New York--Installment #2

Josh's main desire in going to New York was to see the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. So, even though it was raining, we headed out the next morning--well, technically it was afternoon--to see Lady Liberty. Since I do so much research on this stuff (ha!), I was a little bit surprised to find out that going inside the base of the statue can sell out! The tickets you have to buy are actually for the ferry but if you want to go inside, they must have "Monument Pass" printed on them. At a certain point they stop printing them for the day. Who knew? When we arrived at the statue, I asked a Park Ranger where exactly I could go. At that moment it started pouring rain, he looked at me and my two kids and said, "Oh, just hop in line and I'll let you in." Yea! We walked up the 192 steps from ground to the top of the base and the boys did great. (Amazing how that's not too hard but their legs are always too tired to climb up the stairs at home for something.) Inside the base is a museum and Josh's favorite part was seeing an ad for Levi's jeans. The picture cracks us up every time.

After the Statue of Liberty we hopped back on the Subway and went to F.A.O. Schwartz Toy Store. What a fun place! We tried on Harry Potter sunglasses, played on the famous giant piano, and spent quite a bit of time in the Lego section while Josh picked out his NY souvenir. (Jake had quickly found an awesome blue Batman that he talked about the rest of the trip.) David met us there and walked us through Rockefeller Center and down to Times Square. Josh said it was the best day of his life!