New York City was on my list of places to take the kids before they leave the house (and I surely feel that time ticking quickly!!). Seeing the Statue of Liberty was the most important for me to have them see. Given the interests of the family, a Broadway show and Yankees game were "must dos." There are sooooo many Broadway shows to choose from but figured Harry Potter would be a hit for the entire family. Willow didn't realize it wasn't a musical until dinner beforehand but there were multiple choreographed parts where I'd whisper to her, "It's almost like they WANT it to be a musical!" I joined a few NYC tourist groups on Facebook about a year ago, and advice and tips from those groups was super helpful. I ended up using a suggested app, Wanderlog, that allows you to plot places of interest on a map, then use that to help you organize your day logically, rather than ping ponging around. I did my best to not jam pack every day with stuff and exhaust people, while at the same time, not sitting around in a hotel room when you're surrounded by so many new things. You'll have to ask the fam how that turned out, in their opinion!I have a summer project for the county I work for, and I was able to get a lot of it done on the train ride to NYC. I felt better thinking, "I'm getting PAID right now!!" The Amtrak was super slick getting there. We left at 6:00am and got there at 3:30pm. It got a bit more crowded the closer we got to NYC but it definitely beat driving there!
Choosing a hotel was a bit overwhelming for me. Partly because there are so many options and partly because it's so darn expensive! Chris helped find WestHouse and it worked out great, although still expensive. There are so many taxes per person that they add on per night. It was a great location! We were near many subway stations, within walking distance to Times Square and many things we wanted to see around it, and just a couple blocks from Central Park. It was funny, though, that within 2 minutes of walking out of the Amtrak at Penn Station, someone came up to us and asked if we were lost. Was it that obvious by our wide eyes looking in every direction? Who said New Yorkers weren't nice?? We appreciated the point into the right direction! Here's the view from our hotel during the day:
Choosing a hotel was a bit overwhelming for me. Partly because there are so many options and partly because it's so darn expensive! Chris helped find WestHouse and it worked out great, although still expensive. There are so many taxes per person that they add on per night. It was a great location! We were near many subway stations, within walking distance to Times Square and many things we wanted to see around it, and just a couple blocks from Central Park. It was funny, though, that within 2 minutes of walking out of the Amtrak at Penn Station, someone came up to us and asked if we were lost. Was it that obvious by our wide eyes looking in every direction? Who said New Yorkers weren't nice?? We appreciated the point into the right direction! Here's the view from our hotel during the day:
The shower had a cutout so you could reach in to turn the water on without having to hide from the initial cold water! I'd never seen that before!
It was so tempting to touch all the buttons!!
Walking around, we just kept looking up! It was so fun to be amongst the tall buildings, surrounded by people, traffic, dogs, pigeons, music, etc. 
For dinner we went to Gayle's Broadway Rose. It's a restaurant with singing waiters and waitresses. They take requests but even before we were able to, our waiter sang a song from Chicago, the musical Willow had just done at Burton! It was a fun coincidence. 
Our waiter, in case he's a Broadway star someday!!
Walking in NYC is nuts! There are so many people, cars, and intersections. We learned that the pedestrian stop signals are just a recommendation. If no traffic is coming, or there's a gap, then loads of people cross. Many roads are one-way, alternating each block. I laughed when I watched a dog on a leash approach an intersection, look the way traffic would be coming from, saw it was clear, then started to cross the street. Are NYC dogs even trained to cross streets safely???
After dinner we wandered a few shops at Times Square. There were lots of funny things at the M&M store. 
Our hotel had a "happy hour" of sorts with free drinks but it also had, what could be considered dinner, that was free as well! We only had it as dinner once, before the Yankees game, but it was a great option! This was the sunset our first night - a perfect view from the hotel's terrace!
The complimentary breakfast was amazing too! So much more than the typical carbs you'd see at a hotel. Eggs, potatoes, fruit with cheese and salmon, yogurt with granola, fancy coffee drink machines! It was similar but different every morning....with a great view from the terrace when you could snatch a seat!
We were able to buy Statue of Liberty crowd tickets in advance. Everyone can get to the pedestal with a standard ticket but for a minimal additional price, we got tickets to the crown. We snagged a great place to stand on the ferry ride over at the front of the boat!
What a fun shadow!
It was a narrow staircase getting up!
And a tight squeeze at the top!
The inside of the statue's eyes and nose :)
Watch your step on the way down too!!
The worker at the crown mentioned going down like a ladder as an option, so Willow did that the whole way down. The boys then mocked her by walking down these stairs backwards. ;)
I'd heard this was the ORIGINAL New York Bleecker's Pizza location with "seasoned" brick ovens, so we checked it out. It was our first true NY pizza experience. It was good!
We did head to the Harry Potter store but I also empathized with this Amazon delivery guy. What a job! We also saw a delivery person pulling an Amazon cart behind his bike. NYC deliverers should get paid more for what they have to navigate!
We checked out the Lego store too. The kids created these fun minifigs.
I loved walking around and coming across parks! They were full of people - midweek - who were chatting, laying on a blanket reading, etc. It was great to see trees in the middle of such a big city!
This place was known for its cheesecake but the meal was great too! During our impressively short wait for food, we enjoyed looking at people out the windows to decide if they were tourists or residents.
We loved the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! It was truly magical! We were in awe of how they did things from going in and out of a bookshelf, dementors going into the ceiling at a different place they came out of, characters morphing into others before our eyes then coming back on from side stage, the feeling in the theater during time changes, the heat from their wands! It was incredible! I'd love to see a "behind the scenes!"
Times Square at night...the city that never sleeps!
The next morning we headed to the 9/11 memorial and museum. I enjoyed using the audio guide as I walked through. I could've spent a bit more time there. It was very well done!
Wall Street wasn't on our list so it was fun to happen upon it on our way to lunch!
You can't be in NYC without getting NY pizza and NY bagels! I'd heard about the rainbow bagels and was excited to try one. They were so big!! They had a lot of cream cheese flavors but I went with plain. Owen got cookies and cream and it was a bit much after a while!
We took the ferry over to DUMBO. It was our hottest day of the week and we hadn't had enough water. I wasn't sure if places were "clear bag only" like they are becoming here, so I didn't want us trapped with a backpack and nowhere to put it. We also didn't want to carry water bottles all day. Now we know we could've had a backpack at the museum. Live and learn. 
This is the Instagram pic that many go to DUMBO for. I'd almost forgotten about it until I saw the swarms of people taking pictures, then looked back to see that we were in "the spot."
From DUMBO you can walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was really neat to be walking above traffic - and the view of the city was beautiful! It was definitely hot so we were thankful for icecream on the other side!
Our 2nd round of NY pizza! Yum!
We had some extra time before our sunset tickets at Summit so we walked around a bit. It was fun to see Bryant Park in the middle of yoga!! 
We stopped in the library...which didn't have books...but it did have some nice exhibits, including this Winnie the Pooh one! 
There are a variety of observation decks in the city but this one seemed to be the most recommended, especially at sunset. I Googled the sunset time months ago and chose our ticket time. Let's just say, we were not alone!! It was madness but also very beautiful. There were a couple floors with different rooms you could go into. The reflective ball room was the most unique!
The next day we had a slow morning then went to the Stardust Diner. It's another one with singing waiters and waitresses. It was our 3rd time trying and it was the charm - the other evenings had a line out the door and down the block! I'd heard the food wasn't great but I really enjoyed my burger! They sang pop songs as this one vs Broadway production songs at Gayle's. We got to see our waiter sing a few times! We were on the 2nd floor but thankful the singers would walk by us too!
We saw some street performers while walking through Times Square. Somehow Chris always draws attention in these types of things. He was picked to come up to the mic in the Bahamas as well. We were all in Yankees shirts for the game that night, so it MIGHT have drawn some extra attention to us. They started with a group of guys to jump over but quickly lost most when they started asking for money. 
We'd eyed this bakery when we'd walk by it almost daily so of course we had to stop in! 
Sugar coma!
Here's what the map looked like with recommended spots marked. We got to 75% of them I'd say!
We walked over to Central Park from the hotel and wandered around a bit. I was shocked to see 3 softball fields with adult leagues playing on a Thursday at 3:00. It was so bizarre to me! There was also a large birthday party going on, which made me wonder what the invitation said. You can't just say the location is Central Park! ha!
I was so excited to find 50% off Yankee tickets on Black Friday! We definitely got seats closer than we would have otherwise! I thought the home team was on the 3rd baseline and got tickets there. I should've checked with Chris because that was not the case. There were a group of Cleveland fans nearby and they definitely got shushing stares from everyone around them ;) The new stadium is great and the excitement was high! 
The Yankees won! 
Note the estimated arrival time compared to the originally scheduled time.
We were at the car at 3:41am. Oof! Needless to say, we were pretty useless the next day!
I definitely couldn't live in NYC but it was a rush to visit! I'd love to go back sometime for another Broadway show or two (maybe the last minute sales they do) and another Liberty bagel! I'd also check out Little Island and the airtram to Roosevelt Island.
Here's a little highlight video I made (longer video of short clips here):
