Times Square, only hours before New Year's; our girls, just off Broadway;
The Christmas tree at Bryant Park

Riding the carousel at Bryant Park

Out front (with "Patience" the lion) and inside the famous NY Public Library
(which has really nice bathrooms, a necessity when traveling with Joni)

The Empire State Building, where the wait to go up was several hours of mind-numbing boredom and frustration.
If you ever go, shell out the bucks for the "Express" tickets": they're expensive, but worth it
Once we finally got up to the 86th Floor, the views were incredible (and the wind was cold and fierce!)

Looking out over the East River; looking down (and down. And down some more)

Sunset over the harbor and the Statue of Liberty

Having no stomach for standing in line anymore, this was as close as we got to the Statue of Liberty
Our American girls outside the American Girl store on 5th Avenue; Atlas was across the street

The Nativity scene at St. Patrick's Cathedral; an icon of Mary and Jesus

The next day, we went to Central Park, where we found the famous "Balto" statue

While we were there, we had to visit the Central Park Zoo...poor us

Joni's next pet, a river otter; this red panda reminds me of my cat

We didn't find the critters from the movie Madagascar, but we did find the penguins
We also found this zuzzy polar bear and a cool tiger statue

The thing about little turtles, you see, is that they grow up to be big turtles....

These photos were taken at the Children's Zoo portion of the Central Park Zoo
I think the girls liked this part better than the rest

Feeding the llamas and the goats (and making furry friends) at the Children's Zoo

Joni and the girls on the way to Radio City Music Hall; Rockefeller Center (which was VERY crowded);
Inside the Toys-R-Us at Times Square, which has a three-story indoor Ferris wheel, a candy shop with 
"Candyland" figures, and an animatronic T-Rex that moves and roars!

Still at the Toys-R-Us: The Empire State Building (and King Kong) made of Legos; inside a life-size Barbie House
Before we left for home, we stopped at Bryant Park again and had authentic New York pizza for lunch

We love New York!