Spring 2025: Thompsons take on the Big Apple

One conversation the Mr. and I kept having while we were in NYC for our 20th anniversary in December was how enjoyable it would be to introduce the kids to the city, though it would be out of our budget to plan a family trip in the foreseeable future.

So when Kelley was assigned to travel to New York for work in May, the kids and I quite literally jumped at the chance to tag along. We left for the city just a few days after we returned from Philly, but the hassle of back-to-back trips was worth it to experience NYC with the kids.

We woke up early that Wednesday morning and boarded the Amtrak from Union Station in D.C. to Penn Station in Manhattan with just our backpacks for luggage. (We weren’t sure we’d be able to check in to the hotel early, and I didn’t want to cart luggage all over the city with the kids while Kelley was at work.) This was the kids’ first time traveling by train, and we could feel their palpable excitement from across the cabin aisle.

We arrived at Penn Station around lunchtime, so we grabbed a quick bite in the train station before starting the 1.6-mile walk to our hotel to see if we could drop our bags, stopping by the Empire State Building for a quick photo op on the way. We were pleasantly surprised, however, when we reached the Fifty Sonesta in Midtown East—the same hotel Kelley and I stayed at in December—when they did us one better and allowed us to check into our room early. We freshened up and then hit the streets to mark off as many tourist traps as we could off of our list while Kelley headed to the Australian ambassador’s residence for work.

It rained three out of the four days we were in NYC, but having lived in the Pacific Northwest, we didn’t let that slow us down. That afternoon, we caught the last 10 minutes of Catholic Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was an experience in itself. There is a whole protocol to Mass that we Protestants were ignorant about, but we followed along the best we could and even got in line to receive a blessing from the priest. (We thought we were going to take Communion, too, but I guess we didn’t give the correct hand signal and weren’t offered the sacraments. Whoops.) Our visit was educational, a lesson in reverence and respect for other denominations of our faith.

After Mass, we crossed the street to the LEGO store, which was the coolest. There is a whole cab made of LEGO that the kids could sit in, among other large displays. Then we headed for Rockefeller Center and explored the building, stopping for ice cream at Van Leewen’s and coffee at Blue Bottle. We grabbed some hats and a Christmas ornament of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (something that Kelley and I missed purchasing to commemorate our December trip), stopped by Radio City Music Hall (unfortunately, we couldn’t get inside this time but settled for a picture of the kids in front of the sign) and then spent way too much time in FAO Schwarz fawning over adorable stuffed animals.

That evening we found a fantastic mostly-gluten-free restaurant, Friedman’s, near Times Square. The fun thing about this place is that each of their wait staff is a professional singer, so every 15-20 minutes one of them sings a number from a Broadway musical. (Notice the trend? What is with our family and singing waiters?) Our waiter just happened to be from Huntsville, Alabama, and he was by far our favorite singer. The gluten-free chicken and waffles with habanero honey dipping sauce was probably our favorite meal of the trip overall.

After dinner, we ran inside a Target so I could grab some slippers for the hotel (I’d forgotten mine and have a thing about walking barefoot on hotel floors) and then walked through Times Square on the way back to the hotel. To be honest, I’m not a fan of Times Square. There are a lot of shenanigans that happen in this area. A lot of suspect characters roaming around. Complete sensory overload. I was hesitant to walk the kids through what felt like a medieval gauntlet, but Kelley took the lead, and we all survived, though once again, he had to shield me (and Eva this time) from the intrusive lens of a random man with a camera. (Though I guess that’s better than a maze of giant axes swinging from a pendulum.)

Day two, the kids and I headed out toward the Upper East Side in pursuit of gluten-free bagels at Modern Bread and Bagel on Third Avenue. Here, I almost got into it with a woman who cut the line. We were standing in front of the display cases, waiting at least 10-15 minutes on one of the two cashiers to get freed up, when in walks an uppity East Side spinster (I’m profiling, of course), who squeezes past us to stand in front of the register. I guess she can feel the heat from the laser beams shooting out of my eyeballs toward her, because she turns to look at me and asks if we were waiting to be served.

“Yes, we’re in line,” I said quickly.

“Well, the line is usually right here,” she said curtly, to which I shrug and respond, “We aren’t from here; this is our first time in this bakery.”

“You can go first, I guess,” she says in that stereotypical impatient New Yorker fashion, “but the line is right here.”

“That would be great, thanks!” I said, matching her tone and scooting in front of her. “We’ve been waiting a while.”

She waits a minute, and then says, “I’m sorry I was rude.” I don’t think you mean that, I thought, discerning more of that impatient tone in her voice.

“Eh, it’s New York,” I say.

We then started talking about the selection of pastries as if our little tense exchange never happened. The kids each ordered their own selection of bagels (Liam and Eva chose cream cheese, Riley crafter a breakfast bagel with egg and cheese), and I ordered a chocolate babka and a square of rugelach for us to sample. We also tried the coconut French toast sticks with coffee caramel dipping sauce and vanilla coconut custard, which were way too sweet and fell apart when we tried to pick them up. Overall, the kids were happy to have tried an iconic New York City bagel. We tossed the French toast and headed through an East Side neighborhood—where I drooled over the charming architecture and spring blooms—to the Guggenheim Museum, passing the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the way.

This past spring in D.C. the kids attended a couple of special classes offered for homeschoolers at the National Building Museum that highlighted Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and architectural style. We perused the Frank Lloyd Wright room, where we viewed the original plans to his most famous projects, including the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Naturally, we had to see it in person, so I got us tickets to the museum, where we also attended a lecture on the thought process behind the museum’s unique beehive-esque design. Fun fact: Did you know that Wright originally suggested the Guggenheim be painted bright pink on the outside?

We walked up and down the entire interior ramp, stopping to discuss the various styles and methods of the pieces we passed by. We saw paintings by Renior, van Gogh, Picasso, Degas, Guaguin, and Rousseau, as well as a new contemporary exhibit by Chicago-native artist Rashid Johnson. (We found some of his creations a little creepy, but his canvases made for some funky photo backdrops.) Then after leaving the Guggenheim, we stopped at the Ancient Playground in Central Park to let the kids decompress after a long day of learning before heading back to the hotel. That night, we enjoyed dinner on the patio at La Pecora Bianca, a cute Italian place with gluten-free offerings at Second Ave. and E. 50th.

The morning of day three was a rainy one, so the kids and I headed inside the New York City Public Library to explore their exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of The New Yorker magazine. You guys, the details in the Greco-Roman-inspired Beaux-Arts style architecture in this building…there are no words. Every wall, every ceiling was a work of art in itself. Intricate carvings, antique chandeliers, bronze ceilings, painted murals, Vermont marble everything. The kids found a few little hiding nooks under the grand staircase in the main lobby, and we really enjoyed exploring the library, including the children’s section in the extension building across the street, for a couple of hours.

As a journalism major, I geeked out over the The New Yorker exhibit, reading old memos typed on typewriters and reminiscing the old cover illustrations. I fangirled over the Goddess of Grammar memorabilia, honoring copy editor and grammarian Eleanor Gould Packard. Can you imagine having a nickname like that?

Kelley got off work early this day, so we met him for lunch at Slate Cafe down the street from our hotel, and then we decided to get an Uber and explore the Financial District in lower Manhattan, riding by the Brooklyn Bridge along the way. On our list, the One World Trader Center, Oculus, and 9/11 Memorial sites; Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange; Trinity Church and the resting place of Alexander Hamilton; and Battery Park. We walked by the Charging Bull statue just north of Bowling Green park, but it was so crowded we decided to keep walking, though not before we noted the ridiculously long line of mostly women (and mostly international) waiting to get their pictures taken…grabbing the bull by the balls. I did not know this was a thing. Curiously enough, there were more people lined up behind the bull than were trying to take pictures in front. But I digress.

After Battery Park, we hopped on the free Staten Island Ferry to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty. Just a side note, if you are approached near the waterfront by someone soliciting boat tours of the Statue of Liberty, don’t fall for it. There are plenty of scammers but few official tours. But the ferry is free and provides great views of Lady Liberty.

Of course, on any trip to NYC, you have to pick and choose what you will do; there is simply too much to take in on any one trip. I would have loved to explore the Met, the 9/11 museum, and Ellis Island during our stay, but there was just not enough time.

On our last day in NYC, we were graced with sunshine and warm weather, so we took the kids to Central Park for most of the day before we headed to the train station. We saw most of the highlights before walking to Glace ice cream shop on Madison for ice cream “macwiches”—ice cream sandwiched inside a macaron. I chose the pistachio, Kelley and Eva both tried the Nutella, and the boys had the toasted almond. These were so good that I kid you not, I’ve contemplated driving the four hours to the city just to have another one on multiple occasions since our trip. Is that crazy? I personally don’t think so.

After ice cream, we walked back toward the hotel, stopping at the official New York Yankees club shop for hats and then a hole-in-the-wall New York-style pizza place (Cassiano’s? Little Italy? I can’t remember which one, but it was on 2nd Ave.) that served gluten-free pizza. (Their regular pizza is also outstanding and everything NY pizza should be.) When we returned to the hotel for our bags, we’d already walked about 20,000 steps in the heat, so we caught an Uber to the train station, grabbing some treats from Magnolia Bakery before we hopped on the return train to D.C.

To be honest, the thought of traveling to such a major city with the kids seemed a little daunting at first. I love how adventurous and adaptable our kids are, but it’s a lot of walking (well over 30 miles total in three days), and even more sensory overload, with all of the sirens and car horns and typical sounds of the city, combined with driving rain and of course, the crowds. I was concerned our kids would be exhausted, overstimulated, and stressed trying to navigate such a large city, but I really should have had more faith in them. Of course, after our Philly trip, we attempted to prepare them mentally: “Just expect to walk the most you’ve ever walked in your life, but you’re getting to see NYC, so no complaining!” It was a different experience than a couples-only trip (we spent a LOT of time in toy stores), but experiencing the city through the eyes of our kids was a memory I’ll never forget.