NYC: Day One

Mom & Dad decided to give the girls an experience this Christmas instead of buying tons of toys that they really do not need (and that we do not have room for).

I was excited!

We had talked about Disney (again!) and it was too stressful for me to plan (again!).  How do you people go to Disney with no stress?  I am curious.

So, we decided on New York.  It was the perfect trip for the girls and the grown ups.  We made this a girls trip but realized the day we left that Beau and my Dad wanted to go too.  Next time guys!!

The girls have had a running list of things they wanted to do when they went to New York one day.

Well their "one day" became a reality.

I had everything planned out and organized but not overly scheduled.

I thought it was best to divide the city up by Midtown, Upper Manhattan, and Lower Manhattan.

Here is what I had NOT prepared myself for... flying.

Flying was an experience.  I will have a post of tips for short trip flying with children.

I had only flown once before this trip and lets just say, next time I will be more prepared and more medicated.  Serious.

I sent this to Ryan when I landed.  #abouttohaveapanicattack

So here is our first day in the city.

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Day One- Midtown

We arrived at LaGuardia about 10:30ish.  Car service picked us up and took us into the city.  The views from LaGuardia into the city are beautiful.  More than likely your driver will be driving so fast and crazy that the likelihood of you getting good pictures are slim to none.  Save your time, phone memory and SD card memory.  You will have plenty of opportunities to take beautiful pictures once you are in the city.

We love searching for UPS trucks wherever we go.  We followed one into the city.

We stayed at the DoubleTree in Times Square.  It is in the perfect location for a whole city trip.  It is in the center of everything.  By "whole city" I mean, we planned on exploring different parts of the city.  When Sister and I go back, we will just be downtown (but that is a different story *wink*)

Our hotel gave us warm cookies upon our arrival.  We had a drink and our cookie before heading out on the town.  Our room was not ready until later in the afternoon but most hotels will hold your bags so that you can start sight seeing asap.  Check their policy and plan on getting into the city early so you have more time to see things.

We had lunch at Junior's Cheesecake on West 45th St. between Broadway and 8th Ave.

Whatever you do, get their Russian dressing with your sandwich.  It is amazing!!  I had the Matzoh Ball Soup and a corned beef sandwich with russian dressing.  So yummy!  The girls also got a hot chocolate here and it was amazing.  So thick and creamy.

Next we went ice skating at Rockefeller Center.

We did this forever.  It was so fun and the girls didn't want to stop.  There are lots of great shops around there too.  Even if you go when the ice skating rink is closed, you should definitely go to Rockefeller Center.  It is beautiful.

Next was American Girl.  This was a MUST on Bug's to do list.  She had her mind set that she would be buying the 2015 girl of the year at the New York store.  She did and she was so happy.



Prepare yourself... this store is HUGE!  We went to every floor.  Lots of people like to do the bistro but we skipped it because the NYC store can get crazy.  Honestly, I had other eating planned that I knew the girls would love so much more than the American Girl bistro.

We headed back to Times Square and dropped our bags off at the hotel.  We decided to head to the ferris wheel inside Toys R Us on Broadway at 44th St.

Be sure to see the T-Rex upstairs.  Super cool!  He looks so real.

This is where I need to warn you... BEWARE OF THE CHARACTERS IN TIMES SQUARE!!!  THEY WILL ATTACK YOU!!!  IF YOU TAKE THEIR PICTURE WITH THE KIDS, HAVE CASH READY.  THEY WILL SAY "MONEY. MONEY. MONEY." OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.  NIGHTMARE!  Get those dollar bills ready to shell out.

By this point, I was exhausted.  Oh, AND I needed an adult beverage from the plane ride hours earlier.  We decided to do dinner at Guy's American Kitchen & Bar at 220 West 44th Street between 7th and 8th Ave.

This is Guy Fieri's restaurant and it was so wonderful!

The Vegas Fries are amazing and I also had the Bacon Mac & Cheese Burger.  OMG!  So good!!  Just typing it makes my mouth water.  I also had a few PBRs.  PTL!

Dessert was a few doors down from Guy's.  Ben & Jerry's at 200 West 44th Street.

Ben & Jerry's is always yummy!!  ;-)

That ended our first day.

A few notes.  We walked everywhere.  We only took taxis a few times.  We used the subway to get downtown and to go a few destinations downtown (day 3).  You miss so much when you ride everywhere.  So, prepare your kids for the walking.  I had talked to the girls about the walking and the cold.  They did not complain one time.  They absolutely loved the city!  I feel like letting them know what to expect helped a lot.

Also, be sure to walk through the Diamond District.  It is so very pretty.  Lots of BEAUTIFUL diamonds EVERYWHERE!!  We were so lucky that 47th Street was the cross street that our hotel was on.  We were able to walk through the Diamond District a few times and it was overwhelmingly beautiful each time.

UP NEXT... The posh uptown and a Broadway musical.