The One With Our Ride Home from NYC

 

 

Today was our last day in NYC. What a way to cap off April vacation! It was quite a trip. We did have breakfast one last time at Revel and Rye. We tried the breakfast buffet, which was good.

 

We did grab a Junior's cheesecake before we left.

 They were very efficient getting the luggage down and the car out as well. They were also very kind. 

 

Some lingering thoughts...

 

Funniest moment - Bri accidentally pressing the emergency button on the elevator and them calling to make sure everything was okay.

 

Weirdest moment - Kiff seeing the "Naked Cowboy" who he has seen on Tik Tok. He is not naked, by the way.

 

Creepiest moment - The Minnie Mouse who tried to get a picture with Kiff....until Emmie rescued him.

 

Moment that made Emmie rage - When a fake monk approached and insisted that we pay for bracelets he made.

 

Weakest moment - When we went to GMA, only to realize they had already left.

 

Brushes with Greatness  - We saw two actors from FBI filming Zeeko Zaki and Taylor Miller. Emmie swears she saw Hugh Jackman. Kiff believes he saw Jayden Smith. I saw King Kong.

 

 

The One With Saturday in New York City

 Today was our last full day in New York City. And, like the others, it was action packed. We had several things on our itinerary.

1. Visit to Central Park - We took the Big Bus to Central Park, which was part of the UPTOWN LOOP. We took a ride by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was in Night at the Museum, but more importantly the book The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It was even more impressive to look at in person.

 2. We got off at the zoo, which was not originally on our plan. We needed a bathroom break, as well as a place to get a drink. It was a nice spot....with a huge grizzly.

 3. After that, we went a little further to the southside of the park, where Emmie arranged a horse drawn carriage ride. It was a blast. We saw scenes in the park that were in Home Alone 2 (the bird lady scene), Elf (the snowball fight bridge) Tangled(the pool of water where they dance), Ghostbusters (the church attacked by the marshmallow man), and Maid in Manhattan (the spot outside

the apartment). The ride was cool and the rider, who looked like Jonathan Knight, and Bella, the horse, was awesome!

 4. We were exhausted by the time we got back. We did go to the Disney Store and then went to Juniors for a later lunch, early supper.

5.  Following that, we spent the night at Sweeney Todd. Although I wasn't originally keen on going, I remember my Dad saying that it was better than he thought it would be. I could see why. It had a creative story with true clever twists - very Stephen Sondheim - with the same type of songs found from Into the Woods....strong, multiple parts, and endearing. It was a great show. And, what made it a little more special is that we are on the waning weeks of it being on Broadway. It ends its run on May 5.

All and all, a great day 4.

 

 

The One With Friday in New York City

 

 

This Friday, we had an eventful day in New York City. This

was our third day in the city, and one that was designed to be busy.

We got up early in the morning and had breakfast in the hotel at a place called Revel and Rye. It had a pretty good breakfast - and a solid oatmeal.

We then went on the Big Bus, which provided a tour of the city, as well as trips to two of the stops that we wanted to go on. The first stop was the Empire State Building. This was an amazing stop. Now, it took a little while to figure out how to get in, but once we did, it was a quick move through the building. We took a few pictures on the first two floors and then went into the overview of the construction of the Empire State Building, which was a lot of fun. We proceeded to take the elevator to the 80th floor, where there was an indoor observation deck. This was a pretty solid view of the city. However, a better one was six floors up (we took the stairs to get their, which did slow Emmie down a little bit with her asthma). However, the views were amazing, particularly from the outside observation deck. You could see the Brooklyn Bridge and even the Statue of Liberty. When it was time to go, we exited from the spot where Will Farrell enters in Elf.

 

We boarded the bus and our plan was to go to the Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty a little closer. However, the plan was a little bit spoiled because we had to detour through the city. The Trump hush money jury selection trial was going on nearby and an incident outside the courthouse had the whole section detoured. So, we adjusted and went to the 9/11 Memorial, which was inspiring!!! We did see the Brooklyn Bridge and got a brief glimpse of the Statue on the way there.

 

We came home and got a quick bite to eat from room service and then headed to The Outsiders. It was amazing (Emmie declared it the best musical she has seen). It has only been on Broadway for 8 days by the time we saw it, and the audience was definitely juiced! They loved it and had a HUGE standing ovation at the end, which was amazing. It was a great musical and an awesome adaptation of the S.E. Hinton  novel. I am so glad we saw it.

 

We ended the night by going to Carmines. It was a restaurant recommended to Emmie by a friend at work. It has amazing portions and was fantastic!!! What day in NYC

The One With Thursday in New York City

 

 

Our first full day in New York City was a lot of fun. It involved a few fun things that we did.

First, we went to Madam Toussad's Wax Museum, which was a short trip up the street. On our way, we found the fun aspect of life visiting Times Square - there are a lot of hustlers out there trying to make some money. However, the Wax museum itself was a lot of fun. It was several stories tall, with rooms set up in a variety of fashions - dance party, model runaway, horror films. And, there were many amazing wax figurines to see, including Scarlet Johanson, Bruce Willis, Steven Spielberg, Charlie Chaplin, Lady Gaga, and others. We actually we able to see a ton of them and got pictures with several....including notable politicians. The way they set it up to be interactive was a lot of fun. They also had figurines of the Marvel superheroes. And, they also had a creative 4D animated Marvel Superhero ride.

When we left, we made our way back to Times Square. As we were getting there, we noticed that one section was blocked off for filming. We scouted it out and found that the TV show FBI was being filmed there. We saw at least one really tall actor on the set. The hired hands were trying to keep tourists from crossing over into the filming - though one intense guy cut across anyway.

After that, we went to Juniors Burgers, a local establishment known for good food and cheesecake. It did not disappoint. The Rueben sandwich I had was amazing - a true New York delicacy. And we all shared an incredible strawberry cheesecake.

We did come home and took a nap - we were exhausted. Then, we went to the Stardust Diner for super. It was a blast. The workers sign amazing songs as they served food. They were so talented, including our server. He sounded great. The place is home to many waitstaff that go on to be in Broadway shows. All and all, it was a great day.

 

 

The One With the Solar Eclipse

 

 

Today was the day. Seven years in the planning since the 2017 solar eclipse. But, this one was bigger and better. We could see it near totality (about 92% where we live).

 

It was the 2024 Solar Eclipse. And boy did it have a big build up. Part of it was the fact that it was going to be seen in the 48 consecutive states. And part of it was because it was it is the last time we will see a total eclipse in North American until 2044.

As a family, we decked out for the eclipse. We got two sets of glasses for everyone. Bri and Kiff took theirs to school. I brought mine as well, as did Emmie. 

 

Schools got into the act. Emmie's school hosted a viewing party. She passed out stickers to families who were enjoying it together. My school actually purchased glasses for students who were interested. We watched a special CNN 10 about it in class today as well as a Discovery Education video that explained that we should enjoy these eclipses while we can because in 600 million years, we will not see them (the moon will have pulled too far away. I also showed students the simulation on the planetarium dome at school as well, where they could see the Venus actually became visible. They also saw that the seven planets were all aligned as well. Super cool.

Viewing it today as a lot of fun. I checked it out from my parent's house before heading home. I stopped on the way home in Lexington and viewed it (the sun was about half covered). I viewed it when we got home a few times with Kif (the eclipse was at maximum) around 3:30. I viewed it when we left for Kif and Bri's track meet, which showed that the moon was now moving. I even checked it out from DHS. It was almost complete (I even viewed the sun when it was totally complete at 4:30).

 

All and all it was a memorable time.