Grab a drink and your reading glasses for this one...

We arrived in NYC Sunday late afternoon and unloaded the car. Our jogging stroller didn't fit in the hotel room door, which seemed slightly ominous, but we soldiered on, taking it apart, dragging it upstairs, and then back down again to go out. We took a walk to Times Square and ate at Bubba Gump's. It was very yummy, but Mr. and Mr. No-Nap were a bit on edge.  We dragged them out, kicking and screaming, and walked back to the hotel (dragging stroller inside).  The first night was a bit rough...the boys were afraid and couldn't sleep. After we tried to let them hysterically scream cry it out for a while, they ended up passing out in our bed. Henry slept most of the night at the foot of the bed, sprawled out, and Owen slept some in his bed and some wedged against my back. It was a sleepless night for Todd and me.

 

Monday morning, the boys and I walked Todd to work and then headed to breakfast, where we ate, what else - pancakes! Then we went to Central Park for a bit while waiting to meet Auntie Erin! The boys were not very fond of the playground, and neither was I, but we wandered around a bit:

We met up with Erin and hung out for a few hours at the Central Park Zoo. The boys loved running up and down the paths and looking at the big bird thingies.

 

We had lunch at the zoo and then headed to FAO Schwartz to look around. The boys got out to try out the big piano from the movie "Big." They loved it. Look at Henry's face in the first picture - he is INTO it.

After they wore themselves out, they fell asleep in their stroller and Erin and I stopped for a drink and a 20 dollar crab cake. So not worth it!

 

After breaking the bank, we went back to the room (it was easier getting the stroller in with Erin's help) and played a bit and said goodbye to Erin.

That night was a little better...Todd brought us dinner in the room, and we almost got them to sleep on the bed. Once Todd left for dinner with his group, Henry decided to roam the bed and fall off about 7 times.  I ended up putting him in his bed and snuggling with Owen. Amazingly, Henry only screamed for about 10 minutes and then was out for the night. Owen (a.k.a. Fidgety) slept on the bed all night. He woke up, crawled over to Todd and leaned over him and said "Hi!" What a nice wake-up call. :)

Tuesday morning we got moving pretty early and grabbed a bagel, banana, and blueberry muffin on our way to Central Park. We walked around for quite a while and then ended up at that same crappy playground. This time, though, the boys noticed the water squirters and proceeded to soak themselves. They had a blast.

We then visited Talbot's to get some dry clothes and found some cute outfits on sale. We had lunch in our room (after jamming the stupid stroller in the door) and had a nice, much-needed nap.  In the afternoon, the boys and I discovered Bryant Park, off of 42nd Street, by the NY Public Library. It was fabulous. We wandered around looked at the carousel, read some of the books that were on the outdoor library shelves, and listened to some children in a violin concert. It was delightful.

 

We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant that night and it was a debacle. Broken water glass, chips all over the place, rice in my shoes, screaming, throwing ourselves, and ripping placemats off the table. Here are the grumpy boys in their glory at dinner:

Then we wrestled with the damn stroller again. Had a good night's sleep because I let them stay up until they passed out. Owen fell off the bed about 9 times. One time was a lovely backwards dive.

Today, we were lucky because we got to have breakfast (pancakes again!) with Daddy. Then we headed back to FAO Schwartz to buy some NYC firetrucks and dance on the piano again.  We came back to the hotel and I abandoned the f-ing stroller in the lobby. The front desk guy said "I can't be liable for that!" and I yelled "I don't care! I hope someone steals it!" (Unfortunately, no one did). Then we played in the hotel room until it was time to go.  It was an awesome room.

Then we shoved everything in the car. Todd convinced me to bring the stroller along because it wasn't its fault that it didn't fit through the door, and it has been good to us in the short time we've had it. So, it got a spot in the back. All in all, a stressful trip, but a fabulous adventure that I loved and will always fondly remember.