Day 2 - The day that made our hearts sing!

We were both excited and a bit nervous about day 2. I had purchased Spiderman Turn off the Dark tickets, not knowing how Noah would handle it. We were eager to see how much of the show he would tolerate, but were fully prepared to have one parent leave with Noah, and the other stay with Nik to enjoy the show, if necessary.

We started off the day by going to Central Park. Prior to our trip, I showed the kids pictures of some of the food carts we might come across. One in particular caught our eyes, http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/. Wafels and Dinges is basically a waffle truck. There happened to be one parked right at the entrance to Central Park, so we made this our breakfast for the day. It was going to be in the 90's that day, and we could already feel the heat. We took our waffles and headed to a shady bench. On our way, we came across a group of Central Park trolley drivers loudly arguing with each other. They were arguing in a foreign language, but it was clear that one guy tried to steal a customer from another guy. We quickly moved passed the dueling trolley guys and went to a secluded bench.

Waffles covered in strawberries and whipped cream. What's not to love?

Alex and I each had  "throwdown wafels" and the kids had "wafelinis". Not bad for $20! After we finished our breakfast, we went in search of the Balto statue. This was high up on Nik's list of things to see in NYC. Central Park is gorgeous! We loved wandering around. The park is huge! 

Across the park, there are musicians doing their thing for tips. This guy under the bridge was singing. He had an amazing voice.  

As we wandered around in search of Balto, my boys spotted a carnival in the park. Leave it to my boys to be able to locate a carnival in the middle of Central Park. 

Of course Noah was itching to get on some rides, but we could tell they were just starting to open up. We told him we would go find Balto, then head back to the rides.

We continued on our walk, taking time out to explore trails, and relax here and there.

At one point, we passed the Central Park Zoo, so I knew Balto wasn't far. I had plans to go to the zoo that morning, but the kids had the hearts set on that carnival. We took a moment to watch the seals, then continued on our walk.

Seals in Central Park.

Such a beautiful park, surrounded by skyscrapers.

The pond.

Alex taking us on another trail.

Ok, enough of this wandering. Let's get to Balto. I want it on record that I was the one to find Balto. Yay me! The kids were excited to see the statue. Nik is normally cautious about climbing. He doesn't like heights. But he was so overcome with excitement, that he just scampered right up!

Balto!

After taking pictures of Balto, we headed back to the carnival. We spotted another statue of a dog and his master. Or maybe that was a wolf?

A carriage ride would have been nice if it wasn't 91 degrees out!

Finally, we got back to the carnival. Well, it turned out to be Victoria Gardens Amusement Park. Now, I had no research on Victoria Gardens, so I was at the mercy of the girl working the ticket counter. Admission was a little confusing. Basically, there was an admission to the park, and a separate admission to the ride. They offered wrist bands for $24 each that allowed unlimited rides for the day. And they offered admission only (no rides) for $8. So we bought 2 wristbands and to admission only for a total of $64. 

Victoria Gardens consisted of carnival rides and games. The first ride they wanted to get on was the Rocking Tug.

Next was the Mini Mouse roller coaster.

 And the Kite Flyer. Surprisingly, Nik loved this ride. 

And a flying barn.

Samba Balloon Ride.

The kids really enjoyed Victoria Gardens. Since it was still early, the park was pretty empty. The kids were able to walk on all the rides. And they were even allowed to ride two times in a row on a ride. 

Time was getting away from us and we needed to walk back to the hotel to get ready for Spiderman. So we said goodbye to Central Park and headed back to the hotel.

The poor horses standing in 90 degree weather.

It was so hot, we decided to use the subway tunnel to escape from the heat. We walked through to the other side of the block.

Finally, we got back to our hotel, and these two little guys were on display outside. We quickly went back to our room to cool off for a bit. Then we changed into our theater clothes.

Up next, part 2 of Day 2 and Spiderman Turn off the Dark!