Sunday, March 15: Statue of Liberty and St. Patrick's Day meal with family
Jack is a big fan of the Statue of Liberty, or the Statue of Olivia as he used to say. He can spot a picture of her anywhere! So, needless to say, we were all pretty excited about going to see the real thing. As we walked into Battery Park, we spotted the street performers dressed up like the Statue. We're still not sure that Jack understood that the man painted green was not the "real" Statue of Liberty. We opted to take the Staten Island Ferry for a ride to get a view of the real statue rather than waiting in line and paying admission to ride out to Liberty Island. We just weren't sure that the wait and price would be worth it to a 2 1/2 year old. In hindsight, the view from the Staten Island Ferry just didn't quite have the same impact as looking at the statue up close. (And, at that point, he was getting hungry and was more interested in having a snack than looking at a statue across the water.)
Jack did not even hesitate to go up to the street performer, let him drape a flag around him, and put a crown on his head. Keep in mind, this is the same child who is still terrified of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Bully, and any other large character he's ever met. 
After visiting Battery Park and riding the ferry to see the statue, we walked north, past Wall Street, and on to Chinatown. I was determined to have lunch at a place called, Excellent Dumpling, where I had eaten on a previous trip to NYC. It was as good as I remembered! After lunch, I made a couple of purchases in Chinatown for some friends at home. Later Sunday evening Tom's dad and his brother, Kevin, and his family came to Pat and Nino's to visit. A couple of other friends of the Marinos also came and we enjoyed a traditional St. Patty's Day dinner. It was great to see them, but we were sorry that Mrs. Nolan was not feeling well enough to come.
Kevin, Christine, Kevin, Mr. Nolan, Susan, Grandmommy, Jack, Brent
Christine, Kevin & Jack
Monday, March 16: Central Park Zoo and FAO Schwartz
Monday we decided to take a city bus the few blocks from Pat and Nino's to City Park and go to the Central Park Zoo. Jack was excited about his first bus ride and enjoyed looking out the window at the city sites. (I'll go ahead and mention now that I didn't get pictures of everything I should have. I don't have a single picture of the subway or a taxicab. Although we didn't ride in a taxi during this trip, Jack enjoyed shouting, "Look, a TAXI!" everytime he saw one...which was pretty much constantly. I don't think there was any hiding that we were from out of town.)
The Central Park Zoo was the perfect size for our busy visit. It wasn't overwhelming, but it had some animals that the Zoo of Acadiana (the only other zoo Jack's visited) doesn't have, like penguins, polar bears, and sea lions. The sea lions put on quite a show, and against the backdrop of the city, it was beautiful!!
After the zoo, we walked two blocks and had lunch at a burger joint across the street from FAO Schwartz. When we got to FAO Schwartz, I was prepared to set limits on what both Jack and Brent would be allowed to buy. As it turns out, Jack didn't ask for a single thing. He enjoyed looking at and playing with the toys, but he never asked to buy anything. (Perhaps he thought it was a toy museum and not a toy store??)
In one area of the toy store, they had storytime for preschoolers. Jack plopped right down just like he does at storytime at our library at home. I think he would have been happy to sit and listen to stories for the rest of the afternoon. I felt a little guilty telling him it was time to keep moving after only a few books.
After we finished looking around FAO Schwartz, we headed back to Central Park to go to the petting zoo which is part of the Central Park Zoo but has a separate entrance.
After we were finished petting all of the animals (and kissing the statues), we walked further into Central Park to ride the Merry Go Round. We discovered that Jack really just likes statues, of anything. He wanted to stop and look at and touch any and every statue that we encountered. We knew we all wanted to ride, but we debated about whether Jack should ride on his own horse or sit with someone else. We decide that it might be better to let him sit with Brent. That was definitely a good call. It went pretty fast, and he was terrified and enjoyed himself simultaneously, but as he shreaked, "SLOW DOWN" over and over again, I was glad Brent was riding with him; he might have had a meltdown if he had been riding alone.
Despite being totally exhausted at this point, we decided to squeeze in one more stop before heading back to the apartment for dinner. We went to Dylan's Candy Bar. (Dylan Lauren, the owner, is the daughter of Ralph Lauren, and the candy "bar" is a fully-loaded candy store; a friend of mine compared it to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.) Unlike the restraint that he showed at FAO Schwartz, he wanted one of everything in this store. Every bit of decor in the store was candy-covered, and when Brent took him to the restroom, he requested that his bedroom be decorated the same way. Although neither Brent nor Jack got everything they wanted at the candy shop, we each got some ice cream and a bag of goodies to take home.
After the ice cream and candy, it was time to head back to the apartment for dinner and some much needed rest. Brent had a ticket to go see Les Paul later that night, but the rest of us opted to head to bed as he headed out around 8:00. He really enjoyed the show and even got to meet the 94 year old guitar legend.
Tuesday, March 17: St. Patty's Day
Tuesday morning there was a parade through the city to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but we opted to skip it. (They don't throw stuff....what kind of parade is that?? In comparison to Mardi Gras in NOLA which we had just done a few weeks earlier, we were afraid the NYC St. Patty's parade might not be very impressive.) Pat drove us to pick up Mr. Nolan, and we drove out to the cemetary where Tom is buried. It is a beautiful cemetary, but again, I did not take any pictures. We ate lunch at a cafe in Yonkers where Mr. and Mrs. Nolan live, and we got a real "taste" of NYC. There was a life-long resident of Yonkers at the table next to us, and when she struck up a conversation with Mr. Nolan about the priest at their church, we thought we were watching a movie...every stereotype you can think of just came to life! 
After lunch, we drove back into the city, and Jack (and Brent) took his first, and much needed, nap in 3 days. Unfortunately, it only lasted about 20 minutes; he probably needed more like 3 hours. Next we went to the Manhattan Children's Museum. There were several floors with different activities that Jack enjoyed. Brent and I stayed and played with Jack,
Jack enjoyed getting all of us involved in the museum activities.
One room had a Dora and Diego theme; Jack enjoyed playing "animal rescuer."
Listening to animal sounds.
In addition to being a great family vacation, this trip was also Brent's and my 10th anniversary vacation. (Our anniversary is not until August 7, but because the baby is due August 12, we thought we might want to go ahead and celebrate a little early!) So, Brent and I left Grandmommy, Jack, and Aunt Pat at the Children's Museum and spent the evening walking around Chinatown, Soho, and Tribeca. We had dinner at the Tribeca Grill. It was a nice evening, but we realized we might be ready for the senior citizen discounts...we were the first dinner reservation at the restaurant and were leaving just as the "in" crowd was arriving.
Wednesday, March 18: Times Square
On Wednesday, we were on our own. Pat had to go back to work, and we were starting to run out of energy. We thought a good place to find some NYC energy was Times Square! We took the bus down and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We went to the Hersey and M&M stores where we all had to use restraint not to buy out the stores. But, when we went to the Toys R Us store, just like at FAO Schwartz, Jack didn't seem interested in buying anything. Go figure!? Our last stop was at the Disney Store on 5th Avenue.
Our only celebrity encounter: The Naked Cowboy
On the ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us store at Times Square.
Yes, I realize this picture is sideways; I do not know why, and I don't know how to rotate it.
Thursday, March 18: Heading Home
Our flight home left La Guardia at 6:00 a.m., so we headed out before the sun was up. We had a great trip, and I think NYC made quite an impression on Jack. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take pictures while we were at Pat and Nino's apartment; we spent a lot of time there, and I think Jack really enjoyed getting to spend time with them and with Celine (their daughter) and Bronx (their dog!) I wish I had more pictures of the family visiting time we were lucky enough to have while we were there.
