New York City.

Last week, Eva, Lola, Javi and I joined my parents on a one night, two day adventure to NYC! We started talking about it last month and originally planned to go in October when the weather would be cool, Fall would be in the air, Christmas time on the horizon — and yet, somehow, we found ourselves in New York City… July 4th weekend, during, what can only be described as — a heat wave. ha!

We left home around 6am and it was absolutely downpour rain. Luckily the weather app on my phone said it was going to be short lived and it was! We got to the city around 9:45am, parked the car at the hotel, checked our baggage, and hit the ground… walking. I had high hopes of seeing a lot of the city and avoiding the subway.

The kids lasted a while before the complaints began about their legs being tired. We made it to the Harry Potter store (just to look because we didn’t want to have to carry any bags) and Javi and Lola ended up doing an interactive video which was adorable.

After we had to eat and Chipotle was the first place we saw! Sean, who stayed home to work and stay with Walker, would have been SO disappointed in us. He has a thing where he doesn’t let us eat at fast food restaurants or at chains while we’re on vacation. But… when you’re hungry, sometimes comfort food is what you need!

After lunch we tried our luck on the subway. We did okay for a group of people who really didn’t know what we were doing. It’s a bit easier now that you can just use your credit card to pay at the kiosk and no longer need to use your credit card to buy passes/tickets from a machine and so on. We were surprised (I’m not sure that’s the right word…) that the subway trains were SO hot. Like suffocating hot. It was not a relief to get out of the sun.

We finally got off at the South Ferry stop and we had two hours until the main event: the Statue of Liberty! Eva has been talking about it for months and it was the reason for the trip. We hung out (sweated and almost passed out, basically) until it was our turn to get on the ferry — foam crowns in tow. The kids ate snow cones and fruit and used the public bathroom (yuck) 45 times while we waited.

It was finally time and we were able to bypass the really long general admission line because my parents bought pedestal tickets. The ferry ride over was uneventful (perfect!) — and we were quickly right in front of Lady Liberty!

We walked around, nearly fell over walking up the hundreds of steps to the pedestal, took photos, visited the museum, took more photos, ate some popcorn and before we knew it was 5:30 and time to return to Manhattan! Eva LOVED the statue and took her time through the museum. She was so happy.

We tried to find the statue of the Bull (you know the one?) but the line to take a photo with it was SO long. We ended up finding a subway station and taking it back to the hotel. We stayed at the Millennium in TImes Square. It was a great location.

My mom and I went back out to grab food for everybody, and then after a pretty big rainstorm (plus thunder and lightning) it dried out and we headed out to Times Square. We went to the souvenir shop, the M&M store, avoided all the characters (Hulk, King Kong, Mickey Mouse) because Lola was SO scared of them, and tried really hard not to lose each other in the crowd. It’s definitely not the easiest place to be with kids. We eventually called it — it was nearly 11PM and went to the hotel to sleep!

In the morning, we headed to Ellen’s Stardust Diner where the servers are trying to make it big on Broadway so they sing WHILE serving you food. The kids were amazed. Then we walked to the American Girl store — got a bit lost — then to Lego. Lola got her favorite doll. It’s the one she wanted at Christmastime and I told her it was too expensive. And Javi got a large Statue of Liberty from Lego.

Then we tried our luck on the public bus. It was great! First, it was air conditioned. Second, super easy to maneuver. Third, you get to where you’re going AND get to see some sights along the way! We took the bus to the Camp Family Experience store where the entire place was Trolls and Bluey themed so there was something for everyone but especially Eva! Then we walked back to Harry Potter and the kids each chose something special from there, too.

We took the subway back to the hotel, got our bags and the car and headed home — exhausted — having walked over 30,000 steps in essentially 28 hours! It was such a fun trip and I can’t wait to do it again — in like 5 years when Walker is Eva’s age! I cannot imagine having a stroller in the city! (or a child who isn’t toilet-trained!)

Oh, and Eva says she’s moving to New York City when she’s big. So… we shall see!