Last year in February, we took Tommy to New York City on the Chinatown bus. This year, we "upgraded" to the
Megabus and made the trip again, knowing it was risky to have a 19-month old on a bus for 4+ hours. To make matters worse, a rainstorm hit the Northeast right as we were boarding the 5:30 bus in DC, and the driver announced that we'd be early if we made it to Gotham by 10:30. Yikes! Being kind to his parents, Tommy slept almost the whole way, but he woke up in time for our arrival around 11:30, kindling fears that he'd stay up past 1am like last year. Thankfully, he only stayed up for a few minutes after check-in, and we all went to sleep to the sound of the pouring rain.
Despite the torrential downpour and gusting winds (RIP umbrellas), we greatly enjoyed spending time with
Tita Liz and Stephen and our London friends. Two stops at Dean and
Deluca for coffee and snacks, hotel room playtime for the kids, and a trip to the
FDNY Fire Zone were the highlights. And we did get to walk around Central Park this time when the rain let up a bit on our second day. We also squeezed in a drink at the Warwick Hotel while Tommy took a snooze. Nothing wrong with drinking a bit of booze while your kid sleeps in his Ergo...
Looking tired at the
start of the trip. The
Megabus proved to be a bit better organized than your average Chinatown bus with flaky
wifi access, and a bathroom door that didn't close all the way. Still - no breakdowns and no obnoxiously loud cellphone callers to deal with. A wonderful way to travel...
Tommy and Louis, reunited and eating strawberries. Good to see these guys back together and much more grown up since last May in London. The guy at D&D loved watching Tommy try to keep up with his "big brother."
Tita Liz and Tommy make up for missed time due to her previously canceled trip to DC.
This picture hardly shows how bad the rain and wind were. We tried not to let it dampen the trip, but it made it harder to enjoy wandering the streets like we usually do. Still, we managed to make the most of it.
We hit the
High Line with Susie, John and Louis after a great breakfast at their hotel restaurant. Great views from the elevated walking path, and we avoided the park rangers shooing us off the "greenery." (This was Monday before we went home. I know it's out of order, but it's a pain to move the pics around...)
CC reads to the boys. Louis had us all imitating his incredibly charming English accent. EZ especially loved "Dir-ty Wel-lies, Clean Wel-lies." "Look at Louis spin-ning" and "He fell o-vah," were also hits.
Tommy recreates a photo from his first trip to NYC. He's a much bigger ham nowadays than he was then. Check out the old blog post from Feb 2009 to compare:
http://littleccez.blogspot.com/2009/03/mr-t-goes-to-new-york.html
The
FDNY Fire Zone is near Rockefeller Center, and houses a fire engine cutout for kids to romp in. We snuck in with a tour, and the boys got to drive, use the radio, check out the gear, and just have a really fun time on the truck.
Tommy demonstrates how to breathe with a mask on. He learned this and other firefighting skills at the Hanover fire station party last month, and relished the chance to hone his abilities with the
FDNY.
Spraying the water hose at a target. The little guy stood near the hose moreso than actually holding and spraying it. But he's still a rookie firefighter at this point, so what can you say?
