Family Fun

A few weeks ago, Ethan's sister Erin and her three kids came to visit us. Three adults, three kids and one cat: that's a new household record. Still there was plenty of room for everyone to sleep comfortably and much fun was had by all.

Our first full day we travelled into Manhattan to see the Statue of Liberty. Since we also had tickets to see Mary Poppins, we opted for the shorter, cheaper tour of the statue by taking the Staten Island ferry. It's free and leaves every 30 minutes from the South Ferry terminal at the southern tip of Manhattan. Below is Graham on his very first subway ride. He was glued to the window and kept asking "are we in a tunnel?" To Erin's horror, she had left her anti-bacterial wipes in the mini-van. Graham survived though, so if NYC subway germs didn't make him sick, I don't think there's much on this Earth that could.

Here are Erin, Graham and Kira watching as we pulled away from the ferry dock heading to Staten Island. We had outdoor seats on the Statue side and, although it was a bit cloudy, we were still able to see Lady Liberty pretty clearly.

We actually got much closer to the Statue than is shown in this picture, but we liked the water taxi in the foreground.

After the ferry ride, it was uptown to Times Square. We had a quick lunch at Bubba Gump and then hurried to the theater for a matinee show of Mary Poppins. Elin and I sat with the girls and Erin sat in a separate section with Graham. Graham wasn't as engrossed in the play as his older sisters. Erin thought it had something to do with the fact that Mary Poppins didn't "transform" into some sort of weapon or robot. At intermission, I asked Graham how he liked the show. His response: "I can't understand what they're saying." He was right. The British accents were a bit tricky at times. The second act proved more robust with livelier songs and cool special effects, so Graham enjoyed it much better. Proving how grown-up Maddie and Kira are getting, they were both quick to point out the wires that held up the actors during some of the flying scenes. Can't get much by them anymore.

Leaving the theater, we experienced a good, old fashioned Times Square mob scene. You don't appreciate how stressful mammoth crowds are until you're trying to keep track of three kids. Luckily it was only two blocks or so to the giant Toys R Us. We ducked inside and were greeted with a full size, indoor ferris wheel. Unfortunately the line was too long so Maddie and Kira had to settle for a picture in front of it. Still none of the kids left without a toy. Graham got a Transformer. Kira got a Jaguar stuffed animal, and Maddie got a coloring book. Erin threw in some sidewalk chalk and made it out of there without going bankrupt.

We made it home after a long day. Pictured below are Graham and Kira on their favorite chair in the apartment. They had just finished playing the Star Wars Lego game on the XBox and were very excited. Graham started asking about the game at breakfast and didn't stop until we started playing after dinner time. Graham is also our family Wii tennis pro and had a great time beating his mother in a few sets.

The next morning we visited a playground in Prospect Park. Below Maddie appears right at home sitting on top of the monkey bars.

Kira got a little assistance from Aunt Elin.

What would childhood be without swing sets?

Here is Maddie pushing Erin. Is it me or is Erin holding those chains a little tight? This is the same sister who taught me how to do back flips off a diving board when I was about 11. You've lost your edge, sis!!

They made the most of their short visit with us. We will miss having them so close as they move to Florida this week, but it's been great to spend some time with them over the past year and a half.