Christmas Picture Books - Christmas in New York

Ahhh...Christmas in New York.  I've never been.  To New York, yes, more times than my husband would like (any help in convincing him we should go again would be appreciated), but never at Christmas (although the Rockefeller Center ice rink was running the on our first two trips, I've always regretted a little bit that we've never skated there).   Lucky for me, and my husband honestly, there are a decent number of picture books about Christmas in New York.  Although maybe not so lucky for him because it just makes me want to go there in December even more.  For now the books will have to do!

The other Christmas Picture Book Flights I've done are: Saints, Cookies & Treats, Christmas Trees, Animals Celebrating, Santa Stories, The Nativity Story, and Historic Christmases.  As well as just a list of {25} Christmas Picture Books (no guarantee of no overlap between those lists!).

Note: Affiliate links abound below, I make a small (very small) commission off items if you purchase through those links, at no extra cost to you.  I appreciate your understanding and support! Of course I fully support utilizing the library or shopping used or from an independent bookstore!

Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
We're kicking off with a Thanksgiving adjacent one but the parade is mostly about celebrating Christmas so it's a wonderful one to start with.  This is the story of Tony Sarg, who first came up with the idea of all the giant balloons that are now a big part of the parade.  He was asked by the original Mr. Macy himself!  I LOVE watching the parade every Thanksgiving and since it's unlikely I'll ever see it in person, it was fun to read about the history!

 

The Christmas Owl: Based on the True Story of a Little Owl Named Rockefeller by Gideon Sterer, illustrated by Ellen Kalish
I just posted about this on in Instagram last week!  When putting up the Rockefeller Christmas tree in November 2020, a small owl was found living inside of it.  It was rehomed to the woods but not before inspiring (more than one!) a picture book.  I'd also love to see this tree all lit in person some day although I can't say I need an experience with wildlife there.  The owl in the book is super cute though.

Red & Lulu by Matt Tavares
If I had to pick my top 10 all time favorite Christmas books...I'm certain this one would be on it.  Also about the Rockefeller Christmas tree although not based on a true story.  A cardinal couple had been living in their tree in the suburbs when Red went out on a daily food search one November morning and comes back just in time to see their tree being cut down, with Lulu still inside!  He follows the tree to New York where it is the Rockefeller Center tree.  It's just gorgeous and Sam especially loves this one.  I probably read it 20 times just last year, and I still love it. 

The Carpenter's Gift: A Christmas Tale About the Rockefeller Center Tree by David Rubel, illustrated by Jim LaMarche
Let's just keep going with the Rockefeller Tree! (It's a very specific subgenre of Christmas books).  This is about the very first Rockefeller Center Tree, put up by workers during the Depression.  Also, this is the rare picture book that made me tear up (no joke).  Also, paying it forward, Habitat-for-Humanity, and the goodness of people.  

The Little Owl & the Big Tree: A Christmas Story by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Jeannette Winter
This is the last of the Rockefeller tree on the list!  This is another one, by a mother-son team!, about the owl found in the tree.  I like that this happened in 2020, that was a WEIRD year and something charming like a cute owl that was able to be helped is just nice to read about.  

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York: The Classic Illustrated Storybook illustrated by Kim Smith
To be fair, I have never seen this movie, only bit and pieces of any Home Alone actually (my earliest memory of them is when I was about Luke's age and starting the first one at a friends house during a sleepover and her pointing out all the bad words.  I didn't know any of them and didn't even know which words she meant were bad).  We haven't showed these to the boys, for the aforementioned language BUT we have read the picture books based on them!  And Luke definitely get a kick out of all the pranks.  (And is that the Rockefeller Tree on the cover...just keep this theme going...)

Nutcracker in Harlem by T.E McMorrow, illustrated by James Ransome
NOT about the Christmas tree!  A retelling of the Nutcracker story, jazz-inspired and in Harlem (a part of New York we haven't yet visited, although it would be on our way if I convince Matt to go back to New York AND that we need to go to Washington Heights).  I am only a bit familiar with the Nutcracker ballet but it's fun to read a different interpretation of it!

Santa in the City by Tiffany D. Jackson, illustrated by Reggie Brown
We're now at a part of the list that is more "New York inspired" but maybe not exactly set in the NYC.  Deja is a young girl living in an apartment in a big city and is pretty concerned she won't get her visit from Santa since she doesn't have a chimney for him to come down.  Also, there are no parking spots for a sleigh!  Might be a bit more meaningful for kids living in a big city but also one we read every year!

The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy, illustrated by Emily Sutton
Another one that I imagine takes place in New York, with a young homeless boy who adopts a misshapen tree that is thrown out on Christmas Eve.  People come together to decorate it, light candles on it, and sing carols around it in a big city on Christmas Eve.  The boys moves on a few days later and throws the tree out but the tree lives on.  It's charming but also a bit sad.  And nice way to talk about people who don't have everything we have. 

17 Christmases by Dandi Daley Mackall, illustrated by Michele Noiset
This book will make you appreciate if you have any less than 17 Christmases to celebrate.  This family has 17 Christmases truly spread all over the country, California! North Carolina! Colorado!, and they drive between them all, somehow mostly all in good moods.  One of their stops is in New York which is how it makes this list!  We have maybe 3 Christmases outside of the house and all within 6 miles...I would lose my mind if there were 17.  

 

Everybody's Tree by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Renee Graef
Back to "big city inspired" and also "adjacent to the Rockefeller Center tree".  Over 80 years a spruce tree grows along with the little boy who first selected it.  As the tree is nearing the end of it's life, and that little boy is now a Grandfather, the tree is selected to be put in a big city's center.  Now it's everybody's tree!

The Magical Christmas Store by Maudie Powell-Tuck, illustrated by Hoang Giang
A boy, living in a big city, dreams of a big, magical Christmas with his family but they just don't have much this year.  Then he walks past a store on Christmas Eve where a polar bear invites him in to experience some real magic (like a polar bear who invites kids into stores).  Will the boy be able to find a perfect gift for his family?

The Biggest Little Boy: A Christmas Story by Poppy Harlow, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzi
This is a book that gives more "big city" vibes than strictly a NYC setting but that's close enough!  Luca loves BIG things and what he really wants is the BIGGEST Christmas tree of all.  He goes in search of the perfect tree but then realizes maybe that's not the most important thing.

Do you have any books that could fit on this list?  I'd love to read them!

New York City #4 - day 4 & trip home

Welcome to the exciting conclusion to our trip!  To catch-up, here's days 1-2 and day 3!

One of my favorite memories from our last trip was taking Luke to a Central Park playground on the Saturday morning before we headed back home.  It was sunny, 70°, and Luke (3) was a great age for playing.  It was just so fun to spend a Saturday morning in Central Park.  I was really hoping to repeat that on this trip.

Then we woke up to 50° and rain.  And pretty much constant rain until after our train left.  So that knocked out Central Park.

I had gotten up at 5:30am to watch the Royal Wedding, even without a scone it was pretty delightful.  I was not happy when I saw the wedding would fall over our trip but it ended up being a special memory to watch it in New York.  (Even though I seriously missed our DVR.)  Bonus, I also made sure EVERYONE we were with got to see at least part of it because I left the tv on for replays and continuing coverage.  I'm sure everyone is grateful.

We had our Dough doughnuts, packed, and talked about what to do with our wet, rainy, half day in New York.  The parents had gone to Mass at St. Patrick's again and they really liked it so we decided to all go back and look around the Cathedral.  We had only been inside on one previous trip - in 2013 when it was under renovation and I prayed that we would get this baby we knew was a possibility.  I forgot all about that until we went back this time.

We packed up and walked through the rain to the church, about 3 long blocks.  We spent an hour-ish there looking around.  It is a very pretty church and there were a lot of tourist but not so many that it was overly crowded.   And I got to pray there again for my sweet boys, this time two that I KNOW are ours.

After we finished at the church (and they were about to start Mass), we went across the street where there was  HUGE line wrapped all around the building.  We guessed it was for SNL (and I just looked up who the host was that night - Tina Fey so that seems likely) but didn't ask.  Luke wanted to show his grandparents the Lego Store (our 3rd stop at one in 3 days) and then we went to the concourse below 30 Rock to eat lunch.

We've always left our Saturdays in New York open - for whatever we didn't fit in on another day or, Central Park.  But somehow, on every trip, we've ended up eating Saturday lunch below 30 Rock.  It's just become the default and easy.  Matt and I each had a sandwich from Pret, another one of our standards.  We managed to save enough seats and tables to all eat together which was quite the feat.

After eating we walked around the lobby of 30 Rock a little, it is pretty impressive.  Then finally had to head back out in the rain for the 4 block walk back to our apartment.  And it was rainy.  By that point even I was done with New York, if the rain wasn't going to stop and instantly be sunny and 70°.

We were all packed but had arranged to leave our luggage at the apartment while the cleaning lady started her work.  She was already there so a few of us just went up, got all the luggage, and headed back to the (small) lobby to regroup and get ready for another wet walk to the subway.

After finding our subway stop and getting our last above the ground looks of the city, we headed down the stairs, waited a bit for the train, and then got separated because the people getting off took way too much time.  Matt and my Dad missed getting on the train but since we all knew were getting off at Penn Station it was fine.  Really, best case scenario for getting separated.

Once all back together we started the long walk from the subway part of Penn Station to the Amtrak part.  We've done this trip 4 times and yet every time I feel like we have no idea where we are going in Penn Station to get to the Amtrak.  It's a lot of walking.

We waited for the train, got our LAST Jamba Juice (tradition), took Luke to the bathroom (forever away from the Amtrak waiting room), and then boarded our train.  The boarding in Penn Station has never been an easy process, or straight forward and this was no exception.  I was relieved once we were all on the train and all had seats together.  And I was able to get dry socks for Luke and I out of the suitcase.  Then we settled in for the long ride home.

Our parents had decided to try the dining car.  Matt and I did it twice (once each way) on the first trip and it was a good experience but expensive.  Plus, the boys were both sleeping when our parents went.  Instead, we got a "date" of going to the snack bar together (WITHOUT kids) to pick up microwaved pizzas and then eat them at seats across the aisle from each other.  So, equally exciting.  But we did get the last Levain cookie to share so that was something.

Both boys slept really well on the train ride home (and the ride there, honestly, it was just the 2am boarding that was tough).  We got off the train slightly late, about 8am and Matt and I got home about 9am.  Only 17 hours from leaving the apartment to home, felt pretty speedy compared to the 23 hours to get there!

I was so stressed about this trip for so many months and it turns out the worst parts (the weather and the train delays) I couldn't control anyways.  All my semi-obsessive planning seems to have paid off and it was really fun to show our parents one of my favorite places.  It wouldn't have been our plan if we knew, but I am glad this was Sam's first family trip, to make it a part of his story just like it's a part of big brother's.
 
It might be a few more years before we are back (I am aiming for no more than 5) but we will be back.  And I will love it all over again.

New York City #4 - day 3

Welcome to day 2 of New York, talking about the 3rd day of our trip!  You can read part 1 here.  Picking up with the second full day in the city, the first day of the trip spent almost entirely on the train!

A big selling point in at least getting my parents to New York was seeing the Statue of Liberty.  Crown tickets for that were the very first part of the this trip that we booked, in late December for our mid-May trip.  If we couldn't get Crown tickets then the trip would be moved.  It was priority #1.

We secured Crown tickets for all, even our older son even though we knew he wasn't tall enough to climb but Pedestal tickets were already sold out and we wanted to get all of us at least that high.  So Crown tickets for all it was.  They aren't expensive so if you know far enough ahead to get tickets, I highly recommend. 

We took the subway from Grand Central Station (also a cool site to see) to Battery Park and FOR ONCE we knew exactly where to go when we got above ground.  Straight ahead of us was a big sign pointing towards the Harbor.  Statue of Liberty THIS WAY.  Thank you, kind sign people (it would have been pretty obvious pretty quickly anyways, walk towards the water, but the sign was nice).  We went through security (taking the baby off, but they didn't make me stop feeding him.  I'm sure they figured that if I was actively feeding it to my baby there was nothing harmful or worth x-raying).  Then we had to wait just a few minutes for our ferry since we had just missed the cut off for the one about to leave.

The ferry ride isn't long, maybe 15 minutes?  It takes you right in front of the Statue on the way to the boat dock and, from watching boats approach when we were in the Crown, you can see that the boats are all slightly tilted towards the Statue, with so many people trying to get a shot.

Off the boat, bathrooms (priorities), and heading toward the next security line.  We knew ahead of time that we wouldn't be able to take anything with us in the Statue besides our phones and one camera per person; that's pretty much it.  Everything else needed to be locked up.  They did let us take a bottle for Sam (and a burb cloth), we changed his diaper right before we locked everything up.  Then more security, showing our tickets, and taking an elevator to the top of the Pedestal.

 

Without Crown tickets this is as high as you can go.  You are right at the base and can look up through windows in the ceiling to see all the supports and stairs inside of her.  We had decided that my parents would keep the boys on this Pedestal level and Matt and I would go up with his parents.  We took Luke outside quick to show him the view and how close we were and then the 4 of us started the climb.

Those stairs are TIGHT.  There are a lot of them.  You just keep going around and around and around.  I was very glad I didn't have a baby strapped to me and that I wasn't holding anything more than the camera around my neck and phone in my back pocket.

You can see all the folds of her dress from the inside and right before you reach the top you see the inside of her face.  It's pretty awesome.  Then you are there!  The space at the top isn't big.  We looked out the windows, can look down and see her tablet from one of the first ones.  On the other side you look up and see the bottom of the torch.  I touched her hair from the inside.  The views of lower Manhattan are pretty cool.  We had done this once before, on our very first trip (where I also planned the dates around when we could get Crown tickets) but it was pretty awesome this time too.  It's the most famous lady in America and one of the most iconic images of America.  Getting to be in her head, seeing her from the inside ranks in our top 10 all time vacation experiences.  It just very very cool.

 

We weren't up there long and then began the stairs back down, which is even worse than going up.  I heard a park ranger say that the reason they don't allow kids under 4 feet isn't because of the climb up, it's the way down that's dangerous.  At least gravity is on your side that way!

We traded off the boys and my parents went up for their turn.  I gave them about 100 things too look for (Her face! Touch her hair!  The entrance to the torch!) and they set off.  Matt and I walked around all the pedestal levels with his parents and the boys.  The top one, right at the base, is the tightest and most crowded.  The two after that we almost had to ourselves!  And plenty of room for Luke to get out some energy.  Although he was mostly concerned with punching buttons on the free audio tour we had all gotten upon arrival.

 

Once we all met back up we went to the museum in the bottom of the pedestal.  It's small but shows pretty well how she was made, the time it took, how much effort went into raising money for the pedestal.  Luke quickly tired of that while our Dads wanted to read every single thing there.  We headed back to our stuff to get Sam's diaper changed and let Luke run a little then we all met up for lunch at the restaurant on site.  We ate outside in the almost sunshine and it was a nice time to sit and relax a little (we only walked about 12 miles this day)!

Then it was getting back on the boat.  It was crowded and Luke was tired; he slept most of the ride back.  Our parents got off to tour Ellis Island while Matt and I went back to Manhattan with the boys.  Luke was DONE with museums at that point and I had places I wanted to visit.

We spent almost an hour just sitting in Battery Park, feeding Sam, Luke was making something out of sticks.  It gave him time just to run around and be a kid after being drug through so many things with grown-ups.  Also, with all the walking we did on this trip I was ready for any reason to sit down!

When we finally tired of Luke getting sticks wet in a drinking fountain, we took the subway to Union Square.  First we went to a bank and got cash, since we came with only random change between us.  Next was visiting The Strand Bookstore, about 2 blocks away.  I would have LOVED to spend more time there but Luke was very short on patience (and sleep).  I had already decided what book I wanted to look for there (The Futures, set in New York), found it and a Statue of Liberty book for Luke (which he didn't read until we were at the lake a week later), purchased both and we were in and out in less than 10 minutes.  We walked back the few blocks to Union Square and browsed the Green Market (Matt, of course, bought bread).

 

Next stop was Breads Bakery where we bought more Chocolate Babka, which we had also enjoyed on our last trip, even though we barely touched this loaf until we were home.  Then walked a few more blocks to Dough Doughnuts for, you guessed it, doughnuts.  For those not keeping track, in a little over 24 hours we bought baked goods from 5 different places, most of those treats would make it back home with us.  And, yet, I forgot to buy a scone to eat while watching the Royal Wedding the next morning!

After picking up doughnuts (to add to our loaf of market bread and loaf of babka), we kept walking towards Madison Square Park.  Before our trip up the Empire State Building the day before we hadn't ever seen the Flatiron Building and now we walked right past it!  Also, came across another Lego Store (after stopping at the Rockefeller Plaza store the night before) and, of course, visited.

Took more pictures, got a little lost trying to find our subway station, but then eventually made it back to the apartments, beating all our parents.  All this walking, from Union Square, The Strand, Union Square, Breads, Dough, Lego Store, and Madison Square Park, was just over a mile.  I LOVE seeing different New York neighborhoods and this hit a lot of stops with not much walking.  I found the whole excursion very enjoyable.

We had no dinner plans that night and once we were all back together we decided that a few of us (my Dad, Matt and I) would go to my Dad's favorite NYC eatery (Cafe Duke), pick up food, and bring it back to eat at the apartment.  This was actually my father-in-law's birthday and it seemed a more relaxing way to celebrate than all walking around and finding a restaurant.  (I found out once we were home that Cafe Duke only has two locations and we had actually been to the other one with my sister and her BFF on the first night of our trip with them.  I kept telling my Dad when we were there that we had been to somewhere similar but I didn't know the name and was amused that it was the same place.)

We had a lovely dinner, all around the table together, at the apartment, with a wide variety of food. It felt like one of the rare times of the whole trip all 8 of us were together and actually able to talk since so much of our time had been spread out or in places too loud/busy to have a conversation with anyone more than the person right next to you.  Or we had just talked logistics of what time we needed to be where and what subways stop, etc.  With our large families it's not often we get solo time with our parents, especially a couple straight days.  So it was a treat to all be together and actually able to talk!

Then it was just getting kids to bed (hah!), cleaning up, I ran a load of laundry (SO HELPFUL to have), etc.  Nothing too exciting on our Friday night in New York!

Tomorrow, the exciting conclusion of our trip!

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New York City #4 - days 1 & 2

Welcome to New York (week)!  Breaking down our recent (ish) trip into multiple posts since there's a lot I have to say (always, about New York) and it fills up a week of posting!  Hah.

This was mine and my husband's 4th trip to New York.  He asked if we are done after this trip.  I informed him that we are not but we might spread them out a little more, since we've made 3 trips in just over 5 years.

We took our first trip in October 2010 and I LOVED it.  I had been dreaming of going to New York for at least 15 years and it completely lived up to my expectations.  Two and a half years later, in April 2013, we went back and took my youngest sister and her best friend.  It was on that trip that we got the call about our (now) oldest son.  Life changing moments happening in NYC.

Since our story with him started (for us) in New York, we knew we wanted to take him there someday and finally did in May 2016 which also happened to coincide with our 10th wedding anniversary.  While on that trip we started talking about bringing our parents along.  I worked on my parents for a few years and finally got them to agree.  Matt asked his parents and they agreed instantly.  I know New York isn't for everyone but seeing the Statue of Liberty (and going in her head!) is a fantastic experience and seeing things like Central Park are pretty awesome too.

Then we got a baby and life seemed crazy for awhile (and still is) but, as I wrote here, not going was never a conversation.  We just knew we were going to figure out how to take an infant on a 19 hour train ride and carry him all over the city.  Turns out babies who aren't mobile and love to be held are pretty happy being strapped to Mom for 12 hours a day.  As long as he was fed and had a reasonably clean diaper he was a happy traveler.

As for the trip!

We always take the Amtrak.  Pretty much everyone asks if we've considered flying.  We've looked at prices and are fine with a day on the train to save at least $400.  Plus, we'd have to drive 2+ hours each way to the airport to save that kind of money and with needing to get to the airport early, we'd really only save a few hours.  Or so.  I've never looked that much into it.  I get a whole day to sit, no housework, no meal prep, and mostly read and sleep and eat.  What's not to love about that???  Except that two kids didn't really let me just read all day but it's still a pretty enjoyable.

What didn't work out so well this time is that our train was running late picking us up (so we boarded at 1:59am instead of 1:15am) and then it got even more behind as we went, getting us to New York 2.5 hours late.  With getting through Penn Station, buying subway passes for all, getting to the subway, and then walking (thankfully the rain had stopped by this point) a few blocks to our apartment.  From the time we left our house to drive to my parents' to drive to the train station with them, to wait on our late train, ride the train, and then get to the apartment...it was 23 hours.  That was a long time to be in transit.  But we were in New York!!

View from our apartment window!

First off, the apartment.  Once we finally knew who all was going with us (besides the baby we didn't know existed yet) I started scouring VRBO and AirBnB for 3 bedroom apartments we could rent for a reasonable (for New York City) rate.  I looked at so many.  Looked at hotels in desperation.  Looked some more.  We ended up with this one in the Turtle Bay area, which I had never heard of but seemed safe and the price and bedroom configuration were right.  Other than just one bathroom it worked out really well.  There was an air mattress for Luke and Sam got a fancy dresser drawer.  We did have to hike up 3 flights of stairs but we were gone most of the day so it wasn't like we were doing that constantly.  Overall, two thumbs up.

The first day we were gone was almost entirely spent traveling.  We got the apartment at 10pm.  Unpacked and crashed.

Then it was time to see New York!  Both sets of parents went to morning Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, just a few block walk away.  Matt and I stayed at the apartment to "sleep in" which is humorous if you have kids.  But we weren't ready to rush them out the door for 7:30am Mass.  We had packed breakfast for that morning and parents picked up on their way back (my Dad quickly found his favorite place to eat in New York, going there 3 times in 2 days).

Once all that was done, first up was going to the Empire State Building.  Matt and I had done Top of the Rock twice but never the Empire State Building.  It's a good way to get a bearing of sorts on the city and it's pretty iconic too.  We took the subway to nearby and the views from the ground made it obvious that our views from the top weren't going to be great.  But that also meant low crowds which I am ALL about.  Also, the boys were both free.

Even with very short lines to wait in, it still took awhile to get through all the places there would have been long lines  Get through security (with unstrapping a baby), wait for the elevator.  Then it took us to the 80th floor for our first views.  We saw the Flatiron Building for the first time in all our trips!  There was a lot on this floor about the history of making the building and how fast they built it (in just over a year!!).  With Indiana limestone (woo-hoo! Shoutout to Indiana!).  There were views from 3 sides of the building.  Then we took another elevator to the 86th floor where there was outside viewing.

If you've seen Sleepless in Seattle, this is the floor they show at the end of that movie.  Which I had rewatched leading up to our trip so I was familiar with it.  The views mostly weren't great.  We couldn't see the Statue of Liberty although it would have been visible without the clouds.  Could barely see Central Park.  We picked out 30 Rock for the opposite view of what we had seen from there.  Even though the views weren't great I'm still glad we did this. 

Plus, every time I ever see the Empire State Building in pictures or tv I can now say "We were there!" which is one of my favorite things to yell at the tv (you don't want to watch New Year's Eve tv with me because I shout it constantly).  So that's exciting (for me, not my poor husband).

After we had enough of the top we headed down, hit up a Walgreens at the bottom (clearance candy and I needed new sunglasses because mine BROKE as soon as we walked in the ESB.  Not that it was ever sunny on our trip).  Then back to the subway and onto Rockefeller Center.

We walked through there just a bit and then hit up our favorite Earl of Sandwich (we've eaten at this same location on three of our trips) for lunch.  Then a detour past the LOVE statue at W 55th & 6th and my Mom and I (and Sam) went to Milk Bar for cookies while the rest headed onto Central Park.  We met up there and meandered through the park for a few hours.  I wish we could have had more time there but we had walked a lot already (my parents' FitBits logged 30,000 steps which was near 15 miles in just one day!).  We hit The Mall and Bethesda Terrace, two favorites.  Then Matt and I took the boys back to Luke's adoption spot and our parents' went to the Belvedere Castle and some of the Ramble.

This was the closest we came to losing anyone on the trip, when Matt and I were crossing Sheep's Meadow and Luke decided he HAD to go see some rocks that were not in the direction we were going.  We told him we were just going to leave him and he called our bluff and took off, and got pretty far away. Then Matt had to go after him since I had a baby strapped to me and couldn't exactly run.  So that was fun, right before we celebrated where we got him.

His adoption spot is behind Heckscher ball field #5, if you are ever in the area and want to see where we became parents.  (Maybe slightly prettier than the standard delivery room?)  By this point it was getting close to supper.  We headed in the direction of our parents and eventually met up with them with a plan.  We left both boys with the 4 grandparents at the Diana Ross Playground (across Central Park West from the Museum of Natural History) while Matt and I went to Shake Shack and Levain for burgers and cookies to bring back and picnic in the park.  It was the first time Matt and I had been alone in New York since our first trip almost 8 years earlier and even though we were just speed walking for food, it was a nice break.  Plus, we had never seen the Upper West Side and I always love checking out new neighborhoods.

We came back with burgers, fries, bottled water, and HUGE cookies and we all enjoyed eating.  Hard to beat delicious food in Central Park.  I have zero pictures from this, other than of the food, but it is one of my favorite memories of the trip.  Also, highly recommend both Shake Shack and Levain Bakery.  I will happily pay $4 for a cookie when it's that big and delicious.

From there we walked to a nearby subway stop and headed back to the apartment.  Note: I had the official New York transit app on my phone, which I paid $1-2 for before trip #2.  But I never used it on this trip because it was easier to pull up Google Maps on my phone web browser and have it pick up where we were, tell it where we wanted to go, and it would tell us how to get the subway, which line to take, where to exit the subway, and how to walk to our destination.  Definitely recommend that for easy directions.

We all relaxed and refreshed at the apartment before Matt, my parents, both boys, and myself headed out for Times Square.  We had spent 9 nights in New York before this trip and on every. single. night. we had gotten Jamba Juice and visited Times Square.  Every night.  (With our super late arrival the night before I had to settle for a Jamba Juice from Penn Station and no Times Square.)  I know, Times Square gets a bad rap and it's crowded and it's touristy but I really like seeing it at night.  So we set off, stopping at the Jamba Juice in Rockefeller Center and then walking to Times Square.

It was crazy.  Crazier than our last trip when it was partially under construction.  Crazy.  I don't know if it's that we had two kids with us (although 3 year old Luke visited it last trip), or having my parents to keep track of too, but I swear it was the most crowded I had ever seen it.  It was even overwhelming for me.  We did, briefly, sit on the red stairs and took some pictures but we weren't there long.  I'm still glad we visited but once was enough this trip.

I noticed other parents with small kids in Times Square and every time I would think "What are these parents doing with their kids out so late???" before remembering, oh yes, I have two small kids with me too.  (It was 9:30-10pm when we were there.) (Pot, meet kettle)

We walked through the entire Times Square, coming out on the south end and visiting a NEW Toys R Us that had opened since trip #3 and was supposedly closing in less than 2 weeks.  We super rarely shop at Toys R Us but on trip #2 we bought a turtle for Luke there, after price checking stuffed turtles at a few different stores.  I had planned to buy that before the trip but then, with finding out we got him while we were there, it became the first thing we ever bought specifically for Luke and not just "future baby".  Then the store closed before we took Luke and we had to visit a different location near the Empire State Building.  And went to this location on this trip.  Even with everything at least 20% off it was still very overpriced but we bought something inexpensive for both boys, to keep up tradition.  And that's more than I ever expected to say about Toys R Us.

Luckily, there was a subway stop right by Toys R Us so we said goodbye to Times Square and headed back to our apartment where both boys all of a sudden decided they were wide awake and definitely did NOT want to go to sleep.  Yay parenting!


That concludes day 1 & 2 of our trip, look forward to another 2000 words about day #3 tomorrow!