The Big Apple!

We just got home last night from a great vacation to New York with Miss Kendyll. She and I met Mark up there after his business trip this week. It was a very special treat for all three of us, and was so much fun to experience with her. It's going to be hard to fit all of the fun into one blog, especially with all the pictures! So, I'll try my best to hit the highlights.

Top Five "favorite moments" for Kendyll (according to her):

1. Beauty and the Beast on the second row. She was actually quite scared at first to be that close, but ended up loving it because she got to see "Belle's pretty face" so close, and because Mrs. Potts looked right at her and smiled.
2. The carousel in Central Park. We barely fit that one in on the last day because of rain, and we were so glad we did! It was so neat and old-school, with a juggler, balloons, cotton candy, popcorn, and everything you picture Central Park for kids to be.
3. Picking out her Floam in Times Square Toys R Us. Yes, she got to pick anything she wanted in the whole three story toy store, and she picked a bucket of floam. Hey, we got off cheap with it anyway. Ah, the power of advertising on Nick Jr.

4. Seeing Tarzan on Broadway and getting to hug "Jane" after the show. The show was amazing with all kinds of flying butterflies and flowers, as well as cool acrobatic monkeys.
5. Visiting Dylan's Candy Bar. This candy shop was two stories of candy from floor to ceiling, with a yummy ice cream shop too! Even the stairs were "made of candy"! Kendyll got to fill her own bag with whatever sweet treats she wanted and she picked some good stuff! Her favorite candy of all was the sour watermelon straws and the marshmallow lollipop.

Other things we did that didn't make Kendyll's Top Five (but that she keeps talking about constantly!):

1. We saw Uncle Chris! Mark's brother, Chris, lives in Boston, and made the trek down to spend Friday with us. It was so much fun to spend the whole day with him and watch Kendyll be SO excited to hang out with him. 2. Lunch and tea with Nellie at American Girl. One of Kendyll's surprises was tickets for lunch with her American Girl doll at the big store in NYC. We had three courses of yummy food with Nellie in her own chair with her own teacup. The store was so much fun and Kendyll got a new ballerina dress for Nellie and a nightgown for Carlie's baby. (I also did some sneaky secret Christmas shopping behind her back!)
3. Central Park Zoo! Now, I was severely misled by the "zoo" I had pictured in my head, mostly from the movie Madagascar. Just so you know, there are no lions, giraffes, zebras, elephants, or tigers at the Central Park Zoo. But, there is the most hillarious swimming polar bear and a great penguin exhibit too. We had a great time laughing at the animals and Mommy eventually got over the fact that Madagascar was completely misleading. :) 4. Dinners out with our big girl. Both nights, we went to nice places and Kendyll did an amazing job of minding her manners, eating well, and enjoying being "all dressed up" like a lady. The first night was "Da Rosina" for Italian and the second night was "City Lobster & Crab Co." for wonderful seafood. We had great food the whole time we were there, breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

5. A long rainy day in New York, which was actually fun in an unexpected way. We had fun bundling up, buying close-toed shoes for Mommy & Kendyll (since we only packed sandals), and getting hot chocolate and cafe mochas every time we saw a Starbucks. (notice the hot chocolate all over Kendyll's mouth in pic below! :)
6. Enjoying Kendyll's first subway ride, bus ride, and taxi ride all in one weekend. We were pros at every form of transportation by the time we left, and Kendyll's favorite was by far the subway. She's such a great New Yorker!
7. Hanging out on Saturday morning at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Although it was a little bit too young for Kendyll, she still found some fun. And, we got to have our one and only "star sighting" of the weekend. Our daughter played for a long time with "Gita", the daughter of Marcia Gay Harden. She is such a nice woman and just sat and played with her little girl the whole morning. (You can see her in the picture below right behind Kendyll. We never wanted to do the whole "You're a star! Can we take your picture?" thing...so that's the best we've got.)
8. Living like locals. Our hotel was in a residential part of NYC on the Upper West Side and we loved it! The local streets are so neat and it made us want to move there and live in a brownstone townhouse for way too much money just to walk around like the local families do. We found our favorite "local" deli for both an ATM machine and great breakfast. Andy's Deli had great fried egg sandwiches (i know, sounds gross.) that even Kendyll gobbled up. The place was packed with local families ordering breakfast to go. We felt so cool being non-touristy.
We had such a great long weekend and feel so blessed to have had this one-on-one time with Kendyll. Trips like these make me realize how big she is and how much older she acts than I sometimes expect! She did so great the entire weekend, and the joy in her parents' eyes as she experienced so many "firsts" was just completely cheesy. :) I was crying at the end of Beauty and the Beast, not only because of the absolute beautiful set design and singing, but at my sweet little girl's big eyes and smile as she clapped so hard and as she enjoyed all the sights and sounds of Broadway. Even if she doesn't remember every detail of this trip when she's older, her daddy and I will. And, we look forward to many more trips with our kids as they grow older to experience the world outside our city.