Day 2
We all slept like a rock. What a first day in the city. Today is the day ~ Ivy's birthday! What she doesn't know is that she is having a birthday party in Central Park today! Ivy woke up pretty early, per usual. She crept over to my bed and woke me. "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy, it's my birfday!"
How could you resist her cute little voice and her sweet face - even early in the morning? I never stand a chance. It was her birthday after all - time to get moving! I threw on some clothes and went downstairs. Her and I had a quiet little breakfast together. The night before she had mentioned to me that she had wanted waffles for her birthday breakfast.
We sat and talked and picked at our fruit and waffles. I told her that if she ate half of her breakfast and drank all of her milk that she could open my present early. She happily ate her breakfast but.. did grump a bit over drinking all of her milk. She doens't seem to care for milk that much. (What kid does, really? At least that's what I tell myself.) I slid a pink box across the table next to her for some incentive. (Horrible, I know, I know.. but she needs to drink that darn milk!)
She managed to get down all of her milk with only an "Okay.. fiiiiine" and a little cough. We both went and sat down in the living room. I opened the blinds and let in the morning sun. She happily pulled at the bows on the box and found a princess tutu, onesie with her name on it, wand and crown inside. She loved it! I knew she would - she is a little Princess. It only seemed fitting!
We decided it was time for her to go and get her birthday outfit on. She had picked it out a few days ago - a onesie with a little cupcake on it, a rainbow tutu, rainbow leggings and some flats - oh, and of course a pink crown.
I can't believe it's her birthday already. She looks so precious. She really is growing up so fast.
She has always wanted to play with my heels. Today she told me that "It's my birthday, I can wear big girl shoes now!" .. and I looked over and she had crawled up on the stool with a pair of my heels. I had to take as many pictures of this precious moment as I could.
We had planned to go into the city fairly soon and everyone had been getting ready to leave. I tried to get her shoes on her and my heels off. Good luck. Yeah, right. She's not one who loves to wear shoes all the time. We ended up running around the house and with her trying to coax me into not letting her wear shoes. She even went as far as putting them into her crown. I finally caught her on the luggage cart and we had a talk. Shoes were on, finally.
By now my Mother had her video camera out and was already filming us getting ready. The typical 'wave to the camera, say hi, wave, wave,' narration by Mom's. I did a little dance, pretended to pick my nose and tease my brother on camera.
We all piled into the elevator and headed for the subway. Ivy had no idea what was going to happen. Luckily, the poor weather had not returned either. A perfect day for a party.
We all came out from the terminal below to a bustling city. Ivy was amazed at how beautiful the city was. We stood around for a few minutes and took some pictures of the surroundings.
After walking down the street a bit we came to a small gate in the park. Ivy spotted balloons and I set her down to run to them. We found the party area!
We sat down for some grilled cheese and chili. Ivy had her little Princess seat.
After we were filled with grilled cheese and warm chili it was time for... ice cream, cotton candy and cake!
We decided that we would go explore the park. I'd heard there was a small pond and a playground in here.
We explore for probably about 45 minutes before making out way back to the party area for presents. First up was a gift from my parents - Jill and Gattz
She pulled out two small golden tickets. I was pretty curious as to what they were. She held them out to me to read to her. I cupped my hand over my mouth and gasped. "Mommy! MOMMY! what is it?!" she yelped to me. "Well, honey, we're going on a Disney Cruise with Granpa and Gramma!" She started squealing and jumping up and down. These are my favorite moments to see. Her joy is so wonderful, it's my joy!
She still had one more box from her Grandparents. This time she pulled out a small doll. She loves this little doll. He's awfully special to her. Daryl Dixon. A man from a show she likes.(in RL.. I wouldn't let a two year old really watch Walking Dead.. shh!)
Next, was a gift from my niece and goddaughter, Maelie
She wrapped her gifts in little sardine cans ~ how creative as she gave her a kitty she had been searching for, some food and a new bed! We always seem to come home with a new pet on every vacation. How perfect!
After all of the presents were unwrapped and we managed to pack everything up - we headed out into the city to explore some. I had a plan that no one knew. I whispered into a NYPD officer's ear and he pointed me in the right direction to where we needed to go.. onward to more surprises!
We saw some interesting sights along the way..
We were almost there. There was a large parking lot and some stores out front.. just a bit more down the sidewalk.
We walked a bit further to reveal the next suprrise...
Welcome to Coney Island!
Ivy was SO excited! She LOVES amusement parks. We all went in and walked to the boardwalk.
After we admired the water and shore line it was time to get down to business... rides! The first one on the list was the 'Spin-a-Twirl!'
After that first ride it was time for a potty break. We found the porta-potty section and a few... miscreants.. the girls asked a few questioned as we tried to shield their eyes and just go potty.
After averting a mini fiasco with those.. people we headed to the "Chance of Flurries" ride, got more tickets, bumper cars, merry-go round and then the fun house!
By now we'd been here all afternoon and the sun had started to set. To our surprise (again!) there were nightly fireworks at the park! We lucked out two nights in a row! They were simply beautiful. I'll never tire of fireworks.
During the show we saw a small boat pull up along the shoreline. (I, of course, knew what this was for) I told everyone it was for us as we boarded on the ship.. time to head out into the harbor for another surprise..
We sailed out for a while until we saw her..
The Statue of Liberty
We set anchor down and just enjoyed the pure beauty of 'Her' and the sunset. The moments were filled with emotion and a quiet peace filled the boat as we sat and ejoyed the view.
The sun had gone down to bed and the moon rose above us. It was time to head home. The girls were already falling asleep. We've had a long and very busy day. We made it back to Coney Island safely and made the trip back to the apartment.
By the time we made it back to the apartment Ivy had fallen asleep in my arms. My precious little birthday Princess.
I laid her down on her little bed. Slipped her shoes and tutu off her. I figured she was fine to sleep in her onesie. I couldn't wake her now. She was so tired.
I covered her up gently and kissed her forehead, whispered my 'I love you's' and crawled to my own bed.
Goodnight from New York City, tomorrow is another fun-filled day..
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