New York City Family Spring Break - Day 2

We woke up on Monday morning to a cold, rainy, nasty morning. We got up early intending to head over to the Today Show, but weren't quite up to it with the rain. Cathie and I grabbed breakfast at the hotel restaurant and had the most expensive (but included in my honors diamond privileges) breakfast buffet in the world ($35/person). Nate and I braved the weather and treked over to Jamba Juice for breakfast.

We piled in a cab and headed to the Museum of American Natural History, made popular in the movie "Night at the Museum". It ran about $140 for the family and took us about 3 1/2 hours to get through everything - or at least as much as they wanted to get through. We figured out early on that we should split off, so Em and I trekked around spending a lot of time at every single animal exhibit. It was so much fun just doing this with her and I. We came up with silly poses at the different exhibits, like this one below of a 70x scale mosquito.

She also got into taking pictures, and took hundreds, looking at each and examining how the flash was reflecting off the glass, how the pictures were framed and wanting me to pose in all sorts of photos, like the one below of me with wood.

We took the subway and it was a little scary for the kids, not to mention the fact that I just barely knew how to navigate the NYC subway system not instilling a lot of confidence. We headed over to Rockafeller center (which the kids could care less about) and then hoofed it in the rain back to the hotel to chill for a bit.

We decompressed for a bit at the hotel and then headed out again in the rain. We took the subway down near Central Park, but no one was in much of a mood to check it out as the downpour ensued. Nate and I headed over to the Apple Store while the girls went into FAO Schwartz next door.

What an amazing toy store. They had the giant walking piano from the movie Big there, which you could buy for a mere $250k.

They had a part of the store where you could build your own custom muppet. Very cool.

Em was kind enough to let me carry her all the way back from 59th and 5th ave. The only deal was that she had to watch the street signs and tell me when to turn. I figured you're never too young to learn to navigate NYC.

We headed into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which never ceases to amaze me. The kids were not impressed no matter how interesting we tried to make it. The only time Nate was slightly impressed was when I told him that part of Highlander was filmed there.

For dinner, we made the mistake of going to a restaurant right off of Times Square. We went to Mars 2112 based on a recommendation - a bad one. In the beginning they sit you down and take you into a space-ship ride that takes you to Mars. This would have been cool had they updated it since it opened in 2003. It was so cheesy and hokeyand poorly kept up (not to mention outrageously expensive) that we got up and left. We went across the street to the Stardust diner, where the waitstaff sing. Sounds fun in theory - unless they charge $20/burger. Much to Maddie's humiliation, we got up and left there as well. My family was rebelling and Cath was doing her best to prevent a mutiny. We headed over to the east side and found a hole-in-the wall Brazillian resturant that was pretty reasonable priced. This was one of the places where they bring the skewers of meat and feed you until you explode. We ate until we were pretty darn full.

We grabbed some snacks and went back to our hotel to watch MSU get destroyed in the NCAA tournament. Nate, Cathie and I kept watching, in spite of the beating.

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