New York City

We spent a day in New York on our way to South Africa. Sue ran all the logistics, and this was the best way to break up our trip from San Francisco.  And besides, New York is cool!

We did some exploring, checking out the Lego store, Nintendo Pokemon world, and a few other shops to get the feel for NYC. Bryce in particular really liked the energy, but he was disappointed hat there weren't more expensive cars on the roadway.  We found ourselves in Times Square on consecutive nights, basking in the glow of super-large TVs everywhere, and just checking out the people.

Bryce in Times Square

We had just one full day in NYC, and it happened to be the 4th of July.  Bryce and I were game to check out the fireworks, but the crowd-averse girls tried to watch from the hotel room instead. There were so many people trying to watch fireworks that we didn't get a great view, but we still had an awesome show behind some low lying buildings with thousands of other people.

Here's Bryce's story about the Lego and Nintendo store:


“LEGO!!!” I screamed as I ran up to a huge Lego sign that was made out of, well duh, Legos. “ Take a picture daddy! Take a picture!” I screamed. “Alright, Alright” he said as he snapped a picture of me smiling as cheesily as the actors on dental commercials. “Wowzass!!!” I squealed. “ This place is NUTSO!!!!” “Can we go in daddy” asked Laurel. “Yes” He sighed. I raced inside and almost went around the revolving doors twice! “Hey hey hey! Said an employee. Here’s a, free, issue of the Yoda chronicles!” I looked around. “Wow!” said laurel. “Look they’ve got museum sized paintings made out of Lego bricks,” I said. Laurel squealed. “And they even have a guy holding up a Lego globe! And there’s a Lego apple! And a dragon! And and, and…” “A lot of cool stuff” I added. “Oh my gosh there’s a Lego diorama of the square this building is located in” I said. “ Whoa, when did Darth Vader dance with princess Lea,” said Laurel pointing at two star wars figurines dancing in the middle of the square. “Kids, can we go now,” said dad. “Okay dokay, to the Pokémon store!” I said. Laurel and I raced out of the building at light speed and headed to the Pokémon store. “O.M.G” We said. We then raced into the building. Laurel immediately ran to the Poké dolls while I headed to a DS with Pokémon White 2 inserted. “This is awesome,” I said while playing it. I glanced over to the section Laurel was in. She was going ko-ko for cocoa puffs and kissing Poké dolls. I put down the DS and headed to the figurine section. I jumped up and then ran to the T-Shirt rack. “OMG they got a Raikou Tee!” I put it down and headed to the doll area. I freezed midway. “OMG they got a Woobat doll!!!” Woobat was my favorite Pokémon. He was a Pokémon inspired by the heart nosed bat. “OMG he’s even soft!!!!!” I squealed. After that I did a little racing on a Wii upstairs. After that we went home. New York. Typical. Plan your next vacation in NY today.