Catherines birthday trip to New York City

wow and what a fantastic day to be a daddy! Catherine is turning six years old this week and for her birthday she brought me on a trip to New York City to the American Girl Doll Place. We had decided for some time to go but didnt tell her..and werent going to either. Laura and Jimmy found out about it though. We were wondering who told her about it until the subject came up and Laura blurted out " I didnt tell her". hmmm...then she laughed her Laura laugh. We really didnt make her confess though. Leading up to the trip Catherine was so so excited but she really didnt know much of what to expect. We had gone to the local AGL store in Natick two years ago so I'm thinking thats what she thought was in store for her. Laura was so cute telling her what to expect and where we would go and do based on her trip with me a couple of years ago. So the night before Catherine kept asking me what time she should go to bed and she willingly went to bed very early so she could sleep....because.... The train left south station at 6:40am. Lyn drove us along with the three other kids, who we had to wake up for the ride. It took a while for Jack to come out of it but a couple of goofy faces later he was laughing and talking non stop. Off on the train we went for four hours until the final destination inside Penn station in New York City. Along the way, we had packed a multitude of snacks and fruits for the trip. We even made a quick stop in the dining car for some snacks and drinks. We sat and ate for about five to ten minutes. Once we hit Penn Station we took to the map and ventured out into the big city streets. A little while later we ended up where the map had said was the Empire State building. I had to ask some people where it was because I just couldnt see it because all the buildings were huge. Of course I was standing in front of it. so in we went. I could not believe how many people were standing in line to go up to the observation deck. A lady approached me and told me to get in the line unless i already had tickets. Oh that Lyn!!-she had made me print out tickets the night before. Twice I got to avoid huge lines because we already had tickets.....It was a good idea but dont tell her so. Anyway, up the top of building we got to look all around. I gave Catherine the smaller camera to use. I kept getting nervous because she would reach over the side with the camera. I could just picture the camera going overboard and crushing some unsuspecting tourist

From the Empire State building we grabbed a cab to take us to Rockefeller center. Cat was dying to take a cab after she saw all of the bright orange cars from on top of the Empire state. when we got there we went looking for the entrance to the restaurant on ice side. It was great that they were still out skating in warm weather. This close to to actually lacing up and skating but we didnt do it. Anyway, we got a great seat in the front row and watched as other people skated and fell all over the place. It was a great lunch and we both left full. While we were sitting there, there were pigeons picking at our feet. Catherine was mesmerized by them. She had penne pasta and meatballs and I had a cheeseburger. There was a statue that I remember Laura taking a picture of when we went and all of a sudden i look over at Cat and she was bearing the same pose as I saw two and a half years ago by Laura. We laughed and laughed our way through lunch. She was so cute sitting with me as my date. TO BE CONTINUED

and then from Rockefeller Plaza we went across the street to the original destination, the american Girl Doll place. We were deciding whether or not to ice skate around the plaza...but seeing as how she has never ice skated and I...well, we wont even go there, lets just say we skipped the ice skating part for time purposes. Inside we went into this huge Girl doll store. Her eyes lit up walking in....I cant even emphasize the eyes lighting up part enough. She wantd this, and that, and then this too. Immediately, she just jumped from one thing to another and couldnt get enough of it. We finally found where the girl doll hair salon was and she was floored to see all the girls doing the hair of other girl dolls. There was about a forty minute wait so we put our doll in the waiting area and shopped around the store. Buying up some clothes for her doll and also a puppy for Emily the doll we finally returned just in time for the gals to call our number. Catherine got to have a front row seat for the hair session to begin. The gal, I think her name was Leyla, started right up and Catherine picked her hair design. Leyla was so nice to her as she chatted her up the whole time.

A cute picture so i must have put it in twice.

From the hair salon we were ten blocks from Central park and the legs were screaming. We jumped on a bike taxi and took a crazed ride through the streets of New York. I told the thief driving the bike carriage to drop me off at the horses and there we were, eye to eye with some horse carriages. Cat was thrilled. She couldnt believe we were going to ride on the horse.

Off we went onto the carriage while my little angel snuggled up next to me. The carriage ride ended and while i was setting up the photo shot, the horse looked down at Catherine, as if to look right at her.

We had been set on a mission by Laura to find Balto the dog in Central Park. Apparently, there is a book with Balto the dog (statue) that is in Central Park. Wow did we walk alot. I wanted to go up to people who looked like they lived there to ask them. I approached this lady and asked her if she knew where Balto was. Well, I forgot where i was because she couldnt have ran away from me faster. Fortunately for us this other lady overheard us asking and approached and tried to ease our pain by telling me that I wasnt crazy, that she had actually heard of Balto. She pointed me in a general direction and off we went. Lots of walking and Catherine got tired. I carried her for most of our hunt. We were just about ready to quit when we stopped to get Ice Cream from the ice cream cart. The man serving us, who spoke very little English, had the answer we had been waiting for. Somehow I understood his answer and within ten minutes we had ice cream in our bellies and Balto the dog in our grasp. We finally found him,very anticlimatic. Cat jumped up next to him, pictures were taken and off we were for the playgrounds.

while we were entering into Central Park this Chinese lady told me how beautiful Catherine was and asked if i'd like to have her picture drawn for forty dollars. I talked this guy down to 20 bucks and he gave us our money's worth. It is a beautiful picture.

BALTO THE DOG....or shall i say the hard to find Balto the dog