Travel with Children - dropping kid off at grandma's

Husband and I have been invited to a wedding in Manhattan this summer, and we're trying to figure out what to do with the little one. She would be welcome at the wedding should we choose to bring her.

Question: 1) Which is likely to be the cheaper option and 2) which would you choose if the difference in price were minimal?

The options are:

1) fly everyone LAX-NYC-SEA and fly grandma from STL-NYC-STL
2) fly myself and little one LAX-STL, drop off little one with grandparents, fly STL-NYC. On the return, I fly NYC-STL, pick up little one, and fly STL-SEA with her. Husband flies LAX-NYC-SEA directly.

Little one will be almost 4 by the time we go, and I think she'd enjoy running around NYC a lot. Grandma isn't too keen on going there, though, and lodging could be a little cramped with 3 adults. (Working on borrowing the 2br apt of a friend's brother on the upper west side, but no guarantees there).

Thanks in advance for the input.

I'd just bring the tot to the wedding as long as she's welcome. Rent an apartment rather than a hotel if the borrowed place doesn't work out; airbnb and vrbo both are chock full of nice options. Kids love NYC.

Husband and I have been invited to a wedding in Manhattan this summer, and we're trying to figure out what to do with the little one. She would be welcome at the wedding should we choose to bring her.

Question: 1) Which is likely to be the cheaper option and 2) which would you choose if the difference in price were minimal?

The options are:

1) fly everyone LAX-NYC-SEA and fly grandma from STL-NYC-STL
2) fly myself and little one LAX-STL, drop off little one with grandparents, fly STL-NYC. On the return, I fly NYC-STL, pick up little one, and fly STL-SEA with her. Husband flies LAX-NYC-SEA directly.

Little one will be almost 4 by the time we go, and I think she'd enjoy running around NYC a lot. Grandma isn't too keen on going there, though, and lodging could be a little cramped with 3 adults. (Working on borrowing the 2br apt of a friend's brother on the upper west side, but no guarantees there).

Thanks in advance for the input.Still trying to figure out how a trip to a wedding has such different start and end points...

I would drop little one off with Grandma, because at nearly 4, she and Grandma are able to communicate and develop a real relationship with each other, and Grandma can spoil kid rotten while parents are in NYC. Please to remember this a primary task of grandparents, and should not be interrupted by parents. :D Parents should go to NYC and have a great time at the wedding while kid and Grandma do their bonding rituals.

If you take the kid to NYC (Don't understand why this means grandma also flies STL-NYC), think about a one bedroom unit in an extended stay hotel like Residence Inn by Marriott, Elements (Starwood), etc. This also gives you an equipped small kitchen.

How long do you plan on staying in New York ? Are you flying in the day before, leaving right after or plan on being in NYC for like 5 days ?

There is also a Staybridge Suites close to Times Square with kitchens/frig if the apartment falls through.
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/staybridge/hotels/us/en/new-york-city/nycee/hoteldetail

If your planning on staying more than a couple of days maybe fly in the grandma the day before and shorten her stay while getting your daughter a taste of NYC. Otherwise, I might drop her off in STL if we're talking 2 or 3 days.

Cheers.

I would drop little one off with Grandma, because at nearly 4, she and Grandma are able to communicate and develop a real relationship with each other, and Grandma can spoil kid rotten while parents are in NYC. Please to remember this a primary task of grandparents, and should not be interrupted by parents. :D Parents should go to NYC and have a great time at the wedding while kid and Grandma do their bonding rituals.

^^

Plus it'll give you a chance to get started on her little brother or sister. ;)

Thanks for the responses. Long story short, we would bring grandma with us to NYC because we like having the help (and familiar babysitting), and it would allow husband and me 2 or 3 nights on the town. The reason for the convoluted routing is that we're moving to Seattle from LA, and the intent is to put our stuff on the van a couple of days before departure and bide our time in NYC while the stuff is en route to Seattle. We hope to spend 5 or so nights in NYC, and don't want to come back to LA before heading to Seattle for good.

^^

Plus it'll give you a chance to get started on her little brother or sister. ;)

That's already been taken care of, actually (due in early September!)

That's already been taken care of, actually (due in early September!)

Definitely drop the big sister off with Grandma.:)

Who knows when you'll have another break?

I don't see any need to make this complicated and expensive with your first option, especially if Grandma doesn't want to go to NYC. As long as Grandma will provide organic milk and healthy snacks, I'd choose Option No. 2 :).

Congratulations!

I vote for solo trip to NYC. Trust me, it'll be a loooooong time before you get the chance again.

But do what works for you!

That's already been taken care of, actually (due in early September!)

Congratulations. :)

Leaving your 4yo in STL will likely be cheaper unless there is a huge difference in flight prices, since you won't have to pay for accommodation for 3 adults.

And yes, I'd leave the kid with grandma and enjoy the solo vacation.

Thanks again, guys. I dunno...traveling with the little one is fun. And husband and I are going to have a week alone in Amsterdam in May. Maybe we should just leave grandma out of the equation completely and hire a babysitter in NYC for the nights we go out. I'm having a hard time imagining that 3 evenings of babysitting would be more expensive than a plane ticket for grandma. (Are babysitters more than $20/hr in Manhattan?)

Thanks again, guys. I dunno...traveling with the little one is fun. And husband and I are going to have a week alone in Amsterdam in May. Maybe we should just leave grandma out of the equation completely and hire a babysitter in NYC for the nights we go out. I'm having a hard time imagining that 3 evenings of babysitting would be more expensive than a plane ticket for grandma. (Are babysitters more than $20/hr in Manhattan?)Maybe think instead of how your daughter's life is going to change come fall, and help her build a relationship with Grandma now, as a way to help her cope with no longer being an only child? Give her a chance to bond with a loving family member (making assumptions about Grandma here, I admit) so that she has that connection (phone, Skype, etc.) to help her feel special when your attention is on the new baby?

Plus, Manhattan weather in summer can be miserable, and if you are significantly PG then, you may not be at your peak of child chasing.

Maybe think instead of how your daughter's life is going to change come fall, and help her build a relationship with Grandma now, as a way to help her cope with no longer being an only child? Give her a chance to bond with a loving family member (making assumptions about Grandma here, I admit) so that she has that connection (phone, Skype, etc.) to help her feel special when your attention is on the new baby?

Plus, Manhattan weather in summer can be miserable, and if you are significantly PG then, you may not be at your peak of child chasing.

Point taken about the Manhattan weather. I got caught in a heat wave in Berlin (like 95 degrees in May) when I was 30 weeks preganant with little one, and it was not. fun. Little one is a pretty darned easy kid at this stage, though.

As far as the relationship with grandma goes...I probably should have said something from the start, but in spite of the distance between STL and our current home in LA, they see and speak to each other all the time. There's no lack of bonding between those two. What I'm more concerned about is that I've been traveling and working like crazy these last few months and *I* haven't been spending the time with her that I should. Aaarghhh...

It's a dilemma, isn't it? I brought my kids to NY when they were 4 and 1 respectively. We stayed at the Affinia Dumont on the Upper East Side since it had junior suites with kitchenettes and was close to Central Park. We really wanted to go out for dinner without the kids one night and hired a babysitter. I believe rates are closer to $25/hour (usually a placement fee of around $40 and then $15/hour). Since weddings can be long, perhaps you want to bring your daughter to part of it, and then one of you can get her settled back at the hotel with a sitter for the later part? I think the most important thing, if you go this route, is to make sure you are comfortable with the sitter. I always like to make sure they have first aid and CPR training, for instance. Ironically, I don't (and should), but I like this in a babysitter. :)

Seattle is a wonderful city. I live in Vancouver and often spend the weekend there with my kids. You may know the city well, but if you need any suggestions for kid friendly restaurants and activities, I finally got around to doing a blog post on it last weekend on my website. No pressure to look at it, as there are many other good resources out there, but you never know if there may be something helpful to you there.

Good luck !
Tara

http://www.pintsizepilot.com/2012/04/02/seattle-for-the-weekend-with-kids/
http://www.pintsizepilot.com/resources-2/babysitting-services/babysitting-services-in-the-united-states-u-s-a/#newyork

...The reason for the convoluted routing is that we're moving to Seattle from LA, and the intent is to put our stuff on the van a couple of days before departure and bide our time in NYC while the stuff is en route to Seattle. We hope to spend 5 or so nights in NYC, and don't want to come back to LA before heading to Seattle for good.

Are you sure it's going to take that long for your stuff to get to Seattle?


I don't see any need to make this complicated and expensive with your first option, especially if Grandma doesn't want to go to NYC. As long as Grandma will provide organic milk and healthy snacks, I'd choose Option No. 2 :).

:D:D:D:D

I am sure the moving company gave an estimate, but IME, especially in the summer when there isn't a problem with bad roads, snow in the passes, etc., this seems like a long time to get from LA to Seattle.

Enjoy the warm weather in NY OP, because you are going to miss it up here!

I am sure the moving company gave an estimate, but IME, especially in the summer when there isn't a problem with bad roads, snow in the passes, etc., this seems like a long time to get from LA to Seattle.

Enjoy the warm weather in NY OP, because you are going to miss it up here!

We're actually allowed storage-in-transit if we want/need it, from the company that is organizing our move.

For what it's worth, eight years ago, when my husband and I moved from Boston to LA (in the summer), I seem to recall it taking like 8-10 days for the stuff to get there, and the cars taking more like 2 weeks.

So we've decided to just go to NYC all three of us, and hire babysitting there if we need it. Maybe I'm weird, but the idea of running around Manhattan with my daughter seems too good an opportunity to pass up. It's been 8 years since I was there last, and I don't know when we'll have a reason to go back again.

Manhattan with kids is a gas. Enjoy!

That's great ! My son was 4 when we went and 3 years later he is still talking about how much he loved Central Park (even though it was freezing at the time ! ). Before we went I bought a couple of kids books on NY so we could talk about what we were going to see. That worked out really well for us. Have a great trip !!

http://pintsizepilot.com