NYC at Christmastime: Take 3

It has become our yearly tradition to visit New York City at Christmastime.  Mainly to visit the Santa at the Plaza Hotel, who, if you haven't visited before, is probably the best Santa ever.  Seems like a pretty ridiculous trip just to see a Santa, but it seems we are suckers for a good one, especially after seeing a few of the local Santas...

You remember the first time we went?  And last year?

This year was, by far, the easiest.  No worries about where to feed her, the nearest place with a changing table or whether or not she was cold or having a good time.

We had a bit of a hitch in the morning as MiniM.E. cried the whole way to the train station and then we missed our train by seconds resulting in an epic tantrum about wanting to be on that train.

But we caught the next one and after a relaxing trip we made it to Grand Central Station.  MiniM.E. looked less than thrilled, but it turned out it was just because...

It was nap time.  While she snoozed Bob and I took a leisurely walk up 5th Avenue through Central Park for a while and MiniM.E. woke up just as we were debating whether to buy tickets to the zoo. Of course when we asked MiniM.E. what she thought she said, "Yes, I DO want to go to the zoo!!!!"

We saw a sea lion show and let her escape from the stroller for a bit.

A few snow leopards and red pandas later, we'd pretty much seen what there was to see at the zoo, but it was a nice activity.

The petting zoo is actually separate and I have to say, wasn't really worth the trek over to it.  All the animals were caged and not very "pettable" and the few activities they had for kids we didn't let MiniM.E. do because it was too cold.

She seemed to enjoy herself anyway.

Then it was back to the edge of Central Park for a hotdog and a black squirrel sighting.  Have you seen these?  MiniM.E. was hilarious as she kept commenting, "Squirrels aren't supposed to be black.  That's silly!"

The highlight of the trip, by far, was FAO Schwartz.  Specifically, the giant piano.  MiniM.E. loved it last year and was even more excited to run around on it this year.

We walked back down 5th Ave. past the tree and through the Bryant Park Christmas Market to Times Square.  MiniM.E. had been begging for another hotdog since we left the toy store so we called it a day with a meal at Ruby Tuesday's, MiniM.E.'s preferred restaurant because "you get to pick out your food to eat."

As soon as we were back out in the brisk winter air, MiniM.E. was asleep.  Third trip to NYC: success!

New York at Christmas 2012

Sunday we took MiniM.E. on our second annual trip to New York City.  We went last year when she was just two months old and our first trip was so awesome, we decided it had to become a family tradition.

Last year we went with our friends M & G, but since they're expecting their first baby at Christmas, it was cutting it too close to make the trip.  We took my parents instead, which was pretty exciting since it had been years since either of them visited NYC.

This year we drove to Beacon station and took the train in.

MiniM.E. seemed to enjoy the train...

until she fell asleep.

We arrived at Grand Central Station just before lunch.  MiniM.E. was in awe of all the people and lights and noise.  We visited the Christmas Market in the station before venturing out to the streets of the city.

taking it all in

The streets of New York:

At first, MiniM.E didn't seem too thrilled (probably because of the necessity of a hat and mittens), but less than five minutes from the station she was her excitable self again.

(Probably because she saw this:)

The entire purpose of the New York trip for me was for MiniM.E. to sit on Santa's lap at the Plaza Hotel.  I have never seen a better Santa than the one there, and I'm pretty sure he's the real deal.  So even though there are lots of Santa's helpers at malls close by, and even in downtown Saratoga, I want to take MiniM.E. to NYC every year to see the real Santa at the Plaza Hotel (where, after getting ready for Christmas ALL YEAR, he must need a bit of a break before the big day).

Here is the photo we got last year.

See?  The Santa.  And, how cute is MiniM.E.?

Now, I realize that a one-year-old is much different than a tiny baby and even though I knew she would scream and cry, I still wanted my yearly picture.

So... our first stop, while MiniM.E. was still fresh, was the Plaza Hotel.

BUT, of course, something would go wrong to upset the trip.  *Insert huge, long Santa photo debacle here.*  Long story short, their camera stopped working and they told us to come back in an hour, which, of course, would interfere with the nap MiniM.E. desperately needed.  Yet, the photo being the most important task of the day, we returned an hour later, only to be told they needed another hour.  After much arguing and pleading, we finally convinced the staff to find Santa (who was on his break) so we could take a photo using OUR camera.  I would need an entire post to write about my frustration with the Santa staff, but we got the picture, so I'm happy.

After finding out we needed to come back, we went next door to FAO Schwarz.  The toy store was most definitely MiniM.E.'s favorite part of the trip.  First we explored.

Climbing on the giant puppies

Looking at the chirping birds

Playing with the super expensive Steiff bears... YIKES!

Then we found the story area and MiniM.E. spent almost an hour playing with the toys

and reading stories.

The highlight of the toy store was the Big Piano.

MiniM.E. loved it so much that as soon as she got off she immediately signed and said "more", and most amazingly, added "mi-an-o".  Seriously?  The words this kid learns without us even teaching her...

So for the rest of the day she continuously chanted "mi-an-o" over and over.

We went back to see Santa.  We still had to wait a while, but we finally got to see him.  At first MiniM.E. just wanted to play with the tree.  Once we put her in his lap, she started out alright, admiring the fuzzy coat, but soon didn't seem quite so happy.  Her concern turned into outright terror pretty quickly.  Luckily, I snapped one good photo before everything went downhill.  I do kind of like this one though.

With the world's largest bear on the way in

waiting...

and waiting... 

looking at the tree... while waiting

There he is!!

not sure about the whole Santa's lap thing...

Done.  Done!  ALL DONE!!!

All the screaming must have worn her out because after a few photos and a stop at Trump Tower,

Trump Tower.  So pretty.

she fell asleep.

While she slept, we did some sightseeing.

Christmas Market at Bryant Park

The skating rink

Our family photo

The tree... even though it wasn't lit.

She woke up for Times Square and took a break from chanting "mi-an-o" to exclaim "pret-ty!"

After Times Square we were all pretty tired and decided to head back to Grand Central.

The moon and the Chrysler Building

It was a very successful trip, and I have to say, NYC with a one-year-old was pretty awesome.