NYC day 2! The kids woke up still on fire to go back to the city, and so we went. Miss L just couldn’t get the Statue of Liberty out of her head, and even though my kids had been there just 4 years ago, they were happy to visit again, as well. We were too late to get tickets to go into the statue, but the ferry ride and the island grounds are still worth it.
The best thing about having my kids is that they aren’t afraid of much. We had to wait a bit for me to finish my coffee before boarding the ferry, so I sat on a nice park bench under a flowery tree and told the kids to beat it and avoid getting arrested for about ten minutes so I could pretend I was on an island all alone for a second. About ten minutes later, just as I was taking my last drinks of magical morning elixir, they came sprinting back looking guilty as all get-out. “What did you do???” “Shhhhh….pretend we have been sitting here the whole time.” They smashed in next to me on the bench and worked on looking really innocent. They couldn’t have looked more guilty. Then about 5 NYC police officers came strutting around the corner. My children are scamps! I pretended not to know whose kids they were, but the police didn’t appear to know they needed to be searching for them, so I figured that the kids couldn’t have gotten into too much trouble, and we waited for the officers to walk off. I was dying laughing inside because it was pretty obvious that they hadn’t noticed the kids at all and coincidentally appeared just when the kids were breaking rules. “We found a secret door to a secret garden! Then we went in and were playing Godzilla, and the police came up!” Wait, what? They showed me. They HAD found a secret door, and it WAS a secret garden.
I have the coolest kids ever.
So we went to see the Statue of Liberty. It’s never disappointing. This is the first time we have listened to the audio tour, and it is gratifying to find that the kids are old enough to listen to and enjoy that type of educational tool. It was hot today. We bought smoothies that looked far better in the picture than they were in real life, but that didn’t matter. They still hit the spot. I’ve got to keep these kids energized and fed or they descend into despair. 
We also stopped at Ellis Island. This was a first for all of us. I am not sure why I have never thought to stop there, but today seemed like a good day for it. If you had a close relative come through Ellis Island, a visit is in order. My Opa came over on Ellis Island and experienced all of the least desirable experiences a kid could experience there. His father had a terrible heart attack on the boat before landing, so when they arrived, my Opa was separated from his parents and put through check-in alone. Then he and his mom had to wait in the quarantine area of the island while his father was in the hospital there. They were allowed to see him very little, and when he died, they were likely not allowed to spend any time saying goodbye. They immediately had to make arrangements to have him taken to the mainland to be buried. That is what life was like when you arrived with a sick relative who was too sick to be sent back to Europe right away. It would have been frightening and grievous for a child. It occurred to me, then, that I don’t know where my Opa’s father was buried. I imagine it was somewhere in New York City or New Jersey, as that is where my Opa and his mother lived for a decade after. I would love to visit his grave on our next trip to NYC. 
I had promised Miss Magpie that we could go to Marshals to find her an outfit from NYC, and I promised Bunny and Miss L that we could go back to the Disney Store. Those were the longest few hours of my life. Taking 5 exhausted, hungry kids clothes shopping for a tween is torture worse than death. Maybe not quite that bad, but close. But we had success, and it seemed like a fitting ending to our days in NYC. I think we all find that it was a pretty perfect few days.
Well, I must be tired because as we packed up the gear to move out of camp, I had a small meltdown in which I stated to my children who have walked over 20 miles in the past 2 days, “You don’t have the slightest idea how exhausted I am.” They all looked at me like “Ummm….pretty sure we walked 20 miles, too.” They are nice to me in these moments.
I have to get the oil changed and the tires rotated on the Suburban tomorrow. Also, the check engine light came on. WHATTT??? So tomorrow will be a business day on this trip. We are in a hotel tonight. That means that all bodies and clothing will get clean all at the same time. Those little things matter on a trip like this.
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