Swedish Cottage, D&D, Design, and Jewish Museums

This afternoon we took our cuties to see the Marionette Theater in the Swedish Cottage. Stanley was scared at first because Nate told him it would be a show with bears, and I think he thought they would be real bears. Once the show started though he kept saying things like "not scared", "it's ok!", and "mama" for mama bear, and "daddy" for papa bear. He loved it. It was Christmas themed which was nice, because no one wants to be rid of that wonderful holiday too soon. 

Lunch at Dean and Delucas - the most posh grocery store I've ever been to. Luxury lives in NYC.

After we took our boys to the Design Museum Smithsonian 'Cooper Hewitt'. Fun for Mason because he has talked before about wanting to be an Architect someday. He loves building and designing.

Next up - The Jewish Museum. I love when these museums have a space for children which this one did. They played in that sweet little space while Nate and I switched off seeing the rest of the museum. Win, win.

Financial District and Carnegie Hall date

Yesterday was spent in the Financial District. We stopped by the old Hamilton Exchange House first to see the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indians. It was very well done. It was so good to teach my boys a little about Native Americans, and how it connects so well with the Book of Mormon. 

Later we went to the Church where Alexander Hamilton was buried. That spot is a little more popular than it probably was a few years ago. So glad he's getting the attention he deserves.

Fun to walk through Wall Street and the Financial District. 

I also love this spot where George Washington gave the first Inaugural address - on my birthday, April 30th. I've also felt a special connection with the birth of our Country and this day :). I didn't know that his first act after accepting his role as first president of this country, was to attend a church service at St Pauls. So humble of him I thought.

And here Thomas Jefferson's home would have been :) - the agreement for the seat of our Country to be moved to Washington took place here with Alexander Hamilton.

the place where Washington stood.

The 9/11 Memorial hit me a lot harder than I was expecting. The tears flowed and wouldn't stop flowing. I just couldn't stop thinking about how many people died there - truly hallowed ground, and all of the wives or husbands, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who were affected that horrible day in our Country's history.

Had lunch here but the amount of people here was madness. Not such a pleasant experience :).

But look who we ran into!! Apparently he likes to hang out in NYC also?

Umami Burger

View of the Statue of Liberty. I love that lady liberty!

St Pauls

Nate took me on a hot date to the Carnegie Hall. I've always wanted to go to a Concert here, so it was definitely a dream come true. We heard Prokofiev's 1st Symphony, Mozart's double violin concerto, and Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. Beautiful music - such a perfect night.

up at the top where I love it most - best sound and cheapest tickets

A little post concert dessert at Tavern on the Green. We have date night swaps every other night with our friends here, since we're staying in the same apartment. It's amazing. Never forgetting this time in my life.

Franklin, High Line and Chelsea Market

Today we checked out the home and museum of Theodore Roosevelt. It was inspiring to me to watch a film about his life - and how he overcame his weaknesses and made them into strengths. It was a sunny and 60 degree day, with a few sprinkles in the morning but then the sun come out.

fitting I thought going into the new year

the flat iron

Eataly

For lunch we went to Eataly and grabbed a picnic to go and ate it at Madison Square Park. 

Our boys wanted to check out the Lego Store, so we went inside and let them build for a while.

After that we went to Madison Square Park again. They love these NYC parks. It's so nice to break up the day a bit so they can play.

Anything Mason does, Stanley can do too :)

Stanley fell asleep on our walk to the Morgan Library which was so nice for us, because that allowed us to take our time a bit more inside the Library. It was amazing to see that they currently have on exhibit for a few more days, the original manuscript of Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol'. I also saw original manuscripts of Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Haydn, and Liszt. They also had an original letter of Alexander Hamilton's to Henry Knox. I was so amazed.

studying the original manuscripts

A Christmas Carol

Walking the High Line was good fun also.

We stopped by Chelsea Market afterward to grab a few tacos to go.

Thanks for another good day NYC.