Eight hours of sleep later, we were ready to tackle NYC again. By 9:30am, we were jumping back on the Subway, and headed for the 9/11 Museum.

I can remember my parents talking about Pearl Habor and how personal their memories were. Where they were when they heard about the attack… who they knew that was personally affected… how they felt. And while I could appreciate and respect it, I never understood what they went through. I suppose 9/11 is our Pearl Harbor. Mike and I spent some time telling the boys where we were when we heard about the attack… who we knew that was personally affected… how we felt. And they, like me, appreciated and respected what we said, but I do not think they knew how it truly was until today.

We didn’t make many photos inside, and I don’t think we need photos to remember today, but some were things we wanted to make sure to remember…

After we finished touring the museum, and of course getting our travel tree ornament, we decided to grab a to-go lunch at an old school New York Deli – the sandwiches were AWESOME!

By 2pm, we were headed to Battery Park to catch our ferry out to see Lady Liberty herself. We enjoyed our sandwiches sea-side 😊

Not a bad view for lunch

We landed at the Statue of Liberty and decided to climb the stairs up to the pedestal because the elevator line was crazy… it’s not that high, right? (It is 198 stairs high to be exact.)

The boys crushed it, passing and leaving us in their dust, but we did it. Slow and steady wins the race🐢

Even 198 steps closer, Lady Liberty is still a long way up

WooHoo! Finally, a plaque, and a plaque carved in a cornerstone no less!

Doesn’t get more American than this! 🇺🇸

We hopped back on the ferry to travel from the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island.

Can you imagine arriving here so many years ago, alone or even with family, with everything you owned in one steamer trunk or less, traveling across an ocean and then walking into the Registry Room where they put you in one area to enter the United States or another to send you home.

While they waited to be registered as a citizen, immigrants were housed in these dormitory rooms that could be home to 60-80 people with 3 sinks and 1 commode. Makes our hotel room seem exceptionally spacious!

The Registry Room has been restored to what it looked like in the late 1800’s but still very different than when set up to receive new citizens. Ellis Island as a whole has had a lot of changes too in the last 150 years:

We headed out get back on the ferry to head back to Battery Park when the bottom fell out ⛈️ That meant everyone on the ferries’ spacious open fresh-air decks were now crammed into the inside areas. Maybe we just needed to be reminded how the immigrants felt being crammed onto Ellis Island.

Either way, we made it back to Battery Park and walked quickly through the rain to our subway stop only getting slightly soaked…

The boys wanted Asian Fusion Hibachi for dinner. Only in New York could you type in Asian Fusion Hibachi in google map, and boom! Yes, as a matter of fact, there is Asian Fusion Hibachi place with 4.8 star rating less than 10 blocks from your hotel.

And once again, the boys’ learned that being polite paid off… when we arrived at the Asian Fusion Hibachi restaurant, the hostess asked if we wanted to sit at an hibachi table. We told her as long as we could get hibachi food, we were fine with wherever. So she found us a four-top in the front, and away we went with dinner. As we were eating our entrees, the bartender came to refill our waters, and asked boys if they wanted soft drinks? They said no thank you, and about 2 minutes later she comes back. She has a free Japanese beer for Mike and I to try and 2 Japanese sodas for boys.

The Japanese soda was interesting. You had to take off the top and pop the inside of the cap to release a clear marble into the drink. I have no idea what purpose this serves, but watching these two trying to get them open was cracking me up!

Update: thanks to the internet, we now know that the marble seals off the oxygen and keeps the drink carbonated

Finally, the Japanese father sitting beside us showed the boys the trick to opening. They weren’t huge fans of the drinks themselves, but still a pretty cool experience.

We loved seeing all the lights come on as the sun begins to set. Although Michael said he was ready to be where there aren’t so many people… everywhere… all the time.

We have finally dried off from the rain deluge, and our bellies are full. So now dinner is over and it’s 6:45pm. 🤣🤣 We thought we should get something sweet for later – because I know these boys are going to be hungry again in an hour.

I asked them if anyone want to go see more of city? Their response: “Mom, we just want to take a shower, eat a dessert and sit at the hotel.” Okay, early night it is 🤣

As we are walking back to the hotel, we pass Carlo’s Bake Shop (from Cake Boss), and we decided it must be fate!

Back in the hotel, the cannolis, cheesecake and tirimisu are gone, and showers are done… Michael is in his PJs and cannot believe it is still light outside!

9:07pm Leo is OUT

9:18pm Mike is OUT

10:02pm Michael is OUT

12:34am Mom is typing a blog post 🤪

Day 2 is in the books! Totals for today: 7.6 miles and 17,000+ steps.

The boys said they cannot wait for a long car ride tomorrow 🤣 maybe this was all part of my plan!