Family In The City | A Travel Guide to New York City

My husband and I love going to New York. We've been visiting the city for years, but have never taken the boys, until now!

We talked together as a family about where we should plan to go for Summer vacation and our oldest Jack, wouldn't stop pleading a case for New York City! So, we (Mom & Dad) looked at each other and we knew it was time to let the boys experience a city we loved so much.

We wanted to make their first trip to New York extra special so we kept it a secret until a week before we left. We announced the location for vacation in a very special way after dinner...

Hot Off The Press
I created a special newspaper PDF to share the headlines with the boys on where we were going on vacation! They had been asking for weeks, but it made the reveal so special and fun! Packed the newspaper printout in a couple of decorative suitcases I had. Their reactions were priceless!

Getting there 
The boys couldn't wait to get on the plane and fly to New York & then hail a taxi! We flew into Laguardia Airport (we like it because its closer to the city) As we headed to get our luggage, we learned a great tip from a helpful NYPD officer, about a special taxi line just for families. The special family line would bring a larger SUV taxi right to us and allowed us to skip the regular taxi line (sorry to the folks in line) but it was brilliant! Instead of waiting curbside with the kids and fighting the Lyft/Uber crowds in another section, we were in our cab within 5 minutes!

Where To Stay
We've stayed in a few different neighborhoods in the city, and for this trip with the family, we chose the South Central Park/Midtown area. We stayed at the beautiful & chic, London NYC Hotel. It's proximity to Central Park and museums, was perfect! The amenities, including availability to the hotel's Cadillac Escalade for local stops near the hotel, were wonderful. The staff was amazing and the boys loved going through the gold revolving doors! We can't wait to return for another stay! Additional properties that would make for the perfect family stay around the same area, Hilton Midtown, The Quin Central Park by Hilton Club and for a splurge, The Plaza Hotel is incredible and the amenities are perfect for families!

What To See
I'm going to breakdown a few of the sights in more detail in a separate blog post, but here's a great itinerary to get you started!

Central Park for obvious reasons, is a must see. I couldn't wait to show the boys the boats at The Boat House, ride in a pedicab or carriage, Central Park Zoo (we love the Madagascar Movies) Belvedere Castle and the huge rocks I knew they would love climbing! We anticipated spending a lot of time at the park and if it weren't for the hot temps, we would have spend a lot more! Their Summer temperatures, sure do rival Florida, the week we were there, it was nearing 100 degrees!

Something new I learned about the park was the adorable Discovery Kits available for kids to borrow for adventures exploring the park! Complete with binoculars, magnifying glass, colored pencils, sketch paper and a guide map in each kit. The boys went crazy for the binoculars and magnifying glass! They had such a fun time with their Discovery Kit! After a game of chess at The Chess & Checkers House, we returned our kits and finished our walk through the park that day.

Brooklyn Bridge Park was probably one of my favorite things because we explored the cutest neighborhood and the boys got to see the beautiful city views from the Brooklyn Bridge! We walked along the bridge from the Manhattan side and ended in Dumbo. The boys did amazing walking the bridge by the way! We explored Dumbo, found a cute playground, and then we found the carousel!
Jane's Carousel was the cutest ever! Partially enclosed in a glass house, the charming carousel had the best views and made for the perfect reward for all the walking we did over the bridge! Each ride was $2 and in my opinion we could have just ridden the carousel all afternoon. We all loved it. Our bellies were growling though...

Next up was a stroll through The Time Out Market in Brooklyn. Adorable pop-up shops, art installations, food court & food trucks all tucked inside a beautifully restored brick warehouse. Around the corner we found a Shake Shack. It was hard to choose what to eat for lunch, so many great options. So, we compromised Shake Shack for the kids & lobster rolls for Mom & Dad from Luke's Lobster! An instant picnic in Brooklyn Bridge Park! After the bridge we took a ferry back to Manhattan and continued our adventure.

Battery Park in lower Manhattan was a great spot to get a view of the Statue of Liberty! Because of incoming rainy weather, we opted to make the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty a visit for next time. We found lots to do in the Battery though! Adorable bee houses lined the walkways and then we stumbled upon the most adorable carousel, the SeaGlass Carousel. This magical-under-water themed carousel was unlike any I had ever seen. And our littlest Max, absolutely loved it. Rides were $5 a piece and just as we bought our tickets, a rain storm rolled in and made it the perfect hideaway under the water!

9/11 Memorial was incredibly moving. We weren't sure if we would make it, but we ended up making it to the memorial fountains. It was difficult to explain to the boys, but they did understand that it was a special place. We left feeling really proud and happy to have been able to show the boys such an important place.

American Museum of Natural History was amazing! My boys love all things Science, Space and Dinosaurs, so this was a great stop, especially during their Space Fest for the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo! I'll share more details on this stop in a separate blog post, but it was a big hit with the boys and was the perfect place to keep cool during the massive heatwave that New York City was experiencing during our stay.

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum was another destination, I knew my boys would love! A museum dedicated to the history of Naval ships, planes and space exploration, my little boys were in heaven! I will also share additional details about The Intrepid, because you can easily spend a whole day exploring here!

I know this is a lot of information, but there is so much to see and do! My oldest Jack said he wanted to move to New York and of course, my heart was so happy! Maybe NYU will be in our future?? :)

We absolutely love NYC and we will surprise the boys with another trip soon, maybe over Christmas next time, because there's something even more magical about the city all dolled up for Christmas!

I am going to breakdown more info in another blog post on the museums and one more on NYC Eats, because there are countless family-friendly restaurants too! But if you have favorites to add to this list, I'd love to hear them! Do you have a favorite destination in the city?

**All photos & opinions are my own & are the property of Prose & Company Blog.