Statue of Liberty & Central Park

 

With the government shut down, the Statue of Liberty Park was closed.  Before we left home, we bought tickets to tour the Statue but we knew there was no guarantee.  We decided to schedule it for the last day of our trip in hopes the shutdown would end in time.  We ended up getting lucky, because that Monday was the first day it re-opened after they made arrangements for the state government to temporarily fund it.  So glad, we would have been BEYOND SAD if we hadn't gotten to go see 'Lady Liberty!!'

I'm not sure I have words to describe how amazing it was.  I was so grateful for the chance to see Lady Liberty.  It was an incredible experience.  Something I have wanted to do my entire life.  When I was a teenager, we took a family trip back East.  My Dad grew up in upper state New York and we spent three weeks touring several states.  We flew into NYC, but that is the ONLY thing we did there.  I think my Dad was nervous about NYC and we didn't do anything there.  David went with us on that trip and both of us were SO disappointed to not see the Statue of Liberty.  I think that made it even more special though...we had wanted to see it for so long.  And seeing it with our kids made it even more special!!

 

The kids were SO into the museum and the audio tour!!

The support structure.

The original torch.

The stairs to the top.  We visited the top of the pedestal, which had to be purchased in advance and was nice because it wasn't crowded and had great views.  But going all the way to the top needed to be purchased months ahead of time before we even knew we were going.  Stephen and Brian weren't big enough to go to the top anyway.

 

 

SO COOL!!!

I'm not sure if you can tell by my face how much I LOVED this!!!

I love that you can see the words on the tablet in this shot...

 

 

Grand Central Station

 

We had to see Grand Central Station just to say we'd been there!

I love this shot I took of them on the subway.

I love how they always take care of each other!!

It was super crowded and we couldn't be close to them,

we never have to tell them they just watch out for each other.

Walking and catching some more sites.

We really walked a LOT on this trip.

More Central Park!!

 

Time in Central Park was our idea of a perfect trip.

We found these fun double ice cream cones, perfect for sharing, and decided to spend our last hours in New York in the park.

 

 

 

***

 

I forgot to post this picture earlier, but I love it so had to put it in.

This is at the rental car place...seeing a pay phone for the first time.

They thought it was so funny and cool!!

 

The other thing I didn't mention is how much my kiddos LOVED all the New York pizza places.  We ate a lot of pizza because they loved it so much and there is a shop on every corner.  And it was quick so we could spend time seeing more sites.  We also loved eating NY deli sandwiches and taking them to Central Park and eating on a park bench while we watched all the dogs walking past (Brian LOVES dogs).  We also ate yummy Greek food and hotdogs from the street vendors.  I love eating outside--such a cool city! 

 

One last view of Lady Liberty at night from the Hoboken

side before heading back to the hotel!! 

 

Good bye New York--what a great trip!!!