Day 1 in New York City: Museum of Natural History

Since I took lots of photos each day (both with my big girl camera and iPhone), I'll cut to the chase.  We had an early morning flight which meant grabbing breakfast at the airport. Caleb thought teasing his sister with his shark tooth necklace would be a good way to pass the time.

One of Caleb's upper front teeth was very loose. I thought it might fall out before our trip, but I was wrong.  Instead, I found him wiggling the tar out of that tooth with his tongue or fingers during our entire trip.

The dumplings took turns sitting by the window. They love to fly/travel.

Lorna Doone cookies were an in-flight hit.  They always are.

Thankfully our flight and cab ride into the city were uneventful.  And once our bags landed in the room of our hotel, you better believe Madeline was searching for that infamous pad and paper.

The kids loved gazing out the window, and so did I.  We stayed on the 35th floor of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.  People watching is fun from up there.

I'm kicking myself that I didn't pay close enough attention to this next shot and subsequently placed the window pane right through the "2012" below the ball.  *insert slapping my forehead*

Once we got settled, we decided that we still had some time to hit the Museum of Natural History for a little hands on learning.  It's located in the Upper West Side right next to Central Park.  So the kids gazed out at the expansive park before them and tried throwing fallen leaves over the wall.

Then it was time to hit the museum.

The bonus for arriving so late in the afternoon was that our tickets were discounted.  Woot!  And good thing because we made up for that by purchasing some really silly photos of us with dinosaurs.

We spent a wee bit of time checking out American birds (since we studied them last year as part of our natural history studies), the animals of Africa, and Asian history.  

But we primarily spent our time browsing all the dinosaur exhibits.  The kids used our iPhones to snap their own photos.  And I just kept snapping them doing it.

A nice gentleman offered to take a family photo.  Madeline's double chin smile is hilarious.

These last photos of the dinosaur exhibit crack me up.  We're very open with Madeline about her limb difference.  We talk with her as needed about how to handle people's questions.  One of the responses I told her she could use if she felt like being funny and getting a rise out of the person asking was that she could tell them she (or her brother or whoever) got hungry and just ate her arm.  So here she is at the dinosaur exhibit sticking her missing left arm in the mouth of a dinosaur fossil and pretending that it's eating her. 

And I guess if it's eating your arm, you're at liberty to poke its eye out! lol.

That night we hit Becco's for dinner, right there on Restaurant Row.  We were relieved they sat us waaay before our reservation as it's popular with theater goers.  I had the absolute best stuffed peppers ever, served over fried spaetzle.  Delicious!

Well, to sum it up..our first day in NYC was a fabulous one, and it only got better! And since I don't have the time to be organized right now, I'll be sharing my iPhone photos in a separate post later.