but I've got a bunch of FOO drama, financial insecurity...I don't know if we're going at this point. But I'll post if we do!

Alex Grey's musuem, one of our fav artists and the displays I think would be incredible to see life sized. DC, nah. We'll mostly be visiting in Boston (if this whole ticket thing works out...not taking them from my mom but may be coming into them another way) but are thinking of checking out a train to nyc. Older kid stuff, art, nature are our main things at this point.

cuz you said smithsonian. i think they have something in ny, but it's not called that it's called something else. don't know, i've never been tehre.

american museum of natural history is always a letdown for me. not sure why, but it costs a lot to get in, and i always feel like i don't see enough cool shit to justify the cost. there are other natural history museums in other cities that are better.

are you familiar with NYC and it's surrounding area? don't know how much or what kind of information to give you. for nature, a really nice place is sandy hook. it's technically in NJ, by ellis island, but i think you can get a ferry there from NY. it's a national park and there are rangers there who can tell you all about the really, really cool wildlife tehre, and all the studies on pollution going on there. it's quite beautiful. and, central park actually has some really beautiful parts to it, where you're kinda surprised you're in NY city. if you're driving down from boston, i would have to look up what tehre is to do there, but there are a lot of rivers and where there are rivers there are recreational activities and hiking. i love NY state.

as for museums, if you have a short time in the city and you want to get into good museums, consider the ones here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Mile
the met is a great place to go, really. the admission is donation, so you don't have to pay a lot to get in, and it's too huge to see in one trip, so if there is one place to go, i would say that is it. i was most recently there for the (amazing) greek and roman galleries, which just opened recently. across the way is the egyptian shit, which kids can't get enough of. but dd always prefers the whitney, because they have more avant garde stuff there. the guggenheim holds a lot of jackson pollock, but it's not out on display, usually, and it's architecurally annoying. but they have a lot of picasso. lots of really great art that is worth the hassle of walking through a building that says, like the house in cat's cradle, "someone was whimsically busy here."

I'm going with a 2yo, it looks like 4-5 hrs from boston. If we go, how long do we want to stay?

where are you going after that? and have you been to NYC before? will the kids have a chance to get there? honestly, i have never stayed in a hotel in NY, and i have peculiar travel habits anyway. (i don't sleep unless i'm in my own bed, etc)

NYC is one of those places that everyone should go. it really is a great city. but i wouldn't go to see touristy sights, personally, because that's not what i am into. i would go when something was happening there that i wanted to go to, a show or something. the trains to NYC always have at least one group of tourists who meet up with a friend who lives there adn doesn't know where the empire state building or statue of liberty is. there is just so much there taht people go their whole lives living there without ever seeing the "sights."

i happen to really like art, so i feel that the met is worth the trip to see shit that you'd not see otherwise. this is coming from a NJ girl who plans on going to detroit soon to see diego rivera's mural.
http://www.metmuseum.org/
you can go there to see what they have in their collections. a two year old in the met though.... tough. dd's first trip there, she was about three i think and we didn't stay long. we took her to the jackson pollock she wanted to see and left. she saw everything between it and the door, twice. which is actually a lot because the place is unbelievably huge. but the park is right there though, there is a playground like a block away.

yeah, maybe about four hours. depending on the day of the week, traffic could make it even more.

(an hour south of Boston) and just went to NYC for the day on Saturday with our 3 year old. I'd recommend taking the bus instead of driving. . .buses leave from south station in Boston and I'm thinking it'd be about a 4 1/2 hour trip. When we do stay over night we stay at the Episcopal Seminary in Chelsea. it's like 85 for a room with shared bath. We've also stayed at the Americana Inn for like $100 a night. that is clean and is centrally located. hotels in NY can be expensive and icky but i'd recommend staying overnight. . .the city has so much to do. I agree with Etta. . .the Met rocks. . .i still have fond memories of DS running around at 2 in the egyptian room with the temple and pool. don't pay the admission just give a donation. Central Park is just behind the Met and you can spend hours just relaxing and watching ducks, people, . . .has several playgrounds. Staten Island Ferry is also really fun to take. . . you can just ride it over and back. . .so much stuff!!! have fun

Great tips.