Things to Do in New York City {By Area}

When my friend found out we were going to NYC she put together a list of things to see by areas of NYC. It helped out so much, I knew I needed to share this information with all of you! We weren't able to do everything on this list but it will give you a good idea of things to see and do!

We stayed three nights in New Jersey at an Airbnb and had two full days to explore and that was perfect for us and our kids!

Before we get into each area here are some things to know about this city while traveling with kids.
-The subway system is not very stroller friendly, so be prepared to carry the stroller up and down stairs.
-Bathrooms are hard to come by, unless you're at a restaurant or museum.
-Most restaurants have spot to put your stroller while you eat.
-We have always found good deals using City Passes in big cities (Boston, NYC, etc) so do your research before you go! We ended up getting the C3 Pass and it was perfect for our time there!

-There are so many playgrounds around the city! We took many breaks and to let the boys run free!

UPPER MANHATTAN
CENTRAL PARK AREA:

Museum of Natural History (Donation Based)

*Jacob’ Pickles

*Patsy’s Pizzeria

Central Park

Riverside Park

Central Park Zoo

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

UPPER WEST SIDE AREA:

Manhattan LDS Temple

*Levain Bakery (best cookies ever!)

UPPER EAST SIDE AREA:

*Barking Dog Cafe

Guggenheim

5th Ave (shopping!)

MIDTOWN
MIDTOWN EAST AREA:

Empire State Building

Chrysler Building 

Grand Central Station 

*Magnolia Bakery (banana pudding is delicious!)

New York Public Library 

TIMES SQUARE AREA:

*Black Tap-milkshake 

*Famous Original Ray’s Pizza

Top of the Rock/Rockefeller Center 

Radio City Music Hall 
St Patrick Cathedral

M&M Store

CHELSEA AREA:

Chelsea High Line (free to walk)

Chelsea Market 

*Los Tacos No. 1 -In Chelsea Market (THE BEST tacos!) 

Madison Square Garden 

LOWER MANHATTAN
FINANCIAL DISTRICT AREA:

911 Memorial & Museum

The Oculus 

Battery Park 

Statue of Liberty

Circle Line Liberty Cruise

Staten Island Ferry (free to ride)

Brooklyn Bridge (walk across!) 

LITTLE ITALY AREA:

*Lombardi’s Pizza 

*Eileen’s Cheesecake

CHINATOWN AREA:

*Eggloo (yummy ice cream treat!)

GREENWICH VILLAGE AREA:

*Cookie Do

Washington Square Park 

NYU Campus 

Random Pictures from our NYC trip!

Hey everyone!

I'm finally getting around to sharing some pictures from our NYC trip! We packed so much into the two full days we were there and were exhausted by the end, but it was so worth it! It was so fun to see all of these places in person!

Chelsea High Line

Central Park- Sheep Meadow

Top of the Empire State Building

9/11 Memorial & Museum

Street Hot Dog (B loved it but my husband and I thought they were disgusting!)

Brooklyn Bridge

Girls Week Highlights

Happy Friday!

This isn't my normal Links I Love post for you today because this whole post is a favorite!

Last week my sister-in-laws came to visit! It was their first time to Boston and I got to show them around this beautiful city!

Here are the highlights from the week:

This is what library dreams are made of!

I had never been to Newbury Street until last week and I'll be going there again!

The Skywalk Observatory is a must if you're visiting Boston for the first time! We did the audio tour and it was so informative.

The New England Aquarium was great and we got to watch them feed the penguins!

Hugs on the Harbor Island Cruise! I've done this twice and it never disappoints!

We ate out in Little Italy and got lobster rolls another night! I can't wait to have them come visit again!

Linking up with.....Friday Favorites,  High Five for Friday

Boston Public Library + Links I Love {26}

The Boston Public Library is so pretty!

You don't usually expect people to tell you to go see a library as a touristy thing to do, but we went and I was amazed it looked like this! The children's section could entertain the boys for hours!

So lesson learned is that if someone suggests you should visit a library in a big city....do it!

ONE // I usually have a fan going in the boys room to block out noise but it's cooling down enough that I needed to find an actual sound machine. We got this one and it works great! We really like the rain sound!

TWO // This week for preschool we learned about Noah's Ark so we sang this song. It's one of my favorites!

THREE // I've made this soup twice in the last three weeks and it will be on repeat all winter long!

FOUR // I started using this serum on my face and I've already seen a difference in how my skin looks!

Happy Friday!

Linking up with.....Friday Favorites,  High Five for Friday

*This post contain affiliate links. Thanks for supporting this blog! 

It Came and Went So Quickly #vacationweek

Why do vacations have to end?!? 

Seriously though, if my husband didn't have to work and we had an endless amount of money wouldn't that be great!! haha I can dream;)

We started our vacation week with building Legos at the library. B and my hubby had a good time building things while I chased Baby E around and made sure he didn't destroy any books! 

Then that night we dropped the boys off at the babysitters and went out on a date! We went to Tenoch Mexican in the North End. I had the Carne Asada Tacos and they were delicious! We saw the Cookie Monstah truck while we were walking to dinner and I knew my husband needed to try them! (I had had them one time before.) It was such a good food night with my favorite person!

We decided to go to Cape Cod for part of our vacation week because everyone talks about it and we needed to check it out for ourselves! We were told the Whydah Pirate Museum was good, so that was our first stop. This 1717 sunken pirate ship was discovered in 1984.

Then we went to Seagull Beach which is on the outer side (ocean side) of The Cape. It was pretty windy but the boys had fun in the sand!

After the beach we went to Lobster Pot and ate baked lobster and clam chowder! We don't really love eating seafood but we have to take advantage of it while we live here!

The next day we hung out at Mayflower Beach. It was the prettiest beach I've ever been to! The sand was perfect, the water was a good temperature, and there was a slight breeze. This beach was on the inner side of The Cape.

We started out pretty close to the water and by the time we left we had to move at least 100 feet back because of the tide rising.

The cottage we were staying at had so many beach toys that we were told we could use! B loved the wagon!

B stayed pretty clean and Baby E was COVERED in sand! It's so interesting to see the differences in their personalities come out!

After playing at the beach we went to dinner and called it a day!

The next day, on our way home from The Cape, we stopped in Plymouth, MA to see Plymouth Rock. We didn't stay long because we really only stopped to see the rock!

Favorite parts of the trip:

Brenen- Loved seeing and touching real pirate silver

Lindsey- Mayflower Beach

B- Playing with a spinner at the cottage:)

Baby E- Eating sand

What a great week!
 We are counting down the days until the next one! April can't come soon enough!

One Dress for Two Seasons + Real Life

Dress: Roolee

Shoes: Amazon

Sunglasses: Primark (Similar)

Dress: Roolee

Vest: Old

Shoes: Amazon

Sunglasses: Primark (Similar)

This last week was a hard one.

I've tried pinpointing what made it so difficult because we stayed busy but I think it comes down to being worn out. Caring for two energetic boys by myself is hard, especially when one of them decides to not sleep well at night and the other is constantly asking "Why?" to EVERYTHING! 

After a few events on Saturday that made things go from bad to worse, I got a pep talk from my husband. Like always he helped me put things into perspective and I know that I can keep going. It also helped that he bathed the boys before leaving to see a patient;) haha

My husband's rotation right now requires him to be on call 24/7. He has his own patients he sees during the day and then at any given time at night he could be called in. I thought that getting woke up multiple times from a newborn is hard, but to hear that pager go off multiple times at night is another story.

Well that's a little look into our life right now. I'm wanting to be honest with you all during this crazy time in our life because life is hard and we all can do hard things!

Charming Coastal Town {Rockport, MA}

Last week we explored the coastal town of Rockport, MA and it was so beautiful! It is only an hour north of Boston without traffic.

Fun Fact: The movie The Proposal was filmed in this little town! I watched it the next day and recognized so many places!

We walked around and looked into a couple shops. We watched some sail boats and kites. Then we ate ice cream to finish up the day!

New England is so fun to explore!