Divide & Conquer: Times Square & the Children's Museum of Manhattan

Today we decided to split the girls up for the morning, Steven taking Bea on the subway to Times Square, and me taking Charlotte to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. We got an early start, which I'm finding is key for beating the crowds at the museums, and I'm sure it helped Steven over at Times Square. Of course, by early start, I mean opening hours, which today meant 10:00. Charlotte and I actually made it over to the museum with 5 or so minutes to spare.

It was nice walking up Amsterdam towards the museum. I haven't taken that route yet, and got a glimpse of some restaurants and stores that I'd like to try out (The Crumb Bake Shop in particular), and one nice looking playground fror the kids, Tecumseh Playground.

We were the 3rd family in line, so we had a head start on the exhibits, and it wasn't crowded at all. I just let Charlotte go and explore without interfering much. It's so neat to see that brain work and in discovery mode. We started off in the Curious George exhibit where Carlotte enjoyed going down a rocket ship slide, opening little doors with surprises inside, and playing with a mock elevator.

The lighting was terrible for these photos, but I did the best with what I had. The blur pretty much illustrates how I felt at the museum.

Upstairs, we found the Play Works area where Charlotte spent most of her time playing at the sand table, but she did pretend to be a Metro Transit Authority driver and NY Firefighter.

We practically had the whole place to ourselves. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and we got there when they opened. No doubt, everyone else was outside enjoying the weather!

We briefly walked through the Dora exhibit, by which time Charlotte seemed to be getting a bit tired, so I decided it might be time to leave. It was nearing 11:40, and we had gotten up earlier this morning, so I figured she was ready for a nap. She fell asleep pretty soon after getting outside and heading back to the apartment. Did I mention how great it felt outside? It was in the mid 80's, and while that can be balmy for the average New Yorker, it was downright perfect for us. Sure beats the 100 degree weather back home! Many people were taking advantage of the nice weather though, and having brunch or lunch out on the patios of the restaurants lining the street. I eyed a few restaurants we must try out if the line out the door is any indication of how good they are. I stopped in The Crumb Bake Shop and picked up a special treat. I love that places here have to include caloric information for everything they serve, but it sure makes my decision tough, or maybe easy, as it limits my choices vastly. I ended up with the least calorie intense baked good they offered, a 320 calorie chocolate whoopie pie, which I had planned on sharing with the family (Shhh. That didn't happen.).

I made it back to the apartment with a still sleeping Charlotte, and ate lunch while I caught up on some of my shows.

Steven and Bea made it back about an hour later. Steven said Bea loved the subway ride (the first one she can remember).

He treated her to the Hello Kitty Store, where she picked out a backpack, a NY Hello Kitty, and a small notebook. Bea picked out a cute Hello Kitty with a tiny pink pacifier in it's mouth for Charlotte. I thought it was perfect for her.

After the Hello Kitty store, Bea expressed to Steven that she was starving (well, not surprising, given her choice of breakfast: pickles). He stopped into a cafe of some sort and she had pizza to fill her tummy.

Next on the agenda was a stop at Toys R S on Times Square. I've never been, but I'm told this is not your ordinary Toys R Us. On the way, Steven got some photos of Bea at Times Square, clearly in awe of the signage.

Steven took Bea on the 4 story ferris wheel in the Toys R Us store, which she apparently loved. Here is part of the ferris wheel.

A view from the ferris wheel.

Bea taking in the view from the ferris wheel.

Another big hit with Bea was the 2 level Barbie house, which had everything inside that Bea wanted to buy. I know the challenge of reigning this girl in, and Steven did a phenomenal job (much better than I would have done) of doing just that. He walked away from a kid's paradise with nothing more than a Strawberry Shortcake metal lunchbox.

We rested at the apartment another hour and some change, and then we got the girls in their swimsuits, packed up, and headed to that playground I found on the way to the museum. It as a little splash pad, and I figured the girls would enjoy that. Charlotte, as usual, was a bit of a handful, as she always gravitates towards the biggest play structure in the park. This playground was awesome in that every single entry, minus one, onto the large play structure required a child to be able to physically climb into it. There was one obscure entrance low enough for little tots, and you bet, Carlotte found it. She kept us on our toes the entire time, but the girls enjoyed running around and we certainly encourage them to use up some of that energy that always seems to be plentiful in our house.

Playing at Tecumseh Playground on Amsterdam

After the playground, we decided to walk to the Shake Shack, a burger place we had heard so much about. We felt the urge to try them out ourselves. It was a super busy place, and I was worried it may take longer than we had left with the girls' waining patience, but it didn't take too, too long. We stood outside people watching, and wondering what was going on across the street, as a crowd of people stood watching something on a playground though a chain link fence.

While waiting for our food, Steven walked across the street to see what was going on. Turns out, they were filming a movie: Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close starring Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, and John Goodman. Just to be clear, we didn't see any stars as we had more important things on our mind, like eating our burgers!

So, we finally get our burger and walk over to our favorite picnic spot at Central Park. Steven hasn't been to our spot yet, and I really wanted to share it with him. It was much more crowded at our spot than it is on weekdays, but it still wasn't too bad. We found a spot under our tree in the shade, laid out our blanket, and quickly sunk our teeth into the delicious burger that is Shake Shack. It did not disappoint either. There just is no way to describe what this thing tastes like, but trust me when I say it was good.

After scarfing down our food, we let the girls roam around the enclosed field for a bit. A favorite spot in the field with the girls is in the back by the Turtle Pond, climbing over the low slung rocks. Ducks will swim up to the fence, my guess, in anticipation of some food. The view is gorgeous, especially in the right lighting (which we were nearing), of the pond and Belvedere Castle overlooking it.

I wanted Steven to get a good look at the view, so we swapped, he took the girls back to the pond area and got some photos while I rested under our tree.

Before long, it was time to get home. We were all tired from a full day, and topped it off with a Starbuck's treat on the way home.