Before we had kids, Mr. A and I talked about celebrating our ten-year anniversary by returning to our wedding site with them (the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park).
August 2020 was our ten-year anniversary, so we had planned to finally make the trip and bring the boys to the Big Apple!
Whoops, a pandemic.
We finally made the trip in October 2022. It was a big success!
First of all–I was very worried about/anticipating a lot of whining about walking. And there was almost none! I was so surprised and impressed. The boys were ten, so I think they had a good amount of stamina, and we did enough things but also weren’t usually walking for super long periods of time.
TL;DR HIGHLIGHTS: The Yard on Governor’s Island, Summit at One Vanderbilt, the Natural History Museum
Day 1:
We arrived at JFK and as usual, it took one million years to go from the plane to our hotel. (Ok, in reality it was close to two hours!) Our kids have been on the public transit in our city, but never on a subway. I gave them a little lesson in how to hold and swipe a MetroCard and they did it perfectly all week.
We stayed in Long Island City at the Best Western Plus. It was very close to the F train and had a great view of the city. The breakfast area is small but it was a decent spread. (I am adamant about only staying at hotels with free breakfast when traveling with kids.)
Our first outing was to Union Square to just go somewhere and see something. (Union Square was always one of my favorite places to go/be when I lived there.) We hit up the Strand. The boys were underwhelmed though! I guess Powell’s has them accustomed to large used bookstores. We also had dessert at Max Brenner.
Day 2:
We started off with a classic: Battery Park area. I took E and M on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, and then we all explored Castle Clinton, the hidden labyrinth, and they rode the Sea Glass Carousel.
We got some pizza for lunch and then spent the afternoon on Governor’s Island. We hadn’t been there before, but it was a hit! They have this massive kids space – where parents literally are not allowed – called The Yard. YES PLEASE. When we had to leave, the boys said they wanted to go there for the rest of the week. While they played, I walked around and explored a bunch of the houses that now host various arts organizations and exhibits, as well as the National Park Site there, Castle Williams. We also checked out the other playground areas on the island. The slides were great!
When we eventually lined up for the ferry back to Manhattan, the boys finally got cranky because they were tired, cold, and hungry. (I didn’t blame them.) We went uptown for dinner at one of our favorite spots, The Skylight Diner (happens to be across the street from B&H). I left the family there and went on my own to see Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in the Music Man. Holy cow, it was incredible!
Day 3:
We started at Central Park and went to one of the playground areas. E and M had a great time running all over and exploring. Lots of giant rocks for clambering!
We spent several hours at the New-York Historical Society (we had never been there before). The lower floor is a children’s area with some fun hands-on activities and exhibits. Mr A and I took turns exploring on our own too.
In the late afternoon, we headed to Brooklyn. We walked down to Brooklyn Bridge Park to ogle the view (the kids did not really care; they were too hyped up), and then walked over to Atlantic to Luzzo’s, our favorite pizza restaurant in NYC. (That’s the Brooklyn outpost; the original is in the East Village.) We were gratified that the boys loved the pizza too!
Day 4:
The Met! This was something I’d been looking forward to for years. I read them From The Mixed-Up Files aloud earlier in the year, and I made sure to be ready to ‘find’/talk about places from the book. They enjoyed that. We got to see tons of ancient Egyptian stuff, which I hope they enjoyed since they love the mythology.
After a playground break, we went to a skyscraper. I’d been trying to decide between 1WTC, Top of the Rock, and ESB, so I asked on Facebook. A couple friends recommended doing a relatively-new one instead, the Summit at One Vanderbilt. And boy, was I glad because I’d never heard of it and it was awesome! Much more interesting and interactive than the other skyscrapers. (Where you get to the top, and you look out for a minute and you’re like….cool, okay now what.) The main room itself is all windows and glass and mirrors, so it’s literally dazzling. (They give you sunglasses!) And there were several other rooms and experiences/things to do.
Oh, and we showed them the whispering corner! (I didn’t tell them what it was–I told them to stand in one corner then walked to the other one and said something.)
Our last visit for the evening was Times Square. M and E were nonplussed (surprised and confused so much that they are unsure how to react). They were, however, excited when I led them over to Hershey World!
Day 5/Last Day:
We spent almost 4 hours at the Natural History Museum! They loved exploring with the map and I think we hit up every area.
Our very last family stop was the most important: as I mentioned at the beginning, we finally got to take our children to the Shakespeare Garden patio where we got married! I set up a family self-portrait, of course. It was very short, and the light was terrible, but still a significant moment to have captured.
Mr A had to leave after lunch to go on a work trip. I took the boys to the 42nd St Library but we weren’t able to see much. The three of us trekked out to the airport, and it was smooth and easy and the kids were excellent travelers!
Overall, it was a fantastic trip! I think we saw a lot of great sites and museums but didn’t feel rushed. Obviously there’s tons that we didn’t get to do (like the Hall of Science and the Panorama out in Queens, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Museum of Math, either of the zoos), and the whole family didn’t go to a Broadway show, but hey, that just means there’s plenty to do on a future trip!
We Have Twins?! 
Leave a comment