The girls' day in NYC

On Saturday morning Mom, Hannah, and I got up at 5 a.m. to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight down to NYC. Mom and Dad (and my sister and her husband too) have the tendency to prefer getting to the airport a good two hours before a flight. I like to time it so that once I get through security I can walk up to the gate just as it is boarding. For this trip we flew "Diane style" and since we just had one backpack and checked in the night before we just breezed through security and right to the gate as our flight was boarding.

The flight going down was a little bumpy but even though we departed Boston a little late we still got into NYC on time. We decided to fly down because JetBlue had a great fare and it was faster than the train and didn't involve me driving in Manhattan. I actually don't mind driving in Manhattan but it would have caused Mom to have a heart attack so flying was definitely the way to go.

Once we arrived at JFK Airport we took the AirTrain and then subway into the city. Just a little side note about the new JetBlue terminal at JFK: greatest gate area ever!!! This is an airport where I would actually start showing up early for my flights. There are little rows of computers everywhere and they're not what you'd think they are. They obviously have Internet access because a lot of people had their laptops set up in front of the computer screens but the computers themselves were for ordering food and drinks. You could sit at the table by your gate and using the touch screen you could order food (paninis, sandwiches, etc.) and drinks (including alcohol). The order is submitted electronically and then someone delivers your meal and beverages to you at your gate. Is that not ingenious? I love it. Too bad we were flying "Diane style" and never had time to try it out.

Back to our day in the city....

We took the subway into Manhattan and got off at Central Park.  Mom had never been to NYC before so she and Hannah both decided to participate in a photo scavenger hunt that I had put together for Hannah. I did this a previous time with Hannah and it was a lot of fun. She received a new camera for Christmas last year so I gave her (and Mom) a list of 10 things to find in NYC. They had to take a picture of each item and if they managed to get one of us in the picture as well they got bonus points. It was hilarious to watch each of them chasing after pigeons in Central Park in order to cross that off their lists. Talk about looking like country bumpkin tourists!

Hannah and her scavenger hunt list:

Mom and Hannah in the hansom cab:

After a hansom cab right through Central Park we headed over to FAO Schwartz and Hannah danced on the big floor piano that was made famous in the movie Big.

Mom wanted to do a little shopping but I moved them right along since I knew that anything we bought we'd have to carry with us all day long. 

Hannah dancing on the FAO Schwartz piano:

When we left FAO Schwartz we headed up 5th Avenue and stopped inside Trump Tower to use the restrooms. If you're ever in that area of NYC there are very nice public bathrooms on the lower level.

We kept walking up 5th Avenue until we arrived at Rockefeller Center and quickly took in the area and NBC studios. We kept walking towards Times Square and ate at John's Pizzeria for lunch. This is a great restaurant that my friend Chad introduced me to and it's a very popular place. It's a large restaurant and when we arrived, 15 minutes before it opened, there was already a line of people waiting for a table. By the time we had finished eating the entire restaurant was full.

Hannah in front of the flowers at  Rockefeller Center:

After lunch we headed into Times Square and Hannah wanted to show Grandma the Ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us. We took a ride on the Ferris Wheel and unfortunately got a birds eye view of every floor. That of course drew us in to do some serious shopping and we did a "build your own robot" activity. Hannah made a robot for herself and then we made one for Jake. This of course broke our "don't buy anything because whatever we buy we have to carry" rule and Mom spent the rest of the day having to carry around a large, awkward Toys R Us bag. I had the backpack all day which was way heavier than we had anticipated since we were afraid it would rain and we all had jackets packed into one bag along with everything else.

Mom and Hannah on the Ferris wheel inside the Times Square Toys R Us:

Hannah assembling her robot:

When we left Toys R Us we headed over to the M&M store in Times Square which is multiple floors of every single kind of M&M imaginable and the M&M logo branded on merchandise of every sort ranging from pajamas and underwear to sports equipment and drumsticks.  They also have a little machine that tells you what your M&M color is.  As you can see in the video, Hannah is "Cream" which means she has "a creative streak which can be useful in solving problems." That's about right for her.  Who knew M&Ms were so intuitive?  

After we left the M&M store we hopped in a taxi and went to the Empire State Building.  We bought a package which included something called the NY Skyline.  It's a 20 minute presentation where you're strapped into a seat and during the movie it bounces around and shakes you up so that you feel like you're on a helicopter tour of NYC.  After that we headed for the 86th Floor Observation Deck.  It had been cloudy all day long but most of the cloud cover was now above the buildings (it hadn't been that way earlier in the day) so we still got a nice view of NYC.  We could even see all the way down to the Statue of Liberty although  it was too cloudy to get a good picture of her.  It was still a spectacular view.

Mom and Hannah at the top of the Empire State Building:

Once we went around the entire observatory level we headed back down and hopped on the subway to head down to Ground Zero. After Ground Zero we hopped back on the subway and headed to the airport.

Ground Zero:

It was a LONG day with a lot of walking but Hannah was a trooper. She kept up with both adults and never once complained about all the walking that we were doing. We landed in Boston at about 8:30 p.m. and headed home. Luckily the rain in NYC had held off all day but unfortunately we ended up driving home from Logan Airport in a torrential downpour. Jake had taken a nap with Grandpa earlier in the day so he was allowed to stay up until we got home. We presented him with the robot we had made for him so he was really excited. Hannah had zonked out in the car on the way home so Lincoln carried her upstairs and put her to bed.

And so ended our day in NYC.