Our Lovely New York Trip: Day Nine

We had to get up and out of the hotel quickly to begin our journey back to Utah.  Our flight was late in the day, so we drove to Rochester and stopped in at The Museum of Play.

This was a fun museum!  It cost a fortune to get in, and we only got to stay a few hours, but easily could have spent the entire day there.   Funny picture, eh?

The museum is kind of like a giant playroom.  This is the market.  The kids each got to buy five items--they also get to be the cashier--then they put the items back on the shelf.  The love, loved this.  It could have occupied them for several hours.

Even Madeline and Camilla had fun shopping!

They put on a little play,

dressed up (they could use some Little Adventures influence here),

and baked for their tea party.  This kitchen/house area was another place they could have spent all day.

In fact, I think Kevin and I could have flown back to Utah and the girls would not have missed us one bit.  It was a perfect place for imagination!

Mari would have missed us.  The blocks were fun, but not enthralling.

After playing, the girls each spent some money in the gift shop and riding the carousel.  We ate lunch, then headed to the airport.  It was a little after 2:00, and our flight left at 4:30, so we thought we had plenty of time.  The GPS took us on a bit of a round about route to the airport, so it was 3:00 by the time we got our cars returned and checked in to get our boarding passes.

The lady at the desk told us to go right to security because they were ready to board our plane.  We thought she was crazy (the plane didn't leave for 1 1/2 hours--they never board that early!).  Standing in line for security, we checked our tickets and found out the plane left at 3:30, not 4:30, and boarding time was 3:04!  

The flight itinerary I had printed off when we purchased the tickets definitely said 4:30.  At some point, they changed the flight time.  Kevin vaguely remembered an e-mail, but it didn't register with him, I guess, and we were not prepared for a flight an hour early!

As you probably know, security is not quick.  We got through as best we could, though.  Grandpa Reese was held up because he had food with him which they had to put back through to check.  Kevin didn't have shoes on, but we were beginning to walk to the terminal anyway when we heard over the intercom "Paging the Yearsley and Mitchell families.  Your plane has boarded and is preparing for take off."  Yikes!

We were quite a site running down the hall--Grandma, Kevin carrying his shoes, girls running as fast as they could, and me bringing up the rear with Mari in the stroller and Anna running along side.  Grandpa Reese was still in security. 

We made it to the gate and they let us on the plane.  Still no grandpa.  Two other ladies boarded the plane.  Still no grandpa.  Kevin and I were sure he'd be left behind.  The stewardess came on asking about Howard Mitchell.  We told her we hoped he was coming!  Finally he did make it and our plane took off--at 3:20, ten minutes ahead of schedule and an hour and ten minutes earlier than we thought!

That gave us a good, long layover in the JFK airport, but we were just happy Grandpa Reese was there with us!  Finally we flew on to SLC.  Grandma Kathy bought each of the girls a set of headphones so they could listen to the movies.  So nice of her!  We landed at 11:30, got our baggage, and drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They had to go to work the next day, but Kevin had it off, so we were able to take our time getting home.  As with all trips, it was good to get back home, but we sure missed New York!  We had such a wonderful time.  It wasn't a hurried frenzied vacation, but a wonderfully relaxing one.  It's brought happiness to my heart many a time as I have reflected on the great things we got to see and people we were able to meet.

Thanks for a great time, New York!