New York City!!!!

We were finally able to go see New York City this past week! Dave had a week off from school for spring break, so his mom came up to visit. We decided it would be fun to go to NYC for a few days. It was a little chilly, but we had no rain or snow, so we were happy. We drove there on a Saturday morning, and after getting lost a little in a bad part of New Jersey (Yikes!!!), and drove all the way into Brooklyn by accident (and hour and a half detour!), we finally arrived in Manhattan. We traveled through two underwater tunnels, the Holland tunnel which went under the Hudson River, and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel which went under the East River (this one was done on accident!). We finally made it to Manhattan and to our hotel though. We were able to park for a minute in front of our hotel to unload our stuff and check in and were bringing our stuff up to the room, when the front desk called and told us a employee parking spot was opening up right in front of the hotel that we could go park in! So we parked right in front of our hotel the entire time we were there and didn't have to pay for any parking! We couldn't believe it! Normally we would have had to park in a parking garage around the block from our hotel and pay close to $50 a day on parking. We were glad not to have to do that! After we freshened up, we hit the streets to check out New York!

Here is a picture of the skyline of Midtown Manhattan when we were walking through Central Park. We were on our way to go see Rockefeller Center and Times Square.

Here is Grandma Vinnie with Dylan and Madeline on "Top of the Rock". From here you can see the entire Manhattan skyline on top of Rockefeller Center. Behind them you can see the Empire State building.

Here we are at the Ice Skating Rink in Rockefeller Center.

Times Square. It was so much fun to see it at night! We then decided to try out the Subway for the first time to get back to our hotel. I was a little nervous about what it would be like. It turned out to be so easy to figure out and use. What a time saver! The kids LOVED riding it!

The next morning we rode the subway down to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty. It was really windy and cold down by the ocean. We rode the ferry out of the Statue of Liberty, took some pictures, ate lunch and then headed back to NYC again.

As the ferry pulled up to dock, we saw Spiderman! Scott was so excited! We had to go get their pictures taken with him. This was the highlight of Scott's entire trip!

We then rode the subway up to the toy store FAO Schwarz. The kids were so excited to go to the "big toy store"! They had this big piano there that all the kids could run around on and make music. Here is Madeline groovin' to the music!

For dinner that night we stopped and had a hot dog from one of the venders. We figured our NYC experience wouldn't be complete without it!

Here is little Dylan at the Hotel. The kids were all so great the entire time we were here. They did alot of walking and sightseeing and hardly complained. What troopers!

Our last day, we went to the American Museum of Natural History. We loved it!

The kids loved seeing all the dinosaurs!

Madeline is giving Dylan some hugs and kisses. Both Scott and Madeline love to play with Dylan, and he absolutely adores them.

Madeline sticking our her tongue like the lizard.
Anyone see the movie Night at the Museum? Remember this guy?

Scott showing off his muscles while taking a break in Central Park.

We had so much fun! My other highlight of the trip happened on our way home...We got to go to COSTCO!!!! The closest one to us is like three and a half hours away, so when I knew we would be passing one on our trip, we had to stop and stock up on the way home. We even brought our boot to put on top of the car to put our Costco stuff in. I wish we lived closer to one! I love Costco!

Well, NYC is definately a place you need to experience in person. We can't wait to go back again sometime, maybe when it is a little warmer. We loved having Grandma Vinnie here to spend the week with us. We miss her and can't wait for her to come visit again. The invitation is always open! Thanks for a fun week!