Travel Log: New York City, Day 4

I had been looking forward to this day of our trip for a while. Today was the day Uncle Patrick and I split up the kids.

After a breakfast of muffins (clearly breakfast nutrition is a low priority when we travel), I brought the kids to Uncle Patrick's office to make the big drop-off. Uncle Patrick was taking my daughter on a tour of lower Manhattan, including the treat shops at Chelsea Market.

Being the enthusiastic uncle, Patrick made up an itinerary for my son and I to follow that included the Transportation Museum, Battery Park, Chelsea Piers, and a rendezvous at Chelsea Market.

After the day we'd had with my son on Tuesday, I took one look at that itinerary and said, "There's no way this is going to happen."

You see I had promised each kid one trip to the toy store. The Toys R Us in Times Square is like the promised land to them. And it is pure...well...heck for me. If you think the local Toys R Us is a madhouse, you should see the one in Times Square!

We left Patrick's office in East Midtown and went our separate ways, except we all ended up on the 6 train together. I guess Uncle Patrick knows a faster way to get out of the building.

My son and I took the S shuttle train between Grand Central Station and Times Square. When we emerged onto the street out of the subway my first thought was, "What was I thinking?"

We went to lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner, where the wait staff are all Broadway hopefuls who sing and perform as they serve. My son loved it. They all climbed right up on the booth behind him to sing.

Then we headed toward the M&M store on our way to Toys R Us. But first we stopped at a popcorn store that was just opening on Broadway. I wish I could remember the name of that place because it was the best popcorn I've ever had.

The M&M store was packed. But my son loved mixing his own pack of M&Ms from all the dispensers on the wall. He also bought a Thanksgiving colored mix to take to our Thanksgiving day hosts.

We finally made it to Toys R Us where my son was so afraid of the life-size animated Lego T-Rex that he wouldn't go on that side of the store. They have a huge Thomas the Train table and set there for the kids to play with, except they only had one train. My son perused the Thomas toys for quite a while, while I witnessed many screaming matches between parents over that one Thomas train. When I thought one of those exchanges was going to come to blows, we headed to the check out lines.

I let my son choose how we were going to get home. We could walk over to Eighth Avenue and take a can forty blocks North, or he could get us to a C train and we could ride forty blocks North. Not surprisingly, he chose the train and he navigated us all the way to the proper platform.

After some rest and play time, my son and I headed back down to Times Square to meet my daughter and Patrick for dinner at Dave & Busters. What were we thinking?

My daughter was eager to share with us all they had done. We ate dinner then played skee-ball and games in the arcade. By the time we got home, we were beyond beat. We took the time to look at the pictures we had taken while separated and we all turned in for the night.

We'd have to get up early to stake out a spot on the parade route the next day.