A (typically) great day in New York City

Today's plan was to get some culture and visit PS 1 in Long Island City. My kids were going to be joined by the girl's BFF. It was gonna be the 4 of us. Fun. As soon as I got out the door into the 60 degree sun, I spontaneously said. "Who wants to go to the Central Park Zoo. It was unanimous.

I decided to take the 2 train to 72st and find some lunch before walking across the park. When we got out of the Subway on Broadway our NYC experience began. We walked directly in to the set of a Law and Order episode. Being true New Yorkers, we were annoyed.

We got some pizza and walked into the Park. We took a little detour and walked through Strawberry Fields. We walked directly into a tour group. The tour leader gave a history of the spot we were standing in. She said "The Beatles were 20 times bigger than Boys to Men" Then she pointed to the Dakota and said, "Mr Lennon, who was once in that band was killed in front of that building." WTF, if you speak English, you know who The Beatles were. Then she said, "Lets get back to the bus and we will go to Ground Zero." Why didn't these people just go to Disney.

Then we got to the zoo. Actually two Zoos, first the Children's' Zoo, Then the actual Central Park Zoo. I really pissed off my son. We were looking at the turtles. There were about 40 of them sunning themselves. I told the kids that what makes the Central Park Zoo cool is that there is art mixed up with the animals. I said that one of the turtles was a statue. I asked them if they could figure out which turtle was not real. They spent a long time tyring to figure it out. The girls started to argue so I told them I made it up, they were all real. The boy got really mad at me for lying. It made me realize how much he trusts me. Next time I gotta let him in on the joke first.

We also got to see the penguins get fed and the Polar Bears where putting on a good show. It is a shame that so much funding is gonna get cut from the Zoo. It is gonna get busier with so many New Yorkers not able to afford far away vacations. It is a shame.

Then we went out of the Park to get a snack. We got some dirty water dogs and watched some bad break dancers across the street from the Plaza. Just when the kids got thirsty a guy in a banana suite is walking around selling fruit smoothies. Perfect timing, only in NYC.

It was only 3pm so we went to Hecksher Playground for some strait out fun. Wow what a great big sand box. Central Park playgrounds are great for kids. My three had a great time. It is a wonderfully designed space. There are sandboxes, with giant climbing things in them, I the summer there are giant water slides. The Manhattan drop makes it surreal. But no so social for the grown-ups. The crowd was mostly tourists and nannies. No seance of community.

On the way home I notice a pile of Hula-hoops. I was hoping there were some circus folk around giving demonstrations. What was there was better. It was Lenny Hoops. This man brings 50 Hula-hoops and some bongos to the park and lets the kids have fun. The girls hula-ed and the boy learned how to play the gong. I had not spent a cent in the Park all day. I put a $10 in Lenny's bucket.