd.

Here are my three guys. :)  We're headed out to Liberty Island on the ferry, to go see the Statue of Liberty!

A stranger took this photo for us ha ha.  Could have been a good one but apparently the children missed the memo to smile. ;) R and C came to the island as well, but were on a different part of the boat from us.  It's easy to get separated when you're both dealing with strollers!

The Freedom Tower as seen from Liberty Island.

Inside the base of the Statue of Liberty.

The torch has had several replacements and here Little Mr. is poseing with one of the old ones.

This is Lower Manhattan as seen from the pedestal level of the Statue of Liberty. The Freedom Tower is the tall building near to the left of center in this photo.  It is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. 

Looking up from the pedestal.  I loved the folds in the "fabric."  We would have liked to go to the crown, but those tickets sell out many months in advance.  Even pedestal tickets were sold out, but we had purchased ours online quite a while back.

One of the passenger ferries.

Another kind stranger took our family photo on the pedestal. Little Brother was teething (molars) so he is chewing on his binky in a lot of the photos from this trip. R and C didn't have tickets to enter the statue, so they just walked around the island and we met them later.

Inside the statue, at pedestal level, there is a clear window in the ceiling that gives you a look at the spiral staircase that leads from the pedestal to the crown. 

The Mr. and Little Mr. actually did take the stairs from the base of the statue/lobby, to the pedestal, which is 215 stairs. Now that I looked into how many stairs it was, I'm glad I took the elevator! ;)  Little Mr. climbed them all himself, which amazes me.

Ellis Island

I think this is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge that spans between Staten Island and Brooklyn.  It has 12 lanes of traffic, 6 above and 6 below.

After our Liberty Island visit, we went to see ground zero and the 9/11 Memorial.  It is a somber place to visit.  The two fountains that were built in the footprints of the twin towers are beautifully designed and give such a sense of awe and reverence as you reflect on what took place right where you are standing.

The Tridents greet you as you first enter the 9/11 Memorial.  We both had tickets to the museum, but the boys were sleeping in the stroller and only umbrella strollers are allowed in the museum (they swap with you, free of charge.)  However, we didn't want to sacrifice their nap so I stayed outside.

"Last Column" is seen on the right. I am not going to share many images from the memorial here, as there are a lot of images shared online already.

As I waited outside with our sleeping boys, a color guard unexpectedly showed up and had an amazing display of sword skills for us to watch.  Just incredible and touching.

NYC is home to an amazing amount of beautiful architecture. 

The Mr. and the Wall Street Bull.  We literally just ran into cool tourist attractions as we walked around the city.  The visits to the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Memorial were planned, and basically everything else we saw this day we just happened to run into.

Trinity Church Steeple.  In 1697, its land grant specified an annual rent of sixty bushels of wheat.  That's totally random, but just struck me as interesting since my dad is a retired wheat farmer. :)

This is on the grounds of the church. A giant, historical sycamore tree was destroyed on 9/11, but it's root structure has been preserved as a memorial.

This really old cemetery is connected to the church and some famous historical people are buried there.  You can walk through it, but we wanted to move on as there was so much to see!

This building is part of the National Parks registry but it was closed so I couldn't get stamps for the boys National Parks passports.

The yummiest street food- Nuts 4 Nuts. Seriously the best.

It rained as we walked to dinner, but it wasn't too bad!

Peeking out from under my umbrella. :)

Brownstones!  We walked down an entire street of them and they were so beautiful.  I felt like singing the Sesame Street theme song since it reminded me of the 123 Sesame Street brownstone house.  Did you know that Sesame Street is set on a fictional street in Manhattan? I just learned that today, funny!

In Jail!  Okay, not quite.  This was just outside the place we ate dinner at.

The biggest kids meal ever.  Cheese panini with a side of veggie sticks and sweet potato fries.  Little Mr. looks pleased. :)

If you're ever looking for a place to eat in NYC, go to Bareburger.  It was amazing!  Aside from the organic ketchup since most of us are Heinz fans ;)  ...all of their food was fantastic. They have amazing gluten-free options too.

My gluten-free burger and sweet potato fries.

Walking back to our hotel I took quite a few photos.  The sky was clearing and the light was very pretty.

Times Square is SO bright at night! This photo and the photo of us above it were taken when the sky was already quite dark, just after 9pm.

Our hotel.

Here's a few of us crammed into the elevator.  The elevator ride was always crazy just because of elevation loss or gain.  It was quite an impressive elevator!

Little Brother learned a new skill that evening- climbing!

Our evening view.

Part III soon to come!