family trips

New York 2018.

Day One

We took our chances leaving Boston for New York at 8 a.m.  While trying to catch a 2 p.m. matinee on Broadway.  We pulled into the Bronx to catch a train to midtown just in the nick of time and made it to our seats with 15 minutes to spare.  Lucky.  Especially for those unfamiliar with NYC and its labyrinth of subway lines.

 

Wicked was everything and more than we had hoped.  I found myself sighing after each and every number at the knowledge that we were getting closer and closer to the end of the show.  Elphaba was amazing.  Glinda?  Captivating.  It was the perfect girls day in the city.

We emerged to see that the Starlight Diner, where our cousins would be eating for dinner was just a block away from the theatre.  So we killed a bit of time strolling to Times Square.  And back.  And then stumbled upon the fam already marking their spot in line outside the restaurant.

It took us an hour, but it was an experience, to say the least.  Anna and I split a meal because, whoa.  Kids meals cost $16 a plate.  I was shell-shocked by the price of an average burger in the Big Apple and braced myself to eat hot dogs for our few days in New York.

We bid goodbye to our cousins (for the last time this trip), and took the train back to our New Jersey hotel.  It was lovely to arrive home to an unpacked car, rested toddler, and clean sheets.

Day Two

We attended church in Staten Island and ran into a friend of my parents from when I was a baby.  That’s 40 years ago, folks.  What a trip.  Chatted a bit, took a picture, changed into something a bit more tourist-friendly and took off for a bit of Sabbath-friendly sight seeing.  We drove by the house my parents lived in when I was born, then we took the Staten Island Ferry (which my dad commuted on every single day when I was little) into Manhattan.

We parted with Grandma and Grandpa so they could wait for hours to see the Statue of Liberty.  We took a stroll up to the 9/11 Memorial.  It felt like hallowed ground.  Super sobering and a good opportunity to instruct our kids.  I feel like my kids’ generation lacks perspective on the horrors of war and the blessings of living in a free country.  I sometimes fall short in my gratitude.  9/11 is the only event in my lifetime that truly hits home and reminds me not to take the ease of my life for granted.  Visiting the 9/11 memorial brought back many of the horrors of that day.  I recommitted myself to showing thanks for those who sacrifice so that we can live in peace.

Then we hopped on the subway to see the Manhattan Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Lo, and behold, we met two couples just outside the temple, one of which was from Boise!  What are the odds?  They kindly took our family picture and we moved on the Central Park.  We covered a decent amount of ground, considering we had a toddler with us, who was skipping his nap.  The Bethesda Fountain, the Loeb Boathouse, the Great Lawn, one of the playgrounds.  We emerged on the other side of the park just in time for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to close its doors for the day.  Just in time for us to snag a picture.

After a total meltdown from our toddler, we safely made it back on a train to downtown, where we caught the ferry back to Staten Island, grabbed a cheap dinner at Denny’s and headed back to the hotel.

Day Three

So much to see, so little time.  Our day began with another ferry ride into the city where we split into two groups.  Tim went with the four girls to take the crown tour of the Statue of Liberty while Jack and I rode the train, as per his request.  We managed to fit in a visit to Grand Central Station, a walk on the High Line, and a hot dog and popsicle in Battery Park while we were at it.

Note: we booked our crown tour six months in advance.  As it turned out, all the crown tour tickets were gone for the day when we showed up at 10:30 a.m.  Wise is the man who plans ahead.  The kids enjoyed the crown tour, but the recommendation not to bring kids under 8 was sound.  Apparently, there was a kid on their tour who burst into tears at the spiral staircase (claustrophobia, perhaps?).  You also can’t take babes in arms (or in carriers) so there’s that.

At this point we were all starving so we booked it up to Chinatown for a late lunch.  Side note: Chinatown was swimming with stores whose fronts were adorned with t-shirts sporting the F-bomb.  Like ten times on each shirt.  At least ten shirts in every store.  Definitely not g-rated in those parts.  We couldn’t duck into the restaurant fast enough, having seen more swear words in less than ten minutes than my kids encounter at the junior high in a week.  Yowsers.

Food was great – bellies were full and we emerged, heads down, to make a beeline to Brooklyn so we could walk the bridge into Manhattan.  We were smart to go that direction – the views were stunning and we didn’t have to keep turning around to see them.  Jack fell asleep somewhere along the way and enjoyed a nap on the subway to South Station and across the harbor to Staten Island on the ferry.  Yay.  No meltdown that day.

And that’s a wrap for our whirlwind trip to NYC with five kids.  There’s way too much in that city to cram into a few days but I think we hit some of the highlights.  Kid-friendly ones.  And we managed to not spend an arm and a leg doing it.  At some point, I’ll write up a post of tips for traveling to New York with kids.  For now, that’s it.

From the Bronx to Broadway.

Today we drove from Boston (my favorite U.S. city) to the city of all cities.  My heart was racing the whole time-not because Tim was driving like a New Yorker, but because we had a matinee to catch.

Wicked on Broadway.

It was the only thing I wanted to do while in New York. It would be the most expensive thing we would do in New York.

I might have shed buckets of tears if we were to miss this singular experience.

I had Tim drop us off at a subway station in the Bronx so he could skirt the city and drive the Suburban to our hotel in Jersey.  (Someone had to take one for the team and sit it out with Jack.)

We were the only white folks on the train.  Talk about instant culture shock for these Idahoans.  I was pleased to find that my girls seemed unphased by this role reversal.

On our ride into the city, we encountered much of what is probably common to subway-riding New Yorkers: people selling overpriced candy in order to pay rent, a lady with outstretched hand, begging for money.  Another disabled woman asked for help with her medical bills.

All this in a matter of minutes.

Admittedly, it was sobering.

Here we were, five females from Boise, Idaho, in New York City.  Headed to a play for which we had paid $150 per ticket.  In New York City.  (Did I mention that?)

And we were riding a train with dozens, even hundreds of people who would never know that experience.

It’s been said that “ Comparison is the thief of joy.”  While that can most certainly be true, I also believe that it can work the opposite direction.

I could lament the fact that, in contrast to many people with whom I associate, this was my first time seeing a play on Broadway.  I could whine about how I can only afford to attend a single production while here.

Heck, I could complain about any number of things-from the fact that our seats were 11 rows back versus front and center to the inconvenience of sitting behind someone taller than I.

But that would be silly, wouldn’t it?

My takeaway from our train ride was that comparison can only rob us of joy when we lack perspective.  If we constantly look in the direction of those who have more and do more than we, we cannot help but feel short-changed.

Alternatively, when we experience a world of the have-nots, we suddenly realize what a small percentage of the world enjoys the blessings we do.  Instead of feeling entitled, our joy is enhanced by the gratitude we feel.

I know mine was.  Dang, I’m glad we took the subway in today.

Boston 2018

We traveled to Boston on a Monday morning.  I called ahead of time to check into our hotel a bit early but was given no such guarantee.  So we instead took a joy ride into downtown Boston to show the kids my early college stomping grounds.

Driving downtown was a beast (by that point, it was rush hour).  I knew Boston as a pedestrian and had trouble navigating it in a car.  Everything came up SO quickly!  I’d point out one landmark to my kids just as I’d realize we’d missed our turn and had to backtrack.  But the whole outing was kind a spur-of-the-moment idea since we couldn’t check into our hotel so we went with it.  We drove by Mike’s Pastry and waved because there was no parking.  Luckily Grandma and Grandpa found parking and snagged us a couple of treats to enjoy later that night.  Our driving tour of Boston was a great little teaser and validated my decision to use public transportation the remainder of our time there.

After checking into our hotel, we researched a reasonably-priced Indian restaurant a few minutes away in Lexington.  Much to our delight, it turned out to be right on the Battle Green – where the Revolutionary War began.  To top it off, there were kids playing drums and fifes in true colonial style right on the Green.  Such a step back in time and a splendid welcome to Massachusetts, in my opinion.  The food was pretty awesome, too.

Day two we woke up early to grab some T passes and park at the end of the line to take the subway into the city.  It took FOREVER, but it gave us the flexibility of getting around wherever we wanted whenever we wanted.  And since our afternoon ended in a torrential downpour, that was a blessing, to say the least.

Day three took us to the Public Garden for a ride on the swan boat.  Because you can’t go to Boston with kids and not relive a Make Way for Ducklings moment.  Then on to a Boston Harbor Cruise to the U.S.S. Constitution.  Old Ironsides was a hit with the littles.  Lots of places to hide from the parents.  We made it back in time to hit up the New England Aquarium for an hour before heading back to the hotel for a swim and visit with cousins.

Day four we stayed out of the city and ventured instead to Salem.  Our first stop was the House of Seven Gables – the basis of a Nathaniel Hawthorne book.  The kids declared it “the coolest house we toured on our trip” – which is saying A LOT, because we toured a ton of houses.  Pretty sure it was the secret passageway that sealed the deal.  We hopped over to the Salem Witch Museum – which was weird and we’ll leave it at that.

Our final day in Boston took us back downtown to tackle the Freedom Trail.  We fit it all in in less than 2 1/2 hours, including a stop at Walgreens for cold medicine and a Dunkin Donuts run.  Because who can survive a day in Boston without at least one trip to Dunkin Donuts?  Not us, apparently.  Then we met up for lunch in Harvard Square with my dear roommate from BU.  She was brave enough to join us on a tour of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s house near Harvard.  It is significant for a number of reasons, the least of which that it was directly across the street from the chapel where I attended church during my tenure in Boston.  It also was the headquarters for George Washington as he commandeered the war in Boston.  The kids were reasonably well-behaved and then I sent them all back to the hotel so Allison and I could spend a bit of time catching up over ice cream.

We ate dinner at Tim’s brother’s house and then went out for more ice cream at Kimball Farm.  Three treats in one day is totally legit on vacation.  Just so you know.

And that concludes our trip to Boston.  We packed it in.  Now on to New York!

Family trips – how to get the kids involved in planning.

Research shows that the planning portion of trips gives us as much or more joy than the actual trip (or the time following the trip).  That being the case, why on earth do we let the planning fall squarely on one person’s shoulders?  (In our family, this person is always me.)  I relish in it, in fact, because it means I get to create spreadsheets like this:

I get giddy over spreadsheets.  Still, let’s share the joy with our children for heaven’s sake!

They can participate in the planning so that they have something to look forward to.  That way, they refrain from the inevitable “what are we doing today, mom?” question that makes them seem oh, so entitled.

I feel like I’ve been hogging all the joy of anticipation and have begun including my kids in the trip prep in recent years.  They helped prep camping meals for last year’s vacation.  The year before, they researched places we could go, how much they cost, and then voted on their favorites.  We factored in their votes and considered the budget to decide on which attractions and sites we’d visit.

My husband even gets in on the action now.  He hits up his best friend Yelp to choose the best restaurants for our select few occasions dining out.  There’s nothing like dropping some good cash on a crappy restaurant when there’s so much to choose from.  He likes to eat so he does his homework.

This year’s family vacation is going to be epic.  Like three weeks epic.  I’m part ecstatic, part terrified.  I’ve done most of my research already and have mapped out where we’re going to stay, how long it takes to get from point A to point B, and crafted a basic budget (see above spreadsheet).

Now it’s time to get the kids involved.  Where to begin?

How to get the kids involved in planning family trips:

  1.  Give them a list of the places you are going.  Let them pick one or two locations on your list and research the best things to do in the area.  Make sure they record the cost and time required for each activity so you can factor that into a decision on whether or not you visit that particular attraction/site.
  2. Let them know who you will be visiting and/or famous people who lived in the places on your list.  Invite them to find out about those people so that they have a connection with them in advance.  Your kids will thank you when you drop in on Great Aunt Ida and they can actually strike up a meaningful conversation with her instead of watching the clock.  Alternatively, if you are in Cambridge, MA touring Longfellow’s house, it won’t hurt for them to have some stories shored up in their little brains so they can make meaningful connections.
  3. Give them a list of books that relate to the places you’re visiting.  They can choose a few from the list and read them during the months/weeks leading up to your trip.  Add a bit of interest by encouraging them to record some highlights from these books so that others can benefit from their reading.
  4. If food is an interest for them, let the kids know on which occasions you will be eating out and challenge them to find the highest-rated (within budget) restaurants within that location.  They’ll feel more satisfaction in a meal for which they played a decision-making role.
  5. Let them organize a playlist(or two) for your time on the road.  This is a big one for me.  I LOVE music but can’t seem to squeeze in the time to construct playlists.  The kids will totally dig this.  Especially since we’ll be spending close to eighty hours in the car so they’ll be particularly motivated to avoid having to listen to dad’s playlists on repeat.
  6. Let them pick out a few activities for the car ride (or airplane ride, as the case may be).  One of our family traditions is to take the kids to the bookstore before a road trip and let them pick out a new book to read (and add to our permanent collection).  The girls often swap books so this gives them a few good hours of entertainment in the car.  But since this particular trip ain’t no regular road trip, we’ll be adding a million other activities to our list.  Audiobooks for the whole fam, travel games, madlibs, coloring books and the like.  I’ll be outlining a budget and letting the kiddos run with it.

My hope is that by letting the littles have a hand in planning more of the details of our family trips, they will be feel more invested in the outcome.  They’ll also get to share more in the joy that comes in the anticipation.  Win for me, win for them.

Click here to access a printable (PDF) to get the kids involved in your next vacation.