NYC 2016

Normally, we plan out our vacations pretty well...not this one!! I decided pretty much a week before that the girls and I were for sure going to head to NYC with Bobby for a long weekend. He had planned on camping with some guys in Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction to see Ken Griffey, Jr, but none of the guys originally interested could go, so it turned out to be a good opportunity to show the girls NYC!! Natalie has an obsession with the Statue of Liberty, so we thought right before Kindergarten starts would be a good time to go see it!

Luckily, my mom and sister offered to watch Austin while we were gone, which I am grateful for because it was so HOT in NYC and crowded, which we expected, but still! Our trip would have been much different with him and a stroller and all of his "stuff."

The girls were troopers and trekked all through NYC with us, in/out of the subways and good roadtrippers! We have never driven in the city, so that was an adventure in itself. About 6 hours into the trip we finally booked a hotel! The rooms are so tiny in NYC that trying to get 2 beds in a room is either crazy, expensive OR not even an option. We opted for a king bed and all slept in it. The room was basically just the bed with a little walking distance around. It was a nice hotel right by the Empire State Building and parking was about half the price if we would have stayed a couple of blocks closer to Times Square. We stayed at a Hampton Inn Thursday and Friday night. Friday morning the free breakfast area was busy, but at least we found a table! On Saturday morning, you could barely move and there was nowhere to sit, so back up to our room we went with our plates!

Friday was a LONG day! We had booked tickets on Thursday while on the road to go to the Statue of Liberty, but come Friday morning, I realized they never sent us a confirmation email! So, after dealing with the company over email because they do not allow phone calls at all (how annoying), we decided to just wing it! We almost booked tickets with some scalpers, but decided against it and then just ended up riding the Staten Island Ferry (FREE) across to see the Statue from afar. That worked out great and saved us 80 bucks! The girls were perfectly fine with riding the ferry and just seeing her! Plus, you could tell that the island was super packed with tourists! Maybe one day we will actually go to the island, just not this trip! Then, we took the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge...they loved the subway but it was SO HOT down in the subways!!! At least the ride was cool! It was difficult at first navigating the subway system to get where we needed to go and a couple of times we needed to get off and back on a different train, but we managed and got around just fine! The Brooklyn Bridge was crazy packed too and there is NO shade, so the girls of course were complaining of being hot, but we all were! There was a lot of riding on shoulders and carrying that occurred, but overall they really did great around the city!

Next up...Central Park! While in the park, the girls were tired and Aubrey was on a brink of a meltdown! She ended up climbing in my lap while we were decided where to eat and fell asleep! Then, Bobby carried her part of the way back to the subway while she was sleeping! Once we got back to the hotel and cleaned up a bit, we headed to a Korean BBQ place called Jongro's! It was a FUN atmosphere and great food! I would definitely go back!

After dinner, Times Square which was insanely packed with people alongwith some painted women that the girls didn't see, thank goodness! The girls did a great job holding our hands and staying with us the whole time. We had promised them we would go to ToysRUs in Times Square, BUT it CLOSED!!!! Oops!! Disney store made up for it where they each picked out a nightgown and a toy!  After Times Square, we stopped by Magnolia's Bakery for cupcakes, then back to the hotel. I would have to say I prefer Sprinkles cupcakes over Magnolia! It was a packed day with lots of sights to see! We all had a great time, but were exhausted! We had planned to walk around a bit on Saturday morning, but since we slept a little longer and took awhile to get around (plus Natalie was in a MOOD), we headed out of the city to go to Cooperstown, which luckily we did because we made it in just enough time to set up our tent and head into town for the parade!

The parade was not the kind of parade the girls were interested in, nor me!! Just a bunch of baseball players that had been inducted in years past, waving to the crowd LOL! Bobby enjoyed it and this part of the trip was his, so whatever! We ordered pizza and took it back to our campsite, made smores and then to bed!

Overnight, the air mattress Natalie and I were sleeping on deflated which left us all on a queen air mattress and I was freezing! I don't think I slept hardly at all this entire trip!  Bobby headed to the Hall of Fame early in the morning while the girls and I slept in. Instead of going to the induction, the girls and went to the beach and lake at the park we stayed at, which was much more enjoyable for us!
We ate dinner in Cooperstown that night at Mel's at 22...food was good, but service was not!

Since I wanted to get back by Aubrey's dance class on Monday evening, we decided to just drive straight through at night. Bobby did the 1st 6 hours and I did the last 5 to Indy to pick up Austin from my mom. We were all super tired after this trip, but we did what we wanted to do and all worked out well. I'm glad we decided to do it!

The girls got to ride in a car, subway, ferry, and trolley on this trip! Natalie says her favorite part was when we went camping and Times Square and Aubrey says her favorite part was the lights (Times Square)!