The KLMN Blog: I want to be a part of it....

New York, Newww Yooorrrrrrk! As mentioned above, we traveled to NYC as a family to support our nephew Ben in the Buddy Walk to raise awareness for the National Down Syndrome Society. Of course, though, we took the opportunity to soak up as much of the city as we could with the kiddos! I cannot express enough how impressed Nick and I were by our children - they trekked all over the city with us, nonstop. They were eager, enthusiastic, joyful and....this is the part that I love the most....polite and well behaved! I have to brag for a minute and say that, truly, everywhere we went people stopped us to tell us how delightful and polite our kids were (until the last 30 minutes before we boarded the plane home when Liam had a meltdown over a pizza slice that I think was really about exhaustion and not wanting to end vacation).

Seriously, though, the kids happily trekked all over the city! From schlepping through torrential rain in midtown on our first day there to enjoying singing waiters at Ellen's Stardust Diner....from the Buddy Walk to strolls through Central Park....to subway rides uptown and down to wandering the many halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art....to seeing the live musical "The Lion King" on Broadway to overlooking the city from the top of Rockefeller Center....to a boat trip to see the Statue of Liberty to a spin on a Ferris Wheel in Times Square's Toys R Us...AND SO MUCH MORE....the kids were amazing. As luck would have it, Nick and I got some extra evening time in the city because our babysitter from the past FIVE years in Minnesota had just moved to NYC! And she lives only 4 blocks from our hotel!!! :) SO Holly got some great time with the kids that allowed Nick and I to stroll the high line in Chelsea and grab some great ethnic meals out with friends and family. I was so proud of how much our family cooperated to squeeze every last drop of goodness out of that trip. It was an amazing opportunity and we used up every bit of it! Goodness gracious we are blessed.

Here are some pics with captions/thoughts.

Kate and Liam LOVED Ellen's Stardust Diner. The servers sing constantly and many have gone on to Broadway shows! Such a great deal to get such great entertainment with your meal. Cheesy? Yes. Fun?! Absolutely!

Kate and Liam at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This may have inspired Liam's Halloween costume!

K & L in front of a costume display from the Broadway show of "The Lion King". They LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! (So did Nick and I!)

K & L "Walking Like Egyptians"....they did this periodically throughout the museum to the true delight of the security guards who got a happy giggle. Looking back, I think ours were the only kids there! And we went on a weekend!

Another one from our night at Ellen's Stardust Diner.

Brother and Sister in Times Square!!!! (It had been pouring rain alllll day)

Kate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. People looked at her and grinned when we walked into this room because she exclaimed "Oh my goodness! Look at these Monets!!!!" I don't think they expected a child to know. Sad, right?