Our Manhattan Boat Tour!

Today we got up bright and early to go on our Circle Line cruise around the lower half of Manhattan with my Dad. It was a cool, dreary, drizzly, overcast morning, but we decided to stick with our plans for the boat ride anyway. The plus side, we figured, is that at least it wouldn't be crowded!

We managed to stay relatively dry getting to the boat. The boys really enjoyed the cruise...after all, what young boy doesn't like a nice boat ride? We all learned all sorts of interesting facts about Manhattan as well. We had a choice between a 2-hour tour and a 3-hour tour, and went with the 2-hour. Turns out that was a good choice--as interesting and fun as the tour was, the boys' attention span didn't quite cover the two hours!

Joshua, in his bright red rain poncho, on the boat before we actually left the pier.


The highlight of the tour was definitely cruising past the Statue of Liberty. We all went to the outside deck to get a better view and take pictures, even though it was cold, raining, and very windy!


All 7 of us with Lady Liberty in the background.


My Dad and I with 4 of the J-boys. The wind is doing such attractive things to my hair here, lol!


Jonathan with the Manhattan skyline in the background. It was so cloudy that many of the tallest buildings' tops were hidden in the clouds.


After our tour, we went to lunch at an Irish pub on 10th Avenue, close to the pier. I don't remember the name, but the food was tasty. Here are my Dad and Jonathan in the restaurant.


Jon and Josh in their rain ponchos. They thought they looked like (very brightly-colored) Jedi knights, and were pretending accordingly.


We discovered that one of the other ponchos made a good combination Joey and stroller cover. Yes, Josiah is underneath all that. He stayed snug as a bug in there and slept the whole way from the restaurant back to our apartment.


A funny thing happened while we were walking back to the subway station that both made me laugh and reminded me to be content with and thankful for what we have. As I've mentioned before, I have a weakness for cute baby/children's things. Since we've been here, I've seen so many children out in cute rain slickers with matching rubber boots in fun kid prints, and I have to admit I've been coveting those for my boys, even though they are perfectly content with their cheap, adult-sized ponchos from CVS. So today as we're walking down 42nd street back to the subway station, we pass 2 young children who are wearing these cute matching rain sets. As I'm silently admiring how cute they are, the little boy points at our boys, then turns to his mom and excitedly starts telling her how awesome their ponchos are and can he please get one just like those! My boys, engrossed in their imaginary Jedi-knight world, were oblivious to this conversation, but it really reminded me that we have always been provided with whatever we need, and I need to be content with what we have instead of longing after something else that my kids probably wouldn't like any better anyway!

Well, tomorrow is our last full day to visit with my Dad. I'm not sure exactly what we will be doing yet, but I'm sure we'll have a great time together! The boys are really enjoying their time with their Peepah, and will be so sad when he has to leave on Sunday!