Statue of Liberty

 We drove four hours the weekend before September 11th to New York City to visit the Statue of Liberty. 

Johnny threw up about 15 minutes outside of NYC. 

We parked in a valet parking "dungeon" and I was unsure of whether or not our truck would actually be there when we got back. But I was hopeful that the smell of vomit would deter them. Also hopeful that they wouldn't find our DVD players and GPS.

We had tickets for the 12 o'clock ferry, but managed to get on the 11 o'clock. Thank goodness! It was packed but not as bad as the afternoon! 

Johnny's first glimpse of Lady Liberty! He's so stinking cute. 

I love Galina's expression here. "I am somewhat less than amused." Although that's not true because she was ecstatic about it all. They were both so well behaved and happy!

 I insisted that Brian not use his regular military surplus backpacks, and he refused to wear my regular backpack (yes, granted, it's pink) - so we compromised and he wore my camera bag. But insisted on camouflage shorts. 

Nothing very exciting was happening here and we had the kids in their stroller so they were extra unexcited. Little did we know that we'd end up checking the stroller (and my backpack) for the rest of the visit. That could've saved us some time and energy had we known it ahead of time. 

I think that this is the original torch - although I'm not sure that it isn't a copy of the original torch. I never got close enough to the sign to read about it. 

This is me and the kids waiting for Brian. I imagine his bladder is the size of a green pea. Sorry, but we are always waiting for him because of this. 

We were on the top of the star foundation that the statue sits on and everyone was looking up and snapping pictures, so I did too, and now I've decided that nobody really wants pictures from this angle but because they walk out and see everyone snapping, they snap, and the next person does the same thing, so it's just a vicious circle of peeping-toms. 

I'm so glad we got this picture, although Galina was terrified that she was going to somehow be thrown over the edge. Funny but true story: this spot is prime real-estate for picture taking and just before we got the spot, I offered to take a picture of the couple ahead of us. Then as we were moving into the spot, there were a couple of girls behind us waiting and I asked them to take the picture and the couple who's picture I had taken, I think were actually offended. It was absolutely unintentional on my part. At any rate, we got our picture :) even if everyone isn't incredibly happy!

 At this point they were so done with picture and with the Statue. Just wanted to run around and play. There should be a gigantic playground installed. 

But, the poor babies, we weren't done yet. We went into the Museum next and enjoyed some history. They enjoyed running and enjoyed watching Brian stress over them running. "It's all coming together nicely..."

Johnny is never ever still.

We had to stand in another line to catch the ferry back to NYC, so we did a photo op. 

All in all, it was a stressful trip! After leaving the Statue of Liberty, we drove to 42nd street and parked in a really nice garage (I think, total, we spent over $100 on parking alone!!!! What?!?!?!?) and walked around Time Square. I used to absolutely love the idea of NY. But with two kids aged five and under that were hungry and nap deprived, one jogging stroller, and one husband that is absolutely not adventurous - it's just not worth the hassle. As much as I would love to go at Christmas time, to see all of the lights, I really just don't want to see all of the people. Boston looks so much more pleasant after than experience! 

Also, Brian inadvertently spent $57 dollars on peanut m&ms. He said, "I didn't know that many would come out!!" Awesome! And that was just after I had said that I didn't see a point to buying m&ms at the m&m store when you could buy them from the hot dog vendor for $1. I took Galina to the bathroom and came out to $57 worth of m&ms. Guess what? $57 worth of m&ms looks a whole lot like a $10 bag from Costco. Yesiree. Oh well, the kids enjoyed them, and we enjoyed them...all week. 

As we were leaving the parking garage, Brian didn't listen to me when I said we did not want to go into the Lincoln Tunnel. That tacked an hour onto our drive home. Not to mention that we were in 5 o'clock traffic. Our only relief was m&ms (okay, I'm glad he bought them!) and movies. 

We stopped at a Subway for a good 30 minutes, I have no idea what state it was in. Got gas, and journeyed home. Had to stop once because Johnny threw up, again. He ended the night in Galina's jammies that she had worn into the truck that morning and Galina got to wear her Merida nightgown that we bought at the Time Square Disney Store. 

Sometimes I wish that Brian and I were more adventuresome. But now I can re-read this "adventure" and be content with staying home...or going to the grocery store.