By: Paul Morrone
Summer always starts with a bang in the Morrone household. June tends to be a crazy month with school ending, camps starting and the weather breaking, which rolls quickly into the Fourth of July holiday week. It’s as exhausting as it is fun and with Ryan’s birthday thrown in the mix, we’re sure to make memories along the way. This year was no different as we celebrated his birthday during the Branford fireworks with dozens of family and friends who came for cake and enjoyed the show. The next day, Kyle and I continued our tradition of attending the Traveler’s Championship golf tournament in Hartford, which has quickly become one of his favorite things to look forward to each year. But what set this year apart was our first family trip to NYC. Ryan has been asking us for months to take him to the city so he could see the Statue of Liberty. We’ve read books, watched YouTube clips and looked at pictures in anticipation of finding a nice day to get to New York, which we were able to do on his actual birthday (June 28th) to celebrate him turning 5 this year.
Spending a day as a tourist in New York is not for the faint of heart and is also my nightmare. I love the city, but nothing about Times Square, Rockefeller Center or Batter Park excites me, in fact, those parts of the city are the exact ones I avoid when I travel there on my own time (the things you do for your kids…). But it was worth it. From the second we got on the train, both boys were excited. Kyle had been to New York in the past but had never been downtown or to the Statue of Liberty so there were a lot of firsts for him as well. Thanks to my brother-in-law, Brian, who served as our de-facto tour guide for the day we bounced around quickly and checked off a lot of the must-see things for kids. We saw the sights in Midtown, got some candy at the Hershey’s store and checked out the Lego and Nintendo stores before venturing downtown to catch the ferry out to Liberty Island. Those little legs walked miles that day (which got progressively hotter), but both boys took everything in stride, which made a long day quite enjoyable considering how much we did.
I haven’t been out to Liberty Island since I was about 8, and it’s amazing how much you forget over three decades. For one, I did not remember how large the Statue of Liberty was. It really is impressive, and its prominence overlooking the harbor and city can be felt before you even step foot on land. Ryan was insistent that we climb up the statue and we opted for tickets that got us to the top of the pedestal (you can go into the crown, but it was under renovation, and you can no longer go into the torch). It’s a cool 195 stairs from the entrance to the top, and both kids scaled the statue with ease. From the top you have spectacular views of the skyline where we attempted to snap a few pictures before making our descent.
Wearing his “It’s My Birthday” pin, Ryan was all smiles all day. You would have thought both of them would have crashed and slept on the train ride home, but instead we played games and laughed until we got back to the station in CT. It was a lot, but it was worth it. Ryan must have told us 10 times that day that it was ‘the best day ever,’ which is something you truly can’t put a price on. To hear those words out of your child’s mouth is nothing short of magical.
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