Museum of the City of New York

We went to the Museum of the City of New York today. The homeschool group did an early tour, but it was way too early for us. I met up with a few friends around noon and the kids met some new friends who explored the museum with us. It's a nice place with come cool stuff. The kids loved the 1930s toy display. Wooden hoops, metal roller skates, and homemade go-carts were things I remember playing with in the 1970s, actually, lol. The Broadway costume section was cool. They had outfits from Rent, Beauty and the Beast, and Seussical. J just had to get a picture with the finale hat from A Chorus Line. Some rooms had huge interactive flat computer screens on the wall where the kids could use the "Activepen" to move the cursor. Yeah, I want one of those at home. We also saw a fantastic movie about the history of NYC from 1609 to now. What a history the city has: the Dutch, the English, the immigrants, Ellis Island, the skyscrapers, the finance, the shopping, the fashion, the rich, the poor, the boroughs, the diversity, the place where so much began. We all loved it.

After that, J was dying to wander around Times Square again. She wanted to see the 2009 ball that dropped on New Year's Eve. It was sorta, kinda on the way home, so we went. The kids took a spontaneous picture with Elmo out on the sidewalk and J did something hysterically funny behind a man who was being interviewed for some TV station. We decided to head into the big Toys R Us again for a little while. They played with some electronics, some moon sand, went in the big Barbie Dreamhouse, checked out some of the new Lego creations, watched the animatronic life-sized T-Rex, and got a Super Elastic Bubble Plastic balloon/ball to take home. This toxic goop from the 70s and 80s you stick on the end of a straw and blow to inflate has been revamped. No more lead and acetone, they say. Great. No wonder my generation is missing more brain cells than others.


At the train station in Times Square, J's turnstile locked, causing her to lose her last ride allowed on her metrocard for the day. W and I both had 1 ride left we needed for ourselves and there was no token booth. She asked me what the heck just happened and I was wondering myself, when out of nowhere a woman who was coming out told us not to worry and swiped her card for J to go through. I don't care what anybody says, NYC is the most wonderful place in the world.

We're off to another dance competition tomorrow! This is a nice, easy one - only 3 numbers going out. I like the huge hotel (same one we did last year) and the kids love the pool. We already have the bags and costume trunk packed, and daiquiris ready to blend .