Thursday, April 09, 2009

New York City Family Spring Break - Day 3

We woke up early on Tuesday, our last day, to follow my big plan for the day... Turns out it wasn't everyone's plan. Surprisingly, I had to twist arms to get the girls to go down to Good Morning America to see Miley Cyrus. We headed over there and watched the show from the outside and then headed over to the Today Show. The Today Show does their outdoor gigs, at which point you can watch the guests, see the hosts, etc.

The guests outside when we were there was Joan Rivers and Melissa, talking about their Celebrity Apprentice show with Donald Trump. With all of the plastic surgery she's had, Joan Rivers looked craaaazy. She looked plastic, kind of like a celebrity impersonator.
Melissa Rivers, Al Roker, Anne CurryToday Show - Joan & Melissa Rivers
Maddie, Nate and I stood behind them as they filmed, waving to get on camera. Afterward we walked around to the side where Ann Curry came over to talk to some of the people visiting. We stood off to the side and I nudged Maddie to get up and shake her hand. She saw Maddie and said, "Wow, what beautiful red hair. Can I have a hug?" After which, she saw Nate and asked Maddie if this was her brother and Nate came over and went for the hug. Smart man.
Anne Curry and MaddieAnne Curry @ Today Show with Maddie
She was really nice and genuine and the kids thought this was very cool.
Anne Curry, Maddie and Nate
From there we headed back to the hotel to grab some warmer clothes and then headed back on the town. We headed down to Battery Park, intending on taking the Staten Island Ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty. It was freezing on the water, so instead we jumped on the subway to head up and see Grand Central Station. Again, I explained to Nate that this was where part of the Matrix had taken place along and the girls about Madagascar (well, not really, because it's a cartoon).
Nate, Maddie and Em in Battery Park with Statue of LibertyCathie, Nate, Maddie, Em, Dave in Grand Central Station
We headed over to Ripley's museum and spent a while there. It wasn't cheap ($105 for 5 of us, even with the AAA discount) but the kids loved it (probably more than the museum).
Maddie and Em's head in a jarNate's head in a jar
They had tons of fun photo ops and explanations of everything, including these creepy head jars.
Cathie's Dryer Lint ArtNo Torso Emily
Cathie was inspired by this painting done completely with colored dryer lint. Emily loved the magical box that made you look like Torso-Boy.
The Crazy Rotating Room
The last part was the coolest. It was a tunnel that had rotating walls with funk designs on it. The moment you walked on the platform you felt like you were spinning. If you close your eyes, you're fine. You felt drunk walking across the platform. It was really very cool.

We grabbed lunch and hit just about every suvonier shop in NYC before heading over to Central Park as our last hurrah. The kids hung out and played on the rocks before we jumped on the subway back to our hotel and headed to the airport.
Dave, Maddie, Nate and Em in Central ParkCentral Park Maddie and Nate
We took a cab back to the airport and the ride was brutal. Our driver zipped, zagged and stopped so much we were all car sick. As we approached the airport, Nate leaned his head out and ralphed. Nice was to end things! I watched everyone go through security and then headed out to New Jersey for customer meetings yesterday.

It was a great trip, but a busy one. I think we had a good mix of downtime and doing stuff. The kids loved it. Maddie wants to move there.

You can see the rest of the pictures from our trip here.

No comments: