I should say too, that Charlie's behavior has been exceptional. The last trip we were on was in August and it was so difficult and exhausting that I wasn't able to blog about it at all. On that trip Charlie was out of control, hitting and biting everyone and completely unable to sit still for even a minute. But this time he has been wonderful! We didn't take the stroller today and he stayed with us, held hands, sat quietly, and came when we called. He was an angel! It was only on the boat ride home, well after nap time, that he looked at James and said "Oh no! Where's the stroller?" Soon after that he was asleep in James' arms.
But back to the beginning. We couldn't get the ferry from Battery Park so we had to take it from Liberty Park in New Jersey instead. We are staying north of the city but it was an easy drive down. The park itself wasn't great but it had a beautiful view of the New York City Skyline and the boys were able to run for a bit before we boarded the boat. Actually, I think I prefer the view of the city from Jersey more than the view from the north.
The boys were all excited to ride the ferry and insisted on riding outside on the top deck. Thankfully today was really warm and the promised rain never came. The boat ride was just long enough to be fun without getting boring for the kids. Charlie, who has been asking for months to go on a whale watch, was certain that there whale nearby. Even though he was in a closed room and the boat hadn't yet left the dock he was so insistent that James had to take him onto the deck with the rest of us. "Look! There's a whale!" he cried before pointing his fingers at the water and making gun noises. (How do you write that sound??) He seemed genuinely shocked when I told him that the (imaginary) whales were nice.
Our first stop was Ellis Island. They had a very nice discovery center/museum there and I think that Will would have been happy to read all the displays. But it is hard to balance all the interest levels of the kids while still keeping everyone together. We did search for relatives who came to America on Ellis Island and while we found some similar names, I don't think we found the right people. Colin was very interested in finding some of his relatives and was able to find his last name on the wall.
We missed the ferry to Liberty Island because of a small mix up and had to spend an extra forty minutes there. The boys were getting hungry, and a bit grumpy, but the cafeteria was closed and because of the security measures James had left his backpack, which was full of food, in the car.
I'm not going to say which child(ren) it was but we did have a spot of trouble on Ellis Island, the boat, and Liberty Island. We had at least three (maybe 4 depending on how you count them) tantrums that were quite impressive. Twice getting off the boat I had to pull a screaming child through the crowds. The meltdowns were so loud and public that they caused all the adults quite a bit of stress (although we didn't lose our tempers!). It made things tricky too because the rest of us ended up sitting around waiting for the time-outs to be finished so that we could continue on together and not lose each other in the crowds.
On Liberty Island, while we were waiting for one of these time-outs to be finished, we were vistted by Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty. He sat and spoke with all of us about the design and construction of the statue. Colin, who is kind hearted, offered to buy him lunch. He was very interesting and the boys listened well for quite a while. But eventually they became fixated on his age, they weren't quite sure if he was real and had time-traveled or was just an actor. And when Jon asked if he could build another statue, this time in the shape of Pikachu, I knew it was time for us to move on. It was getting late by this time and all the boys were hungry so we got some lunch before heading to the Statue.
The boys were all excited to see Lady Liberty but unfortunately we got there too late to go into the pedestal. I was so disappointed. It had just closed twenty minutes before and none of us had realized the time constraints. We will have to come again though, my dream is to one day go up in the crown. But enough about this! I am making myself sad all over again just by writing it down.
Before we got back on the boat the boys had a chance to run a little bit. On the Ferry back I took three boys to the very top and we watched the lights of New York City grow brighter as the sun went down. It really is a very beautiful city.
By the time we got back to the car it was too late to do anything else and no one wanted to go into the city for dinner. So we headed home and grabbed some food to go from Chili's. I really love our hotel, the location is great and there are a bunch of restaurants right down the street!
James and I seriously discussed skipping the pool tonight but in the end we all headed down there after supper. Camille stayed in though, I think she needed a little peace and quiet! On the way down the boys and I showed James our elevator game (we pretend to be statues to surprise people but so far no one has seen us) and made him laugh with our silly walks.
The pool was great again. The boys played wonderfully in the shallow end and once again did their dives in the deep end. Jon is doing great with his swimming! Colin was brave enough to try jumping in and was able to swim back to the edge himself! Charlie was the only one with a tube and he also had fun jumping into the pool. He is getting much better at remembering to close his mouth.
While there we met a very nice man from D.C. who showed the boys what a real cannonball looked like and helped Colin work on his swimming strokes. Then the boys found some water rings (the kind that sink) and played a fun game of keep-away. It was a great night at the pool and I hope we can go once more before we leave.
Once again the boys all went to sleep beautifully. (I wonder if I'll ever get tired of writing that... ) Tomorrow we are off to see the trains at the botanical gardens.
Today was rather stressful for the adults and I was worried about how it was effecting the kids. But Chesney said that it was his "best night ever", and Colin told us that he wanted to spend more time with us which was very sweet and true for us too! Will also said "I love New York City. It's a very peaceful place". So I think that the kids are having fun and I hope they come home with good memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment