New York City Day 4

Our last day in the city was another busy one. We went to the Empire State Building in the morning. I enjoyed the views of the city, but I think the kids had a harder time appreciating them because it was much harder for them to see over the railing and wall. There are some places where the wall is lower, so they could see but the adults definitely enjoyed it more than the kids.

Here are some pictures from the 86th floor:


Central Park is behind the first row of tall buildings:
The Brooklyn Bridge is the bridge in the back:


Then, we headed to Times Square and an absolutely huge Toys R Us. We rode the ferris wheel and enjoyed looking at all of the Lego displays, super heroes, and the tyrannosaurus rex.



We grabbed some lunch in Times Square and then headed to Central Park. We had a really good time there. The only negative was that the carousel was closed for renovations, so I'm really glad we did the ferris wheel at Toys R Us.


Isabel had a ritual. She would walk on the beam:

climb up the tall ladder and act nervous:
finally go down the slide. Then, she'd do it all over again:


Pierce discovered these rocks and the kids LOVED climbing around on them. It was so hard to get them to leave.
After we left the park, we took our time heading back to the hotel, rested, and then enjoyed one last taste of New York style pizza at Lombardi's. It was also delicious.

We all had a great time in New York, and I'm so glad we went. With the new baby coming, I don't know when we would have had the opportunity to go in the near future. However, after having done it and learning a lot, I don't think we will venture into a big city until the youngest child is at least six years old. Madelyn did pretty well with all of the walking, but Pierce struggled to keep up a lot, and it really exhausted us all. I was also reminded that, generally speaking, big cities are family unfriendly. It doesn't matter if it's D.C., Rome, or New York. That's why God gave us the suburbs.

Thanks for the memories, Big Apple. We'll be back in six or more years.