Obligatory Vacation Post 2

One of our NJ days we headed to NYC. 

Quotes from Mimi about NYC:

Mimi explaining the "walk" signal to Yoda:"If you see the human blow up, that's when it's time to walk"
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Mimi:"The buildings are so big"

Me:"Try not to make it obvious that we are from out west."

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Mimi"What's 'NY'?  It's everywhere!"
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Mimi, while waiting for the bathroom in Penn Station in a very long line:"New York has a lot of people"
Other people in line *snicker*

 Cause sometimes 7 lanes just aren't enough--sheesh.

 We drove to a train station to take a train into the city. 

Yoda has been asking to ride a train for months.  Just a few minutes on this train and he was done.  

On the subway, we were in the back of the train.  Yoda wanted to see the caboose--subways don't have cabooses, this was tough for him to understand, but then we showed him that there was no more train behind us and that we were IN the caboose.  He was pleased...

 Hot dogs in Central Park

 Central Park Zoo

The day was crazy--hot, made hotter by visiting the tropical house. 

 Such a pretty and tiny zoo. 

 Watching the seals. 

 Polar bear making an appearance.

 Mimi LOVED the owl. 

Next we went to the Met, and I got to see my BFF Rebekah!
Rebekah:"I want to see me on your blog!"

The Parker and Mimi loved the museum, I didn't think they would.  Egypt, the armor, the musical instruments.  I was pleasantly surprised.  

After the Met, we walked outside to see a group of street performers.  I didn't get a picture of the show--I figured that it would be on youtube, and I was right (I'll post a link later if you're curious).  But I did want a shot of the kiddos and Rebekah watching them.  A couple hundred tourists were captivated.  

 We did a kids' walking tour of NYC with lots of playgrounds, statues to climb on, the Met and the zoo. 

 Here's a difference I've noticed about NY/NJ vs. Ohio:

In Ohio there will be other parents waiting in line to get a photo of their own child climbing on the statue.

In NY/NJ a guy will yell out "Take care of your child!"

Truth.

 There were less yelling strangers at this sculpture, and yet it may have been taller...hmmm...

Alice in Wonderland

 Hans Christian Andersen

 Giant Slide that I rode on almost 20 years ago with the kiddos that I babysat for. 

 A better shot of how pretty the zoo really is. 

 Waiting for the train track announcement.  How many times have I done this?  Seems like a ton, and so long ago. All the commuters wait in this area and stare at the big board to see which track their train will be on.  It used to be so much more dramatic with flipping letters and numbers.  Now it's just a silent, digital board.



Here's a video of the old one, at the end it actually says "Maplewood"! 

 The ride home Parker and Greg fell asleep and Yoda stayed occupied with his cars--it was too dark to see outside by this time of night. 

 On the drive home we saw some pre-4th fireworks.  It made the drive back to the beach house very nice.

Don't despair, there's more...