This is how WE started the day - Zach and Izzy collided in the hotel, leaving her with a lovely shiner.
My wonderful group of friends - from left to right, with where they're from:
Cheryl (London, UK), Jen (WI), Robyn (NJ), Nicole (Staten Island), Melissa (MA)
4 of the kids - Jack, Izzy, Riley and Frank. Our first adventure was a 90-minute boat tour of NYC from the water. It was overcast, but still a lot of fun.
The boat took us right up to the Statue of Liberty. Zach and Emily getting their first view.
Jen on the boat with Z&E. It became the running joke about how much those two eat. Literally, they just ate all day. I had a backpack that had 2 diapers (which were never used) and the rest was full of food, which was empty by the end of the day.
Nicole (who's due in June with a baby girl - though you could never tell by this picture!) and Melissa.
Mommy and Izzy.
After the cruise tour, we took a bus downtown. Emily was fascinated watching all the sights and sounds on the street through the window .
This is how Zach enjoyed the bus ride.
Our next stop was the Empire State Building. We lucked out and had no lines! Here's the whole group.
The family at the top of the Empire State Building.
Steve and Melissa with the city in the background.
You might think Izzy's looking at the view - but it's really the pigeons. That's what she loved - the pigeons. She fed them her pretzel, chased them on the street, watched them on the ledges at the top of the ESB - all day, all we heard about were the pigeons.
We did a "food tour" of NYC street food. Scott impressed Steve and downed 4 hot dogs, before adding pizza and ice cream later on, finished with a full dinner.
Izzy was the only one without a stroller. She did EXCELLENT with all the walking, but towards the end, hopped a ride with Jack.
Our next stop was Times Square.
After that, it was time to head back to the hotel and get dinner. Here's Izzy waiting for our ferry to take us back across the river to the hotel.
How Zach and Emily finally ended the day as we made our way to the hotel.
We had to wait for a table to seat 15 people at the restaurant, so the kids took over the entryway to the mall. Everyone who walked in the doors commented with something along the lines of "whoa, that's a lot of kids!" But amazingly, there were no meltdowns and everyone enjoyed their dinner - even with no naps and a VERY full day. It was an organized chaos, but still a lot of fun.
The day ended with a surprise baby shower for Nicole, after the kids were put to bed, and then the girls got to go out for a few drinks on our own.
And all that was just on Saturday! Sunday - we got up and went swimming in the hotel pool together, before catching lunch and then going our separate ways to head home.
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