Manhattan

We spent lots of wonderful time with family, but wanted to get into the city too. The weather was pretty bad (highs in the upper 40s/lower 50s and rain, when back home it was in the 70s), but we bundled up two days in a row and took the subway into the city.

 

Karyssa wanted to stand the whole time the second day!

 

Kyran joined her after a while!

 

Gemma just wanted to sleep!

The first day, we went into Times Square, where we played in the Toys R Us for a while...

walked around for a while and met Kyran's favorite...

 

made it on the big screen...

and had a snack, before the rain started coming down.

The next day, we headed for the Statue of Liberty. The plan was to actually visit Ellis Island, but since we were also leaving for Irene's that day and wanted to beat rush-hour traffic, we decided to skip the long line. The kids won't be tall enough to climb to the crown for a couple more years, anyway, and that's what they really wanted to do. They still loved seeing her from the park, though.

While at Battery Park, we ran into friends from the kids' school! What a small world!

Since we still had time, we decided to walk to Ground Zero. The last time we visited, the kids were only 3 and a half, and definitely weren't ready to hear the story of 9/11. Construction was still going on, so there wasn't much of a visual anyway.

This time, the beautiful fountains were there, with the names of all who died that day engraved on them. We told them the basics of the story and Kyran, his hand running over the names on the fountain, looked up at me with wide eyes and said, "A lot of people died, Mommy." I said yes and he asked, "Why did they die?" I wish I had an answer for him. Fourteen years later, it still seems so senseless, and staring at those huge fountains and all of the names on them made me feel as lost as he looked. I told him that there are bad people in the world, but that the events of that day made us realize how many wonderful people there are too.

We were also happy to see the Freedom Tower completely finished. What a beautiful building. Someday, when the kids are older, we'll do the tour.

What amazes me about the kids is probably the same thing that amazed my parents about us. This was Kyran's and Karyssa's third time in New York City. We kept pointing out the buildings and they just kept shrugging and saying they were hungry and cold.

As a child, I visited NY almost every summer. The trips were about family, but we usually took a day and walked around the city, but I know it didn't hit me how remarkable and famous the city was until I was much older. I'd climbed the Statue of Liberty and had been to the top of the Empire State Building and World Trade Center towers, all before I had seen them on TV or read about them in books.

I stood on the street and watched the 1984 Olympic Team go by in their parade. (During which the scaffolding we were standing under collapsed and the day ended in the hospital where my mother was being treated. I still get nervous walking under scaffoldings in the city.)

I tried telling the kids that I had friends my age who had never been, but they didn't seem to get it. I know one day they will, and hopefully their children will be able to go a lot too.

Coming back from Long Island

Leaving the city

 

 

Completely exhausted!