New York City — August 2 – 8
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Sunday August 2 — After reading a lot of Yelp reviews, we decided to go to Il Bambino, a local panini place for brunch Sunday morning. Normally we wouldn’t expect paninis to be exceptional, but it won a lot of local awards and had great reviews. The reviews were correct — the food was excellent! The kids loved the nutella, banana, and strawberry jam panini and we tried several savory options as well.
After brunch, we took the subway into Times Square to get tickets from TKTS to the Gazillion Bubble Show at 3pm. Then we headed down to Bryant Park to ride the little carousel there. This was one of the carousels that Kamy rode last time we were in NYC, so it was definitely on Kamy’s wish list. We also went next door to the New York Public Library. The main branch is closed on Sundays, but we were able to see the big lion statues out front. We even got to spy a little on a film crew working on the corner filming for a tv show.
The kids had a lot of fun at the Gazillon Bubble Show! It was a relatively small theater and we had great seats. The kids especially loved the bubbles that were in the audience, and there was enough technically impressive bubble creations to hold our attention too.
We headed back home, put the kids in bed, and then I went back out to the TKTS booth to get a ticket for On the Town that night.
Monday August 3 — Keller had to work first shift today, so the kids and I were on our own. We went back up to the Bronx Zoo! This time around we walked through the Children’s Zoo, the Madagascar building, saw all the sea birds and penguins, the sea lions, the mouse house, and the reptile house. The Bug Carousel was also a must do.
We grabbed a quick pizza lunch from My Pie in Manhattan on the way back home. We went by Muncan Food to restock on tasty items. This time around we also tried the chinese sausage and some in house smoked bacon.
Tuesday August 4 — After blowing and going the last several days, we opted to spend the morning quietly at the apartment. I cooked lunch at home. Next the kids and I walked down to the Queens library. We returned our first set of books, sat and read for an hour and a half, and then chose another round of books to check out.
Another quiet evening at home, then after the kids were in bed I got tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. I loved the show and it was just as good as I remembered! Going solo also helps ensure you can get really good seats too.
Wednesday August 5 — The kids and I walked down to the Astoria Greenmarket again for fresh fruits and veggies. We took the bus another couple of stops down to Rainey Park in Astoria. It was a neat little park with a rock climbing wall and a huge slide.
We headed home in time for lunch and took the rest of the afternoon easy. Keller ended up picking up tickets to a Broadway show that evening.
Thursday August 6 — Thursday morning the four of us went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. What an incredible museum! The kids were only up for about 90 minutes of art, so we prioritized the sculpture and Greco-Roman area, a favorite of Keller’s. We power walked through the American wing and saw Washington Crossing the Delaware — it was so much bigger than we expected.
We had to split up for lunch since Keller had to hurry back for work, so the kids and I headed to the New Amity Diner near The Met. The burgers were decent and fries were tasty. From there we went over to the playground right next to The Met. It was a neat little playground with pyramid structures for climbing and the kids had a lot of fun running around.
Friday August 7 — Friday we ventured down to the Gantry Park playground on the East River. It was pretty busy with little kids, but there were some neat features to mess around on. Plus we had a great view. =)
Splitting up again, the kids and I hopped on the subway to head way out into Queens. The Forest Park carousel is a well known and historic carousel a bit out of the way, so it took some intention to actually get out to it. The kids both rode the carousel and the little train ride before playing on the playground for an hour or so.
Saturday August 8 — Caden and I wandered down to the Saturday farmers market at the Socrates sculpture park in the morning. After dropping off the fruit (including a watermelon that Caden wanted that I had to carry back home), we changed out our library books before going to lunch at Il Bambino again. We still ordered the nutella panini for the kids but tried two new savory ones as well.
That evening, we had a little get together with two couples from Keller’s work, Rob and Jamie and David and Sarita. David and Sarita brought Chinese food from one of their favorite places in east Queens. We spent the evening enjoying their company, playing board games, and visiting on the roof deck. It was such a nice evening! Rob and Jamie stayed with us over night since they were going to a Yankees game on Sunday.