Monday, January 4, 2010

New York, part 1

Happy New Year! We're in New York this week, and it's SO COLD! Highs have been in the 20s, and with the wind chill it's even colder. Poor Carter hasn't been able to spend much time outside at all. It's painful even to walk down the street, so we've been exploring lots of inside things to do. Carter has spent a lot of time playing in the hotel room as well.

Doug and I have been going to see musicals in the evenings, and Michelle flew up to stay with Carter while we do. In the mornings we sleep in and then go out to find something fun for Carter to do.

On New Year's Day we went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Mario Batali's Lupa. Carter always likes riding in taxis:



Carter fell asleep before our food even arrived and missed lunch altogether.



Going out to eat is definitely harder now than it used to be. Carter is generally fine once the food arrives, but we have to work pretty hard to keep him entertained until then. As a result, we find ourselves tending toward chain restaurants and places where you get your food quickly -- which we would have avoided at all costs in previous years.

Room service is also a great option:







One morning we went to the gigantic Toys R Us on Times Square. It has a huge Ferris Wheel inside, which is kind of exciting. It was a weirdly managed ride, though. They would unload and load one car, then turn the wheel once, then unload and load one car, turn the wheel once, and so on. After all the cars were loaded, it went around maybe twice, then they started the unloading process the same way. I would rather have had 5 or 6 times around than that disjointed ride, but it was still fun.





Carter liked this giant T. Rex that roared and moved:



The store is definitely a place families with older kids can spend a lot of time. Carter liked the big train table in the Thomas section, but that was about all the interactive stuff he could do.

We took him to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, where it turned out to be impossible to get fruit of any kind. This is a problem because Carter doesn't like french fries, and we generally ask them to substitute. I've never had a server look at me funny when I asked them for fruit instead of fries until this trip to New York. We even had one server tell us, "Yeah, when I was a kid I liked fruits and vegetables too -- until I realized they didn't taste good." o_0 And we wonder why our country has such an obesity epidemic! Anyway, here is Carter at the Hard Rock, eating his very unhealthy lunch. Those orange slices were the garnish from our plates, LOL.



This morning we went to Chelsea Piers, a large family sports complex. We'd read online that they had a great indoor play area for toddlers. It was small and cost $11, but it was a great place for Carter to run and play for a little while.









Being here has definitely reminded me why I don't live in a cold place. I know people raise kids here, but it's hard to imagine not being able to take Carter outside to play (comfortably) every day. Or not having an outdoor space for him at all!

I'll post more in a couple of days. :-)

1 comment:

Debby said...

Love the pictures!!! Looks like you are having fun... i bet it is cold...we are freezing here..Love you, Mom/Nana