We started the day out early after a much less than ideal night of sleep. Amy, Mike, James and Olivia spent the night over so that we could get out early. Unfortunately, the big kids were very excited and the little kids didn’t want to sleep. We finally got them all to sleep, but we didn’t get to sleep until nearly midnight. Sue and I got up at 5am to prepare and get the big kids ready.

Our plan was to get out of the house early and pick up a nice breakfast from D&D. I’m not sure what world we live in, but D&D was not open at 6:30am. We ended up buying coffee and semi-palatable breakfast foods from Cumberland Farms. A gas station breakfast for the four of us.

We ended up at the meeting place early and got a chance to meet the driver. The woman in charge of this pick up spot had the nerve to ask us to get off the bus so that she could count us. WTF. There was only four of us and we were already settled in. She was late, not us. Not a great way to start the day, but we were still happy to be getting out.

The bus trip was relatively short and uneventful until we reached NYC. The kids had a good time and we well behaved. Thankfully the bus had a bathroom, which Emelia took care to use multiple times on the trip. Shortly into the trip the “leader” of the group announced that she had some movies that we could watch. She allowed the youngest on the bus to choose, which was Emelia. Out of the more recent Christmas movies she chose Elf. It ended up being a good choice, which the group enjoyed.

The only real interesting part of the trip was when we got a chance to watch a woman get out of her wheelchair, pull her pants down and piss on the side of 42nd street. The only thing that probably kept her bottom from being see was that she hid it behind the side of store door. The more amazing part was that there were two cop cars, with cops immediately right next to her. She just pulled up her pants, got back into her wheelchair and left. I was so stunned I didn’t even think to post a video. It could have gone viral!

None worse for wear, here are the kids posing in front of the New York Library. Just about ready to head out to see the sights.

Our first stop of the day was Times Square. It was only a few blocks from Bryant Park. At nearly each intersection were people dressed up as Elmo and other monsters. The kids enjoyed seeing them, but Emelia didn’t want to go near them.

Times Square was busy, but not so much that you couldn’t walk around. M&M’s World was our first stop. Toys R Us in Times Square was too busy to event think about going in. From what I heard they were giving out numbers so that you could shop at a scheduled time.

The M&M’s World store was pretty nice. It’s pretty much what you would expect. Three floors full of people and M&M’s branded merchandise. We checked out nearly everything and decided to buy a little bit to remember the trip. James is really interested in baseball so we bought him an M&M’s baseball and bought us all some Pretzel and Almond M&M’s for the day. They were of course overpriced, but we bought a few as a treat. It’s hard to resist when the walls are literally made up of huge bulk contains.

Emelia waited on line with me to pay.

Afterwards we made our way back down Times Square to the subway station. We took some token pics on the way through.

We had a lot of trouble getting a decent picture. The kids were too happy and giggly to stand still. Tickling them while we posed may not have helped either.

We bought a Metrocard and got on the subway for a short trip uptown. It was too cold and too far of a walk for the kids. This was to be our only trip on the train for the day and it was James first time ever on a subway. Emelia was accustomed to taking the subway after our trip to Toronto last year. He got quite nervous on the platform, but loosened up once we boarded the train.

Our next stop was to be FAO Schwarz. However, we were all hungry and needed sustenance. After seeing just how long the line was to get into FAO we figured that it would be best to eat first and then go shopping. Having not had time to plan ahead we spontaneously chose the only restaurant in sight and ended up having lunch at a place named Pop Burger.

It’s a small, expensive burger joint. The food wasn’t bad, but not great either. I had a burger, the kids each had a hot dog and mom had a caesar salad with chicken. I think we were all satisfied except for Sue. The chicken on her salad was very dry and hardly edible. I traded the last of my burger and tried to get her salad down. Blah. I’m not one to complain about food in a place, but I am one to give a less than good online review if a meal is bad. Other than that it was an okay meal. The place was small and busy, which means little seating.

After eating we headed over to FAO Schwarz to wait in line. I’m not sure what miracle happened, but it only took about 5 minutes to get in the building. I was expecting something like 30 minutes, but was pleased to be in the store so quickly.

It was our first time in FAO Schwarz. None of us have been there before. It was well worth going into the icon store, but I am surprised at the lack of holiday decorations. I expected the store to be bigger and better decorated. If it were not for the scores of people I would never have known it was the pre-Christmas season.

Emelia and James took in story time in the book section, which I scoped the place out. It was absolutely packed and difficult to get around. I figured it was best to find the places where we wanted to go without the kids. James was in love with the puzzle section and I found the Butterfly Container toy very cool. Emelia had a great time checking out the books and the dolls. We were liberated of a few bucks to buy a book for Caitlin and a Christmas toy for Olivia.

In the doll section the kids played with a Barbie themed foosball table. It was a custom made table and only cost $24,000 to buy. It made for a great place to take pictures with the kids (look for the kids posing).

Untitled from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

While we waited to get out of the building one of the guards entertained James. He had quite the personality and took to the kids quite well despite his age. It was unexpected. We got a nice surprise on the way out of the store. MasterCard had a deal where you would get a complimentary taxi ride if you bought anything in FAO with your MasterCard. We bought the book using ours and gratefully took advantage of the free taxi.

It isn’t much monetarily, but having a free taxi ready and waiting was a very nice treat. No running around to find and flag one down. We just hopped into a warm car and were off to Rockefeller Center. The kids both got a kick out of it. This was another first for both of them. They got to ride in a taxi in NYC traffic for the first time. The driver was nice and joked around with the kids too. Nothing but high spirits filled the car.

Our next stop was Rockefeller Center to see the tree and to check out a few other stores. It was amazingly busy as you would expect. Since it was only 2pm we were able to move around and actually get close to the tree. It’s nothing but a huge tree in the daytime, but amazing to look at when the sun goes down.

The crowd on the side where the angles are located was much thicker. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was where the entrance to Lego World was located. That was our next stop. The crowd on our side was thick, but maneuverable.

I love the architecture of the area. I may have to bring my grandma back here just to see this area. From what I’ve read the view from the top of Rockefeller Center is amazing and not as busy as the Empire State Building. I wish we had time to do it on this trip, but it wasn’t to be.

Trying to get a picture of the kids on the angel side. The couple behind them were damn near making out the entire time. I think he may have hit second or maybe third base in the few minutes we were there.

Angels and the tree. We are at the complete opposite from where we were earlier. Only took us 20 minutes to get there with all of the people.

We finally made it down to Lego World. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it would have been crawling with Lego kids. The big drawn were the bulk bins of Legos. You can buy a small or large cup of them for a lot of money. James is fascinated with the Star Wars sets. We had an extremely hard time getting around in there. Emelia got fed up and asked to be held. Bending down to her level I can see why. She sees nothing but crotches and butts at her height.

After losing Sue in the crown I had enough and tried to escape. Some poor woman was trying to get out of the store and people kept tell her to take her stroller through the revolving door. I’m not sure how that made sense. I told her there was a real door, but she couldn’t get there. Being a little pissed myself I made way in the crowd for her. Being large and having a big jacket on myself I had no issue parting the way and blocking the entrance so that she could get out. She was very grateful and I felt good to get some frustration out on the crowd.

I didn’t take many pictures after this, but we did plenty. We headed over to Nintendo World just to check it out. The kids took the opportunity to try out the many Nintendo DS’s all over the place. Sue and I got a chance to sit and rest. Afterwards we headed to the NBC store for a quick look and decided to get a warm drink. We bought some Starbucks coffee for us and hot chocolate for the kids. It was also another chance to rest. Mom and the kids were getting tired of all the walking.

After checking out the skating rink and waiting in line for a lifetime to pee we headed out. My plan was to walk back down to 42nd street and maybe stop at the NBA Store on the way. Either the directions on Google Maps were way off or the store is closed because we didn’t find the NBA store. When we reached 42nd street I decided to make our way down to Grand Central Terminal. The kids have never been there and it is an impressive building to see for the first time. I think it was a bit lost on the kids, but we went regardless.

Our next and final stop was dinner at Hunan Manor on Lexington. We were in the mood for Chinese and this was the closest of two places in the area. It ended up being a nice find. It’s a small restaurant that specializes in Hunan food. It’s across the street from another Chinese food place that seemed to have American Chinese food than Hunan Manor. We were looking for more authentic food.

To keep the kids happy we opted to get them some basic sweet and sour chicken. They were not really hungry and ate half of the dish. Sue ordered me some 五香牛肉, which I’ve come to like. It’s a five spice flavor beef/beef tendon that is formed and then served thinly sliced and cold. It’s a simple appetizer.

The second dish that I chose was smoked pork with leeks. It was also good, but Sue didn’t eat much as it was made with a piece of fatty pork. The smokiness is strong, but with the leeks and some good white rice it is a nice dish.

The last dish is one that Sue picked out. I don’t know the name of it and I couldn’t venture a guess. The three primary ingredients were hot red peppers, pork and cilantro. I have never eaten chili peppers like this. There must have been a ton in there. We usually cook a dish with 6-8 of these and never eat the peppers themselves. This dish contained dozens and they were a main ingredient. Cilantro is also there is large quantities. I’m not a big cilantro fan. The pork was minimal and very thin.

I cannot say that I liked the dish much, but I did eat it. It wasn’t terrible, just not to my liking. It was definitely spicy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The peppers were still dry and tough. I’m not sure if this is normal for Hunan food or not as I have no experience with it. Since the other dishes were done well I assume that this is normal for this dish. On a plus side I can say I ate it.

After dinner we took a stroll back towards Bryant Park. It was still one hour before our pick up time so we decided to try and reach Rockefeller Center again. We really wanted to see the tree in the dark where you can appreciate the lights. Emelia was beat and kept asking to be held. I kept her going by playing her favorite game where we run away from a monster. We ran most of the way back with James and Sue bringing up the rear.

We made it back to see the tree in 10 minutes flat, which is not bad considering we had kids with us and they were winding down. The crowds were as bad as you would expect, but we found a nice place to take in the tree from a distance. We didn’t even think about trying to get up close. It was a madhouse and not worth the fight.

Having still yet more time to kill we started our walk back and ended up and Barnes and Nobel. The kids wanted to check out the books and toys they had on sale. It was super busy, but the kids got to pick out some nice books. Both of the kids are at reading age so the store is fun for them. With 30 minutes left we trotted the rest of the way back and waited for our bus.

It took us a bit to get out of the city with all of the traffic trying to get back to the Lincoln Tunnel, but we got out in decent time overall. The trip back was quiet for the most part. We watched The Santa Clause and the kids both crashed. By the time we reached the car it was 11:15 or so. We were able to get home and get everybody into bed by 11:45.

As expected it was a busy, but a very fun day. The kids both did well despite the normal issues of not listening well. Nobody got hurt and nobody lost anything. We all got to eat well and took a few things home to remember the trip. We gained a lot of new memories and checked off some of life’s todo’s. The city was busy and crowded, yet people were polite and not annoying as you would expect. I even chatted up a few strangers while waiting.

One last thing about the trip. We all noticed that there were hundreds if not thousands of people dressed as Santa while we were there. You usually get a few eccentrics doing it, but not that many. Most were in their early twenties. According to the news they were dressed this way for SantaCon. Around Grand Central we found that there were even some drunk folks carrying OWS signs. There large groups of police officers armed with nylon handcuffs in the area too. According to SantaCon NYC the event is not political. This didn’t seem to stop some from showing some OWS love at the same time.

This is pretty much how the streets looked for most of the day. By the time dinner rolled around you saw some small groups, but still plenty of red outfits.

I am sure mom and dad can recall the chess sets I had at home. I vividly recall an electronic one my grandparents got me. These days we are playing it with James using some old sets as well as Sue’s iPad and my IPhone.

I had to spend some time freshening up on the rules and basic techniques. It has been a long time but he has renewed the spark at least for now. I don’t expect it to last long term but I will enjoy helping him as best I can. Emelia does not have the patience for this type of game right now but she may in the future.

It will be a humbling day when James and Emelia beat me at strategy games but I look forward to it.

I’ve never seen this before, but all kids must wear tags. It has their name, address, phone number and teacher name.

James playing with his friend at the new daycare before leaving for school.

Ready to get on the bus for school.

Load them up and move them out.

Here are all of the graduates along with some of the four year old kids that were there to participate. They started off with a procession into the auditorium and walked to their chairs.

The little graduate.

Here is Olivia holding up her end of the bargain by being well behaved and quiet. By the end she wanted out the car seat.

Caitlin spent the time walking up and down our row of chairs, climbing up and down and showing off her boo-boo (she had blood drawn for some tests). I can’t complain, because she was relatively quiet the entire time. The only moment she was trouble was when she tried to run off.

The kids were awarded certificates of graduation and sang a few songs. Each child also got to tell everybody what they learned while at daycare. James was proud to say that he learned his phone number. I would post the video, but he really does know his phone number and told everybody in the auditorium. It was cute.

Caitlin doing her best to squirm out of my arms. She was tired and ready for bed. I was hoping for a nice picture together, but this is all we could get.

James and the girls.

James and one of his buddies. This little guy’s aunt works where I work.

James’ grandparents came up to attend the ceremony and visit with the family.

Afterwards we headed back to the daycare for pizza and snacks. The kids stuffed themselves with pizza and cookies. I gave Emelia a small cup of soda, which is a first for her. She took one sip and told me to give her a cup of tap water. That’s my girl.

Silly Dancing from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

I can hardly believe he’s already five, but James is officially school age. He looks so big and mature these days. It’s hard enough to believe that we used to carry Emelia around in our arms, but it’s very difficult to remember the days that we used to babysit James in our apartment.

The trip to the zoo was not without event. We got all the way to White Plains where we suddenly saw that the Bronx River Parkway was closed. Not cool. I don’t have a map of Westchester (yet) and we had to find out way out of the city and on to a new highway that lead to the Bronx. Thankfully, I printed the directions out from various locations as was able to approach the zoo from a different direction without too much trouble. I will say that getting to the zoo was much easier than I expected; that area was much easier to navigate and less aggressive than Manhattan.

It took us little time to park and get in. The lines were short as it was early and we had brought out tickets. Sue splurged and got us the total experience tickets that allowed us to do everything except for Camel rides for one price. Not bad.

Our first stop were the Bison. Impressively large creatures.

Then some incredibly large deer. If I read the sign right these are only found in captivity, but used to live in northern China.

Up Tiger Mountain we caught a glimpse of a tiger, but saw very little as it was packed with people.

A very sad looking Polar bear. This makes you second guess if zoos are a good place for some animals.

(One of Sue’s masterpieces) A red panda. Very cool to see in person. It was moving all around.

More of the many species of deer at the zoo.

On our way to the monorail.

The monorail brought us for a nice tour of the southern most part of the zoo. This entire area was only accessible by the monorail. The kids spent a portion of the time eating M&Ms to keep up the spastic energy levels they had.

The beautiful Bronx River. Just beyond all that green is urban city life.

Mongolian wild horses.

We got a better look at another tiger from the monorail.

The one and only elephant that we saw in the entire place.

After the monorail we headed back for a couple orders of chicken strips and fries. Believe it or not that was probably the best deal on food they had. At least we had forethought enough to bring drinks. If you go pack a lunch. The food offerings are mediocre, but pricey.

The one extra that we splurged on were camel rides for the kids (including Sue). Here are a couple of fellows taking a well deserved rest.

The kids on Matthew, the six year old camel. The guy leading the camel told them all about him. I still hear “Daddy I want to see Mathew.”

The entire zoo is open to the peafowl such as this fine looking peacock.

Giraffes

After this we made our way to the butterfly sanctuary.

In the butterfly sanctuary there were some huge fish. These were at least as popular as the butterflies. It was funny being there and knowing just enough Chinese to get the hint of what others are talking about. We heard a guy say the following: 那个不好吃。太老了！(They don’t taste good. They’re too old!) Both Sue and I got a kick out of that.

Posing for pictures outside the butterfly building. I have more of these, but will hold off until later to post them. They’re cute enough to be POTD.

We stood in line for our chance to ride the bug carousel. The kids liked it despite the simplicity of the ride.

Then we hit up the Mouse House, Bug House and Reptile House for some indoor activities. It was quite warm so we made these quick trips. Next up was a trip to the zoo store to pick up a couple small souvenirs for the kids. James got a puzzle (that he later decided he didn’t like because it was too easy (300 pieces!)) and Emelia got a tiger on a stick. Coming close to the end of the day we figured that since we were there and we already had tickets that we should do as much as possible. The last big thing on the agenda was hitting up the Children’s Zoo.

The Children’s Zoo is a zoo within a zoo specifically for little kids (the 10 and under crowd). There were animals and some interactive things. Both James and Emelia enjoyed a simple log that they could crawl through.

James and Emelia crawled the giant spider web.

More pictures, this time with a big set of ears. These were popular and people were pushing their way into the picture.

Lastly up was a petting zoo. We skipped right by and made our way out. By this time Sue was tired and starting to lose her patience and I had a headache despite having more than enough energy.

Last thing on the agenda was making our way home. Instead of making the 10 minute walk we decided to use our tickets to their fullest and ride the shuttle back. We were lucky and made it on and rode around through parts we didn’t see while making our way back to the car. We got out of the zoo and out of the Bronx without incident. We went back out the way we came in, which fortunately for us took on highways and roads that I’ve driven literally hundreds of times. I could have done it with my eyes shut. The kids lasted longer in the car than we expected as they didn’t have a nap and we wore them as much as possible. Emelia slept for an hour and James took a 30 minute nap.

All in all it was a great trip. It didn’t cost too much, wasn’t too far away and the kids had a great time. We didn’t see everything so there will likely be another trip to the zoo in our future, but not too soon. Maybe when Caitlin is a little bigger we’ll take just our girls there to finish up what we didn’t see and to revisit some places we enjoyed most.

Not sure what to do when got to the fair we ended up making our way to the rides. In hind-sight I think this was the best decision. The kids had plenty of energy and had empty stomachs. Perfect conditions for rides. We started off slowly with a ride on the ferris wheel. This was Emelia’s first time and she was completely cool. I don’t think she really knew what was going on because she could not see how high we were. James loved being able to see everything from up highg.

Being up high also gave us a chance to plan out our next stops.

Here is a shot of one ride that James rode twice. I would have went myself and brought Emelia, but she was too small to ride it.

While James and Mike rode the Crazy Mouse ride Grandma and Emelia went on the bumblebee ride together. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, grandma or Emelia.

Grandma and Emelia on Bumblebee ride from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

All set and ready to take off on the kite flying ride. This was border line too small for a person my size to ride. Not to mention I got grease on my pants from this (or maybe the ferris wheel). James really wanted me to go with him so I took the pain and put it into the back of my mind. He really had a good time.

Here is a nice shot of our feet as we fly around.

Emelia just had to ride on the kid swings. These were just perfect, if not a bit too slow for her.

Kiddie Swings from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

James and Mike on the carousel.

James on the Carousel from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

Fly a helicopter together.

Helicopter Ride from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

More swings, only these were much faster than the first one.

Swings from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

The kids also rode motorcycles.

I took James on a crazy tug boat ride that we saw. It’s too bad that Emelia was too small to go on. I think she would have liked it.

Emelia was big enough for the tilt-a-whirl ride though. Grandpa, James, Emelia and I went on this one together. James loved it. Emelia did okay. She looked a bit nervous when we really got a good spin on, but she didn’t freak out or cry. When we got off she was happy. I think it was just her first experience with something like that, but since we were all there she felt safe enough.

We finished off rides for the day by having Grandma and James ride on the Crazy Mouse ride.

I didn’t take any photos after this point, but we also switched over from kid friendly to more parent oriented things. First up was eating. We all had our share of fair food and some of the other tasty treats that you can get at the Big E. We splurged and got Lobster rolls and blueberry crisp. By the end I was stuffed. The giant corn dog and turkey leg were a bit much. My tummy is big, but doesn’t stretch like it used to.

After eating we meandered around and found our way to the animal area. It was packed so we didn’t stay long. We eventually found some cows, took a gander and decided to call it quits. We made our trek back to the entrance, said our good byes and made our way home. The trip home was uneventful as the one in the morning. Everybody except Mike and I were asleep almost immediately. Emelia actually fell asleep on the way back to the van.

Emelia was a bit fussy when we got home, but we all crashed early. By morning she was in good spirits again. She really had a good time and became attached to grandma. Grandpa didn’t get quite so much love, but she is a girl and just as moody as any and very quick to give you the cold shoulder. When we got home we also realized just how much sun we got. I noticed that Amy got some on her chest and I got quite a bit on my face. I’m actually sunburned on the face and on the right side of my neck. Caitlin has some rosiness on her face too, which isn’t good for infants, but we didn’t realize it at the time. All that time in the carrier must have exposed her. Emelia and Sue didn’t show any sign of burns.

We may have to make another trip the Big E, but unless somebody stays back we’ll be travelling in two cars. Four adults and four kids is too much for one van.