Museum of Natural History

We took a trip to the American Museum of Natural History on Saturday.  Unfortunately, we didn't get there until 3:30, so big sister K only had about two hours to spend there.  She loved seeing all the dinosaur bones and animals.  Coincidentally, my nephew happened to be there with his cub scouts class, so it was an added bonus that we got to hang out with the M family for a bit.  Someone even offered to take a picture for us...

We stayed at the museum until closing (had to maximize the hefty $34 we paid for parking), then made our way downtown.  If we didn't promise big sister K we'd drive by to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, we would've made it to Chinatown a lot quicker... but because we did, it took us an hour to get from 79th Street to my mother-in-law's place.  We took 5th Ave down from the 60s to 51st Street where we'd be able to see the tree, and it took us 10 minutes just to move one block.  I haven't been in that area in years and was surprised to see all the new stores there.  M and I kept pointing out all the attractions to big sister K; I think we were more excited than she was.  We saw the huge snowflake hanging across 57th Street by Tiffany's, the glittery snake in front of Bulgari, the Christmas lights at Harry Winston, etc... I felt a bit nostalgic as we moved at a snail's pace down 5th Avenue.  Once we got down to Rockefeller Center, it was like a mob scene... hundreds of people just congregating in the streets.  Big sister K saw the tree from a distance, but because we were so far away, I don't think she had an appreciation for how big it actually was.

As we headed downtown, we gradually noticed an increase in the number of people dressed up in Santa outfits.  At first, we thought people were just getting dressed up to go to a holiday party, but it didn't take us long to realize it had to be more than that.  As we neared St. Mark's Place, we stopped at a red light and I actually saw someone I knew crossing the street in front of us, dressed up as Santa.  I yelled out to him and it was only then that we learned of "Santacon," a day where people dressed up as Santa Claus and in essence, bar-hopped around the city to get drunk (yeah, try explaining that to a 4-year old!).  Personally, I don't see the point... maybe it's because I don't drink, but I just don't understand why people would rather get into a drunken stupor than do something more worthwhile and meaningful with their time.