The Dad Blog
Roosevelt Island: A Simple, Amazing Excursion for Families
Editor’s Note: Below is guest blog post from active NYC Dads Group member, Watson K., about our recent excursion to Roosevelt Island. – L.S.
A few weeks ago, my son, daughter, and I joined up with a few other NYC Dads Group members and went to the Roosevelt Island excursion sponsored by Urban Sitter. We had a wonderful time!
The tram ride, one of those amazing New York City experiences I’ve always wanted to do, was fun and easy enough, even with a double stroller! The ride is smooth, takes about seven minutes, includes jaw-dropping views, and is just the cost of a subway ride (or a swipe of your MetroCard). After the brief ride, it was a moderate walk to the playground area, which was pretty NYC standard, but with lots of room to run around. One side of the playground had a tot-lot geared towards the cruisers & new walkers, separated by basketball courts, with a larger-sized playscape for the older kids on the other end. All with prime water views of the river!
As usual, it was the company that made the event: Nice dads with kids of various ages, talking together, eating and sharing snacks, and watching the grey skies for any rain (safe!), and getting a little “time off” thanks to three very friendly UrbanSitter staff. UrbanSitter (sponsored this meetup event) recently launched in New York City and is such a simple and unique concept, it’s no surprise, that so many parents are utilizing their resource in cities across the country. Think of the UrbanSitter concept like using Open Table for a dinner reservation. Basically, you logon, decide which day/time you would like to hire a sitter, review several sitters (by price, experience, reviews, which ones accept credit cards, etc.) in your neighborhood, and easily book them online. It made for a nice morning to be able to have conversations with several of the dads while our children were being carefully tended to by UrbanSitter.
Roosevelt Island is a bit of a hike for us (we live in Staten Island), but if you’ve never done it or live closer to the Tram at 59th Street and 2nd Avenue, it’s a fun experience to do as a family. Some of the other dads said that they take the Tram more often to Roosevelt Island – “a small and quiet local oasis outside of Manhattan.” Now that I have more of a handle on how to manage two small children, and now that the weather is more pleasant, I plan to be out and about more frequently in the city. See you around!
Disclosure: The event was sponsored by UrbanSitter. As always, the comments and opinions are our own.
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