We started the second day with a subway ride down to the Staten Island Ferry.

The ferry is free and takes you to and from Staten Island with a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty. You have to disembark at Staten Island, but we just turned around and got back on the same boat and went back to the city. I was having serious “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” flashbacks. It was fun to see the city from a different point of view.

From the ferry, we made our way to Wall Street to see the New York Stock Exchange – a meaningful stop for our kids, who have been interested in the stock market since they were young. To commemorate the moment, Steve, Hunter and Bennett sat outside the exchange and each purchased a stock. They turned a sightseeing stop into a memory they could literally invest in. Steve and I remember coming years ago on a school trip shortly after we were married and we actually got to go inside the NYSE – sadly, our kids didn’t have that opportunity so admired from afar.

We spent the afternoon at the World Trade Center Memorial. We had been advised to carve out several hours for this experience and I thought that may be a little overkill – especially for Briggs – but we went in with plenty of time. Our kids are familiar with September 11. Every year, we visit the Healing Garden in Tempe. They’ve heard the stories. They’ve watched the videos/movies so they were ready for the immersive experience.

I didn’t know much about the memorial itself but after walking several floors and seeing interesting artifacts, I thought they had done a good job of preserving the site as well as offering interesting facts and stories. It wasn’t until we entered the historical exhibition, on the very lowest level, that my understanding and appreciation for all those involved really took shape. This area was the heart of the museum.

The area was set up chronologically and walked you through the events of the day and the aftermath. They used photos, videos and audio to tell a tragic story with beautiful personal interest.

One room in particular shared the audio recording of the cockpit of flight United 93 – that crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania. It was hard to listen to. Especially as it was paired with a visual of messages from passengers to loved ones at the same time. So much heartache.

It was all curated so well. We were there for several hours and honestly, I could have stayed longer. I wanted to read every plaque and look at every picture and artifact but there was just so much to take in.

That evening was game 4 of the NBA finals, Knicks vs Spurs. We had tried all day to secure tickets to the watch party in Central Park but we came up short. We started watching the game at dinner and even though the Knicks were getting blown out, we thought it would fun to head to Central Park anyway just to see the energy and excitement. It didn’t take much time in the park to realize it was a little rougher crowd than we were expecting. Even though there was a heavy police presence – it still felt a little sketchy. We decided to make our way back to our hotel to finish watching the game. As we made the 20-minute walk back to our hotel in Times Square, the Knicks started to make an unexpected comeback. Our quick walk turned into a jog as we were racing against the game clock to make it back in time to finish the game. By the time we hit the heart of Times Square, time was short and it was a 2 point game.

We decided to hold tight in hopes of watching a huge celebration if they pulled off a win. As excitement grew, so did the rowdiness of the crowd. At one point, with very little time on the clock, crowds were blocking traffic and standing on cars and at the sound of a gunshot, we all took off running for cover. (Luckily, we learned it was a police issued flash-bang to break up the crowd – but it left us thinking Central Park wasn’t feeling so sketchy!) Unfortunately, it was an area we had to pass through to get to our hotel. So we hunkered down in a corner and continued watching the game.

It was a night we will never forget! I don’t think the kids will ever forget being in Times Square when the Knicks made the comeback of the year after being down 29 points to win the game. It was crazy! And we didn’t stick around to see the celebration. We stopped by a Krispy Kreme on our way back to hotel and as we walked up they locked the doors and a guy stood at the entrance – but it wasn’t closing hours. We asked if we could buy doughnuts and he unlocked the doors and let us in. They were locking out of precaution.

We were happy when we were reunited with our hotel rooms. And then we continued to hear sirens all night long and the streets were trashed the next morning.

I’m just glad we weren’t there when they won it all after game 5, we saw so many videos of vandalism. Nothing says celebration like burning a school bus!

Day 2 was jam-packed – totally different activities than our first day but equally as enjoyable.

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When we planned our trip to Hallie’s mission – we knew we wanted to hit New York City. It wasn’t in her mission, but we were too close to not make it happen. But we had already packed our schedule and the trip was already long as it was…so we gave ourselves 2.5 days in New York City and made the most of it.

We started our New York City adventure in Central Park, renting bikes at the southern end of the park and biking the loop around the entire park. It was a great way to see so much of the park in a short amount of time, and we made several stops along the way to take in the scenery and appreciate just how beautiful this little pocket is in the middle of such a massive city. It was a relatively easy ride but there were still enough hills to make it a decent workout.

We started in Central Park. We rented bikes on the south end and rode around the entire park. We stopped in a few spots to take in the beauty, including the iconic “Sheep Meadow” that was familiar to the kids from photos, tv shows, and movies. It was a beautiful and warm summer day and it seemed as though everyone was out enjoying the grass. An interesting observation made by one of the kids that none of us could unsee was most of the people in the park seemed to be alone. Whether they were running, reading, sunbathing, or just sitting in the grass, most people were enjoying the park on their own (aside from the school groups or the area by the playgrounds). This was a stark contrast to our large family, who looked more like a school group than a family.

We were impressed with the wide variety of landscapes and visual interest of the park. There was so much to see and I’m sure we could have spent so much more time but our three-hour bike rental kept us on schedule.

I was caught in my element!

From Central Park, we made our way to 5th Avenue – one of the most iconic streets in the city. We had a couple spots we knew we wanted to see on this street, but for the most part, we just walked and when one of the kids said they wanted to go inside, we happily obliged.

We learned the Louis Vuitton luggage on 5th Ave is just a temporary structure covering a building site where the flagship store is remodeled. The marketing behind this was genius – but how do you ever tear that down when the store is ready?!

I saw a sign for Liberty Bagels which was on our recommended food list which was a welcomed stop and we give it two thumbs up. The rainbow bagel with birthday cake cream cheese was tasty.

It doesn’t matter where we go – if there is an Apple store, the kids are going to check it out. And this underground store is a work of art. More impressed with the architecture of this building than the computers themselves.

Trump Tower was a fun stop – a flashback to watching the Apprentice when we were first married. When we climbed enough elevators in this building, we found a cool landing overlooking the city.

The Microsoft store was a hit and the boys took turns racing on the simulator.

The Nike store was completely decked out for the World Cup and it was a work of art.

Our kids didn’t know what FAO Schwartz was, but they do now. (We need to circle back and show them BIG, with Tom Hanks). Our kids have outgrown most of the trendy toys they sell (but for anyone liking jellycats, they had a great selection), but FAO is clearly doing something right because the store was packed. Oddly enough, the famous piano upstairs was untouched.

We introduced them to Rockefeller Plaza and they recognized the NBC news area from when they were just little kids and I used to watch the Today show in the mornings.

We took a short rest in the hotel before heading back out for dinner to a highly recommended spot, Los Tacos No. 1. It is highly recommended for a reason – they tacos were delicious but there was a decent wait time. The ordering is quick and loud and they weren’t overly helpful and I’m sure they were just rolling their eyes at our newbie ordering. 🙂

We hit Times Square that evening and it was just as flashy as the kids had imagined. I remember years ago seeing Times Square for the first time being mezmerized by all the flashing lights – it is an experience! Not to mention all the crowds of people. We sat in the red steps and just took it all in. We even played “I spy” which is next level hard!

I watched so many photographers working hard that night, trying to make some money. After watching for a bit, I told Steve I wanted one of them to take our family picture – we had plenty of family selfies on our trip but it would be nice to have one not featuring our long arms. I had decided if it was $10 or less, it would totally be worth it. As luck would have it, we weren’t dressed up but we’re all in the photo…

And we closed the night by being lured into the Hershey’s store with promises of free chocolate. Not only did they deliver by handing each of us a candy bar – their prices were the same as what we pay at home so we stocked up on some treats (unlike the M&M store we visited where candy was $20/lb.)

After miles of biking and walking, we made it back to the hotel late after day 1 and crashed! It was definitely a little harder to get out of bed the next morning!

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A few more pics from our first day of school last week…

Including bus stop photos!

We’re excited for another school year!

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