New York Day 3: Natural History Museum and More Exploring Central Park

 Our main activity for the day was visiting was the New York Natural History Museum.  We purchased "city passes" ahead of time which most large cities offer for tourists.  You get multiple  tickets to various sites and sometimes some extra perks (such as not waiting in a long line to get in).  I was grateful our city passes allowed us to visit this museum because we could not squeeze into our schedule the Natural History Museum in Washington DC.

We started off our morning with a quick breakfast at Mc Donalds.  We have really tried to stick to a tighter budget when it comes to meals because honestly you could spend hundreds of dollars a day on food alone.  I am thankful for the health and wellness program (called Zults) I was on last April that  helped me drop my addiction strong cravings for soda after numerous attempts in the past.  We have found every single restaurant and museum have complimentary water and there are water fountains everywhere.

The Natural History Museum is huge and you could easily spend hours upon hours there.  The kids were the most interested in the animals and dinosaurs.  We also whizzed through some of the people groups grouped by countries.  Below is a prehistoric guinea pig in the South America section.  

 The youngest showed interest in the prehistoric dinosaurs and saber toothed animals, but also liked seeing the animals in the large mammal exhibit.

 All the dinosaur bones and learning about how the paleontologists put them together was super interesting.  The picture below are the bones from a prehistoric turtle that was hanging from the ceiling.

The oldest enjoyed learning about the marine animals.  They had a few kiosks set up with volunteers sharing with kids about the various animals.  They had hands on fossils they could touch.  I was impressed our kids knew a lot about sea stars--you can totally tell they have had more education in marine life living close to the coast.  

We did not stay at the bird exhibit as long but my son and I both liked these pheasants.

 I especially enjoyed learning about the various houses the people groups constructed from wig mans to tee pees to grass huts. I believe below is a picture of an old Samoan village.  We saw tools, pottery, hunting supplies, and cooking items they used.  As well as learning about certain rituals and festivals.

After the museum we walked back to the brownstone where we are staying.  It is very close to our place so it was not a long walk at all.  In the late afternoon we went to Central Park and were going to explore some of the other playgrounds we did not go to on Sunday.  There are 21 playgrounds total in Central Park along with a zoo, conservatory, ball fields, and more.  I was curious to see the Diana Ross Playground.  We found some of  the playgrounds were geared more towards the 0-6 age group.  Our kids loved the Adventure Playground we went to on Sunday but it was a little far from where we were.  I don't have any pictures of the playgrounds because I forgot my camera and my phone died.

They also love sitting and climbing on these rocks by the reservoir where people can rent rowboats.  It has become a spot our son likes to practice parkour.

We saw tons of turtles swimming around by the rocks.  I think the youngest and I counted ten at one time.  There are also lots of ducks and geese.  I won't mention the rats we saw in the bushes by the playground...they give me the heebie jeebies.  I supposed you get used to them if you live here.

Tomorrow is our last full day in New York.  For sharing small spaces for a week now, we are doing pretty well!  We were talking tonight about how the family time has brought us much closer together and not driven us crazy.  We have had our moments...we are NOT a perfect family!...but we do enjoy doing many things together.  For that I am totally thankful.