We are HERE!!!

Yes, rail weary we arrived at Penn Station, NYC on Sunday evening at about 10pm - 2hours later than we were scheduled to arrive. The train ride was mostly good but Leo was in pretty bad shape for the last couple of hours, he was just so very, very overtired and frustrated by having nowhere to run and play. Clara was a superstar from start to finish - she read, coloured, played imaginary games, made a special New York City necklace, and watched movies on the laptop. Honesty, she had an amazing attitude for practically the whole 12 hours.

Clara and Leo watching a DVD on the Laptop. Unfortunately, Leo didn't like wearing earphones so that calm quiet scene didn't last too long

The real kicker was the taxi ride from Penn Station to our hotel, after trying to get him to sleep for over 3 hours, Leo finally passed out as we drove past Times Square. The arrival at the hotel went quite smoothly except for the cab driver who tried to drive away with our luggage! He stopped pretty quickly after Marc and the bell boy started yelling after him!

Day 1 in NYC was great fun. We took our own walking tour of MidTown and the two major toy stores; Toys R Us in Times Square and FAO Schwarz. Believe it or not we didn't buy a single toy. We did ride the giant indoor ferris wheel at Toys R Us and enjoyed story time at FAO.

Playing on the giant piano at FAO Schwarz

Can we go on pleeeease??

Papa and Clara enjoying the ride

What did we see... Tiffanys, the Ed Sullivan Theater, Hello Deli, Rockefeller Center and the skating rink, Times Square with all the tvs, lights and tickers, Broadway, and so much more I'm sure but I just can't recall.

Day 2 in the city was a vist to the Central Park Zoo. It is a wonderful little place, just enough to see without exhausting the little ones too much. While we were in the zoo itself, you never would have know you were in the middle of Manhatten with 5th Avenue just meters away! Clara and Leo both enjoyed the freedom to run around in relative safety. They checked out polar bears, seals, goats, pigs, turtles, and much more.

A happy family in Central Park

Clara the Bunny

Mama the Turtle

We went back to our hotel mid afternoon to relax, Clara and Leo played and played in the enormous walk in closets for ages. They loved those "little rooms." Over the course of the week Leo hid in a closet several times, sitting in the corner with a huge grin on his face just waiting to be discovered!

Peek-a-Boo

In the evening we decided to check out a theme restaurant near Times Square. Wow, Mars 2112 was pretty over the top. Both kids loved it though, Leo was fascinated by a mute alien that danced around the restaurant while we ate. I wish I had caught the look on his face while he watched this strange creature bound around... eye brows were furrowed and mouth was open wide!

Leo on Mars