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Planes, Trains and Wheelchairs!

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York to see Tim’s Dad and his wife Diane who live a little more than an hour North of New York City. It was a quick trip but we had a nice visit and were able to have some adventures while we were there. Those included riding the train up and down the Hudson river (mostly to appease our sweet Benja) and a trip into the city. There we visited the American Museum of Natural History (cool!), Central Park (specifically Belvedere Castle), and Dylan’s Candy Bar (a great candy store started by Ralph Lauren’s daughter). So, that’s the quick run-down and here are some pictures with quick captions to show you how much fun we had!!

Me, Gavin and Ben at the train station, waiting for our turn to ride!

Me, Ben, Gavin and Granddad on the return trip

Granddad and Gavin on the train

Tim and Gavin happily riding.

By the way, this is the same “train” that hundreds of people ride during the week to get to and from the city for work. We just rode it during the middle of the day so that is why it is virtually empty.

We had to wait on the platform quite a while for our return trip and there were Amtrack trains that went by VERY fast on these tracks as well. They were quite loud and sort of came out of nowhere so this was Ben’s stance on the platform (fingers plugging ears) the entire time.

The next day we took on New York City! Tim was VERY brave and drove us through the city. We did park at the museum first and were quite upset when we realized that we had left the double stroller we borrowed, back at the house. Luckily, Granddad came up with a pretty great idea to “borrow” a wheelchair from the museum and Tim was able to push him and Ben around the place. It actually worked out quite well because the stroller probably would have been too cumbersome and we would have never all made it up the hill together in Central Park to see the castle with the stroller. We did try to go to Serendipity 3 (have you ever seen the movie with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale?) but the wait was way too long with 2 small children. We asked a local man directions and he told us to go to Dylan’s Candy Bar instead (right down the same street) which also had frozen hot chocolate (which is what I really wanted from the other place) and it was a really neat candy store too. Anyway, it worked out fine and here are some highlights from that part of the trip.

Front of the museum

The wonderful wheel chair ride.

Tim and Ben in front of one of the spectacular dinosaur displays

Gavin and me in front of a 1400 year-old “slice” of Sequoia tree

The family outside of Central ParkSide view of Belvedere Castle in Central Park
View of Central Park from the castle

We certainly got our exercise that day! All in all we had a great trip and the boys were complimented on their behavior on both flights. Ben did really well and Gavin only fussed a little when he was trying to fall asleep. Ben even got to sit in the cockpit of the plane we were on today. So I will end with a pick of him “flying” the plane!

Elaine