New York City - Day 1

When David's parents were visiting last May we had discussed them coming out for Thanksgiving and maybe heading up for a few days to check out New York City. Dave had never been there and my NYC visit a few years ago had only lasted a day so it sounded like a good plan. Sometimes good plans just remain plans; in this case, we made it happen. The Pierces arrived on a Tuesday evening in November and we were on the road for New York City the next morning. It's a quick 3 hour drive up there so, once we arrived, we checked in to our hotel, ate some lunch, and grabbed a bus into the city.

At the bus station, ready to start our adventure!

We decided that the best way to see as much of NYC as we could with kids in tow would be to take a tour bus. The buses make periodic stops where you can get off and explore the sights if you want. When you're ready to move on, you just jump on the next bus. We were able to see most of the city this way. One of the first stops we made was to check out this beautiful cathedral.

Another stop was Ulysses S. Grant's tomb. Unfortunately the tomb was closed that day for some unknown reason but it was still nice to check out the beautiful building and walk around a bit.

We were able to see a lot of famous buildings, like The Guggenheim...

and lots and lots of beautiful old buildings that I just could not resist taking many pictures of. I'll be kind and only post one picture out of the numerous amount I took.

By early evening Noah was tuckered out!

After an afternoon of sightseeing, we headed over to Times Square.  The kids insisted that we just had to stop at the M&M store.

Each of the kids took the scanning test to see what their M&M mood color was.

Back on the streets we saw a lot of famous people, including this one!

We had a delicious dinner at Bubba Gump's. Savannah tried on Forrest Gump's famous tennis shoes!

Although the night was absolutely frigid, Noah had been begging ALL day to go to the Lego store which happened to be several blocks away, near the Rockefeller Center, so off we went. It was amazing to walk the streets of New York with all the thousands of people and the towering buildings. I made the kids look up from time to time, just to check out how amazing the skyscrapers are! On the way we got to see Radio City.

The famous Rockefeller skating rink! I was amazed at how small it was.

And finally, the Lego store!

One happy little boy! The store was pretty cool with all the displays made entirely of Legos. My favorite was the Lego dragon that went all throughout the store.

Dave really wanted to take a night bus tour so he could see the Brooklyn Bridge so around 8:00 back we went onto the bus. I can't even explain how cold it was that night and poor Xander had refused to wear his big coat that day so he was freezing. He huddled with his grandma down below but the rest of us braved the top deck so we could see the bright lights of NYC! The Empire State Building.

And the Brooklyn Bridge!

After seeing the Bridge I just couldn't take the cold anymore and Noah and I hurried below. David and Savannah soon followed but Dave persevered and remained up top for almost the rest of the tour. Unfortunately I think it was that exposure that brought about the terrible cold and cough he developed a few days later. We ended up not getting back to the hotel until late that night but it had been a fun and fabulous first day!