Happy Birthday America!

That's what Little Monkey kept saying all day today.  He was sooooooooooooooo excited to see fireworks!  We debated whether or not we should go, but how could we not?  I mean, it is one of the most amazing fireworks displays on earth.  Plus, Little Monkey was soooooooo excited to see the fireworks (have I mentioned how excited he was?)

We began our journey on foot toward the mighty Hudson River at around 12:30 PM.  We are staying two blocks north of Central Park, so we decided to hug the west side of the park.  Before we got to the park, we saw these two cuties selling lemonade and watermelon in their homemade lemonade stand.  SO PRECIOUS!!!  Our kids enjoyed chatting with them and we had a pleasant conversation with their parents.  Nice, nice people.

After our refreshing snack, we continued on our quest.  We stopped and had a picnic lunch just north of the Great Lawn in a beautiful little park called the Pinetum full of pine trees and shade.

 And ice cream!!!

 And little pretzel people.

After we fed our faces  the kids wanted to climb a few Central Park "Mountains".  They are such Florida flat landers. So we let them climb Summit Rock.

After all that rock climbing and a lot more walking, we stopped at the playground and let them get cooled off at one of the gazillion playgrounds located in Central Park.  They enjoyed making new friends.

By this point in our journey, we felt committed to make it all the way down to the river.  We also felt slightly, no, seriously insane for making the 80 city block trek (roughly 4 miles ONE WAY).  

Thank goodness for strollers and good walking shoes.

Once we made it all the way down close to the river, we stopped and had dinner and then it was time to wait...

 And wait...

And wait some more...

With 2 million people, packed along the Hudson River for 5O + city blocks (just on the NYC side, this did not count New Jersey).

 Finally, Little Monkey caught sight of the NYPD helicopters flying over, and it wasn't long before...

The most amazing fireworks display.  And it was so, so very worth the wait.  Loved every minute of this day.

Happy Birthday America!  We love you!

Hugs,

Melissa

P.S.  After the fireworks, we walked one and a half miles to the subway and rode back to where we are staying. My feet were so happy with this decision.