Here’s how it went for us:

Anyone out there thinking of going to the Macy’s Day Parade in New York City this Thanksgiving?

Well, guess it’s a little late in the game for most of us to just be thinking about it. Let me try again…

Anyone planning on heading to New York City this Thanksgiving and taking in the Macy’s Day Parade?

We did it a few years ago with our then-18-month-old daughter and our then-four- and six-year old boys.

(Just typing that makes me laugh at myself. What were we… INSANE?!)

Seriously, though we did have some wonderful moments and now that it is over it is funny to hear the boys’ recollections of the trip.

I don’t think my daughter remembers it. But that’s okay because I know she had her own moments of sheer delight at the time. Like when we visited the American Girl Place and she wouldn’t stop rocking her new Bitty Baby for hours.

Our younger son talked for months about New York City. And for quite awhile he would talk about earning money so he could give it to all the people in New York who needed it. (I think all the Goodwill Santa’s ringing bells and asking for donations skewed the statistics in his mind.)

The trip was action-packed… and that was just walking to go get lunch!

I will say the trip was a lot of work… pushing a stroller through that much of a crowd was no picnic. And there were crowds everywhere, every second, like nothing I have ever seen… either before or after that trip.

But, still, we had a great time and the boys do talk about it.

Yes, after seeing the parade live with massive floats in person and then traipsing up to our hotel room to watch the end on TV and then not hearing even one excited comment from the kids was a bit surprising and heart-breaking. But NOW they talk about it and are pretty impressed.

Thanksgiving dinner by room service just felt, well, weird. But not as weird as it would have felt had we gone to Dubai this year as originally planned! (More on that much later)

So what all did we do in NYC that year? And what did we think (did I mention the crowds??)?

Here are our reactions:

Bad Calls:

Visiting Toys R Us at Times Square on Black Friday

Oh my gracious was that store packed!

I thought it would be fun let the boys ride the indoor ferris wheel. So did everyone else. The line was at a 2-hour wait when we arrived, which pushed it way out of consideration. Even looking at the toys with so many people around was a challenge. There are Toys R Us locations all over the place. I didn’t think any tourists would actually be Christmas shopping….WHAT WAS I THINKING???

Pushing through the crowds to see the Macy’s Day parade balloons the night before the parade

There were so many people literally shoved into such a small chain-link-fenced area that I even began to wonder how safe we were.

We moved with the crown alongside the balloons which were pretty massive, but the crowding and shoving made it hard to enjoy the experience. If you go, don’t even think of bringing a stroller. I am glad we left ours back at the hotel.

Thinking we would get cupcakes at the famous Magnolia Bakery and then dine at a pizza place reviewed in every travel book I found

Both had lines. Out the door.  And around the corner. And then some. YOW! Fortunately we found suitable alternatives.

Assuming our concierge would give us good inside advice.

No dice.

Most New York City hotel concierges are now contracted through a tourism company. Ours knew very little about  the  hotel we were in and its dining options and instead seemed only to want to sell us tickets to other things.  The people at the front desk were nice and helpful, though… but still a little lost about the restaurant’s dining options.

Wearing cute boots with heels

Yep, they looked great. And yep, after awhile they hurt, which might have contributed to a bit of the crankies on my part.

Like I said, though, it wasn’t all bad… here’s the good stuff:

Good Calls:

Changing into athletic shoes

Aaaahhhh, life was much better when I cast fashion aside and just wore the tennies. My feet thanked me. My body thanked me. My husband and kids probably noticed a change in my attitude and thanked me, too.

Exploring the American Museum of Natural History

I love cool museums, I just do. And, even though the museum in the first “Night at the Museum” movie is fictional, and looks very different inside, I knew the boys would dig a trip to a museum that resembles the one in the movie. We had a blast exploring all the exhibits, comparing dinosaur bones, watching the fish, and just wandering through and wondering. This place wasn’t too, too crowded, either.

Top of the Rock

On Thanksgiving night we took the zooming elevator ride up to the top of Rockefeller Center for a look at Manhattan from way up high. We all loved peering out, taking in the sights and feeling the wind through our hair. I only became afraid of the height once. Okay, maybe twice. And guess what… the line was virtually nonexistent! Hooray!

Visiting  American Girl Place just after it opened

We must have hit this store at just the right time. After a five-minute wait outside, my daughter and I zoomed up the Bitty Baby floor of the American Girl Place where she fell in love with a new baby. Like I said above, watching her rock that baby for hours after she became hers was priceless. She still loves her Bitty Baby 3 years later.

M&M’s World

The kids could see the massive digital M&M’s World signs from our hotel room, so it wasn’t long before we checked it out. We found M&Ms of every color and made our own custom mixes.

We also bought M&Ms in a variety of different flavors I hadn’t seen before and looked through any type of M&M paraphernalia a kid could imagine. We were in M&M heaven!

Horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park followed by dinner from a hot dog stand

A little chilly but a lot of fun. Even my daughter, who was terrified of horses at the time, loved it. Eating hot dogs form a street vendor for dinner afterward just seemed appropriate… and  there was no wait for a table on the sidewalk! (Okay, there wasn’t a table, either, but we didn’t notice.)

Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes

All five of us were mesmerized by the show and it even snowed inside the theater…  Loved it!

DoubleTree Guest Suites

Our hotel not only had a fantastic location for wandering down to watch the parade live in person, it also had a great location for just about anywhere else we wanted to go. But what I especially loved was that in the land of tiny hotel rooms that is Manhattan, the DoubleTree Guest Suites offered a room of reasonable size, reasonable rate and was a suite. Perfect!

Have you been to New York City for the Macy’s Day Parade? What tips would you offer a family thinking of going?

And what are your NYC Must-See’s?

This post is linked to Mingle Monday.