Thursday: We hopped on the plane in Fargo. DD was really good. We made it to Minneapolis for our flight change and the stewards were so nice. They flagged down a driver to take us to our next gate since I was pregnant and hauling so much stuff including DD. The flight to New York was longer and DD got a little stir crazy. And of course, right when she had to go poop we hit turbulence and never made it to the bathroom! airplane bathroom would have been too small for the two of us anyways. We made it to JFK and DH met us outside our gate. He took DD to the men's room to change her so I could go to the bathroom. I don't think baby liked the turbulence much as I got sick! (It could have been nerves/stress too.) We took the AirTrain to the Shuttle pick-up and went to our hotel.
Friday: DH took the rental car he had been driving back to the airport as we didn't want the hastle of paying for parking ($20 per night just to park at the hotel!) The put us in a double room which happened to be a handicap room. DH flooded the bathroom with his shower as the shower drains onto the bathroom floor where the second drain is in the middle of the room! The tile was slippery and soaked! How dangerous for a handicap room! After we got up and moving (later than I had hoped) we hoped the AirTrain to the Subway station and rode into Manhattan. We had lunch at Grand Central station. It was hot, crowded and nosy, but the main terminal was definately beautiful. AFter lunch we hopped on a bus for Central Park. The place the bus dropped us off wasn't an entrance. We didn't realize that until we had walked all the way to the west side of the park without finding a way in! So, we wandered the park. I was impressed with how clean it was, but we must have been there at a rotten time of day. I overheard somebody on their cellphone saying it sounded like Vietnam in the park as the helicopters were flying over our heads nonstop! DH took DD on a Merry -go-round. She hated it! We got to the zoo late because of our detour across the park, so we were unable to get in. However, we did watch the seal show from just outside the gate. We went to the fountain (don't remember what it is called) but there was some guy playing violin and singing in what might have been a Hindu-type form. It was amazing! Found our way out of the park and back on the bus... back to the subway and back to the hotel where we ordered in pizza and went to bed.
Saturday: We hopped on the subway again and went into Queens. After a short walk we arrived at the New York Hall of Science. Its kind of a hands-on learning place mostly aimed at kids. DD (and DH) had a blast! I was getting pretty exhausted by this point. Much more walking the past couple days than I had been used to. We spent most of the day there and then hopped back on the subway and back to the hotel. We ordered Chinese this time (pretty yummy!)
Sunday: We hopped on the subway again and headed to the southern most point of Manhattan. There we boarded the Staten Island Ferry. It was cool! From our ferry we could see the statue of liberty without having to pay any money! Fargo has a mini-Liberty statue so DD was thrilled! She loved the big boat and all that water. Once on the island we hopped another bus and headed into town. We took a short walk and ended up at the zoo. Because the FArgo zoo has a partnership with the Staten Island zoo and we have a membership here, we got in free! I was kinda impressed with the place. It was definately a small-town zoo. No lions, tigers or bears here! Dinah got to feed some goats and a deer some crackers. And then she got to ride a real pony! She loved that! We watched them feed the otters and DD thought that was pretty fun, too! After wearing ourselves out at the zoo we hopped back on the bus and made it to the ferry. It was sunset, so DH got some lovely shots of the statue as the sun set. ON the subway home, DD fell asleep. Poor girl was exhausted. Slept all the way back to the hotel (about an hour) and then we took her shoes off and jacket. She sat up and smiled at us and said "We're here!" and something about daddy ... then rolled over and slept all night! (About 12 hours total for our monkey!) DH and I ordered Mexican and went to bed.
Monday: We took it easy packing and getting ready to go. Had to be out of the hotel by noon and our flight didn't leave until 5:30! Had lunch at the airport and watched the planes take off. DD enjoyed that. Since DH was able to come home with us, we got somebody to switch seats so he could sit with us. DD enjoyed having Daddy there. We hit some turbulence just outside of Minneapolis and DD was so exhausted she allowed it to rock her to sleep. We were supposed to be able to stay on the same plane, so DH was gonna run get us something to eat. Unfortunately we discovered there had been a change of plans so I had to get the stewards to help get DH's carry-on, Dinah's and the carseat while I struggled with the sound asleep babe! DH had made it to the gate and they told him of the change so he ran back to help. Our next gate wasn't too far away (from c6-c1) but when you are tired, 6 months pregnant and carrying a 26 pound sleeping child it seems like forever! we made it just in time. DH even had a couple minutes to run and grab us a couple burgers. Since DD was still asleep we decided to gate check her carseat so DH could sit with me again. Because of the threat of snow (I assume) all other flights to Fargo had been canceled except ours so we had to wait forever before we could take off. DD slept all the way to Fargo. We arrived at the airport and my pastor was supposed to be there to take us home. So, I called him... he had gotten distracted helping his daughter with an English project and hadn't even left home yet! DD was awake and not really happy... "I want to stay here" "But DD, we can't! They don't have any beds!" "Yes they do!(through tears)". I sat on the steps comforting her while DH went to collect all our luggage. By the time he got it all, Pastor arrived and they loaded us up and took us home. Rough night for DD. Over tired and not sure where she was she ended up sleeping with us most the night.
All in all it wasn't a bad trip. I would have liked it more if I hadn't been pregnant or needing to keep track of DD, but she had fun too. Its neat to see the world through her eyes. Now she understands better that DD is going to New York tomorrow (but she wants mommy and DD to go on an airplane too!) My first experience on the subway was scarey and I had a minor panic attack. Some black guy in grubby clothes comes in our car and says "I hate to do this to you folks..." and I immediately wonder if he is going to pull out a gun or something! He claims he recently gotten out of prison and didn't have much except Jesus and wanted to know if anybody would give him some money to help him get started again. Later in the trip we had a second, older black man asking for money too... He gave me the creeps almost worse than the first guy, but DH liked him because he played peek-a-boo with DD and gave him the loose change in his pocket. and we really were not impressed with many things at the hotel we stayed at... especially their shuttle service. sunday night I called them as we boarded the AirTrain back to where the shuttle would pick them up. They said a shuttle would be there in 7 minutes. We stood in the cold with a sleeping toddler for 20 minutes! And when I called to ask where they were, they didn't have record that I called and would be sending somebody in 5 minutes!
Well, I don't think I want to go back... just too big a place for this small town girl. I'll post pictures later.
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