Day 2 - New York City

On day two, we took Ryan to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. We wanted to wait until he'd be old enough to remember at least parts of it. I know nearly 7 is still pushing our luck, but quite honestly, I don't think we're going back anytime soon. The plan is to take a break from our two favorite cities (NYC & San Fran) for a while and take Ryan to a few other cities that will be new for him- perhaps Portland, Dallas, Chicago...New Orleans?

That day we slept in until about 9am and barely made the 45 min. train ride down to Battery Park to catch our 11:30am ferry. We tend to sleep late on vacation (part jet lag, part vacation, part pharmaceuticals)...and it's glorious. During the school year I'm up early all of the weekdays to get Ryan to school, and also on Sundays to run. Saturdays are my only day to sleep in. I'm so enamored with the black out curtains that hotels use, that I went out and bought some yesterday for our bedroom. And any day now Rich is going to install tint on our skylight. On the one hand, our once cheerful, bright bedroom now looks a little like a dark, shady sex club, but it also = more sleep for the weary. So dark, shady sex club it is...

Battery Park was under 6 inches of snow...so gorgeous and delightful to hear the powdery snow crunching under my feet!

Feeling slightly pukey from the boat ride, but happy from the warm soup we inhaled at the restaurant there. (Doesn't everyone eat while feeling motion sickness?)

Lady Liberty's original torch at the museum

The actual copper mold used to shape Ms Liberty's face! (Keeping things classy as usual)

The cavernous hall for immigration processing at Ellis Island 

Ryan made us promise to take him back to Carnegie Park...so we promised him we would if he'd walk the 40 solid minutes from Battery Park to get there. :-)

The sandbox at the park was like an ice skating rink! Here are my boys couples skating.

We spent the rest of the day in Times Square at Toys R Us riding the indoor Ferris wheel, and indulged Ryan with a set of Lego for nighttime entertainment in the room.

The highlight of our night? Getting to be on a Times Square billboard for Revlon. That's Rich and Ry (I'm the ever faithful photographer for my adult ham and child). Revlon had a camera aimed at the square and bystanders could get featured on the billboard for a minute or so...it was quite fun and felt a lot like NY Eve at the square when the camera would pan toward your direction (and the crowd would erupt in cheers and radiate laughter and fun). Ryan told a few people (including our server at dinner) that he was famous after he heard me joking about his new found fame. :-) As silly as it was, I don't think many people can say they've been on a Times Square billboard, so I'm calling it out first modeling job. ;-)

My celebrities hamming it out on the kiss cam!