NYC part two

...and here is the rest of the week in NYC.

WEDNESDAY:

Just in case my children weren't tired of museums yet, I decided to take them to the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was definitely nervous, but I explained to Miriam and Simon how fragile everything was in the museum (we only had one mishap where Simon got reprimanded for climbing on a statue). We first stopped at the library in the museum. The kids loved reading books while I sat and fed Levi. Then I took Miriam and Simon on two treasure hunts that I found on the MET website. The first one was in the Ancient Greek section and the other was in the Egypt section. They did really well and had fun finding the artifacts. Miriam wanted to see some paintings before we left, so we went through the European Paintings collection with Miriam guiding me with her map. I had a lot of people tell me I was so amazing a brave to bring my three kids to the museum. The best part was a group of Asian women that took a bunch of pictures of Levi. It was an adventure for sure, but I am happy that Miriam and Simon enjoyed it.

After we left the MET we walked across central park to the west end, the place I really wanted to visit. We stopped at Levain Bakery and Zabar's before making our way to see the Manhattan Temple. After we grabbed some dinner I knew a storm was rolling in so we made our way back to the hotel for the night.

^^the only picture I took at the MET for fear of someone breaking/ruining something^^

THURSDAY:

Wednesday night and Thursday morning it rained pretty hard. We spent the morning in the hotel waiting for the storm to pass. We headed out just in time to get pizza and head to the park. Then we walked over to Washington Square Park before walking down to Chinatown and Soho. I wanted to buy a bag while we were there. I ended up finding a purse and a wallet. The kids also got I heart NY shirts. Walking through Soho and Chinatown with three kids and a big stroller isn't for the faint of heart. It was crazy. I walked a lot! Luckily at some point we found a park and I was able to sit and feed Levi while the kids played... tender mercies.

After the crazy afternoon that I put us through we were in need of a treat. We went to The Corner Bistro for dinner where I ate the most delicious burger. I let the kids play at the park before we went to Magnolia Bakery and got 2 cupcakes, a slice of cheesecake, and a large banana pudding. Oh my goodness, I am still thinking about that banana pudding. So, so good!

FRIDAY:

By the time Friday rolled around I was pretty tired. We had to check out of our hotel that morning (but asked them to keep our stuff until we came back to pick up the van). I had planned to take the kids to the Top of the Rock, but the wait was just more than I could handle. Instead we walked around Rockefeller Center (and found another Magnolia Bakery - bought more banana pudding). I was really hoping Michael would be done working in time to meet us for lunch. We met him at Chelsea Market where we had the most delicious tacos. After that we were off to the Statue of Liberty. We were pleasantly surprised to find no wait for the boat. The kids loved riding the ferry out to Liberty Island. Miriam bought a necklace and notebook at the gift shop. Simon also bought a notebook. They use their own money when buying souvenirs on vacation. It is fun teaching them about money and how you really have to think about what you want to buy.

After we took the ferry back to Manhattan we headed back to the hotel to pick up our van. We loaded up an headed out to our next stop, Philadelphia...