Day in the Park, Night at the Theatre

The day before had been exhausting.  It felt good to sleep in a little later and enjoy a leisurely breakfast.  As funny as it may sound, it was so fun to cook breakfast in our little hotel kitchen.

We met the clown car in the hotel lobby and then took the subway to Central Park.

Cousins at Bethesda Fountain

Anna, Natalie and I shared a rowboat.

It was hard work and relaxing all at the same time.

Grandpa, Grandma and Caleb took turns with the oars of their boat.

Alyssa and Clara were content to let Erin do all the rowing.

After a few minutes of rowing, we spotted a mama turtle with her little one sunning themselves on a log. We thought we'd made an usually sighting.  We soon realized, however, that this lake was full of them!  We lost count after 40.

After an hour, we turned in our oars and grabbed lunch at the Boathouse Cafe.  The burger Jon had was his favorite meal of the week.  They offer some good grub at very reasonable prices.

Central Park is bursting with leisurely entertainment of all sorts.  It's very easy to pass endless hours within it's 843 acres.

The adults did a fair amount of people watching while the kids tried sailing model boats.

Then we walked down a gorgeous section in the middle of the park known as Literary Row.

The girls bought picture frames from a vendor on the way to the carousel.

All that fun will work up a craving for something sweet, so we took a train to Dylan's Candy Bar.

Dylan's is pretty much the candy store of all candy stores.  Three floors of vibrant colors and walls covered in sugary treats.  This picture from the internet shows just one of the many, many sections:

It's every kid's dream, but I didn't mind it so much either.  The sea salt caramel and chocolate covered pretzels were my favorite.  Delish! Caleb was partial to salt water taffy and the girls filled souvenir candy dishes to the brim with a wide variety of candies.

A much anticipated evening activity was next on the itinerary: Les Miserables on Broadway!

Of all the shows on Broadway, this was my girls' first choice.  Caleb didn't really care to see any show, but decided that Les Mis was one he could agree to attend.  Jon and I love Les Mis, so we were thrilled to go as a family.  (The rest of our extended family saw Matilda, since it is more appropriate for young children.)

We decided Radio City Pizza, which was right next door to our hotel, was a great choice for dinner. As if it's not a well known fact, New York knows how to do pizza!  Slices as big as your head fill the box that's as big as the table.

They're really good at gluten-free pizza, too!  It even comes with it's own individually wrapped pizza cutter.

The theater was just a short walk through Times Square from our hotel.  I was dizzy with excitement.

Our seats were incredible!

And except for a drunk lady sitting next to Alyssa (that was a massive bummer) the show was everything we'd hoped it would be.  I thought I was containing myself quite well, but at intermission, Jon looked at me and said, "Well someone is really enjoying the show."  Not sure what he meant by that, was my applause more enthusiastic that your typical theater goer?  It's true, I did really like the show and did leap to my feet after the final note was sung.  But so did everyone else in the theater. It's just that good.  (Minus Annoying Drunk Lady.)

New York's cheesecake is as good as their pizza.  Junior's is particularly famous for their cheesecakes and was conveniently located directly across the street from the theater.  Raspberry swirl was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Your park is amazing, your candy store larger than life.  Your pizza and cheesecake just taste better than all the rest and your theater is world-class.  Gosh New York, is there anything you can't do?  Not saying I want to live there or anything, but I really, really love you!