Malls and Zoos and Old Friends

Day four (Tuesday) starts off with us waking up and making a plan to go to Secaucus New Jersey to engage in the sport of queens. Yes Shopping. But with the temperature and humidity being over 100
my mom decided that driving to NJ and "walking" (ugh!) would not be a favorable activity. So we first decided to make a short trip to the Bronx and see some friends of mom's.
First was mom's friend Angie she gave Sarah a TON of gifts and her children just loved Sarah upon meeting her. The photo was taken at the Emergency room of Montefiore Hospital, where mom & dad work. After that we decided to go indoor shopping at the fourth largest mall in the country. The Palisade's Center Mall in upstate New York. It's a nice mall quite large and has both a ferris wheel and a carousel.

We spent a lot of time there and unfortunately very few photo's. The Ferris wheel was poorly manned so no rides nor photos of it. Not much else to say for that day except that it was nice to be indoors in temperature controlled splendor and not too much walking to do. My dad and I spent more time playing sudoku than anything else.
The next day day five (Wednesday) was back to wilds of the Bronx that is.
It was Wednesday and that is pay what you want day at the world famous Bronx Zoological Center.
Instead of giving a play by play of the day let me just give you a sample of the things we saw.
(Click on any picture to enlarge).




One area I will comment on was the gorilla exhibit.
There were so many gorilla's and baby gorilla's and then
there were two big ones that came right up to the glass enclosure and you get the feeling
like the were about to go *ahem* banana's and break the glass.


The rest of the day was spent walking abround the very large zoo and seeking exhibits.
And taking the odd camel ride.







We were supposed to spend a part of the day next door at the New York Botanical Gardens but
it was soo late and we still didn't eat any lunch.
Afterwards we grabbed a decent meal at one of my favorite pizza parlors (sorry no food pics)
and lounged at a park near my old apartment. We didn't spend as much time as I would have preferred as I had made an appointment of some old friends of mine to visit them and their family. They are the Fillmore's Shane is currently a Branch President and he is also
a drummer for this really cool band. Check them out here Highbench


These are Shane & Chyayn's four daughters. Bailey, Samantha (Sammie), Claire, and Jane.
Our visit with them was all too brief. I always enjoy getting to say hello to them and catching
up on old times. Anway that was day four and five. The next blog is on the longest day
but unfortunately it will probably be the shortest posting. But we shall see.

The 2nd Longest Day

New York Day 2.This was an ambitious day and we started off leaving at 9 am to take an express bus into Manhattan. To get into Manhattan from Yonkers we had to pass through
the Bronx. In the second photo you can see the famous Yankee Stadium in the background.

Once in Manhattan it takes us through Fifth Avenue. This first half of it being known as Museum Mile. One famous museum we did not make on this trip was
the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art aka "The Met" or "MOMA".
On Mondays alas it was closed so we didn't go but there was a rally interesting exhibit.

But we made it to our first stop. The Central Park Zoo (Wildlife Center)

One of the more interesting exhibits at the Central Park Zoo was the polar bears.
It is over 100 degress outside and HUMID. So the lucky bears go out
and swim and play a little rough with each other.

Check out this cool video I got of them playing around.


We saw some other cool things like turtle's at *ahem* play.
And then Sarah got something she always wanted. A tattoo!!!
Check out my little "tough girl"

We left just as the clock rung noon and we were able to watch the daily chime
that is at the entrance of the zoo.

After that we headed over to the children's zoo and got to do some cool and funny photos.

And Sarah got to feed some of the animals.

For most people that would be the day and they'd be enthusiastic about it
but for Andals? Nope we're just getting warmed up. While we were still in central
park we headed over to the boat lake but not before going through some famous landmarks
in the park. First off was the Gallery. If you look carefully you may have seen this
place in the movie "Enchanted".

Right around the corner of it was the boathouse and even though it was fully sunny hot and humid I wanted the two to get a ride on the lake so we rented a rowboat for an hour
and I got myself a nice shoulder and abs workout. Look how nasty green the water was
but we actually got some nice breezes and the water felt cool whenever I splashed them with it.

These photos were taken from the rowboat by Merilee if you look carefully you'll remember it from three famous movies.
1) Crocodile Dundee 2 , 2) Rosemary's Baby , and 3) Ghostbusters.

By the time we were finished I was pooped and we were all starving!
So instead of taking a cab we hired a pedicab. And then walked

and then walked
and then walked..
until we made it to Serendipity 3
\
It has been one of our goals to go back to this place since Merilee went there the first time.
Now we were able to share the experience with Sarah and look at her smile when she had it.
Well once fed with lunch and dessert what is there left to do? But more walking of course.
This time we took a subway ride and ended up at AMNH aka the American Museum of Natural History. To the movie buffs it was where "Night at the Museum" was filmed. Outside there was much fanfare about their newest exhibits and it was about horses.
But we didn't come to see horses we wanted to see the bigger stuff.
But no one told us how dangerous it was!!!
We were getting attacked left and right!


Aside from all that we then crisscrossed the park several times and out in much miles on our feet. Sarah even remarked, "Daddy, did you hear me once complain about my feet!" She didn't bless her heart.
And while we were waiting for our bus to take us home I took this pic of what some apartments
were selling for. (Like all the pics click to enlarge)

End of day 2.