The Toohigs: NYC or Bust? We Might’ve Busted

Saturday, September 15, 2018

NYC or Bust? We Might’ve Busted

When we took our last family trip to NYC in April 2017, I swore it would be my last time to share a hotel room with Cressey for a long time. (Add a fever virus to a kid who already can’t sleep if there are other people in the room to look at and talk to, and it’s disaster.) This time, we were able to better arrange our sleeping situation so that we had two rooms to spread out in which helped greatly. (I slept between HG and Cressey.)

The problem this time was a surprise- Cressey was HORRIBLE on the first flight. I thought she would be easily entertained with an iPad and toys, but she was super tired because of our 6 a.m. flight and totally melted down midflight. She wouldn’t drink or eat anything, ended up screaming in the floor. I felt so bad for the poor people around us for having to endure that torture, but thankfully, they were all really nice. We suffered through a hard lunch with a grumpy baby down in Rockerfeller Plaza, but once we got her to the hotel room and made her lay down, she succumbed to a nap and was much more pleasant to be around.

While Cressey napped, HG and I snuck out to the American Girl store for shopping and dessert, took a pedicab to Central Park, and explored the Heckscher playground. We got back to the hotel, grabbed a round of drinks in the hotel courtyard with our wild crew, stopped for dinner nearby, and then walked over to see Times Square lit up. After that, we all crashed.

On Saturday morning, we headed down to the 9/11 Museum, which even with HG being more interested in and understanding of, was a bit of a stretch for our young audience. We rushed through it and tried not to run into anyone with the stroller. Afterward, we scooted over to Brookfield Place for lunch, a very special cupcake, and a stroll along the harbor. Then, we took a cab back to midtown and met some sweet friends for lunch.

That afternoon, we had some much needed rest time, and then we started getting ready for dinner at Tavern on the Green. At the last minute, Cressey decided she didn’t want to put her shoes on. After a loooong screaming fit that could be heard down the hall at the elevators, John decided to stay with her until she changed her mind, and then they would join us. Well, an hour later and countless attempts to get her shoes on, he called it and decided they’d stay in for the night. Meanwhile, we enjoyed a nice dinner, and then the girls headed to Broadway to see Frozen the musical. It was a delightful night thanks to a booster seat, huge glasses of wine, Elsa gloves, and SNOW! When we left the theatre, we saw the queues set up outside for meeting the actors, so we spontaneously decided to wait and get autographs. We met the “Yoohoo!” Norwegian guy, young Anna, the Duke of Weselton, and Olaf. So neat!!!

After a full day of HG begging for another pedicab ride, I finally gave in after our Frozen excitement, and we grabbed two bikes on the far side of Times Square to get back to the hotel. They turned out to be the most expensive 8-minute ride EVER, but HG was in hog heaven and I’ve nearly recovered from my heart attack.

We left early Sunday morning to catch the direct flight home, and Cressey again didn’t want to put her shoes on. Since we had a plane to catch this time, we just put her socks on and booted her out of the taxi. She was happy as could be in her socks and as we plied her with suckers. Luckily, she fell asleep in my lap for most of the flight home, so we had a much more enjoyable trip.

You never know what time of fun, adventures, and fits you’ll encounter when you travel with the Toohigs! Thank goodness for our sweet parents for joining us and helping us so much.

The airport is awfully crowded at 4:30 a.m.

This kept them busy and happy for forever.

At the end of our flight to NYC

“Get me off this plane!”

A sandcastle on Rockerfeller Plaza!

Once we had gotten Cressey to sleep, HG and I were planning on sneaking out to explore and leaving Cressey with Spiffer in the hotel room. As I snuck out from under Cress and tossed the tv remote to Spiffer, I dropped it RIGHT on top of Cress. AH!! By the grace of God, it didn’t wake her up, and HG squealed, “Hashtag blessed!!!,” as we ran out the door. Hilarious!

American Girl for dessert

A white-knuckled pedicab ride to Central Park

Getting right into the wine

Cress thought it was so fun to cuddle up with sissy on our short cab rides, and HG was so protective of and helpful with her.

Breakfast of champs. Probably one of my favorite NYC memories with the girls. Saturday morning, we woke up to an awful storm with thunder and lightning. We ordered room service while we got ready and waited for the sun to come out. HG was so thrilled when the guy rolled in the cart and set up this table by the window. The spread was fit for royalty, and we happily ate and watched the city down below.