When Little Brother was a baby, I took him along on the individual trips I took with Tornado to St. Louis and Dash on our cross country train trip. Sis was offered a trip but said she would like to wait until I was no longer nursing and could devote a trip to solely her. I admire her patience and her comprehension of what that would mean for her. Smart girl! We also were able to use credit card rewards to pay for almost the entire trip!
We decided to plan our trip for her birthday month. We left February 4 (2015). The girl loves candy, and she was excited to buy a pink bag of Skittles at the airport in Tampa.
Although the straight flight isn't long, we had an evening flight and arrived in NYC late. This was the first time I've ever tried taking the Air Train from JFK into Manhattan. It took longer (but not that long) than we would have liked, but we were so excited about the trip, we didn't care. It also saved us a little money.
After we checked into the Holiday Inn Express Fifth Avenue (where we had free credit card nights and also were given a sweet room upgrade!), we headed out to eat. Our hotel was in walking distance to Times Square, so that's where we ended up. I have already started blogging about our food adventures at
Vegan and So Forth.
our shining moment on the Times Square billboard
New York City Public Library
The next morning, we were so happy to walk around in the snow. I wrote on my vegan blog about the magical moment that we wished in our hearts for it to snow...
and it began snowing as soon as we got off the subway at our favorite spot in Brooklyn, Dunwell Doughnuts. It was one of our favorite memories of the trip.
She picked out these special nails at a pharmacy during one of our walks.
One of our main objectives for this trip was a trip to an American Girl Store/Café. She had received a beautiful dress from Googie and Papaw for Christmas that was perfect for the occasion. And Nona and Grandpa gifted us with an American Girl gift card to pay for this outing.
It was a fun experience with Samantha and Sadie!
more about our experience
here
Top of the Rock
the "Big" movie piano at FAO Schwarz
The Plaza
Who lives at The Plaza? Eloise, of course!
We just loved our fancy Eloise afternoon tea. We opted for the experience in The Palm Court, rather than the one you can get with other children. They made it so cute and sweet for her, anyway, with her own special Eloise tea set to use with pink lemonade and pink cotton candy. This was not an inexpensive experience, but I would so do it all over again if we get the chance.
ice skating at Rockefeller Center
This was one of the best trips of my life. My girl loves to explore and stay busy on vacations as much as I do. We enjoyed some of the best food we could ever eat and loved exploring our favorite city.
We enjoyed (along with Sadie) a special performance by the New York City Ballet.
We followed this with a visit to Hangawi, a wonderful, vegan, Korean place where to take off your shoes and sit on the floor.
Having visited New York many times during the summer and fall, I highly recommend a wintry visit. It did feel magical, and we enjoyed getting bundled up. Perhaps we appreciated the season so much more, having lived in Florida for two winters. Central Park was lovely, and next time we will locate a sled.
first walk on the Brooklyn Bridge
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Some of the books we read before and after our trip:
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