how to spend 24 hours in NYC with a toddler

Last weekend, Blake (4) and I escaped to the big apple to visit cousins Baker (3) & Sutton (1). The Calvert’s are my in-laws; Shelby & Luke (and the boys). Three years ago they were called to Harlem to plant a church. They moved from the comfort and familiarity of Indiana to embrace big city life in a town where they knew no one, and took very little with them. God is doing beautiful things in Harlem through Luke’s discipleship and it seems Luke and Shelby were made for this. I am living vicariously through them as they navigate life in the city with their two littles. As expected, NYC is quite expensive compared to life in the midwest, especially on a pastor’s salary. If you feel led to donate to their mission or simply follow along on their journey, head over to @calverts_nyc.

With only 48 hours, I was intent on making the most of it. Despite some questionable weather in Indianapolis on Friday, our flight thankfully left on time and in just two hours we were landing in Laguardia. Round trip flights from IND to LGA can be found on the regular for under $200 making for a quick and affordable weekend trip. By 8pm we were climbing out of the Uber and Blake was trying to contain his excitement from the buzzing city lights he saw from the sky.

Saturday in the City

I made a general list of places I wanted to hit on this visit but knowing we would have three toddlers in tow and not sure how cold it would be, I went in with no expectations. To my surprise, Saturday was in the 50s and sunny much of the day, unlike snowy Indiana in the single digits.

We had an excitable morning wake up with all three boys buzzing with the joy of being reunited again. We watched them play a bit, enjoyed some coffee and fed the boys some breakfast. First on the list was to head north on the train to check out the Calvert’s new apartment in Hudson Heights, which is in upper Manhattan. They have been moving all last week since we left. I love their new little neighborhood and it certainly is a lot quieter for the boys there. They have the cutest little restaurant around the corner called The Uptown Garrison. They already remembered Luke and welcomed him back in. We grabbed some lattes and brunch, Luke swears by the avocado on sourdough. They also serve dinner food and cocktails too. If you are ever in the upper north side you will have to check this place out.

Sutton headed back with Luke for a nap and Shelby and I jumped on the subway towards Central Park. We walked around a bit until it randomly started raining (thankfully we brought our jackets just in case). The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) is on the East side of Central Park and was at the top of my list. Last visit, Jordyn and I went to the MOMA and loved it. I’m not sure why we thought bringing two blonde haired bowling balls into the actual Met was a good idea, but to our surprise they did very well and I think they even enjoyed it! They were enchanted mostly by the massive sculptures with missing body parts, or per Blake: “why is all their penises out?” We left without breaking anything, and I will add this to one of my favorite museums of all time. You could easily spend an entire day here, but we got an hour out of the boys and didn’t want to push our luck.

Heading south on foot we had to go see “where Kevin stayed” because Blake is obsessed with Home Alone: Lost in New York. A twenty five minute walk brought us to the south end of Central Park to the famous Plaza Hotel. If you are a die hard like Blake (and me if I’m being honest), you can book the Home Alone experience which comes with: 4 hour limousine ride around NYC visiting filming locations, complete with a large cheese pizza, and back at the room you receive a 16 scoop ice cream sundae. You do need to book this at least 3 days in advance of your trip and is subject to availability. This hotel is iconic and we hope to stay there on a future trip.

It was Baker’s turn to head home for some rest with Shelby so Blake and I continued south on foot, saying farewell to the double stroller and hello to the workout of my life 😀 Blake was such a trooper walking/carrying him through the city. He never complained and even gave me periodic breaks from carrying him during our 4? 5? miles of trekking via foot and subway.

First stop: St Patrick’s Cathedral. I have seen this from the street a couple times before but viewing it from the inside was breathtaking. Even Blake felt inclined to whisper when we were inside. Stunning architecture, inside and out.

If you are in NYC at Christmastime then visiting the famous Rockefellar tree is a must. This was my first time seeing it lit up and we caught it on the last day of the season. Skating here feels so nostalgic and is just one of those NY things everyone should do at least once. It is one of the most expensive rinks so you are also paying for that nostalgia. Jordan and I had skated here before so I opted to skip that with Blake in lieu of checking off some other boxes. If you do want to skate with a smaller price tag, you could also check out Wollman Rink in Central Park, the Christmas Village at Bryant Park, or the newest (and I think coolest) rink is called Glide and is located under the Brooklyn Bridge. This would be so pretty to skate at night.

After snapping some photos of the iconic tree we made a quick stop to rest our feet and refuel. I spotted a quiet looking hole in the wall down one of the side streets called Megan’s Bar & Kitchen, “an Irish bar with a NY heart.” According to their website this is the best Irish bar in NYC and in my short time inside I can definitely see that. Super cute vibes, several beers on tap, quick service with premium food. We shared some of the best smoked gouda mac & cheese I have ever had. A few tables had pizzas which looked absolutely amazing, and if I could have managed leftovers we would have tried one. I knew I still had a long ways of carrying Blake and didn’t want to add a pizza box to my load so we stuck with a small plate.

The Morgan Library & Museum was also on the top of my list. Yes I am 100% a nerd, and yes this may have been the highlight of my trip. Located in the heart of NYC, what began as the personal library of Pierpont Morgan is now one of the largest public institutions housing some of the oldest historical manuscripts, early printed books, drawings, prints, and other rare materials. Check out this You Tube video with everything you need to know about this historical literature landmine. To my Harry Potter lovers: it felt like I was in the Hogwarts library and could have easily spent hours here if Blake had let me. By this time, he was really starting to slow down and it was nearing 5pm so we were about out of daylight. We returned north a couple blocks to Grand Central Station to spend the rest of our trekking by train. He wasn’t too interested in Grand Central though (probably delirious by this point) did pose for a cute picture in the main lobby before we jumped on the 4 train to the Staten Island ferry.

The Staten Island ferry is a free service provided by the city of NY. Beware of scammers trying to sell tickets. The ferry leaves Whitehall Street terminal in Manhattan every half hour departing to St George on Staten Island. It’s about a 25 minute trip each way and offers some pretty spectacular skyline views of the city and you get close enough to the statue of liberty to see her features without having to pay to do it. Of course, if you want to explore her up close and personal you can opt for other tours which do cost money.

By about 8 pm we were both exhausted and ready for bed and took a long subway ride back up to Harlem (about 45 minutes total). By the first stop Blake, was dead weight and slept the rest of the way home. It wasn’t until we got there that I realized having eaten dinner before 4pm we were pretty hungry, so we fed him a quick sandwhich and then he was off to bed. Shelby ordered us some takeout from a place just steps from her building and I am still craving it to this day. The place is called Presto Fresh Cafe and when I tell you this is the freshest & most flavorful Mexican cuisine I have ever had…chefs kiss!! I had the grilled chicken taco bowl and I literally cannot wait to try this again. They have a couple locations and I am sad that the Lenox Ave location will no longer be within walking distance to Shelby’s apartment.

So that’s it! We spent 24 long, non-stop hours in NYC and my little mini and I shared some special quality time together while exploring the big city. We didn’t do everything on my list but we sure did a lot and I feel like our time was well spent 🙂

Sunday – a Day to Recover

We slept in, sipped coffee, and enjoyed watching the boys do their thing on Sunday. I read a good part of my vacation read: Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (currently really into hockey romance…who knew that was even a thing but here I am). I highly recommend reading Elle Kennedy’s five book series: “The Off Campus Series” for some seriously wonderful, laugh out loud romance and banter and the series to hook me on this genre. From there I moved onto reading The Fake Out by Stephanie Archer, another hockey smut novel and probably my favorite to date. Seriously though, this hockey romance era has led my bestie, Reva, and I to purchase Chicago Blackhawks tickets and a weekend in Chicago next month (for our men of course).

Shelby’s mother-in-law arrived late morning so Shelby and I took a quick trip to Zara (always) and then she introduced me to her favorite birthday dinner spot at Miznon in Chelsea. Guys, when I say you have to add this to your list of NYC eats: YOU HAVE TO ADD THIS TO YOUR LIST OF NYC EATS. Actually go out of your way to eat here because it is so worth it!! Miznon is Israeli based, serving Mediterranean street food housed in Chelsea Market (and a couple other locations). It exists inside an old historic building jam packed with dozens of other shops and restaurants. Walking up to Miznon it really doesn’t look like it is about to rock your world any type of way but it went above and beyond any expectations I had. If you are lucky enough to score a seat at the open bar/cooking area you will be pleasantly entertained with song and dance by the employees who seem to be living their absolute best lives. There is bleacher style seating available too, which seems odd at first but one bite into their steak pita and I would sit on the floor in a public restroom to eat this meal if I had to. Another must try is their cauliflower which is an explosion to your tastebuds.

There was no shortage of good eats this trip in NYC, that’s for sure! Craving some bougie Chelsea coffee after Miznon, we found a real cute (turns out real pricey) little coffee shop called 787 Coffee on our way back to the subway. They use beans here infused in whiskey so that was a fun twist! Everything here is grown, processed and roasted in Puerto Rico. It was pretty darn good, though still debating on if it was $9+ plus tip good.. although my motto on vacation is typically to splurge on the food and drink, so no regrets here!

If you only have 24 hours to spend in NYC, I hope you find this helpful. Feel free to tag me on your instagram stories @jesstakethetrip and follow me for real time travels. If you want to stay in the know on future posts and updates, be sure to sign up for my newsletter down below. I promise I don’t have the spare time to spam you! Thank you for reading! – Jess

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