Today I ventured into the city by myself with all 6 kids. And everybody survived.

It was a bit of a rough start though. It’s a long walk to the bus stop, and an even longer walk to the ATM and quarters, thanks to that bridge yesterday. We finally get on the bus, then into the subway station. This is when I need to make some decisions about what kind of pass to buy. And this is when my kids decide to start WWIII, ending with Dimitri having an open wound on his stomach from his brother biting him. So I threw $ at the problem, getting way more pass than I ended up needing. Then we boarded the subway. And, for the rest of the ride, my 5yo proceeded to LICK EVERY AVAILABLE SURFACE! Yes, I know this is about the most disgusting place in the world he could choose to do this, and this is not normal behavior for him. Even with my (frequent, loud, insistent) reminders, he just could not keep his mouth off everything around him. It was atrocious. Appalling. 

The subway (after one transfer) dropped us off basically inside the museum of natural history. The kids were excited to be here after watching night at the museum. We never have enough time, like always (and it WAS a 2 hour trip in), but we saw a lot, including things we recognized from the movie.

I did get my nerves frazzled though, when I lost my 3yo. For a long time. I had asked sidda to take him to the bathroom, since I was holding a sleeping baby. She did, and when I asked her about him a few minutes later, she said he was with aunica. Some minutes later, Aunica walks by without him. When asked, she says she hasn’t seen him since Sidda took him to the bathroom. This has been quite a few minutes by now. I’m a little panicky, and I pass Aunica the sleeping babe. Finn and I begin our ever widening search. After about 10 minutes of searching, I am very worried, and notify security. I am praying for his safety. The officer goes to check the men’s restroom, and I think to check the women’s. There he is, where Sidda left him. Crisis averted, prayers of gratitude whispered, security notified, but the adrenaline won’t let me calm down for a bit.

At closing time we head directly across the street to Central Park. The kids play on a big rock, then at a playground as we wait for Deon to join us. 

With Deon, we went for a walk through the park, and on to our dinner destination, Shake Shack. It was pretty amazing. The burgers were the best I’ve had in a long time, the fries were tasty, and the shakes were to die for. I had salted Carmel toffee and deon had mint chocolate chip, both with thick, homemade whipped cream. YUM!

Then a long trek back to the rv, with a stop at target for milk.