Welcome to "Fun Friday"...the last of our daily posts which we hope you have enjoyed this week. Fridays will be dedicated to offering some ideas of fun things to do both with and without the kids. I would love to start off by suggesting a visit to one of my family's favorite cities, New York. This may not be a feasible thing to do on a weekend depending where you live, but if you are in the region, I think a weekend in "The Big Apple" is a great way to have fun. My parents both grew up in New York City, and I grew up in New Jersey with many trips into the city as a kid. Where we live now in Pennsylvania is a 2 1/2 hour drive to Manhattan, which for me is no big deal. For some, it may make more sense to consider the train. We started going to New York on a fairly regular basis with my kids about 8-10 years ago, and I have lost track of how many times we have been there. It has so much to offer. You could plan a Broadway show, visit museums, visit other landmarks, tour different parts of the city, and enjoy all sorts of entertainment, shopping and restaurants. If cities are not your thing, this option may not be your idea of fun, but I will show you how one of our many weekends in NYC evolved almost exactly 7 years ago in October of 2013.
In 2013, I started running again after a long break. I had just done a half marathon in September and signed up to do a 10K in Brooklyn. We decided to make a weekend out of it, so my mom and my girls came with me. We stayed in Manhattan. The race was early Saturday morning, and they came to cheer me on. After that the weekend was ours to do with what we wanted. We did not make a lot of specific plans ahead of time, so we just decided to "wing it"😉
We decided to head to Times Square, which is a popular spot with lots to do, and found ourselves at Madame Tussad's Wax Museum. This can be a lot of fun, especially when your daughter is a huge One Direction fan and there is a special exhibit of the band there which was already supposed to be gone, but stayed one extra day...jackpot!
That same day we went to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum which is also a lot of fun, a little bit bizarre in parts, but definitely a worthwhile thing to do!
If the weather is good, as it typically would be in mid-October, it can be very nice to just stroll through some of the neighborhoods like Chinatown and Little Italy, and perhaps have a bite to eat along the way. We did just that!
Hard to believe that this little 11 year old is now living in New York as a freshman at NYU!!
We are big fans of Broadway and have often planned either day or overnight trips into New York around a show. This particular weekend, we decided to just see what tickets were available for Sunday. There are typically many shows that are not completely sold out, and sometimes either right at the theater box office or at one of the ticket sale sites in Times Square, you can get tickets for either a same day or next day show. We were actually able to get pretty good seats and completed our weekend with a Sunday matinee.
New York is special for our family and we love spending time there. If not this city, perhaps there is one near you that makes for a great weekend of entertainment, restaurants, museums, or whatever you like to do. Quality time and fun is what it's all about. I may be biased, but if possible, give NYC a try sometime!🍎