We had another ordinary night, wow it's a problem. We headed off to Central Park bright and early with the plan to eat brekky at the Boathouse. The park was beautiful, lots of joggers around and lots of dogs. IMagine our surprise to get to the Boathouse and find dogs absolutely everywhere and most off their leash which I found astonishing. I like dogs but am not crazy mad for them and I really dislike it when people have their dogs off their leads. I know many people are confident that their dogs are well trained and will behave but unfortunately our children get a little anxious around dogs they don't know and it annoys me when people let their big dogs wander up and jump and lick with no thought to the children's reaction. The family sat down and I lined up to order and while I was waiting, dogs were having full on snarling fights with each other and the owners were just sitting there drinking their lattes not worrying too much. After a while I looked over at my husband and knew he was thinking the same as me so we got the hell out of there, hungry or not we couldn't have stayed.
I've got lots of beautiful photos from here but haven't edited them yet.
We ended up eating at a little deli that I had found online in my research for cheap eats before we left.
Then DH went off shopping and the kids and I came back to the room for an hour while I did some handwashing and they did some writing and drawing and zoned out for a while. Then we headed to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum which was alot of fun again. Love it. At the end the kids got to make their own super hero movie which was priceless, they had so much fun doing it and I giggled my head off watching them.
We did a bit of souvenier shopping, shared our first slice of New York pizza, then hit M&M World. We all enjoyed that, although I was a little shocked when the purchases of m&ms were rung up and I saw the total
. Ouch. It's best not to discuss how much, although the kids bags were ridiculously full
.
These little Alvin and the Chipmunks were a lifesaver. They kept DS busy ever spare moment and out of his sister's hair.
We came back for a nap which was not supposed to be long but ended up being nearly 2 hours. 'I swear we could've all slept for 8 hours if we hadn't set an alarm. The alarm kept going off for ages and then DD would hit snooze and we'd all just fall asleep again. That is unheard of for our family, very light sleepers as a rule.
Then we headed to Toys R Us which is just simply not as good as FAO Schwarz, although the ferris wheel is obviously pretty cool.
Then the moment I had been waiting for, dinner at Bubba Gumps. I have dreamed about this meal for a year. The Bourbon St. Mahi Mahi served on potato mash is out of this world and i knew it would be heaven. My DH decided to have it too which made me nervous because I had really talked this meal up, what if he didn't like it? WellI needn't have worried, it was sensational again and he is now a fan. I'm not kidding when I say I'm thinking about going there again on our last night
We were going to go to Hoboken tomorrow to Cake Boss but a friend of ours was just there recently and he said the line was a kilometre long to get in the door. I was nervous about this but had promised DD we'd go so was just going to persevere with it. We discussed it with her tonight as we didn't want her to be disappointed if we couldn't get in and she felt it wasn't worth the risk to go all that way and perhaps not be able to get in so we have decided to skip it. In a way I'm relieved because we had planned to catch the subway there and to be honest I'm a little nervous about the subway. And I think the whole family is kind of liking just wandering and shopping and not having too many commitments to get to, we are liking the "holiday, take it easy factor" alot this time, as opposed to the epic fast pace journey of last year.
So I've given myself permission not to obsess about trying to do everything we had hoped and we will just do whatever takes our fancy each day. How liberating
.
We think we may go to Wall Street area tomorrow for a little wander and then head to Anthony Bourdain's restaurant around there somewhere. We watch his show on Foxtel and love it and have heard from friends that the food is amazing so since we love yum food it will be worth the trek alone.
I have to mention the crazy traffic again, it's insane. I would not drive here EVER!!!!!!!!! And the crazy New Yorkers who don't take red lights seriously and just walk across roads in front of cars like it's no big deal. We have also seen two little fender benders but noone even blinks or gets out of the car, if it's just a little bump, they just move on with their lives and don't even get annoyed. Imagine that in Australia, there would be a complete row over it.
DH is still not loving the cabs here so we have walked everywhere so far. My feet are making me nervous. After the blistered feet from hell nightmare that was my trip last year, I have purchased every sock, shoe, bandaid, cream etc that is available to me to ensure no trouble with them. We have only just finished our 2nd day and I can feel things are going to go downhill and I am kind of freaking out. My plan is to change up my footwear, sneakers during the day and sandals at night. The main problem is my feet don't like being enclosed in socks and sneakers, they get too hot and moist and then blisters occur so I'm just really going to have to watch this because if I think I'm walking alot now, imagine once I hit WDW.
I've been taking tons of food porn and lots of photos but I don't have the energy to edit and share them, that will be later after the trip is over.
Hope you are all doing well.
I hope you have a fantastic time and look forward to hearing all about it. Please come home with lots of tips for me 
. Can't wait to hear more (and of course see your fabulous pics!).
Hope you get plenty of sleep, and are refreshed for your first big day!
