My oldest son and I were invited along on a mother + son trip to NYC to celebrate our boys turning 10. I thought I'd share what we did so you could use it as a starting off point for planning your own trip!

Friday:

We took the earliest flight we could (6:00 a.m.) and landed in New Jersey at the Newark Airport. In my opinion, there are pros and cons to all the airports that can get you to NYC so choose the flight that makes the most sense to you.

We took an AirTrain from the airport into Penn Station in the city. It was about $20 for me and my son, total. From there we decided to walk to our hotel because the day was so nice, but we could have also hopped on the subway up to Grand Central Station. 

We checked in (our room was already ready!) and were grateful for the free waters in the lobby. We stayed here and had a great experience. 

Then we headed to Los Tacos for lunch. They are SO GOOD. This is a must for me everytime I'm in the city. 

From there we headed downtown to the 9/11 memorial. We didn't do the museum on this trip, but it's very well done if you have the time. We also walked to Trinity Church and found Alexander Hamilton's grave site. (#nerdalert!) Anddd... a street pretzel for these pre-teen boys who were "starving". 

We had timed tickets for Liberty & Ellis Island so that was next. I hadn't been in about 20 years and it didn't disappoint. Your ticket lets you take a ferry from one island to the next, on your own time, and then back to the main island when you're done. We spent a few hours on each island and could have stayed longer-- especially at Ellis. I didn't realize they were national parks; both were so beautiful! 

For dinner, we headed back uptown and grabbed pizza at Carnegie Pizza. It was delicious! Then we found Junior's Cheesecake for dessert (always a winner) and stolled through Times Square before heading back to our hotel for the night. 

Saturday:

We enjoyed sleeping in a little, but didn't want to waste too much of the day. NYC is so quiet on weekend mornings. Take advantage! We grabbed breakfast at Brooklyn Diner (which was fine, but more pricey than it was worth IMO).

It was raining when we finished breakfast so we made our way over to The Museum of Natural History, where they let us in earlier than our tickets allowed. It's a huge museum so look at a map and decide what's most important. Don't miss the ocean area and the giant blue whale. You can lay on the floor underneath it, which is kind of stunning. 

Hours later, we came out of the museum and headed downtown to The High Line. The boys didn't love it (I think they were tired of walking from the museum), but it's one of my favorite areas. It's an old railroad track that's been converted into a walking trail over the city streets. It's very well maintained, has a ton of art, often food vendors, and lots of good benches for people watching. Hop on and off as you wish. It ends at the Meatpacking District/ Chelsea Market if you make it all the way down. 

We hopped off somewhere along the way, grabbed smoothies, and then found a playground around the Chelsea Piers. In the summer, so many NYC playgrounds have splash pads to cool off in. I wanted to run through them myself! Then we meandered over to the piers, which look across the Hudson River to New Jersey. It's quiet and peaceful, with lots of paths to walk on or places to sit. 

From there, we rose a bus (which is part of the transit system in NYC) to the Harry Potter store. My son hasn't read any of the books, but he was still enthralled with the store. It's very well done!

Then we grabbed dinner at Eataly in their Flatiron location, which is a giant Italian supermarket with multiple restaurants inside. La Pasta + La Pizza is really good. Usually we grab a cannoli there, too, but they ran out of filling.  

Madison Square Park is across the street so we walked over there (and watched someone make a case for illegally standing on the marked off grass... he was "grounding" so the officer let him stay!)

Then we decided to slowly make our way back uptown. You could certainly hop on a subway anytime, but walking in the city is one of my favorite parts! We ran inside The Empire State Building and eventually made it to the library. We didn't go inside the library on this trip, but you should if you haven't. They have great free exhibits and a fun children's area downstairs! 

Bryant Park is next door and is a dreamy area with food vendors set up around it-- and movies in the park over the summer! It's a delightful park, always full of people playing ping-pong, doing yoga classes, and enjoying the city. I got an ice cream sandwich, which was so good. 

As we were heading back to our hotel for the night, we saw tons of people staring at the skyline. Apparently Manhattan Henge, which happens twice a year, was happening right then. We just stumbled upon it! Gotta love the city. (I then remembered this cute novel I'd read about it.)

Sunday:

We grabbed bagels at Liberty Bagels and took them to Central Park to eat. Delicious!

You don't need anyone to tell you how wonderful Central Park is, but if you're going with kids it might be helpful to know that there are 21 playgrounds there. Hecksher is at the front of the park and the largest, but there are lots of winners. There are also giant rocks to climb all over around the park, which have always been a hit with my kids. There are pickelball courts, a zoo (which I've never done), and lots of food vendors. Enjoy it!

From there we headed to Rockefeller Center. Last year, there was roller skating where ice skating takes place in the Winter but it wasn't there this year so we just walked around, popping in lots of local stores (Lego, Nintendo, FAO Schwartz, etc). 

Had it just been up to me, we would have made our way to the Upper West Side to stroll the more charming residential area, but our kids were about New Yorked out so we decided to head towards the airport. This time we took a bus all the way from outside Grand Central Station to Newark Airport. It was more expensive (around $40 for both of us), but easier as it dropped us off right in front of our terminal. (For reference, an uber would have been $100+ so still less expensive.)

Truly, there's so much to do in the city with kids. (We didn't have time, but walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to the DUMBO area is awesome, too.) We were so grateful for the opportunity to go-- and for a wonderful home to come back to. Thank you, Lord! Xx, Katie

P.S. Here's another blog post that details another trip to NYC with two of my kids!