Cecily and Caren headed to New York for the long weekend to visit Brandy, Tomi, Jack, and Eric. Timing was kind of bad since the Sandy Hurricane had blown through the previous weekend, and it had snowed a couple days earlier. However, after arriving at 5:30 in the morning (New York time), the damage had been relatively cleaned up, and the weather was relatively nice. We grabbed Dunkin Donuts for Tomi's birthday breakfast then headed to the farm to check out the animals while Brandy and Eric mucked the stalls and fed the animals. Caren got to feed an alpaca, and Cecily found an egg in the hen house to bring back to Brandy's house. After the farm, the girls headed to Main Street Northport so that Cecily and Tomi could play on the playground and to grab some lunch. We ended the night with authentic New York pizza. When we got back to their house after dinner, Cecily gave Tomi her Hello Kitty themed birthday presents, and the kids had a fun slumber party to celebrate Tomi's 8th birthday. 11-10-12
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On Sunday, we headed into New York City to see the sites. Unfortunately, as soon as they got on the train, Caren realized she forgot her Canon camera. We still had four cameras though (two phones and two Olympus for the kids), so we were able to take lots of pictures (just not the good quality that Caren would have liked). It was nice not to have to carry a big camera around the city all day though. We started our marathon trip arriving in Penn Station and taking the subway down to the 9/11 memorial building then walking past Wall Street and the bull. We grabbed the girls some pretzels from a street vendor before taking the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We hopped back on the subway and grabbed Subway for lunch before heading into Central Park. We walked through the zoo, passed the Shakespeare statue, saw the Boathouse, saw the Carousel, and watched the horse drawn carriages go by. Caren even got a shot of her feet in flip flops on snow in Central Park. Next we headed to FAO Schwarz and the American Girl Store for some shopping. On our way to Rockefellar Center, we saw the Empire State Building all lit up in red, white, and blue. At Rockelfeller Center, we watched the ice skaters before checking out the Lego Store. Then we walked by the NBC Studio and Radio City Music Hall on our way to Times Square. We grabbed the kids Happy Meals at the Times Square McDonalds on the way back to Penn Station. When we passed the Annie theater on Broadway, Cecily asked if we could see the show. Unfortunately we didn't have time to catch a Broadway show. We'll have to make another trip back to see one. 11-11-12
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Caren had gotten Tomi and Cecily matching American Girl New York shirts for their American Girl dolls and dog Statue of Liberty costumes. Since Jack didn't get to come into the city with us, Caren bought him and Cecily matching Statue of Liberty magnets and an exclusive New York yellow taxi cab building set. At FAO Schwarz, Cecily had purchased a fancy nail polish set with the money that Grandma had given her, so the kids all gave themselves a pedicure. We grabbed deli fried egg sandwiches and headed to Hobart Beach for a picnic. We got to see s ship washed up on shore from the hurricane. The weather was so nice, Tomi and Cecily ended up in their tank tops. The kids had fun on the playground and exploring the beach. That night, we had a Sperber-Sandin Thanksgiving. 11-12-12
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Our last day in Northport, we hung out at their house then went to lunch before heading to the airport. We finally saw the beautiful changing fall colors on the trees at the Sweet Mamas parking lot. While Caren enjoyed seeing New York City, she preferred Northport over the city. Cecily loved going to New York and visiting Tomi and Jack. 11-13-12
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