With every trip there is excitement; organizing, packing, and planning.
With every trip there is the expected and the unexpected..
We saw, we did, we ate, we walked and had a very fun time in New York City last week.
So here are my Top 10. Enjoy.
Top 10 things that I learned from my trip to NYC last week… with my kids, sisters, and their families:
- When kids are tired, even the coolest place in NYC to EAT is not good enough: “I hate this place!” Nothing like a 12 year old girl to say exactly what she is thinking.
- Wearing cute kicks instead of heavy duty made for walking sneakers works for kids, but not so much for 40-somethings. Darn shin splints!
- Seeing a single white rose placed by the name of a 911 victim on their birthday moves even the youngest of tourists, to stop and give pause. The quiet in the middle of the city was serene at the 911 Memorial–very moving.
- There is nothing like a new pair of sneakers from THE Nike Store to make everyone happy. New sneakers smell so good!
- Candy cures all–really it does, thank you very much Dylan’s. And not all NYC pizza is good… but Rainbow Cake from Carlo’s Bakery is amazing and was worth the super long City Bus Tour drive to get there.
- Boys are never too young to learn about the value of what is inside a little blue box from Tiffany’s. And once you get them inside the store they DO love looking at sparkle.
- One parent can ask, over the course of 3 days, “Do we have everyone?” about 500 times. It must have worked because we did not lose anyone. Our family just loses Nana’s in London off of double decker buses–Oh Nan.
- Never let a child who doesn’t do well with fried food sit at the “kid” table before a Broadway show. Said child will eat the leftover french fries on every other child’s plate and then have an emergency bathroom call right in the middle of the Lion King… and again before the end of the show, and then again, going out of the theater. This forced parent and child to go back into the theater, against the movement of a throng of people going outside to get back to the only bathroom on the second floor.
- When in NYC always look up. Don’t just follow the crowd when waiting to cross a busy street… someone will lead you and your 13 ducks across just as NYC traffic begins to move, forcing you to all scatter for fear of getting run over–because you almost DID get run over. And we won’t even talk about the volume of honking directed at you and your clan… our ears are still ringing… and it was quite embarrassing.
AND, the # 10 reason…
- And even though I learned that I probably won’t have any children settling in the city, at least I know that they can appreciate a beautiful, 70 degree day on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. For just a moment, we watched how the world hustles and bustles every day–without us. Oh how we do appreciate where we live, in rural America.
Cheers to New York City!!
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