We lucked out on cheap airfare that made it possible to go to NYC Thanksgiving week. There is truly something magical about New York around the holidays. It could be because it is so romanticized by old Hollywood movies, picturesque Rockefellar Center or the fanfare of the Macy's Day Parade. Whatever it is, New York City was a dream to visit this year.
We did a couple of things that might be considered odd. We took very 2 very young kids and we relied soley on public transportation. New York is less kid friendly than San Francisco in some respects. Our biggest challenge seemed to be that hardly any restaurant we visited had highchairs. We made due by skipping solids a lot. Bottles were interesting. I brought 6 bottles and had to wash them out every night in the bathroom sink. I got a system down for half day trips by packing 2 bottles and a food kit which consisted of a jar of food, a spoon, and a disposable bib in a ziploc.
The other thing that was challenging was diapers. I've changed diapers on enough restroom floors in SF that the lack of changing tables didn't bother me as much, but restrooms were often too small. When I say too small, there was one that I had to sit on the toilet sideways to fit. Thankfully, Dexter never had an accident and was 100% potty perfect.
Naptime divided the days because we always had to go back to the hotel for a few hours while the kids napped. Sometimes that was awesome and we all napped together, or Mike and I huddled over the laptop and watched movies while the kids slept. A couple times Brixie took an early nap and I'd have to take her somewhere else to play. It wasn't ideal, but it worked. One great thing was that we were all on California time, so we took the kids out late. We got a lot of weird looks hauling around a baby and a 3 year old at 11pm!
Getting around was really easy. The subway in NYC put SF Muni to shame. We were a block and a half from the subway and used it nearly everyday. We never had to wait long for a train. A car would've been a major pain. I'm so glad we didn't go that route. For the airport, we got a car service that had car seats installed. We also walked a ton. I mostly wore Brixie in the Ergo which is about a million times more comfy than a Bjorn. If we took the stroller, Dex rode in it a lot because we didn't want to wear him out with all the walking. It wasn't the most relaxing trip, but we saw an awful lot in 4 days. I mean, who goes to New York to relax?
So what did we see? The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Top of the Rock, Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Apple Store, Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, the first pizzeria in the US, Times Square, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, SOHO, and a whole lot more that I'm forgetting. That is a whole other post…
