Family Trip to NYC

If you follow us on instagram, you know last month we went on a trip to NYC for a long weekend. If you don’t follow us, then shame on you.

This trip we stayed downtown by the World Trade Center. All the construction going on caused it to be a bit of a pain to get around at times. On the bright side, we had an amazing view of the Hudson River.

When we travel, I general plan the whole trip around the meals. This trip was no exception. After we checked in, the first place we went was David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar for some ramen. The wait was a bit long, but we got to sit at the bar watching the cooks. Ramona loved it.

Amber Edit: Yes I look terrible in this photo, but I just flew with a toddler. I realized I forgot her movies in the car before we boarded, so I had a nice dose of what it was like to be a parent before iPhones. She was good but so high energy on the plane. I was just exhausted.

The next morning we hopped on the subway and headed uptown to Macy’s on 34th st. Riding the subway is always Ramona’s favorite activity in New York. She got super excited to go on it every day we were there.

After some breakfast, we pulled up to Macy’s.

This was Ramona’s second Christmas in a row to see Santa at the Macy’s on 34th st (rough life right?). A year made all the difference, she was much more excited this time around. Last year she wouldn’t sit with him without us. It was borderline traumatic. This year she ran up to him and said Santa in the absolute sweetest voice.

After Macy’s we went for lunch at M Wells Dinette. Above you’ll see Ramona downing some escargot and bone marrow, one of their signature dishes. It was amazing and afterwards the staff came up to us and said that they were impressed by our little foodie. To say I was a proud papa is an understatement.

In the corner, they had a beautiful (real) Christmas tree that Ramona was obsessed with. She was pumped to take a picture with it.

That night we went to the midtown touristy spots: Time Square (Ramona is obsessed with the giant Disney Store) and 30 Rock (to see the tree) were the highlights.

The next day, we headed into Brooklyn to take Ramona to the Brooklyn Children’s museum. She was just a little bit excited to be there.

There were a ton of activities in the museum. Here Ramona is serving me a pizza inside a little restaurant where there kids learn the steps to making a proper pizza. She was in heaven with all the activities.

More food centric activities… and what you’re thinking is correct. Amber and Ramona totally planned the collared shirt-animal sweater-skinny jeans-boots matching thing. Ramona did get into a bit of a scuffle with a boy. We are still confused about what exactly happened, but she received a semi black eye.

After some dinner, we took Ramona to FAO Schwartz. One of her Christmas presents from us this year was her getting to adopt a baby doll there. Here nurse Maria is filling out Emma’s (she named her baby) birth certificate and answering some parenting questions. When Maria asked if she would provide clothes for Emma, Ramona told her yes…princess dresses.

The next morning we hopped on the subway (yea this pic is from Friday, oh well) and went to brunch at Minetta Taven.

After brunch, we headed into SoHo for some shopping. We’re planning on writing a separate post about that shopping excursion tomorrow.

Hopefully, Ramona can look at this some day and see that she got to go to some of the coolest places / restaurants of the day. She always pretends to pack a suitcase and tells us she’s going to “York,” so we know she remembers at least some of this. She even references the trip we took in 2011 sometimes.