Earlier this month, we took a quick trip to NYC and it feels like time has been flying since then! (We actually came home two weeks ago today, which is crazy because it feels like we just got back!) Even though traveling with a toddler during my third trimester of pregnancy wasn’t exactly ideal, I’m so glad we went because it was really special to be able to go meet our new nephew, Samuel! Plus, knowing that we won’t really be traveling over the next couple of months as we adjust to life with a newborn, it was great to be able to fit in one last trip as a family of three to one of my favorite cities 🙂
I already shared a few photos on
Instagram while we were there, but since I had quite a few on my phone that I never got around to posting, I thought I’d just go ahead and share a few more here! And since traveling with Henry means the space in my bag that used to hold my DSLR is now filled with snacks, so all these are all (not the best quality) iPhone photos, but oh well 🙂
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| Meeting sweet little Samuel Max for the first time at a week old! Granted I’m biased, but he is a super cute baby 🙂 |
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| Overall, Henry did so well around the baby! But newborns do sleep a lot, so he would lose interest fairly quickly once he was snoozing…and he ended up being a lot more interested in checking out everything in my sister and brother in law’s apartment, which (understandably) is not exactly toddler-proofed. So basically, while we were at their place we had to alternate between holding the baby and trying to keep Henry from breaking things, ha! |
Another highlight of our time in New York was getting to go to Samuel’s bris! The ceremony itself was fairly quick, but there was a nice brunch after where we got to visit with some of Melissa and Ben’s friends which was fun. It was a special day and I’m happy we were able to be there for it.
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| So many bagels, so much lox |
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| Family group shot with my parents and Ben’s sister and brother-in-law |
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| Henry being super well-behaved…ha! (Actually, for being jet lagged, he was pretty good thankfully!) |
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| I’ve been able to hang out with my sister’s friends on a lot of my previous visits to the city and then they all came to her wedding in France last summer so it was fun seeing them again! |
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| And last but not least, a little candid shot…ha 🙂 |
Since Samuel was just over a week old while we were there, a lot of the time on our trip was spent hanging out at Ben & Melissa’s apartment as he was a little young to be out strolling the streets of NYC. But we did have a fair amount of time to get out and explore aka burn off some of Henry’s energy! My sister has lived in the city for over five years now and before she lived there, Cam and I had college friends in NYC that we used to go visit…so basically at this point we’ve been quite a few times, and we know that we’ll be going back again in the future. But, it is always fun to go see at least a few of the more touristy spots while were in town, especially now that Henry is getting bigger!
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| My dad, Henry, and Cameron in Grand Central Station |
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| Central Park! |
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| Henry was a little small for the rides they had set up in Central Park but he liked looking at them! |
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| Having fun at the Lego Store near Union Square |
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| Playing at Madison Square Park, pretty sure Henry was the only kid there with his parent and not his nanny! |
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| Walking (well, sitting) on the High Line 🙂 |
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| It was gorgeous weather the day we went so it was super crowded, but it’s still a fun place to go! And it’s super convenient for going to Chelsea Market which has so many great food options! |
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| Dylan’s Candy Bar is pretty close to my sister’s apartment so of course we had to go…for Henry, obviously 🙂 |
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| Henry looks super grumpy, but he actually had a lot of fun (and probably too much candy…ha) |
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| I think Henry’s favorite part of the whole trip was getting to ride in taxis…ha! We took a big shuttle bus to and from the airport since we obviously wouldn’t want to take him on the freeway without a car seat. But once we were in the city, we did take a few cab rides sans car seat and it was fine since they’re not required and you’re never really going very fast with all the traffic. Henry thought it was pretty cool though! |
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| Times Square is definitely one of my least favorite parts of the NYC just because it’s so crowded, full of terrible chain restaurants, and an overall nightmare. We usually try to avoid it when we visit if possible, but since Henry is kind of obsessed with lights, we figured that should probably take him to see it. I think he was both mesmerized and on sensory overload…ha! And even though it was annoying to deal with the crowds, it was worth it 🙂 |
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| Family selfies are hard… |
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| …especially since this one loves taking my sunglasses! |
My parents were out in NYC for quite a bit longer than we were, and it was nice being able to spend some time with them while we were there. It’s also kind of ironic that they’re getting all grandsons (at least so far!) after having two daughters, boys are definitely a different ballgame!
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| When we were trying to take these pictures, Henry did not want to let go of this card he was holding but I thought that maybe I could quickly just take it from him so I could get one picture without him holding it… |
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| I was wrong. LOL. |
One of the days we were there, Cameron, Henry, and I ventured over to Brooklyn!
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| We had breakfast at Iris Cafe Store #9 and I’d highly recommend it. It’s kind of a low-key place but the food was great and it’s in a really picturesque area of Brooklyn Heights! (Plus it’s super close to Brooklyn Bridge Park!) |
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| I had heard that Brooklyn Bridge Park was an awesome place to take kids, so I was really excited to take Henry to check it out since he loves going to the park these days. The park has tons of different sections and it was really fun to check out. It ended up being pretty hot the day we went, so we ended up spending most of our time at Sandbox Village and Water Lab, which are both at Pier 6. Since we were there on a week day after school had started, they were both pretty empty and so it was amazing to have these incredible parks virtually to ourselves! |
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| After changing Henry’s clothes, we headed to DUMBO to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge! |
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| Henry was not super pumped about pictures at this point 🙂 |
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| I posted about this on Instagram, but when I was in NYC two years ago, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge while pregnant with Henry. It felt surreal and like deja vu to be doing it again, only this time Henry got to walk with me! |
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| Speaking of walking, we did a LOT of it! Thankfully, I felt really good, but still, it was kind of a lot for being as far along as I was! (This was a little before and after shot the day we went to Brooklyn and did the most walking) Needless to say, I’ve definitely been trying to take it a little easier since we’ve been home! |
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| This silly boy looked like a literal giant next to his cousin! |
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| One last artsy b+w shot from the Brooklyn Bridge 🙂 |
So there you have it, our visit to NYC in a nutshell! It was a fairly quick trip, but I’m so glad we were able to go. Even though it wasn’t technically fall, we did get a little bit of nice fall weather while we were there (along with some hot and humid weather, which wasn’t quite as nice). It’s crazy to look back at
this post from almost two years ago when I was pregnant with Henry and we were wedding dress shopping for my sister – so much has happened since then! I didn’t end up getting a chance to write a post about our last visit to NYC for Thanksgiving this past year (although there are a few pictures from that trip in
this post) but Henry wasn’t even walking at that point and so it was a very different experience. I’m not quite sure when we’ll be visiting next, but it’s surreal to think that we’ll be a family of four! And as hard as it is having my sister (and now my adorable little nephew!) on the opposite side of the country, the silver lining is that it gives us a pretty great reason to go to NYC!
