We hit Walmart to restock on a few essentials (like baby wipes and tissues) before hitting the road. New York City, here we come. I'm not a fan of driving in NYC - people are super rude and aggressive, and it seems like the entire city is under construction. Tons of one-way streets with cars just stopped in the middle of the road to load or unload or just because they felt like it. And EVERYONE jaywalks. Not my cup of tea. We made it to the city a little after noon, and, after looping "around the block" (which wound up being like 10 blocks because... New York), we made it to our hotel. They assigned us a parking spot and by the time we had parked and started unloading, the man at the front desk had hand-delivered a room key (several hours earlier than we were supposed to check in) and luggage cart to us so that we could bring stuff up to our room. Incredible service from the Hyatt Place Long Island City on 43rd Ave
By the time we got everything hauled up to the room (in only 2 trips!) and everyone through the bathroom, it was after 1pm. We loaded up with our picnic bag, diaper bag, and water bottle backpack (an upgrade we acquired at Walmart) and set out for the subway. "K" and I have ridden the subway in NYC and SoCal quite a few times, but it was a new experience for the kids. There are tons of apps and websites you can use to plot out how to get from point A to point B in NYC and it will tell you when the train should be there, what bus to take, which route to walk, etc. It's almost foolproof.
Most of the places we want to visit on this trip are in Manhattan, so it's at least 2 different trains to/from our hotel. The kids didn't mind, though, they liked it. We brought the stroller for "C" to save her little legs, and I'm really glad we did. Our first stop of the day was Battery Park. We got off the subway, walked up the stairs and out into the warm, humid air and started walking toward the water line. We wanted to take the kids to see the Statue of Liberty, but they're all timed and we weren't sure what time we would make it down to the park, so we decided to just try our like at the ticket office. The kids and "K" went to find a shady spot to have lunch while I went to try to sort out tickets.
It was about 2pm when we made it down there, and the line was ENORMOUS. Probably 150 people in line ahead of me, zig-zagging back and forth through the little rope stanchions. I hopped in line in the full sun and continued to sweat following our ride through the warm subway. There were signs all over to try to book your tickets online rather than wait in line, so I tried that now that we knew we were down there. Unfortunately, the next boat with openings was at 4pm, and it says the trip takes "a few hours" but we had timed tickets for the Empire State Building at 6:30. That wasn't going to work. I gave up and joined the rest of the crew for lunch.
While I ate, "K" hopped on her phone and managed to find an express boat that just kinda cruises the harbor a bit, stops for a quick photo-op at the statue, cruises under the Brooklyn Bridge, and then goes back in less than an hour. They save time by not actually going on the island, but I've been on the island and unless you pay more for the better experience (like going up in the statue), you're really not missing much. We didn't get to do Ellis Island either, but honestly I think the kids are probably happy we didn't. We got tickets but had to kill about an hour before we could board, so we tracked down a bathroom (thank you Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust for saving our bacon since the public bathroom was gone due to more construction) and found a nice shady spot to sit.
On the cruise, we were all out on the top open deck. It felt nice out on the ocean while the boat was cruising, but I was quite toasty when we slowed for the statue photo-op so I went downstairs and took "A" and the youngest 3 down with me. There, a young woman named Naomi made fast friends with the youngest 3 kiddos, and she spent the next 20 minutes or so mostly just playing with my kids and answering their every question. She was sweet, but my favorite part of the inside area was the air conditioning. I'm not made for being outdoors.
We headed back to the subway and went up and down a zillion sets of stairs. We mostly avoided elevators (because IF they're working, they're incredibly hot, slow, and smell like a urinal) but "C" was getting a little tired now, so she mostly stayed in the stroller. Which means I got to carry her up and down all those stairs, adding to how warm I felt. It was great! We made it to our stop and surfaced to see the Empire State Building!
Of course, we went down the wrong side of the building to try to get to the observatory and had to double back to go around to the other side. "C" was fast asleep by now, and we got a cute picture with all the kids (including her sleeping) to commemorate the experience. We wound our way around the inside of the building, up to the 2nd floor security where we unfortunately had to pull her out of the stroller so they could make sure she wasn't actually a bomb or something, I'm not really sure. But I managed to get her out, through security, and back in without waking her - she was a sleepy girl. She didn't stay asleep for much longer, though, and she woke up while we walked through the mini museum on our way to the observation deck. "K" and I went to the Empire State building when we were in NYC back in.. 2010 or so, but the area leading up to the elevators seemed quite a bit different than we remembered. It was fun!
We rode up the elevator to the 80th floor, my ears popping the entire way, and the kids' eyes glued to the ceiling of the elevator where a little animated video played. We walked around the inside area of the 80th floor, taking in all the sights and fun interactive things before taking another elevator up to the 86th floor where we went outside. A total of around 5 raindrops fell, and "T" decided he was DONE. I think we were all a little tired at that point, but it was fun seeing how interested they all were in looking at the city from a different perspective.
Almost directly across the street is a little place called Little Italy Pizza. You've gotta have pizza in New York City, so we settled on this one, primarily due to its location. The food was DELICIOUS! I mean, it's pizza, so it's not super complicated and it's kinda hard to mess it up, but these were giant slices, lots of toppings, and very, very tasty. We grabbed a salad to share and we all dug in, feeding all 7 of us for $50. Not bad (although it's not $35 at Wendy's)!
Because we're insane, we decided that wasn't enough yet. We were all exhausted, it was getting dark, and we'd been sweating for the last 8 hours. Know what we needed? That's right, trip to Times Square! Another subway trip, with a kid in a stroller to carry up and down stairs, and then up and down more stairs, before popping out surrounded by bright lights and advertisements as far as the eye could see. Ahhh, American consumerism! Isn't it grand?
We stayed there for a whopping 5 minutes or so before another trip to on the subway (did I mention it costs $12 for each trip on the subway? Cheaper than parking, but yeesh) to head back to our hotel. One transfer, what felt like 20 sets of stairs, and a 5 minute walk back and we all collapsed on the beds of our nicely air conditioned hotel. 16,683 steps today! We're beat. Let's do it again tomorrow!