We're in New York !!!!!

You're never too old to be a toysrus kid apparently. This is the indoor ferris wheel in ToyRUS in Times Square.

We finally made it to the Big Apple - actually we pulled in on Thursday night - kind of a scary thing. It was blowing about 20 knots up the river and there was a three knot current down the river and we couldn't find a mooring ball at the 79th Street Boat Basin. After battling the elements, we finally hung on to a white (seasonal) mooring ball here at the marina and called over to the office. They had told us that at low tide we couldn't enter the basin and they only had one option - docking inside the basin as all the balls were taken. We hung on until 7 p.m. and then finally took the plunge and let go and headed to the basin where one of the really great staff members here deftly helped us dock in incredibly difficult conditions. We were so glad to be there.

The floating docks were heaving due to the wake and conditions, making it like a walk in the funhouse to get up to the office to register and use the washrooms, etc.

Lisa's cousin Sarah was in NY for work this week, so we connected with her and she took a taxi down to the basin where we shared dinner, shivering on the deck of the restaurant. Then we had tea and conversation on the boat. It was fabulous to see her.

On Friday, after tiring of being bashed up against the dock, we left at high tide and grabbed a mooring ball. We had already got showers and did a load of laundry. Then we took the dinghy in and walked about 10 blocks to the American Museum of Natural History. It was amazing but almost overwhelming. Then we went to West Marine - a dinky store in Manhattan and rather disappointing and then to Macy's - not dinky and not disappointing. Dad arrived a bit earlier than we expected and we were so happy to see him. We went out for dinner at a great little spot - Sarabeth's in the Upper West Side, just a few blocks from here.

We all crashed and got up Saturday and after a great trip provisioning at Fairway with dad and Elizabeth, we left after lunch to go to Rockefeller Centre, Times Square, Macy's (again), Lincoln Square (with Lululemon in the square) and Borders and lots of spots in between. We also managed to pick up this wireless device from Verizon which we're using now to update the blog. We decided to take the plunge and ensure we have wireless through the U.S. at least for the kids schoolwork, weather, email, banking, etc. We can also call family and Reg on skype this way.

We're on a prepaid option which is great, once you buy the device.

Today we're just trying to do a few boat jobs and make plans to jump out tomorrow from NY to Cape May. We'd like to ride the current down to Sandy Hook, about 30 miles from here but with the current it shouldn't take more than about 3 or so hours. We also met a guy here who runs a great website, iboatny.com that has loads of local info.

We might do a bit more sightseeing today - at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, if we can figure out how to get diesel, etc. We might just go pick that up at Liberty Marina on the way out tomorrow morning.

We're also thinking of picking up a Garmin chartplotter from West Marine today and installing that.

There are continuing problems with the head but on the bright side, dad's nose doesn't work too good and we've got access to a washroom here.

Now the fridge is working OK as well. Besides, we've had lots of retail therapy in the last couple of days.