First Trip to NYC!!!

We took our first family trip to NYC today and had a wonderful time. We drove to a nearby train station and almost didn't make the train because Mckenzie needed a diaper change at the last minute, but we all got on and away we went! It was only about an hour ride to the city and the girls did great. Abby couldn't get enough of all the things she was seeing outside and spent a good portion of her time looking out the window. Mckenzie joined her off and on. It was cute to see both of their heads pressed against the window. We made it into the city and it was so amazing. It is one thing to know how busy a city is and how large the buildings are, but it is another to be standing on the streets watching all the people go by and to look up and see nothing but buildings. It is unreal! We walked around near Penn station for awhile and then stopped to eat a slice of pizza before taking a bus tour. We thought for our first trip we would just get a feel for the city and what better way to get a quick trip than on a bus. The guy who sold us tickets was nice and didn't make us pay for Abby even though 3 and up were supposed to have a paid ticket. Thanks! The bus took us all over. We saw Greenwich village, the garment district, the empire state building (next time we want to go inside), Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, we drove along the river and saw all the bridges, Rockefeller Center, & part of Central Park. We got off the bus at St. Paul's Chapel (with the wrong stroller! oops! There was another stroller that looked just like ours and I picked the wrong one. It was a bad choice as the one we have now looks very used and very dirty and doesn't roll very well :-( There is no way we are using that nasty thing again!)  and walked through to see the memorials to the victims of 9/11. The girls were getting a little feisty when we first got into the church because we had been sitting on the upper level of the bus and it got to be very warm. So, instead of disrupting all the other visitors, we took the girls outside and walked around to where the twin towers used to sit. The work they are doing is amazing and actually being there makes me wonder how more buildings weren't damaged as a result. Everything is so close. We hung out in a little park for awhile to let the girls run around and enjoyed a smoothie while they played. Then we headed back to the church to finish looking at the memorials there. It was a truly somber time.  Even now, almost a decade later, it is a moment I will never forget. Being there at the place something so horrific and tragic happened was unreal. While we were standing on the street, a fire engine rolled by with its light on and it made me wonder how the firemen feel every time they have to drive past the site of the Twin Towers on a call. Anyway... we hopped back on the bus and continued the tour seeing so much more. Both girls passed out during the second half of the trip which I think was for the best. They both liked looking at the buildings for a little while, but with the heat and boredom, they wanted to be off the bus. I don't blame them and I am glad we only did the downtown loop of the tour instead of the whole thing! We decided to get supper before leaving the city and ended up at Five Napkin Burger. It was really good, but the girls were tired and ready to be done. So, lets just say we have had much more relaxing dinners than this one! We headed back toward Penn Station, stopping along the way to buy a couple of I love NYC shirts for the girls and a pretzel that Abby was in desperate need of. Which, by the way, she only ate one bite of and decided she was done. Mckenzie licked the salt off of hers and was done as well. We got on our train only to discover it wasn't going to stop today at the station we needed. So, we grabbed the girls and our stuff and hopped off. There was a NJ transit employee next to the train so we asked which train would take us to Hamilton. Turns out we were on the right train, but because of a fatality near the Hamilton stop the train wouldn't be stopping there and we had to continue on to the next stop and take a train back. What a tragic accident, but curiosity has me wondering why a lady was walking along the train tracks. So, we got back on the train and a very nice young man moved so the four of us could sit together. Well, I was almost wishing that we had taken a taxi cab home from New York, because the little over an hour ride took almost three and a half hours because the track was so backed up! The girls did great at first, reading books, coloring, eating suckers (thank God we had those), playing with my phone, but the last hour or so, they started getting so restless. It was past their bedtime and they had a long day out in the sun only to be trapped on a train going nowhere! I took them for a walk around the train to stretch their little legs, but all that did was make them want to explore even more. Mckenzie needed a couple of diaper changes and both times, she pushed the emergency call bell! I didn't realize she did it so I was a little shocked when there was a knock at the door asking if everything is OK. Scott said she did the same thing when he took her in! Luckily we sat on the tracks long enough that by the time we approached the station we parked at, it had opened back up. Thank God! We got to the car and Scott and I both figured the girls would be out within minutes of driving, but they both stayed awake the entire drive and even had tons of energy when we got home. Both girls were hungry so after a little snack, they were off to bed. It was a great day and I can't wait to go back. Next time, I don't think we will take a bus tour, rather, pick a couple of places we want to go and spend all day there. Oh, Scott asked Abby how many people she thought she saw today. Her answer "fourteen"! She loved the city and told us she didn't want to go back to New Jersey.

Checking out the view on the ride to NYC

We only needed to use the bathroom in the store and ended up with a bag of M &M's for each of the girls!

On the bus!

Say Cheese!

A little protest going on. I threw my hamburger at them! LOL no, seriously, I wouldn't waste good meat like that!

Trying to keep cool! They were right next to the speaker so when the tour guide would talk, they would scream and cover their ears because it was so loud!

Our blurry pic! Apparently the camera has a little moisture in it and I always forget to clean the lens before taking pics.

Resting in the park, playing with strollers. Both girls had 'babies' in the stroller and they were pushing them around and making them take naps.

At St. Paul's Chapel, one of the memorials made from World Trade Center materials

The UN. It was kind of ironic when we saw this, because Scott was just wondering where the UN was located when the tour guide informed us that one of the next sites to see would be the UN.

And she's out!

And so is she!