Day Twelve

New York City...I love it.  I have been there two times in the past and both times I have felt that although I would never want to live there, I love to visit.  It is a big city I just like!  Sometimes in life, maybe in a weird way we are attracted to our opposite.  For this probably boring to most NC girl, my opposite is NYC and I love it!  So, knowing that we had one day for the city was tough for me.  Remember, these trips are about a lot of "picking and choosing" if we are to get through the lower 48 in our time schedule. There is not a lot of extra cushion on these trips and of course, expense has to be considered.  For example, I would LOVE to go see a Broadway show with all the kids, but for all seven of us to go would be a huge expense.  We do things on these trips that all seven of us can do together and I feel that we do a good job of picking a variety of things that will appeal to each of our personalities.  The three big things we ended up deciding on for NYC were the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, & the 9/11 Museum.  At first, one might think that this was not very much to put on a day's agenda, but believe it or not, we barely got them all done!

Good morning from Connecticut!

So after waking up in Connecticut (a quick hello and goodbye for this state), we drove and then parked our van in NJ and rode the ferry into the city.  Benjamin and Elizabeth squealed and were so excited when they saw the Statue of Liberty from the boat!  This has been the thing that Benjamin has been looking forward to the most.

The walk from the ferry to the Statue of Liberty ferry was a tough one.  Our tour was at 1pm and we were pushed to make it on time!  Please understand that we had started our day at 7:30am.  It is just for seven of us to get ready with one bathroom, drive to NJ (not a far drive but one with traffic), find parking, ride a ferry, walk, go through security, and ride another ferry...all a little stressful.  The one thing I can say is that they were very kind about the wheelchair and letting us through.  

The Statue of Liberty was every bit as cool as I thought it would be.  

 The original flame (now on display)

Sitting on a model of her foot

Elizabeth giving Trey & Jonathan Statue of Liberty lessons on the ferry

From there, we took the ferry to Ellis Island. I have to say, I was surprised.  I did not know much about this National Park.  It was moving.  To walk the halls, see the dorms with beds bunked up, and to know that had our family come through to Ellis Island, we very well may not have been let in to the U.S. because we have a child with a disability.  How many families were split up because of this?  Through the years we have done so much together as a family.  There are times when our children do different things on their own, of course.  But a lot of our family culture has been about being together.  I cannot imagine how it would have felt back then to want or even need a fresh start in a new country and then to be turned down because one of your children was "different."  The fact that during that time in our country, people with Down syndrome were being institutionalized and sterilized makes me think that those with disabilities would not have been allowed to enter.  Very sad.

Ellis Island

After Ellis Island, we once again quickly walked a long distance towards the 9/11 Museum, while stopping at a pizza place first for some New York pizza.  The 9/11 Memorial fountains and the Museum were very moving.  It is all still pretty new.  I would estimate that we spent three hours or so there and still could have taken longer.  The footage, news clips, testimonies, burned fire engines...all strong reminders of a tragic day for our country.

Panoramicview of the Memorial

One of the fire trucks damaged by 9/11

When it was all over, our next job was to find the ferry to get back to NJ.  The NYPD officers we talked to were helpful and were all laughing with us.  One of the four who helped us said he needed Google translator to interpret Harvey's accent (of course we felt the same way :).  Riding back on the ferry and seeing NYC lit up at night with my Gouch Gang is a memory I will remember for a long time.