New York: Dinosaurs, Trains, and Harry Potter

Over spring break back in March Neil had two very different weeks. On the first week he attended a nature camp in Pacific Spirit Park. It was a very wet week to be outdoors all day, including biking there and back but he still had a great time. On the second week we flew to New York. 

It’s been over three years since I had last been to New York, but Neil kept asking me to take him. He still remembers that I took Kai when he was only two months old and he stayed home with Gili. Ever since then we talked about one day going together and leaving Kai with Gili. Then there was COVID and two long years during which we didn’t go anywhere, but now the timing finally worked out. 

We arrived very early in the morning after a connection through Seattle. At Seattle airport we witnessed a woman getting arrested because she opened the door to a gate after it was already closed and then started cursing the guard. Welcome to the USA! 

New York greeted us with pleasant weather and my dad picked us up from the airport bright and early. After some much needed sleep, we went out for a walk in my dad’s neighbourhood. Neil enjoyed the playground, ice cream from an ice cream truck, and seeing goldfish in a fish pool by an apartment building where relatives of my dad used to live.  

The next day we visited the American Museum of Natural History! We took the subway all the way to the museum. Even though, we had booked tickets far in advance, there was still a huge line up just to get inside. We spent about four hours exploring different exhibits, but the dinosaurs were by far the most exciting thing.

After four hours in a pretty busy place, with masks on the whole time, we both needed some fresh air. Luckily Central Park is just across the road. First we had snacks on one of the big rocks, then we walked a bit until we found a nice playground. I was quite amazed by the lack of motorized traffic in the park, just pedestrians and cyclists, at least in that part.

The next day was a bit colder and windier but we still decided to brave crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. My sister came over for a few days and we went with her, which was good because she really knows the area. We took the subway to the Manhattan side and then crossed by foot. After we got off the bridge we were all hungry and we found a very authentic pizza place and ordered a huge pizza that we couldn’t finish. We then made our way to Brooklyn Bridge Park. There was a cute carousel and with a price of $2 for each ride I let Neil to do it twice… He also enjoyed the awesome pirate playground just for himself. There weren’t too many people around, probably because of the cold weather.

On Friday was another dream come true for Neil – the Transit Museum. I had been there with baby Kai and brought Neil a little subway toy as a souvenir. The museum has a lot of old buses and trains, and there was also a scavenger hunt for the kids that Neil enjoyed. He pretended some of the trains were the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter. Neil is quite obsessed with Harry Potter lately and his grandpa saved all the Harry Potter movies for him. Over the short visit they managed to watch the first three movies, which are the books Neil has read (or rather – have been read to him).

After the museum we had a yummy lunch at a Palestinian restaurant and then went over to walk on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The views from there are really amazing! 

This visit was also a great opportunity to connect with more family we haven’t seen in a long time like my cousins and Neil’s second cousin, who is only a year older than him. They connected really well and put on a magic show for all of us during a family gathering. 

The day of our flight back my dad took us to Manhattan Beach. I couldn’t really get why it’s called Manhattan Beach since it’s actually in Brooklyn and you can’t actually see Manhattan from there… Nonetheless it was pretty neat and it’s a new place I hadn’t been to before. 

I really enjoyed the time visiting the family and also having some one on one time with Neil. It turned out that flying with a seven year old is super easy. He was helpful with carrying the carry-on, behaved well even during the long line ups to the security checks at JFK, and even practiced his reading when we waited for our flight. We had a connection through Calgary this time and we arrived to Vancouver really late. We were both excited to see Gili and Kai again, in the morning. Neil went back to school the next day even though he had a pretty short night, I took Kai to daycare, and… another week had begun.