NYC adventure begins!

“New York City, here we come!  Yeehaw!!!” –Blake, as we left our house in Erie.

We made it safe and sound to our new humble digs on W86th and Columbus Ave, NY, NY!  We had quite the adventure getting here!  As you can imagine, packing up a family of 5 for an entire summer requires a LOT of luggage.  We had planned on using skycap so we didn’t have to haul our many many suitcases through the airport, but as luck would have it, DIA is under construction and there was only one drop off point—on the very outside lane, on the opposite end of the airport from where we needed to be.  So, we got creative, and got a workout as we trekked through DIA. 

The kids were amazing on the plane. Blake had a nice little nap on my lap, Josh looked out his window, played with his toys and ate a million snacks.  Rusty and Halle had a nice quite ride a few rows back.  At Laguardia we hopped in a taxi and sped to our new apartment.  Both the boys thought the taxi was GREAT.  To enter the apartment, we have to enter an extremely long code 3 different times.  It’s rather arduous—what happened to a good old fashioned key? 

The apartment is great.  I’ll have to post some pics soon.  1000 cozy square feet, but we don’t plan on being here much anyway.  My major complaint is the lack of counter space in the bathrooms (read: there is NONE). Major apartment victory—We have a private back patio.  It’s so awesome. Other than that, it’s a cute, fun little place and the kids think it’s a grand adventure to live in an apartment. 
We quickly go settled and went to explore the neighborhood.  First stop: Central Park.  We’re only a block and a half away from New York City’s Playground. We are all so glad to be close to the park.  Just like at home, the kids have to name all the parks we visit.  This is “Best swing” park

And of course, our first dinner HAD to be authentic NY pizza.  YUM!

The next day we headed out go Governors Island.  Thanks to the threat of rain (which never appeared) there were NO crowds and we were able to enjoy having the island practically to ourselves.  Best part for me: Enjoying to view of the skyline, and of the Statue of liberty from our awesome “bike.”  Halle was our driver for most of the time, which made the ride kinda like a rollercoaster Best part for the kids: the free ferry ride over, and the snowcone from the mister softee truck.

The kids LOVE tire swings, and this was the biggest one I’ve ever seen!

Dom and Amber happened to be in the city for a work conference, and so Amber and I got to go running in Central Park early Saturday morning.  It was nice and cool and there was a misty rain falling.  PERFECT.  Also, later that night, we met them at Juniors in Times Square for dinner, and DELICIOUS cheesecake.  We headed over to Broadway and saw Rock of Ages.  The 80’s music was amazing—the narrator hilarious, but overall it was just racy enough that I don’t think I could recommend it in good conscience . It was such a fun evening and we are so glad we got to hang out the with Dom and Amber while they were here!

Then next morning it was off to the Manhattan 1st Ward at the Lincoln Center.  It’s amazing to get to go to church in the same building as the temple!  The chapel is on the 3rd floor, and the temple is above.  The building is spectacular, just as beautiful as can be.  The outside is simple and clean, the lobby incredible, then you walk into the church foyer, and BAM—that same purple carpet and strange textured wallpaper you’d find in anywhere chapel USA.  Nice to know the church is the same everywhere .  The ward was so friendly and welcoming to us.  I didn’t quite know what to expect when we got there.  I half thought we’d be shunned because we weren’t real” New Yorkers.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  We had throngs of people introducing themselves to us, letting us know about events going on in the ward, and helping our kids feel welcome and happy in primary.  Cute little Halle was so scared and she cried through most of sacrament meeting.  But after Primary she was all smiles.  All the kids had a great time meeting their new teachers and classmates. 

We spent the rest of the day exploring more of Central Park.  We walked through the beautiful Shakespeare Gardens, and climbed Belvedere’s castle.  The kids loved that it overlooked Turtle Pond, and we had fun spotting turtles in the water.

If the first few days are any indication, I’d say we are going to have an adventure packed summer!  I’ve dreamed of living in NYC since I was a teenager, so this is all a dream come true!