Things to Do in & Around New York

Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty can be done on the same day and the kids will like the ferry ride.

The Empire State Building is beautiful at night.

The American Museum of Natural History is fun and more child friendly than the art museums.

The HUGE FAO Schwartz store will be a big hit with your 5 year old and adults have fun too.

Central Park is fabulous to let the kids play outside plus there is a lot of people watching. There is also a zoo there.

There is the New York Aquarium, the New York City Fire Museum, The children's Museum of Manhattan and a huge Toys 'R' Us too.

For the kids...stop frequently, plan a lot of snacks and bring strollers. Make sure your 5 year old has good shoes for walking and I would bring a Baby Bjorn for the 2 month old to give carrying options. Neither of my kids needed a lot of "entertaining" at the age of 2 months, they just need to be comfortable, able to sleep, and able to eat when they need to.

HAVE FUN!!!!! I wish I was going:)

Here is a blog with links to reviews that will give you some ideas on what to do with kids in Manhattan.

http://www.bigbluetrunk.com/triplog/644

Here is a link on tips for the long car ride.
http://www.bigbluetrunk.com/ourcorner/689

The kids are too young to appreciate this trip, but I understand for the 5 yr old that you want SOMETHING to entertain the child. That would be a kid-friendly Broadway show, the Central Park Zoo, Coney Island Amusement Park, Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Aquarium, Staten Island Ferry ride and/or CircleLine ride, Yankee/Met game (Yankees now offering same day game tickets for like 50% off at ticket locations at certain places in the city--FYI--You can take ferry to SI and see the SI YAnkees), FAO toy store, Times Square as the sun sets, Jones Beach, LI., Dorney Water park (upstate), Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and just to reinforce that you are lucky to have the freedom to travel and visit where and what you want, stop by Ground Zero. Enjoy your vacation!

I'm not from NYC and while I love the city, I have not a clue what to do with the kids (except go to a baseball game, I took my son to see his first Mets game when he was 10 months old) But while you're driving through...

Niagara Falls is a nice stop, while you're there, stop at the Niagara Aquarium and see the penguins and sharks!

Stop at Rochester and go to the Strong Museum of Play, your 5 year old will love it and it's by far the most fun museum a kid can go to.

Like BBQ? Stop at Syracuse for Dinosaur BBQ. you can also check out the Museum of Science and Technology. Not as good as Strong, but lots of kid stuff there too.

There are a great many Hall of Fame (Baseball, Boxing, Soccer, Farming), theme parks, and water parks all along the way, littered around and between all the bigger cities (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany) See if you can get a AAA travel book, it also has a bunch of landmarks and cool things to see along the way. Happy, fun, and safe travels!

dinner at ellens star dust diner.. they sing to you.. it's fun. kids will love it. go to the empire state buiilding but early in the morning.- it gets crowded fast. the circle line cruise around manhattan - really good- not expensive, Eat in little italy... Cafe Sorrento is really good and not expensive during the week. china town is cool .. you can walk there after little italy .... just to look around... it's fun. good luck... big toys r us store around 36th street and broadway.. has an indoor ferris wheel in the store... way cool statue of liberty and ellis island are something you might like..

i would honestly not recommend NYC, if that's what you're planning on visiting.
my kids are 6 we live about 1 hr from the city, and they have zero interest in going into the city unless that outing includes a trip to the american doll store (which by the way is a wallet killer).
if you HAVE to go NYC then take them to central park (nothing special for us but we head there when we're in the city).

Hi...what part of NY is your final destination? NYC or somewhere upstate? I am from upstate originally and there is sooo much to see and do. But it's a big state so a little more info is needed. As for the 2month old, luckily he or she is still young enough to not need much in the line of entertaining! :) The 5 year old will be interested in places to explore such as new playgrounds. You are going at a good time of year.