NY, NY

Now that tax season is over I (Nick) have my weekends back.  And with the free flights (if you don't mind the risk of being stranded), the boys and I decided to take a quick trip to New York City.

The flight out was a redeye.  We left Salt Lake a bit before midnight and arrived at JFK around dawn.  None of us slept.  But for just $9/lb, you can eat your heart out at the airport buffet.  The quality of the food is somewhere between Arctic Circle and day-old McDonalds.

After "breakfast" we hopped on the subway to visit Manhattan.  This is what we saw right outside the first subway station.

Kinda fun to see.  Then we immediately lost our bearings; we were surrounded by skyscrapers and the compass on my phone didn't seem to want to settle on which direction we were facing.  But after a couple of minutes we figured it out and headed north.  At the southwest corner of Central Park, we took a quick break at a pretty cool statue of Christopher Columbus.  So next is Central Park, which is... really, really big.  2.5 miles long, half a mile wide.  As soon as we got there, I sat them down and talked to them about the importance of staying where they could see me, of staying put if they got lost, of talking to someone in a uniform if they still couldn't find me.

We were all pretty impressed with the size of the park, so much so that Owen and Jack wasted no time running off and getting lost.  It's one thing to lose track of your kids at Walmart.  It's a bit different here.  You go through the stages of Lost Kid a little bit faster (Annoyance, Concern, Fear, Panic, and then when they are found, a mix of Anger and Total Relief).  We had a more serious chat this time that included some tears and threats of heading right back to the airport but they shaped up and it wasn't an issue from there on.

A couple hours later we made our way to the Natural History Museum, which the boys immediately recognized from Night at the Museum.  I've gotta say, the Smithsonian museums in DC are better.  And free.

Prior to the museum, we grabbed lunch from a street vendor.  It was the first time I've had falafel.  Probably the last time I'll have falafel.  After all this we hopped back on the subway down to the southern end of Manhattan so we could see Lady Liberty.  The tours are all closed down right now because of Hurricane Sandy damage but we could still see from where we were.

At this point we were all a little tired from the walking and not sleeping.  So we hopped back on the subway and headed to our hotel in Queens. 

It's a pretty long ride, and the car was full most of the way, so I stood while the boys slept.  

When we got to the hotel we grabbed dinner and then I told them they could stay up as late as they wanted.  It wasn't very late.  We were all exhausted and were asleep before 9pm EST.  The best thing about the hotel, they'll tell you, was the free breakfast buffet!  Please, friends and families, do not fall for this marketing trick.  The waffle maker hadn't been cleaned in months, and I had to screen what they were eating out of fear for their health.  But they had bacon, and between the two of them my boys ate half a pig.  The next day we wandered a little bit and then headed back to the airport.  It was a short trip but I had neglected these two for the entire tax season and wanted to spend some time with them.  I'm glad I did.  I think Alaska is next.