Shop Til You Drop

There are certainly no shortage of shopping opportunities in NYC.  We spent more time shopping on this trip than we have on any trip we've ever taken.  We didn't end up buying much, but it was fun to look around.  Of course we saw stores like Tiffany's, Bergdorf Goodman, Prada, etc- but we didn't go inside any of those.  We did, however, thoroughly explore each and every "kid" store that we came across.  In Times Square we visited the M&Ms store and the Hershey's store.  We did buy something at both of these.  We just couldn't help it.  In the M&M store they pump in the smell of chocolate through the air vents.  How could we resist?  Lining the walls of this store were tubes and tubes of M&Ms.  Customers could fill a bag with their preferred candies and pay by the pound.  Owen and Olivia were in heaven.  Another stop in Times Square was the Disney Store.  Here we found a magic mirror.  Whenever Olivia waved a wand in front of the mirror, a princess would appear and a little clip about that princess would play in the mirror.  That was also pretty cool.  The last stop in Times Square was the flagship store for Toys R Us.  Otherwise known as Brian's mecca.  He has  talked about the TRU in Times Square for years, and the store definitely lived up to the hype.  Inside the store there was a full size ferris wheel, a two story Barbie dreamhouse, and an animatronic T-Rex.

 Later in the week we took a stroll down Fifth Avenue where we came across the American Girl Store and FAO Schwartz.  Owen, Olivia, and Bailey enjoyed playing on the "Big Piano" at FAO Schwartz.  Since Olivia's birthday occurred while we were in New York, we asked her to point out some things that she would like as a gift.  She asked for a toy dog from Toys R Us, which Granny Mel gave her.  She also wanted a matching dress for her and Addie (her bitty baby) from the American Girl Store.  This is what Brian and I got her for her birthday.  Seeing as how this is pretty much all we bought, I think we got off pretty cheap.