New York--Installment #3

Day three in New York began with a tour of the Museum of Natural History. We went in the solar system door and immediately Josh saw all the planets and meteorites. Jake was in a seriously grumpy mood so I was very excited when he fell asleep in gems and precious stones (my favorite part of the museum). It didn't last long though because that museum is not stroller-friendly. Single steps all over the place! We stopped for a picture next to Josh's favorite animal--the buffalo--and made sure we saw the elephants and dinosaurs.

After the museum, we were going to meet David for a late lunch in Chinatown before our 4:00 appointment at Little Airplane Studios. He told me which subway to take and after some hot dogs for the boys, off we went! I swear we got on the B line which should have taken us directly to Chinatown, but some where I got mixed up. After a long subway ride, I decided to check the map. Sure enough, we were not near Chinatown. We got off, walked up enough stairs to get a signal without leaving the station (so I wouldn't have to pay the fare again) and called David. This is how the call went. "Are you in Brooklyn?" "How am I supposed to know that?! I'm underground!" "Did you have a really long ride between stops?" "Ummm . . . yeah." "You're in Brooklyn. Wrong side of the river." Oops. I asked the subway-man for help and he told me to get back on the Manhattan A train. So, we trudged down the stairs again (remember I'm carrying a double stroller and trying not to lose my children) and got on the A train. Of course, I wasn't bright enough to remember I have to cross the platform to go the other direction, so after a couple stops I realize we're going further into Brooklyn! We finally get turned around (whatever stop we were at has lovely picturesque neighborhoods by the way) and head back to where we need to be. We missed lunch with David and made it to the studio with two minutes to spare. Our twenty minute commute took 1 1/2 hours and ruined Josh's opinion of my navigation skills. But every vacation needs to have a little adventure, right?

Little Airplane Studios is in an amazing renovated building in the South Street seaport area. It's a studio that creates cartoons for Nick Jr. (& other networks)--most specifically the Wonder Pets which Jake loves. We were the only ones on the tour and they walked us through the entire process of how they create the cartoons. The boys got to draw a picture and get paid (in giant $100 bills) by the editor because they finished on time. They watched the animators work on the computers and were able to do a voiceover in the music studio. They LOVED hearing their voices sing while watching the cartoon. It was a really fun thing to do with them even if it was a little off the beaten track.

David was a fantastic sport about being the major evening entertainment. He goofed off with my boys and played Wii Resort with them until 10 p.m. (I love travelling the "right" direction for time changes. It was only 8 p.m. according to the boys' internal clocks.) I do think he was a bit relieved to have Aubrey and Marne come back from Utah though to share in the keeping-my-kids-occupied spotlight.