Citified

Last year we started what I think is, a very cool tradition. Each year for the boys' birthday, we will take them someplace really cool that they have never been to before. Last year's trip was into NY City via their very first train and subway. We took them to the Natural History Museum (aka...the dinosaur museum). That day trip was a HUGE hit...so we decided to do another one this year.

Since their birthday is tomorrow, we thought it would be super cool to take the train into the city, grab a cab (the boys told the cabby where they wanted to go), and end up at the Central Park Zoo. After watching the movie Madagascar, I was expecting to see a really great zoo. WRONG!!!! Our zoo out here on Long Island is WAY better than the one in Central Park.

Note to self...Don't believe everything you see in the movies...

The boys had fun anyway, with the exception of some royal crabbiness out of Tristan for about an hour. After we saw all there was to see, we wandered across the way to their version of a children's petting zoo. Once again, another let-down. What do you expect smack-dab in the middle of the iron jungle???

From there we meandered through Central Park for a bit, until something caught the boys' eyes. A HUGE rock that lots of older kids were scaling. Of course they begged to try it...so what else could I say, but NO F-ing WAY ... yes, but be careful guys!!!! I have to say...they ALL made it up to the top, even PaPa and Stu who went up to help them out, and keep them from careening off the edge at the top all together. I was quite proud of my little guys!!

All that rock climbing made everyone ravenous for an early dinner, so we walked about 15 blocks down, and 3 or 4 blocks over to Mars 2112. What an AMAZING place for kids!!! You walk in to a space ship and see rows of chairs set up theater style like a ride at Disney. There is a big screen which tells you your mission. You will be leaving Earth and arriving on Mars. The ride lasts about 3-5 minutes, and I was afraid that the boys or myself, would either puke or fall out of our chairs during the voyage.

The doors open and you are on Mars. Everything is red and looks like rock, and there are alien characters walking around the place. The kids LOVED it, and so did I...sans the $11.00 kids meals. They even had Martian Dances during dinner. What a memorable day we had!!!....and oh yes, I snuck a couple of extra pictures into this slideshow that Jackson took of me yesterday. Not too shabby for an almost 4 year old little boy.