We came, we saw, we left tired and happy...

When summer draws to an end, and school is about to begin, we celebrate with a family fun day.The past several years, it has been a trip to Lake Compounce, a local amusement park.


This year, we decided to try something different.
The kids had never been to New York City, so we decided to go for a day trip.


We figured they were old enough for us to finally attempt it.


It was their first train trip. We left for the day from:

We went to mass here:

St. Patrick's is one of the most beautiful churches with the most amazing architecture. You could spend all day there taking in all the details.

Then walked down 5Th Avenue and saw things like this:

Then we went into FAO Schwarz and played a bit:

We snacked on these as we walked. Honey roasted mixed nuts. Yummmm.....Colin thought they should make an air freshener with that scent, LOL.

I used to love to look at all the flowers in these corner markets when I lived in NYC.

Then we walked through Central Park:



to get here:

The kids had a blast looking for things from the movie, Night at the Museum:

and Brenna even brought some gum-gum to give to a dumb-dumb:

Then we hopped in a couple of cabs (note the plural here - 7 people can't fit in one NYC taxi)
to go to dinner here:

I had THE best dinner of Bolognese meatballs over the creamiest of polentas:

And there were delicious ice cream sandwiches made with amazing homemade cookies or brownies for dessert.

After dinner, it was back to the train station for a long ride home.

The kids had a blast and can't wait to do it again.

Me too.