Fact: Day Fifteen

Day Fifteen means it's been more than two weeks we've been gone from home--that's weird! It seems like we've been on this trip for 20 minutes on one hand and 2 years on the other. Jim asked Jourdan this afternoon if she felt comfortable in New York City--did it seem different than when we drove in last weekend. She replied that she felt she'd lived here for 10 years and could find anything. That, my friends, is a successful trip to NYC right there.

We split up again today, Jim and Will had a Will's Choice Day. Will took Jim back to the Natural History Museum where they spent the entire day. Will took pictures with his "camera" (he inherited my old cell phone when I got an upgrade so he uses the calendar and camera function and it slightly terrorizes me that people might think my 8-year old has a cell phone...) and had a super day. The downside is the inability to get pictures from his camera to any other place in the world. They had lunch in the cafeteria downstairs (which has amazing food) and then went to Times Square about 5:30 this evening.

The rest of us decided to head to the Gershwin Theater to try and get matinee tickets for Wicked via the lottery. We had to be there at 11:30 for the 12:00 drawing for the 2:00 show. We were a little slow getting started so I thought we'd try riding the bus instead of the subway down. My thinking on this was that the bus picks up one block away (instead of a 6 block walk to the subway) and drops off half a block from the theater (instead of a 4 block walk from the subway). Also, this thinking was false.

Every possible hang-up that could slow us down, slowed us down. We had horrible traffic, someone wanted on or off at every stop, there was a construction detour, a driver shift change, a bomb scare (not really...I was just trying to think of one more thing that went wrong) and the point is that we didn't make it to Times Square at 11:30...it was more like 12:30. So we skipped Times Square and went straight to Grand Central Station. It was awesome. To be in the main concourse feels like you're in a 1940s movie. I was disappointed to find myself horribly underdressed for welcoming home a returning soldier. But it was still fun.

We left there and went to Penn Station (not as romantic, but still busy) where we had lunch at the Wendy's on 34th Street and 7th Ave. We were hoping to find something that was left by a cockeyed.com prank (can you see a pattern in what kind of websites I frequent?) but alas, the fake job applications were gone. No worries, we still enjoyed baked potatoes and frosties.

From there, we took the subway down to Battery Park. Matt played on the playground for a long time, Jourdan and Rachel joined him for a bit on the jungle gym and swings. It was nice that the park was completely empty. I put my head down on my tote bag and promptly fell asleep on a park bench. I am so local! I was awakened by a kick on my foot and when I sat up, I was looking straight into the face of a cop (whose car was parked up on the sidewalk, lights flashing) who asked me if I was okay. Well, I was until I woke up staring into the eyes of the law, thank you very much. I sat up and apologized and he said he was just checking to make sure I wasn't unconscious and I could go back to sleep if I wanted. Uh, I don't think so...but thanks. After he left, the kids came RACING back to find out what he had said to me. I should have made up something good about homelessness and fines and park bench laws. Ah well, hindsight. Should have had some hindsight.

Since we did not get tickets in advance for the Statue of Liberty, we didn't bother riding to Ellis Island. Instead we took the Staten Island Ferry over (follow carefully) to Staten Island. We got pretty close to Lady Liberty (close enough for Matt to agree that she was a girl) and saw Manhattan from the water--it was neat.

We rode back to Manhattan and took the subway up to Times Square to meet up with Will & Jim. We met at the Gershwin in PLENTY of time to be part of the night show lottery. For which none of us were chosen.

Instead we went to the Red Box and the 5 of us that aren't Jim got tickets to The Little Mermaid (Jim wanted to study for his NCLEX exam coming up plus he surprised me by doing all our laundry...awesome!). We went to the show and were dazzled all over again. The boys really loved their first real Broadway show. And it was great (but not as good as Mary Poppins, to my way of thinking). All the underwater parts are performed on Heelys. It's amazing the choreography that is possible. And it really gave a swimmy feel to the merfolks. Impressive!

We found the stage door and got to say hi to and get autographs from most of the cast. My favorite performer was Ursula--and she was in a hurry. Will was SO excited to see the boy who played Flounder. He was a 12-year old named Brian and Will told him "I'm your biggest fan" and then squealed like a little girl to me after he got his autograph. We asked how many times he'd played Flounder and he said "too many to count". ha!

We took the bus home late and all 3 kids slept the whole way home. By the time we made it in the door, they were wired and noisy and wanted to re-live the entire night.

Then we said prayers and they were asleep in 4 minutes.

Grand Central Station (duh).
Matt on the Battery Park playground.
This climbing structure is close to the bench where the cop kicked my foot to find out if I was asleep or dead.
Matt the Climber.
The Staten Island Ferry with Lady Liberty coming up.
The view of Manhattan on the return trip. The afternoon got a bit hazy, but it never really rained on us. It was perfect!
Jourdan with Ariel--she was AMAZING. And so nice to the fans outside.
One half of Flotsam-Jetsam (Jetsam, to be precise). These guys were crazy hilarious. And slithery.
Autographs acquired, ready to find the bus!

The Quote of the Day goes to Matt. When we got to the Battery Park playground, he looked around at the asphalt surface, wooden posts cut to make play equipment, 4 swings, and a metal bar for swinging and declared "HOLY COW! This place is INTENSE!"

That just about sums up New York City for us all. Thanks, Matt.