Day 2 was our big museum and park day. We walked a ton, saw a lot of cool stuff and made sure to schedule in enough time to just play and (of course) carb load (lol). Honestly, you could spend an entire day at either museum we visited or central park but for kids and adults with A D D (ahem.) enjoying smaller parts of each place was perfect and the kids loved it way more than I thought they would!
Here’s how our day went…
First stop was the American Museum of Natural History where we visited the Dinosaur and Humpback Whale exhibits. Knowing what we wanted to see before we started was key I think or there would have been a lot of wandering and debating which always results in grumpy kids and adults. Of course I owe this wisdom to my brother and sister in law who are the best tour guides ever!
Next stop was The Met, but instead of the subway we walked through Central Park and ate our homemade PB&J’s at Belvedere Castle. The kids also bought their one and only souvenirs from the castle gift shop. Some kind of whistle, compass, flint, storage, outdoorsy gadget that I thought was amazing because I love souvenirs that are also useful, but I spent the rest of the trip taking them away, LOL.
(My brother and his sweet fam bam!!!!)
THE MET! So much to love about this museum. Again we planned out what exhibit we thought the kids would appreciate before starting….
(Cousinly love! ^^^)
The Mummies and Knights got most of our love and attention but we also stopped by the fashion exhibit and roof top which was beautiful! The main entry of the museum also had all of the nude Renaissance art and sculptures which Tilly was unsure of at first but in the end concluded that at least they all had cute butts. (hahahaha!)
The kids LOVED the maps the museum provided with hand drawn illustrations of the different areas and art too. They spent a lot of time trying to figure out where they were based on the map which kept them engaged and added to the experience so be sure to grab one if you go!
The kids (Tilly with a tic-tac dispenser in her mouth) look so confused by the statues on the rooftop, LOL. I would never in a million years consider Espen and Tilly “museum kids” but they were both interested and excited about what they saw. You could see the wheels turning.
At this point the kids were a little restless so we walked around the corner to Ancient Park to splash and play!
It’s literally right next door to The Met and is inspired by the museums collection of Egyptian art. Bonus that it had water features to cool us off.
Afterwards we were hoping to visit the Central Park Zoo but ran out of time (it closes at 5pm) and is probably for the best… not sure Espen and Tilly could have done much more walking!
In between all of this we ate food cart hot dogs in front of the Met and grabbed pizza in Brooklyn on the way home where we ate and watched a movie before completely crashing!
Love being totally exhausted from playing and being out and about. Forget sometimes that I don’t have to fly halfway across the country to do so and after sorting through pics from our trip this week, am feeling very inspired to adventure around our own cities and neighborhoods this summer! How about you?
You can find details from Day 1 HERE… Thanks again for letting me share!
xo, Rae
*Beautiful pictures snapped by my sister in law Alex, who is coming to Seattle in a couple weeks and will be hosting mini sessions for anyone that is interested, DM her on Instagram!!
SaveSave
I am loving the updates on your trip. My sons are teenagers now and we used to do so much exploring when they were little. The change only happened a couple of years ago. You are inspiring me to seek out new adventures for us even at this age. I think I’ll make a summer bucket list tonight.
yes pam! even if they act like they (the older ones!) don’t want to do it, they always have fun in the end. i want to know whats on your bucket list!
xoxo