Baseball Adventure - Day 32 - NYC with the family (6/21)

Tuesday was a lot of fun with the family.  With Helen and Andie joining us, we spent a nice day touring Manhattan.  We took the train in from our Newark Airport hotel into Penn Station and then ventured around town.

First up was a trip to FAO Schwartz.  That's a cool place to visit.  Even cooler, was that we escaped from there without buying anything.  The guy doing magic was awesome.  We still can't figure out how he did some of that stuff.

The kids first time ever on a NY subway.  Always an adventure.

Helen and Michael on the big piano

Next up, we went over to Central Park and spent a couple of hours walking around taking in the sights, and we did a horse and carriage ride too.  In all the times I've visited NYC, I had never been to Central Park.  I remember as a kid, my first images of NYC were the movie Warriors and then Escape from New York.  Central Park looked nothing like that.  Very cool and Helen and the kids had a great time.  And check this out, while we walking in Central Park, we had the most crazy thing happen.  Michael was sporting his ASU ballboy shirt.  A guy was walking with his wife and little girl by us and noticed it.  He asked if we were from AZ and then we started talking.  After we talked for a couple of minutes it turns out that he was a friend of mine from my undergrad days who I hadn't seen in 20 years.  His name was Sean Green and he ran track from '86 to '90 at ASU.  He lived on the same dorm floor as my friend from KC - Dallas Eubanks and he also knows my friend Nick.  What are the chances of that happening in Central Park, NY - about a trillion to one?

Helen and I on the carriage ride in Central Park

My babies

Michael sopping wet in Central Park

My friend Sean and I who I haven't seen since 1990.

Then we took the subway down to Ground Zero.  I thought it was important to show the kids the site and Helen had never been there as well.  The sad thing about the area is that it's been nearly 10 years and there's still nothing there but a big hole in the ground.  It looks like there is some building going on, but it's not nearly enough 10 years after the fact.

Ground Zero

Still not much going on 10 years later

Finally, we headed back to Times Square to eat dinner.  The kids dug that.  All the lights, the people, the energy.  You can't beat Times Square for getting a feel for NYC.

The family in Times Square

After a long day, we caught the train back to Jersey.  Tomorrow, it's a Mets game at Citi Field.