::NYC week 2 day 3::

I finally decided I would take Max to the childrens museum of Manhattan. It's way up by central park which is a pretty long ways away on the subway, with about 3 train changes along the way. But I had looked at the website and it looked like he would love it, so we got up and went for it.

There were a lot of moms and kids there, in fact we had to wait outside in a line for about 10 minutes just to get in. But once we got in it was fine and really not too crowded.

Max was super excited because they had a special Dora the Explorer exhibit. For some reason he's kind of obsessed with Dora right now, so we went to see her first. The exhibit wasn't that exciting really. I think he was a little bummed. But we did get a picture of him "with" Dora and Boots, which is fun.

Here he is playing some drums at Dora's "fiesta"--which was really just a room with a whole bunch of figures on the wall. Kind of blah. But the drums were fun at least.


After that we went to the like play and learn area, which turned out to be his absolute favorite. They had a lot of different things to do in the room, lots of things to climb on and draw on and twist and turn. His favorite thing though was this big bus that had four different steering wheels so that everybody that sat on the bus got to be a driver.

I have to admit that the bus was pretty cool. It had a rotating destination sign on the side that could say different things--central park, etc. He could've stayed in the bus all day. And probably would've if it wasn't for the fire engine! They had a fire engine that was similar to the bus. It had all sorts of switches and things inside for the kids to play with. They also had a few small fireman outfits in there that the kids could put on. Max really liked to drive it (of course).

Somehow there were no fights about driving these things. I don't know how it happened, but everybody seemed to get along well.
Here he is driving some other crazy vehicle somewhere. It's really all he wants to do.

He's very serious about it.

I finally tore him away from that room and we went to look at the other stuff. The only other exhibit that held our interest was an outdoor water one.
It was out on a balcony off the building (because of course the museum is in kind of an apartment building). They had the kids put on smocks and then they got to play with all sorts of water toys and race rubber ducky. There was a water wheel thing there that Max really liked.



It was hot outside though, so soon we went back in--back to the bus and the fire engine. I let him play there until I was about to die with hunger and/or boredom, whichever came first and then I dragged him away.

All in all we liked the museum but I actually think that the one at the Gateway in SLC is better. It had more cool exhibits that were actually fun. The one here had a lot of exhibits, but several of them were pretty boring.

After that we took it easy and then went to get a burger with Kris when he finally got done with work. Sounds like a kind of easy day, but with all the train travel and the heat I was totally exhausted by the end of it. In a good way.

::NYC week 2 day 1::

We're back in the big city!
We got here on sunday. The plan was for us to attend the ward that this house we're staying in would belong to.
Unfortunately, traffic did not cooperate! We forgot that it was the end of a long weekend (4th of july) and it was pretty packed all the way through Connecticut. Accidents didn't help with that either. We left in plenty of time to make it to sacrament meeting, but ended up arriving much too late. So that was too bad.

To make up for it we hopped on the subway and rode uptown to visit the Manhattan temple. We came up the stairs from the subway and were trying to figure out where we needed to go from there. I looked up and there was Moroni! It was kind of weird. The spire is really the first thing you see from that particular stairway.

I guess it's a kind of small temple with a meeting house somewhere in the same building where the Manhattan ward usually meets (when it's not being renovated like right now)
The building is a lot shorter than some others around it, but it's really neat looking. We peeked in the door and saw some pretty stained glass.

Those things on the side that look like windows actually aren't. I think they're some sort of metal decoration. They're really pretty. Kris says he's heard that it's really quiet and serene in that temple, which is amazing because the street out there is so busy!

We walked across the street to the Lincoln Center and got a better view.

It's really just smack dab in the middle of the action. Very cool.

Then Max had an emergency poop episode. All I can say is, thank goodness for Barnes and Noble and their bathrooms. They've saved us more than once.

Have I written here before about the fact that Max loves the subway? Well he does. He LOVES the trains. And it doesn't hurt that they're all designated with letters (and a few with numbers) It's really exciting to him when we go on the N train or the F train or whatever. He can tell the difference and really likes paying attention to which train we need and which trains we've been on.
I like the trains too for a lot of reasons. It's really convenient to ride them, it's cheaper than driving and it means I don't have to drive in this city, which is good because if I did have to drive I wouldn't come!
What I don't like about them? How hot and dirty the stations are. Yuck. With how hot it is out here right now, I feel like the second I step down into one of those stations I'm all sweat. So gross.
But all in all I'm a big fan of public transportation like this. I don't really like buses for some reason, but I really like trains.


This is the stop right by the place we're staying.



This place has a shower with sliding doors. I don't really know how to describe it--it's like there are three different panels, and the two on the sides can slide to either side depending on where you need them. Anyway, the point of this is that Max likes to pretend those shower doors are subway doors. He's always pretending different trains are coming and that he's getting in or out. I've gotten him to take a shower every single day because of this. It's been fabulous.


Poor Kris, good thing this trip isn't much longer or else I'm afraid his neck will end up broken. Shoulder riding is really the only way he can carry Max for any long period of time, and that needs to happen a lot out here. When Max gets tired he slumps down on Kris's head and rests his head on his arms. He did it to me one time for like two seconds and I almost died. He is so heavy. Kris is a trooper.


And it didn't help that on Sunday Dora decided to come with us on our outing. Max informed us that she was there, and the she was riding on HIS shoulders. That couldn't have helped!

Kris made this picture and then showed it to Max the next day. He laughed with glee for like 10 minutes straight. He thought it was so awesome.

It's so fun to get to spend time together. I like the city and all, but that's really the reason Max and I came back. And so far it's going well!