This trip will forever be one of my most favorite memories. After ten months of professional frustration I was truly drowning in discouragement and needed a major distraction. My Dad had recently stopped working full time and getting to spend quality time with him is rare so I was thrilled to see my parents. I flew by myself to Philadelphia with all four kids and they were seriously amazing! I couldn't' believe how well we held it together even with a long layover in the middle. I felt like high fiveing everyone in the airport and buying myself a trophy. Cosette brought a picture she had made in preschool when they learned about pilots and they let my kids in the cockpit so she could deliver it, they loved it! We hung around my parents house for a few days, we hadn't been there in about 18 months so everything was new and exciting. Evan arrived Tuesday for a networking lunch with one of my Dad's friends at AstraZenica (which turned out to be a really important part of the trip!) and then on Wednesday we headed to NYC! Planning this trip was a delight- we each picked something. I wanted to ride bikes in Central Park, Winston wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, Cosette wanted to go to the American Girl Doll store, my mom bought us tickets to go to Aladdin on Broadway and volunteered to stay home with the little babes because she's a saint, we also walked to Brooklyn Bridge, and we added in some delicious restaurants and museums for good measure. The Statue of Liberty ended up being the highlight for almost all of us. We did a tour where we rode a ferry to see the statue and learned all about the history, including the beautiful poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus and then got to visit Ellis Island where we spent some time looking through ship records and found the document where our family immigrated through New York City from Scotland (although didn't actually stay at Ellis Island). Being in a big city filled with so much diversity brings tears to my eyes, just the beauty of humanity on display and pair it with some family history well I'm sold. It was definitely necessary to have a 1 to 1 ratio though for kids to adults- that would have been terrifying without extra hands!
Notes from the kids:
Winston's favorite part was- seeing the statue of Liberty, going to the Lego store and seeing the Aladdin play
Cosette- chose the American Girl doll store as her activity and we took Rebecca to get her ears pierced and then ate lunch with our dolls at the cafe.
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