In case you missed it, you can you can see all of our NYC recap posts here: part one | part two | part three | part four
I promised I would wrap up our New York trip back in January and I almost made it. Ella and I both ended up sick and it’s been a rough few weeks. I swear, every time I think I have it all together, I’m reminded that I don’t.
The Statue of Liberty
Lady Liberty was first on our list for the last day of our trip. I had tried and tried to get tickets to the crown, but they sell out months in advance and since our trip was very last minute, I wasn’t able to get them. We did get to go inside the statue, which Josh and I had never done, and the girls didn’t seem to mind that we weren’t able to go all the way up.
The girls were so surprised by both how large and how small the statue is in person. We had been trying to prepare them, so they wouldn’t be disappointed, and we must have gone too far in the other direction! They were enthralled by how beautiful she was and despite the dipping temperatures, we took our time walking around the island.
It was the coldest day of our trip, by far. I think the windchill was somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 degrees and when we reached the top of the pedestal, we could barely stand up. I have some video of me and Ella trying to walk and talk at the same time and we are both laughing so hard, we had to sit down.
Again, Sophie was a little overwhelmed with the height and the wind made it that much worse. Eventually, she and Josh walked back inside while Ella and I took a few more photographs.
Despite the cold, Soph insisted we sit on the top deck of the ferry on our way from Liberty to Ellis Island. We were freezing, but she was such a good sport.
A note about that beanie I’m wearing: this is the $75 hat we accidentally bought the day before. This time, I lost my hat on the subway and the selection at the Statue gift shop were all super masculine and downright ugly. Josh took one for the team and sported an NYC hat all day and I commandeered his really nice one. True love, indeed.
Ellis Island
We debated whether or not to visit the museum at Ellis Island, but the girls both loved it, so I’m glad that we did. There were some wooden puzzles used to test intelligence that they would have played with for hours and were both super irritated that I solved it in about 15 seconds. We walked throughout the museum, listening to the self-guided tour, and talking about what immigration was like when it was built. One of my favorite parts of the exhibit are the scaled models of what Ellis Island looked like at various points in history — it was so fascinating!
9/11 Memorial & Museum
Josh and I visited the 9/11 Memorial many years ago, but the museum was still under construction. Again, we weren’t sure how the girls would do here, but it turned out to be a beautiful experience. After spending some time at the memorial, we headed into the museum where we watched a short film on the tragedy of 9/11. Ella has studied the events in her history classes, but Sophie’s only knowledge comes from conversations with us. The film was somber, but I felt like it laid the perfect foundation for our museum visit. She got tired and was ready for a cookie and some rest, so Josh took her to the cafeteria while Ella and I walked through the remainder of the museum. It is amazing to see how it has been built around the existing infrastructure of the twin towers and to see how it and the memorial all fit together.
Brooklyn Bridge
After dinner, we headed south towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Our plan had been to cross into Brooklyn to eat at Grimaldi’s, but our timing was a little off and the girls were starving long before we got there. We had a very late lunch at P.J. Clarke’s near the 9/11 Memorial and then took the subway to City Hall. We made it about halfway across the bridge, which was just far enough for sunset photographs and the experience of walking on the Brookly Bridge before everyone was ready for an early evening nap.
I don’t have any pictures from our last evening in the city, but we ventured out to Bryant Park after a few hours in bed. The girls wanted to see the ice rink and I was hoping to grab a few souvenirs at the Holiday Market before we headed home. We debated what to eat for dinner, but we were exhausted and all we really wanted was another Shake Shack cheeseburger. We ducked into Grand Central on our way back to the hotel and had dinner in their basement food court. It’s such an easy place to please everyone and Sophie was able to finally snag a slice of NYC pizza.
Our trip was such a special one and I don’t regret inviting the girls to tag along one single bit. They were thrilled by every site we saw and were both such troopers about the long days filled with walking and taking turns choosing places to eat. I was reminded that kids are still obnoxious, even on vacation, and our trip didn’t come without some discipline. I have to lower my expectations sometimes and remind myself that kids aren’t nearly as resilient when it comes to travel. We pushed through a few attitude adjustments and were able to make some of our favorite memories in our favorite city. Now, when do we get to go back?
