• Contest,  Family Fun,  Travels

    Imagine…Being in a QUIET Oasis in the Middle of NYC!

    Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info! A must-visit for anybody heading to NYC is Central Park. Besides the fact that it costs NOTHING/NADA/ZERO to go there, it is an amazingly peaceful oasis right there in the middle of one of the busiest cities anywhere. Before heading inside the park’s borders and in keeping with our (sort of) theme of music history, we headed over to the Dakota building on the west side of Central Park, which is where John Lennon lived with his wife (Yoko Ono, who still has an apartment there),…

  • Contest,  Family Fun,  Travels

    Music Man(ny’s)

    Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info! One of the most anticipated elements of our trip was a visit to Manny’s Music, which is–unfortunately–closing next month. The younger boy had been reading the book that Julesie got for him as well as listening to some classic rock tunes; he was super-psyched about going and trying out a couple of guitars in a place where the greatest rock-and-rollers of all time have done the same thing. Our first stop once inside was to take a photo of him posing next to “Old Yellow”, a…

  • Contest,  Family Fun,  Travels

    The Donald Was Only There In Spirit (and on books, ties, ice cream…)

    Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info! Fifth Avenue in New York is a special place to visit. It is home to many beyond-high-end shops such as Tiffany & Company, Prada, Gucci, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Bergdorf Goodman, just to name a few. I have to add that these are not the places on Fifth that we visited. We wouldn’t even be able to afford to pay attention in these stores! One stop we had to make, being fans of “The Apprentice” and all, was Trump Tower. It’s a really cool…

  • Contest,  Family Fun,  Food,  Travels

    If You Can Eat It There, You May Not Be Able To Eat It Anywhere…

    Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info! I figured that a separate post on the food we ate was in order. Don’t worry, it won’t be hella-long. Our hotel actually included a continental breakfast in the room price, so I only have a few exciting meals to bore you about. I mentioned in a prior post that, when we first arrived in the city, our room wasn’t ready so we hopped on the subway and went to Brooklyn, walking back to Manhattan on the bridge. That’s not all we did; we also ate…

  • Contest,  Food,  Travels

    Where They’ll Know You’re a Visitor If You Say It Like The City In Texas

    Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info! One of my favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan is SoHo. SoHo stands for “South of Houston (Street)”, but don’t say “Houston” like the city in Texas. The street in Manhattan is pronounced “How-ston”. And yes, there is a NoHo, “North of Houston”. SoHo is a fun, artsy area with tons of galleries, quaint shops, and gorgeous buildings like these: On this day, we had some key spots we wanted to see: a couple were new to just Jim and the boys, and a couple were new to…

  • Contest,  Family Fun,  Travels

    When NYC = New York Candy

    I made it quite clear in a post I wrote before I left town that a candy pilgrimage was in order for this trip to NYC, but I had no idea what a huge part candy would actually play over the three and a half days. (There are worse things!) We spent lots of time getting up close and personal to candy in NYC. Times Square is home to the Hershey Store and M&M World. See? There’s Hershey in the background, on the next block over from M&M World. We visited the Hershey store only long enough to buy a candy snack pack for our double-decker bus tour (more on…

  • Contest,  Family Fun,  Travels

    Though She’s a Bit Stiff, She’s New York City’s Greatest Hostess!

    There are infinite things to do and see in New York City, depending on your age and interests, though a couple of those things are really “musts” for everybody. One of those “musts” is the Statue of Liberty. She is the most recognized face the world over, and a grand symbol of the American Dream. Like all great monuments, “Liberty Enlightening the World” (her given name) makes a HUGE impact on those who see her in-person, even if they’ve seen photos a thousand times. When making our advance plans for the trip, I researched the Statue of Liberty to find out what we needed to do to visit. Basically you…

  • Contest,  Travels

    Getting There Is Half The Fun, Sort of. But Not Really. Being There Is Really Most of The Fun.

    Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info! The NYC trip my family just returned from was a long time in the making. It was our first real family vacation in several (six?) years. I don’t count our four days in Chicago in December of 2007 or our two nights at Key Lime Cove in March of 2008 as “real vacations”; although we had a great time, they were “Stay-cations” because we didn’t get out of our home area. All four of us *have* been on trips in the last few years; just not…

  • Contest,  Family Fun,  Spreading the Bloggie Love,  Travels

    This Is Not Just Any Old Blog Contest…

    …it’s one in which, if you want a chance to win, you’re going to have to “suffer through” my vacation photos! (But not all 500 of them. No worries.) I’m back from NYC (yay!) and ready to do some show-and-telling, and I’m using a great incentive to bribe entice you to read the Scrawl daily during my vacation review! First, my snazzy graphic. Ta-dah! Basically, here’s how it goes. I have about ten posts on the way about my trip to New York. I have so much that I want to share with you (as I mentioned a few days ago, those of you who remember my ONE DAY in…