What to do in New York on a rainy day? Head to a museum! After a breakfast of bagels and really good coffee at Irving Farm Coffee in Grand Central, we geared up to face the rain and were on our way to visit the American Museum of Natural History.

This museum, from dinosaurs to sea creatures, offered our little family hours of entertainment, knowledge and plain fun.

After our day at the museum we went in search of some much craved soup dumplings, which we found at The Bao in East Village. We had a delicious and pretty authentic (according to my husband, who has experienced the real deal in Asia) pork soup dumplings and scallion pancakes, while our little guy enjoyed some steamed rice and entertained himself by trying to eat with chopsticks (with a folded piece of paper and a rubber band, or in this case, a hair tie, you can fashion kid-friendly chopsticks).

With this food craving checked off our list, we headed back to our hotel on the subway, another great day in New York City.

The next day was our last day in New York. Since we had a few hours before heading to the airport, we decided to explore the Grand Central Market (just because we enjoy going to markets wherever we go) and then headed to the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue. Patience and Fortitude (the 2 famous lions, which are carved out of pink marble from Tennessee) welcomed us into this magnificent building. We love books and reading, so we really enjoyed exploring the library, from the Children’s Center with it’s Real Winnie-the-Pooh exhibit (the original stuffed toys that inspired the beloved story), to the impressive Rose Main Reading Room, and my husband’s favorite, the Map Division.

We ended our trip with a visit to the lobbies of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, absolutely stunning works of art and architecture from a very different era.

We had a grand time exploring some of the many options that New York City has to offer, it was our first visit as a family, and it certainly will not be the last!