The Big Apple - the City part of our Trip

We loved our trip! We left Saturday (the 13th) around 1:30pm and made our way to the airport.

Here we are waiting for the shuttle. I should have zoomed out so you could see all our luggage. We had 3 car seats, 6 back packs and 5 carry-on/rolling suit cases. Oh, and the stroller for Olivia. Getting through security was fun. Actually, it went really well. Both times.

The girls at the airport. The kids put a good dent in the goodies/snacks for the plane ride just waiting to board. They all did really well. Who knew that letting them watch tv for 4 hours would do the trick? :)

We landed just after 10pm Eastern time at La Guardia and headed up to Westport, CT to see/stay Stuart (Ryan's brother) and Rebecca and their family.We had a nice relaxing Sunday catching up and preparing our adventure for the next day.

The next day, Monday, we headed down into Manhattan. The weather was in the 20's with a pretty chilly wind. We bundled up though and made our way down. (Just a note, if you're ever looking for a pretty easy day to visit Manhattan without a lot of people around, go in February, preferably a holiday, with cold, cold weather. It really was great.)

Loaded up, ready to go

Driving into the City
(Note: all pics taken from the car. Hence, the blurriness. Click on the pics if you'd like to see them closer)

The USS Intrepid
(So huge it was almost scary to look at!)

In Manhattan
(pics from the car still)

Ground Zero
(the pic on the right is from above)

On the Roof
We parked and went and saw where Stuart and Rebecca (and their 5 young children) lived for a few years - they moved up to CT only 3 months ago. Really cool to have them show us the ropes of city living and getting around. Amazing, really. Luckily, we also had Gma & Gpa Hunt there to help move 10 kids and 3 strollers.
We went up to the roof of their apartment building.
What a spectacular view!

Here we are on Wall Street

We went over and saw the Bull and then headed over to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to see Lady Liberty a little closer.

Waiting for the ferry

On the Ferry
A great view of Manhattan

And, of course, The Statue of Liberty

After we crossed over to Staten Island, we ran (literally) around to get back on the ferry to get back over. Everyone made it back A.OK. Well done.

Once we got off the ferry we headed over to The Riverwalk (is that what's it's called?) the trail that is right beside the river that you always see in movies, on TV or even commercials. It was really neat. I wish I had gotten a better picture. By the time we had made our full circle back to where we'd parked, the lights were starting to come on everywhere. Ah, the city.

As we were heading back to the cars, we passed this:
The 9/11 Memorial
The names and pictures of all the firefighters that lost their lives.
It was really neat to be there.

One of the things I really wanted to do while visiting New York City was to taste the pizza! And, Stu & Becca knew just where it was. We loaded everyone up and headed over the Brooklyn Bridge to Grimaldi's. There was a line out the door! so we parked illegally (still surprised we weren't asked to move) and waited for our pizzas. The kids did really well waiting and it was about an hour later when we tasted PURE GOODNESS! WOW.

Fresh Mozzarella and Fresh Basil with the thin New York crust, baked to perfection.

I've never tasted pizza like this before and may have just ruined eating pizza anywhere else forever.

(this is a picture from their website, but exactly what the pizza looked like. I want it again.)

We ate and finished up in the cars and headed home. Once again all these pics were taken from the car. The building with the white lights on top is the Chrysler Building - I had actually mistaken it for the Empire State Building when we flew in, and the building with the red, white and blue on top is the Empire State Building. Glad we cleared that up.

I absolutely loved all the bridges. So fun to see them all lit up.

It was really a once in a life-time trip for our family. Just incredible to be there together.

Next time, it's just me and Ryan.