Coney Island

It's been a long time since we'd been out to Coney Island.  The area was damaged from Sandy, but the New York Aquarium is building back bigger and stronger so we have been trying to get out to visit.  

The boys talk about Coney Island as though it is the far off land.  I hear the location come up frequently in their pretend play, most likely due to the fact that "our train," the F train, runs all the way to Coney Island.  I'm sure the amusement park and sand have a little to do with it as well.

Checking out the factoids

We spent the morning in the aquarium.  I remembered when we brought Freddie here when he was a little guy he was terrified of the walrus.  Thankfully is feeling much braver now that he's a mature five year old, but he loves hearing the story of the 1.5 year old Freddie running from the walrus habitat.

Watching the walrus

We caught the sea lion show and checked out the fish, but it didn't take us long to see everything.  The aquarium is tiny, and not all of the exhibits have been fully restored since Hurricane Sandy.

Small is actually a plus for Freddie because it makes map reading easier.  I swear he LOVES to read the maps and direct everyone.  He even wanted to know if I had a pen so he could check off the spots we had already visited.  Love of maps?  Anal?  Who knows, but I love it.

After the aquarium we headed out the the boardwalk and hit the "beach."

Just a wee bit excited, I'd say

Coney Island is definitely a city beach.  It does not make me yearn for frozen drinks with umbrellas, but for these city boys it counts as a beach and satisfies their need to dig, dig, dig.

We had a picnic lunch with our feet in the sand while people watching.  People watching will only get better here as spring turns to summer.  

Then off to the boardwalk and the anticipated main event…RIDES!

On our last visit to Coney Island the amusement area, Luna Park, hadn't yet opened for the season so we didn't do any rides.  Freddie had not forgotten and regularly asks to go check out the rides.  We figured it was best to hit that up before Memorial Day and Summertime, although the beautiful weather meant there was a pretty good crowd.

Luna Park is broken into a few separate areas based on "thrill level."  We stuck to the kiddie rides since Hans was abler o ride just about all of these on his own.  Freddie took great care of him, buckling him in and out, although I think perhaps Hans was the braver of the two on those rides that were on the more daring side.

Even with some thrills, Hans' favorite is always the carousel.

After exhausting our tickets it was back the the boardwalk for the other highly anticipated event…french fries, or in this case chicken tenders, eaten with a little plastic fork.

You have to have Nathan's at Coney Island.  I will say having a LARGE beer in the sunshine pretty much made for a fantastic day.

And you also have to have ice cream on the boardwalk!  Although the boys decided to go with one ice cream and one cotton candy.

I'm not sure how Freddie managed to be in control of both the ice cream and cotton candy.

We loved our day in the sunshine.  Maybe one year we'll get brave and grab a bench on the boardwalk for the 4th of July for some prime people watching and beer drinking.

New York Aquarium

Since Saturday's weather forecast called for a toasty 43 degree day with sunshine we decided we'd get out and about.  Freddie and I have been hiding indoors the past week with high temperatures in the low 30s so a little fresh air was much appreciated.  We decided to make our way to the NY Aquarium to check things out.  I have been looking for something to do on cold winter days and thought this to be a possibility.

We hopped on the F train and made our way through Brooklyn to Coney Island.  You hear about Coney Island and I see that as the last stop on the F train all the time, but we've never been.

It was an hour long train ride from the city.  Freddie didn't mind though and was entertained by other passengers and looking out the window.

We had lunch at "world famous" Nathan's.  They host the hot dog eating contest on the boardwalk every year.  We had hot dogs and fries.  Freddie was a happy boy with fries and ketchup.  And there was a little fork with the fries which he loved.  He took a lick of the hot dog but promptly removed the little bite from his mouth.

The aquarium is tiny.  It's not very modern with small tanks and not many fish.  But thankfully there were only a handful of people and Freddie was more than tickled to look at the fish.  "Hi, big fish."  "Bye, penguin."  He was afraid of the giant bellowing walruses though and didn't even want to walk past their habitat.  I imagine it can get pretty crowded over the summer when Coney Island and the boardwalk are crawling with people.

Aquarium admission is $13 for adults and $9 for children.  Our admission was covered with the zoo membership we purchased a few weeks ago.

We walked along the boardwalk back to the subway.  Pretty deserted today but I imagine there are some sights to be seen once the weather warms.  Can't wait to snag a bench here come June.

Coney Island: Spring Break Edition

Warm weather in NYC means you've got to hit up Coney Island.  It was a perfect outing for us over spring break with the sunshine, even if it was crazy crowded.

We visited the tiny aquarium, making sure to say hello to the walrus.  Freddie loves to hear the story of him as a tiny guy who was terrified of that old barking walrus and wouldn't even walk by his habitat without crying.  I love telling the boys those kind of stories of "so long ago" as much as they love hearing them.

After the aquarium we hit the boardwalk to have lunch at Nathan's.  It's a must do when at Coney Island.  You've got to eat your fries with the teeny little fork!

And then on to the amusement area.  The boys have graduated to the bigger rides where the crowds tend to be, especially during spring break.

It is so interesting to see how brave Freddie has become in the past few years, and how different his little brother is, absolutely fearless.

Finishing the day with pretzel bites rather than ice cream as they were soaked from the last ride of the day!

We're all thankful for sunshine and warm weather.  I think we'll be outside from sunrise to sunset from now until next fall!