Day 8 - Boat Tour & Broadway

By the time the kids got up, Scott’s flight was already in the air.  It’s a direct flight from GR so he will be landing around 10:30a and then just need about an hour to get to us.  So the kids and I ran across the street to a new donut shop for breakfast and then decided to take care of our laundry.  I found a laundry shop that will wash and fold your clothes only 6 blocks from here.  So we headed out, dirty laundry in hand, across Times Square, to drop it off.

After, we walked back to the hotel for a beat and waited for Scott to arrive.  He pulled in a little after 11 and we had a quick reunion in the lobby.  We dropped off his bag in the hotel room and then headed into Time Square to look around and grab lunch.  

Eventually we stopped at AppleBees for a quick sit down option.  It was while we were there that we discovered my car was losing battery TOO fast and was critically low.  I’m not sure why but in just two days we had already gone through almost 20% of the battery.  So Scott and Sammy stayed to pay the bill and Ty and I ran back to the hotel to investigate.  The car was parked a block away in a city lot.  The valets there were incredibly kind and said they would take care of it.  Within minutes my car was charging and the problem averted.

We took a cab to Pier 83 and boarded our tour boat with City Cruises.  It was a 1.5 hr tour around the southern half of Manhattan including a ride over to the Statue of Liberty.  It was a great way to see the city and hear more about the iconic buildings and bridges we’ve come to love.

We wrapped up a bit early so we decided to stay close and visit the USS Intrepid which happened to be next door.  The guys and gals split up and made good time looking at the planes on the top deck and the exhibits below.  The USS Intrepid had a long and successful run in the US military so there was lots to see along with the Concord that broke the sound barrier each time it crossed the Atlantic. 

We grabbed an Uber back toward Time Square and stopped for our reservation at Frankie and Johnnies Steakhouse.  Moments after we sat, I noticed our water glasses were almost empty and laughed.  It was a hot one today.  But if felt good to take some time to sit down and enjoy some good food.  

We stopped back at the hotel to freshen up and then headed out for a Broadway show.  Scott and Sammy chose Wicked, while Tyler and I ran to Stranger Things.

Times Square was especially busy tonight as we made our way home.  But we all made it (even after an extended rickshaw ride) and were snuggling into bed by 11:30p.

Day 2 - Theater

Full disclosure… the pillows were awful last night.  The issue has been corrected for tonight but sleep was not as good as I was hoping.  :)

We woke up around 8:30 and get ready for the day.  We decided on breakfast at McDonalds with drinks at Starbucks (both on the same block as our hotel).  After we finished eating, I looked up the address for the Museum of Broadway, our first stop of the day.  Lo and behold, the museum is literally two doors down from our hotel.  Hehe.  Needless to say, we arrived much earlier than our reservation time but they accommodated us and let us get started sooner.

It’s a three story experience with so much history, props and costumes regarding all things theater.  It was fabulous!  We both really enjoyed our time here and spent much longer than they had estimated.  

  

Afterwards we stopped at the room and then decided to head down to our next reservation in hopes they could also get us in earlier than our scheduled time at the Encanto Experience.  (A walk through interactive exhibit based on the Disney movie Encanto). We walked up a block and then caught a cab.  It was a 30 minute ride down 5th Avenue. We got in on the tour scheduled for noon and enjoyed the exhibit.  In all honesty, the program is designed for younger children but Sammy and I really appreciated the sets and props and enjoyed our time together.  

We started walking back… and made it only a few blocks before the heat became a problem.  So we grabbed another cab and headed back to the hotel.  Before we went up to our room, we grabbed some snacks from Walgreens and then spent a quiet couple of hours in bed.  The timing was perfect because a decent storm blew through while we were inside.

After we got cleaned up we walked over to Olive Garden in Times Square and enjoyed an early dinner.  We played Ticket to Ride on our phones while we waited for our food to arrive.  Then we visited the Disney Store again.  We have tickets to a show tonight at the Marquis Theater, which was only like a block away, but the show wouldn’t start for a little over an hour.  So we decided to head to the theater anyway, and found a quiet spot to sit down and play Five Crowns.  We had a great time. 

Tonight we have tickets to see Once Upon A One More Time, a musical neither of us have seen before.  It’s based on the fairy tale princesses and is set to music from Brittany Spears.  The show was excellent!  It was a lot of fun… the music and dancing were amazing!

We walked back to our hotel to climb into bed and finish our game of Five Crowns.  Then it was time for Sammy to work on her drawings again while I updated the blog.  I’m hoping to get some sleep tonight!

We really did have an excellent day… I just love spending time with my girl.

Girls Day 3 - Subways, Tall Buildings, Big Desserts, and Pizza in Bed

We had a somewhat flexible morning today so we didn’t set an alarm.  But go figure, I was up by 8:00.  I made a cup of chai and then snuggled up with Sammy until she was ready to start the day.

We grabbed Starbucks from across the street again and decided to eat it on the Subway on our way to Southern Manhattan.  We made our way to the right Subway entrance (thanks to Apple maps that include public transit options) and asked the teller to explain everything :).

The 1 train comes through very often, so with literally less than 1 minute wait, we were on board and setting up for breakfast.  This was the very first subway trip for all three of us!

  

We got off at the stop in the basement of the World Trade Center.

And a short walk up to the road brought us to the 9/11 Memorial.  This is the south pool in the footprint of the South tower.  It is a huge reflection pool with a waterfall into the center.  The names of those who died are etched on the outer edge.  

After visiting the North pool where the north tower stood, we headed over to One World Trade Center and headed up to the Observatory.  This is currently the tallest building in the USA, and our hemisphere.  The 7th largest in the world.  It is 1776 ft tall (Independence Day) and the observatory is on the 102nd floor.

The elevator ride up is only 47 seconds... read that again 102 floors in 47 seconds!!!  The walls of the elevator feature a movie that show how the surrounding area of NYC have changed throughout history and was in and of itself incredible.  When the instructions were over, we were finally released on to the observation deck and it was breath taking!

After the 47 second plummet back to earth, we walked over to Battery Park.  We made a quick stop to feed Kit... apparently she was hungry.  A kind man even stopped to help give her a drink. Sammy was so appreciative!  Looking back across town, we had a great view of One World Trade Center.

In Battery Park, we checked out the Korean War Memorial and then took some pics of the Statue of Liberty from the shore.

Then it was time to head back.  We were both pretty tired and hungry so we visited a street vendor for some hotdogs and found a small wall to sit and rest a bit.

Then we headed back to the subway for our return trip.  This entrance wasn’t staffed so I was thankful we had pre-purchased the return trip.  However after Sammy walked through the turnstile, the machine wouldn’t read my ticket and I had a brief moment of panic.  Three swipes later, and a few silent prayers for help, and it accepted my ticket and let me through.

Once we got down to the platform I realized that we were about to board a different train than I had wanted so we talked to a very kind man who was on his way home from work and found out that this train would also make a stop close to our hotel.  So, we were fine - good lesson learned.

After we got back to Time Square we visited M&M World to explore all three floors of chocolate goodness.  To my surprise, we walked out without any purchases so to quench my sweet tooth, I suggested we stop for dessert.  Clearly, we made the right choice!

Even with two of us, we couldn’t finish it!  We played Ticket To Ride on our ipads at the restaurant and after Sammy beat me silly, we headed back to our hotel for a movie.  We had already walked over 9,000 steps before 1:00 pm and we both were ready for a rest.

After the movie, we decided to try some authentic New York-style pizza and ordered in a pie.  Sammy got a kick out of eating in bed!

About 5:30, Sammy asked ever so sweetly if I might be interested in going shopping... and wouldn’t you know, she was hoping we could check out American Girl again.  So we packed up for a quick visit to the store before we had to come home to clean up for tonight’s show.

I had told Sammy that we could buy her a new doll at the end of the trip this week, but after a lot of deliberating, we decided to bring her home tonight instead.  Kit has a new friend!  Her name Luciana, she has long dark hair and she is BIG into science!

The walk home was gorgeous...

And even more so from our hotel room as the sun set.

After a quick change and refresh on hair/make-up, we were out the door again and heading to Disney’s Aladdin.  The crowds tonight in Time Square were the busiest we’ve seen.  

We grabbed a shake on the way back to the hotel.  As Sammy snuggled into bed, she said once again what a great day it was... I agree!  It was incredible!  So glad to have this special time with my girl!