Day 13

Thursday Renzi left early for New Jersey for meetings and the boys and I went to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). We had a bit of a snafu on the subway....one of the lines we needed to take was down so I accidently chose the wrong line and we ended up in Long Island. Oops! Nothing an uber ride could not fix. Ha!

MOMA had an incredible audio system for kids so we grabbed the headphones and small devices and starter on the top floor and worked or way down.

 

 

The boys did surprisingly well and I really think they learned a lot. We saw Picassos, Monet, Salvador Dali, Matisse and so many more. It was fun to watch Jackson recognize some of the artists and paintings he has leaned about in art at school.

One of the special exhibits they had was about the decade of 1960's. Interesting and weird things were everywhere!

 

After the museum we were starving so we had a late lunch at Burger Heaven. So good!

We played at the park for awhile after and then we went home because I had to get ready for Renzi's and my fun night. Our friends Reece and Laynie Travis were in town with their family for a movie premiere that her family was producing. The movie was called Anthropod and was playing at Loews theatre. We had the opportunity to be at the red carpet, see the movie and attend the after party.

Here are a few pics from the premiere with some of the stars from the movie.

 

 

It was an awesome night and so cool to see a movie with the people who worked on the movie!

Day 12

Wednesday the boys and I took the subway to midtown to do some back to school shopping. We walked in and out of some of the huge stores and it was fun to watch the boys eyes as they took all of the hugeness in.

That evening we came home to get ready for dinner and The Lion King on Broadway!

The boys looked so so cute in bow ties that my dad and stepmom got for them.

 

 

 

We took the boys for sushi at Blue Ribbon Sushi (ok-so that's what Renzi and I wanted...ha!) and we had a fun dinner trying new things.

 

 

The Lion King was simply incredible. The colors, the costumes, the music, the sets-we were all in awe the entire show.

 

 

Day 11

Tuesday we got out of the house early and headed out to New Jersey because we were given the opportunity to attend NY Giants training camp!  

The boys were so excited because we were up close to all of the players and to the field.

 

 

 

 

After the "practice" the boys were taken over to where the players would be signing autographs and were right up front.  Jackson and Walker got a chance to meet Odell Beckham, Jr, Sterling Shepherd and Eli Manning!

 

 

 

 

We finished up the day by having dinner with Houda-she works at Saxum in Oklahoma City and was in town to attend meetings with Renzi. She is amazing and Walker Stone adores her...along with the rest of us!

 

Day 10

Monday! While Renzi was in meetings this morning the kids and I decided we would go to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. We walked out our front door to this:

 

This is the second tv show that has been filmed on our street since we have been here! The show last week they filmed was "Billions" on Showtime and today it was "Elementary." It's amazing how much equipment they bring to film a few scenes.

The Children's Museum of Manhattan was awesome! Totally interactive and the boys had a ball.

 

 

 

On the fourth floor they had an entire exhibit on how the body works. They showed how your heart and lungs work, how your brain works and how your stomach works. They had this sign up that I thought was hilarious. (I'm totally immature and I realize this.)

 

After three hours at the museum we were starving so we walked a couple of blocks over to "Jacob's Pickle" to meet Renzi for a late lunch. 

OMG.

This place.

Ridiculous.

 

We totally over ordered. We ordered four different kinds of pickles, fried pickles, croque Madame, southern BLT, sausage gravy fried chicken and the buffalo chicken mac and cheese. Holy moly. So glorious.

The buffalo Mac and cheese was actually voted the number one dish in NYC this year. Like, the entire city. It did not disappoint and I will dream about it for some time.

We literally rolled out of the joint and hopped on the subway downtown to the Freedoms Tower. We had passes to go all of the way to the top.

Bad selfie but wanted to show how tall the building is!

 

 

The views were spectacular and they did such a great job with the observatory tower. I think the best part though was the elevator ride up! It takes you through NYC in 1600 and you see the NYC skyline through time as you zip to the top of the tower. Very powerful.

After we walked the observatory tower we went back down and walked over to the 9/11 memorial. I have been here a few times but this was Walker's first time to go. I wanted to share with him why the memorial was there, but also shield him from some of the details because the sweet kiddo is still just four years old. So, I kept it simple and explained that there were some bad people who flew planes into the two towers and the buildings fell to the ground-a lot of people were killed and so this memorial is to remember those who died. Boy, oh boy, did he take it so well. He also asked me numerous follow up questions that I thought were very mature for his age.

He asked me the why's (of course), but he was very curious to know where Renzi and I were when this happened. He asked if we knew anyone who was killed...and he asked if some day when he gets to heaven if he will get to meet some of the people who were killed. I told him I really hoped he would get to meet some of them, to which he replied, "oh good, then I can tell them how beautiful the memorial is." Sweet sweet boy.

 

Was a great day for us all.

Day 9

This morning we had a quiet morning at the apartment and then all got ready for church! I was so excited because we were going to Hillsong church in Times Square!!

I'm pretty much obsessed with Hillsong United so I was pumped for the praise and worship music I knew was in store for us!

 

 

As I had hoped, of course it was amazing! They sang new songs and some old ones and it was so refreshing to see the whole room just come alive with love for Jesus! After being in NYC for over a week now, it's easy to become discouraged in the niceness of people. People are just downright rude here sometimes. But in that room...it was so full of joy it made my heart so happy!

The speaker that morning was a Hillsong pastor from Australia and he spoke about choices. We all have choices we get to make in our lives...Jesus died on the cross but he did not do that and we all automatically get saved. No, he died so that we could make the choice to have him live on our hearts. 

After church we had an awesome brunch at the famous Tavern on the Green. It has been totally remodeled in the last two years and it was just beautiful! It is the only restaraunt actually located IN Central Park.

 

 

 

 

We walked home through Central Park after lunch. I swear everytime I walk through that park I wind up somewhere I have never been before.

 

We had a relaxing afternoon in our apartment because it was raining. We all read, played Uno, colored and rested.

We had some friends in town from OKC and we met them for dinner that night at Mr. Chow. Holy cannoli...it was so good.

 

 

Day 8

Saturday started out with Ginny, Dave and kiddos coming to our house for breakfast. We had bagels from Pick-a-bagel. My new fav is an everything bagel with egg and pastrami. Yum-o.

We then all walked over to Central Park for storytime at the Hans Christian Anderson statue. It was so fun-for all of us!

 

 

After storytime was over we hopped in an uber (our first car ride since we arrived in NYC!) and went to Chelsea Pier to catch the Circle Line boat around the harbor.

 

 

 

 

 

It was super touristy and not the best idea-but the boys did great and hung in there. We did get some good shots of the Statue of Liberty so that was a plus!

After we docked, we walked over to Hudson Yard where all of the trains go to be serviced. On top of Hudson Yard is something new called, "The High Line." The High Line is a three mile stretch of walking paths built above the city streets. You literally walk above the streets through the Meatpacking district and Chelsea. So so cool!

 

 

 

 

After we walked for a bit it started to rain pretty hard so we ducked into Dos Caminos for an early dinner and to celebrate sweet TJ's upcoming birthday where he will turn three years old! 

 

After dinner, the Badanes family packed up their things and drove back to D.C. We miss them already! So thankful they were able to spend a few days with us in NYC!