NYC

We've been talking about doing a Spring Break trip up to New York on the train with the kids for a few years now, and this year we finally made it happen.  The dinosaur exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is closed for the next few years for major renovations (it hasn't been updated since I was a kid, and Owen had gotten very good at pointing out everything that was wrong with the 70's era depiction of dinosaurs, so it was probably time), and the American Museum of Natural History in New York just opened up two cool new dinosaur exhibits: The Titanosaur, a reconstruction of the largest sauropod ever discovered; and Dinosaurs Among Us, a new exhibit about how dinosaurs evolved into birds, so now seemed like the perfect time for a trip.  We put the kids in Camp Mom Mom for the first three days of Spring Break, and on Thursday morning we were off to New York.



We woke up early and took the streetcar to Union Station and the Amtrak train up to Penn Station. The kids read the whole time on the train, and we arrived in New York City just in time for a quick lunch and a trip to the top of the Empire State Building.  Owen searched for Mount Olympus (he's been reading a lot of Percy Jackson), and Nora shouted into the air for all to hear, "Hello people of New York City, please stop what you're doing and listen to me, I'm going to tell you how to drive a car!"




Our plan for this trip was to keep things laid back and not try to cram too much in, so after the Empire State Building we just headed up to our hotel on the upper west side, and went for a hike through Central Park.  That turned out to be a great plan, as we caught some Mozart at Belvedere Castle, the kids loved climbing all the rocks in The Ramble, and we walked all the way to the zoo (which was closed by the time we got there), and had a lovely dinner at a spot Nabeel and Megan recommended.



Friday was our big day for the American Museum of Natural History.  Owen loved the dinosaurs of course, but Nora preferred the butterflies and the Hayden Planetarium.  What both the kids agreed on was that the first thing they wanted to see was the Dodo in the Hall of Biodiversity.  "Really?" you might ask, well if you've watched enough Wild Kratts, you'd know the Hall of Biodiversity is featured prominently in the show by the Kratt Brothers.  So after our New York bagels for breakfast, we made a bee line for the Dodo, but lo and behold the Dodo had gone missing.  We couldn't find it anywhere, but then we found where it was supposed to be, and it was hidden behind a six foot screen.  Fortunately, Daddy was able to lift the kids on his shoulders to peer over the screen and see the Dodo skeleton.  The mystery of the missing Dodo was finally solved when we went though the Dinosaurs Among Us exhibit.  The model of the Dodo was moved up to the new exhibit, it really was a cool dinosaur all along.



Our plan for Saturday was to explore the High Line park before catching the train home, but it was raining and the park didn't really seem like a good idea.  Nora saved the day though by noticing a sign for a Mo Willems exhibit at the New York Historical Society just around the corner from our hotel. The kids had a blast at the Mo Willems exhibit, and there was even a cool Children's History Museum in the basement.  A perfect way to spend a rainy morning on our last day in New York.  We'll have to do it again soon!



(click here for all the pictures)