Day 33: An amazing day in NYC...until we took the bus home

Day 32 and 33
Monday June 27th
Tuesday June 28th

On Monday we took a breather......at least for a couple of hours!  The A/C in the condo was not functioning well at all so we had to call the office for maintenance.  We asked that if it wasn't functioning by the end of the day, we would be allowed to move units.  Earlier in our trip, we came across someone who owned a week at the exact same condo resort and he told us the drive in to NYC would take us over 2 hours, as well as the drive back to the condo.  Well, there was NO WAY we were going to spend 4 hours each day driving back and forth.  The solution?  Find a hotel on the Jersey side and stay a couple days so we wouldn't have to make the drive everyday.  In hindsight, that guy didn't know what he was talking about!  We got into NYC in less than an hour...oh well, the plan had already been set in motion and we weren't going to change it.  I packed up a few days clothes for everyone (this really is not as easy as it sounds), packed up the ice chest with milk and food to cram into the itty bitty hotel fridge and we then clomped down the 700 stairs to the van and set out for NYC. 

Thanks to a family and friends Marriott discount coupon, we found a really nice hotel to stay in and even better?  The bus stop for pick up AND drop off was right outside the front of the hotel.  By the time we actually got into NYC, it was well after lunch time, but boy-oh-boy, were we all ready for a little subway transit!

The kids were in awe of how the subway system worked and they nearly gave me a heart attack every time they leaned sideways to 'get a better look' down the track.  Sheesh, the things that went through my head about kids falling onto the track, not fun!

Not only were we ready to experience getting around NYC style, the kids were chomping at the bit to shop in Chinatown.  My, my, my...they do take after their dad.  Bargaining?  Their middle name.

Even Eric managed to bring down the price on a hat by a couple dollars...of course it's about 2 times too big for his head and won't fit properly until high school, but he was grinning ear to ear walking out of the store.  We left Chinatown with hats, a new purse, matching I Love NYC tees (header photo), a couple pair of knock off Oakley sunglasses, some knock off Ray Bans, and a handful of other misc stuff.

Our Chinatown experience was unfortunately marred by a horrible accident we nearly witnessed first hand.  About a block away in the direction we were walking, a bicyclist had changed lanes abruptly, directly in front of a car-well, he got hit and thrown over the car, shattering the windshield and sunroof.  He was not wearing a helmet.  I followed the story throughout the week and sadly, the well known bar owner, husband, and father of 2 did not survive.  While very, very sad, it was an eye opener and reminder to the kids why they HAVE to wear a helmet while riding a bike.

While NYC can be humid and hot, the good part is that all the buildings offer a whole lot of shade, so long as we were on the right side of the street given the time of day-

-that would be Eric's 2X too big hat he's wearing, Luke is holding a mini converse key chain, a $2 bargain!

We hopped on and off the subway and while folding the strollers up each time for stairs and such was a pain, the subway itself was pretty darn convenient and we didn't wait long at all to catch a train in the right direction.  Next stop, St. Patrick's Cathedral.  I had hoped we would have been able to take a tour they offered, or attend a daily mas, but the timing never worked out quite right.  It is truly a beautiful, enormous church!

Now, on this particular day, Laurel was being EXTREMELY good and was not pestering/annoying us every 2 minutes to ask when we could go to the American girl store.  And that made it much easier to actually get her there!  A happy girl for sure...even though she doesn't play all that much with the one she currently has, I think it was just the thrill of going into this big huge store, dedicated entirely to all things GIRL!  Finally, the boys had to just sit back and go with it.

They were all actually pretty good and helped Laurel secure a few must have goods. Jacob even helped her pick out an outfit for Cassie.  However, there was a moment or two when she had enough of Luke trying to steal her thunder......it got a little physical! Not really, but I think she gave him a pretty good 'get out of my picture' shove.  Can you tell how much he was enjoying the torment?

Laurel did get a little carried away with the 'I want to get that' syndrome-I mean, how could any little girl NOT get that way in a 3 story store dedicated entirely to dolls, clothes, accessories and pets for said dolls?-, but this little display was her favorite by far...it had a husky dog in it and that, right now, is her all time favorite kind of dog.

At the end of the shopping spree, Laurel had secured flip flops, a beach towel, sunglasses, white capris, a cute red top, a newsboy cap and a hair care kit for Cassie, all for the wallet choking price of $60-$70.  They reel you in and then you're stuck!! However, I am very happy to have a little girl to share the experience with!!

What would a day in NYC be without a stop here?  Recognize the gold statue?

Yesiree, that's Rockefeller Center! One would never know by looking at this picture that there were people EVERYWHERE!!  Just to the right there was another couple taking pictures and just below the green in the background are lots and lots of tables set up for people to eat at during the summer..in the winter it is where the ice skating rink is.



We decided to make it a longer day, continuing the walking sightseeing tour of NYC...after all, there was SO much to see!  As the sun set, it peeked through the streets and gave us this view as we walked block after block 

NYC is filled with incredible architecture and building design-o perfect example-Grand Central Station.  That is a place you walk into and just say 'Wow, wow, wow'!  Beautiful ceiling art-a landscape of constellations

 And there's just no way for the camera to do the inside of the station justice-it's so large and, well, grand!!

We walked the kids down to the train station to show them how people would just full out run to make their train, only to miss it by thismuch.  Such a foreign way of living compared to what we know and experience at home.  We hope it will broaden our kids horizon's to understand how differently people live, all across the USA.  The older boys had fun trying to run the strollers up the ramp.....hmmmm, maybe they didn't learn that lesson back in Williamsburg?

At this point of the night, the kids were getting pretty tired.  Actually, they were tired and whiny as we were navigating our way to Grand Central Station.  We decided to make our way back to the NJ transit bus depot after a quick pick me up snack of McDonald's ice cream sundaes.  We thought our sightseeing was going to be the most memorable part of our 1st full day in NYC.  Boy, were we wrong!

 Because we had travelled in on an entirely different bus route than the one we were used to from our 2 day stay earlier in the month, Bill went right to a ticket agent to make sure we knew what bus to get on.  He made sure to tell them the hotel we were staying at and he was issued tickets for the right bus. Or so we thought.  We got in line, it was now about 9:30pm.  We were nearly on the bus when Bill double checked with the bus driver before handing him our tickets...well, well, whaddya know, we needed to be on a different bus!  So, the bus driver for the 'right' bus just happened to be standing next to the bus we were trying to board.  he was very nice when Bill told him the situation and WHERE we were staying...he said 'yes, yes, this is the right bus, I'll make sure you get there!'  We ran back around to get in line and the bus was scheduled to leave within 10 minutes.  Whew!  made it!

We piled on to the bus, got our seats and settled in for our 20 plus minute ride.  The bus driver announced the first stop and then the second stop and then........then things started to seem not right, not right at all.  Bill was trying to follow the route with the phone GPS but that was nearly impossible.  By now it was around 10:30pm and I nudged Bill....'this is not right, go ask the bus driver'.  Bless that bus driver, although he misunderstood WHICH Marriott were staying at, he took time to help us figure out what to do, including pulling the bus over to talk to Bill.....the other folks on the bus were probably ticked, but oh well!

So, we ended up in Hackensack, NJ.  Always thought it would be a fun place to see (and say..love saying that name), but NOT at 10:45 at night. We ended up having to get off the bus (first had to wake up 2 sleeping children who were NOT happy to be woken up), cross the street by a gas station and sit at a bus stop in the darkness at 11pm...in Hackensack.  I did have the wherewithal to ask before we got off the bus 'is this area safe?!'  Some nice woman said 'oh yes honey, it's a very safe area'.  OK, if you say so lady.  Oh, and there was some weed watering, thanks to some boys who 'had to go', so not surprising anymore!

Our options at that point?  Wait for the next bus-the schedule read the next arrival would be 11:30pm.

Call for a taxi?  Or 2, because we wouldn't all fit in one and then still have to wait forever.

Our one bit of good luck, the bus came very early, so we got on and headed back towards NYC.  We chose to get off at the wrong Marriott hotel stop and at least get somewhere we felt a bit safer.  The staff was very nice and we plunked down in their lobby to figure out what next.

The best solution we came up with-we called for a taxi and Bill, Luke, Laurel and I took it to the hotel we were actually booked in.  I know, I know, my mom nearly died when we told her we left the older 3 boys in the lobby of the Marriott, but we knew they were safe, the staff said they would watch them and we left them with a phone.  Our hotel was only 5 minutes away as the crow flies...it felt like an eternity with half our family sitting in a hotel lobby.  As soon as we arrived at the correct hotel, Bill hopped in our van and sped over to pick up the boys while I literally dropped L and L into beds in our room.  Never, in 12 years of parenthood, have I had our kids go to bed in their clothes and let them get way with no teeth brushing.  Until this trip.  We made up for that numerous times over...this night being probably the 4th or 5th of the trip so far!!

12:15 am.  We all got to bed by 12:15 am.  And boy, this night will never be forgotten, so maybe we owe that ticket agent a big thank you after all!!  Adventure in true NYC style!  The only other kicker?  Our Statue of Liberty tour was the next morning and we needed to leave the hotel by 7:45 am.  Yep, that's a kicker for sure.......