Adventures in the Big City

About a week ago, Aunt Denise and I took Elizabeth and Emily to New York City for a day.  This was Elizabeth's third trip to the City and Emily's first.  We took an early, early morning train from New Haven and, after arriving, walked the more than twenty blocks from Grand Central to Central Park, where we met up with Miss Melissa and Mari.  After spending a few hours exploring the Central Park Zoo, we said goodbye to Mari and Melissa and headed to Alice's Tea Cup for lunch.  Alice's was recommended to me by a high school friend and it was pure genius.  When we entered, the girls were sprinkled with fairy dust and given a pair of wings to wear during their stay (I'm not quite sure what fairies have to do with Alice in Wonderland, but that doesn't matter) - the walls of the restaurant were plastered with paintings and quotations from Alice in Wonderland and there was a cheshire cat on every tea pot we saw.  Lunch we delicious (although Emily slept through it) and dessert was even better.  Refreshed and reguvinated, we headed to FAO Schwartz, where we spent a significant amount of time in the Barbie area and then on to American Girl Place, where the girls got their first in-depth introduction to the American Girl phenomenon (not quite sure what I was thinking as Elizabeth has talked about them non-stop since!).  We headed home on a late afternoon train, thoroughly exhausted.  Elizabeth has the makings of a true New Yorker - while Emily was more than happy to ride in the stroller during our visit, Elizabeth walked as much as Denise and I, several miles by the end of the day!!  It was such a wonderful trip and the girls and I are already discussing making it an annual event.  When I asked Elizabeth if she was glad that she picked a trip to New York over a birthday party, she said "Mama, New York will always be better than a birthday party.  I'm going to make that choice every year!"  (insert huge mommy smile here).

Click on the four arrows to maximize; turn on volume for sound.