This morning, the world-famous Duggar family arrived at little old studio 1A. 17 kids and 2 parents later, our biggest green room has never looked so small. When I heard that the family was on the show this morning, I rushed over to the green room expecting this blog to practically write itself. Images of kids running around and mass chaos breaking out ran through my mind. So you can imagine my disappointment when I walked in and the scene was quieter and more orderly than just about any other morning in the history of the Today Show. All the kids were sitting patiently, eating breakfast and watching TV. I'm not sure what instructions the parents gave the kids, but whatever they said, it worked. They were the best behaved group of 19 one could possibly imagine.
I chatted with dad Jim Bob and mom Michelle about their past few days here in New York, and how they keep track of everyone in one of the biggest cities in the world.
Q: How do you make sure no one gets lost when you are in the middle of Times Square with 17 kids?
Jim Bob: Well, we're constantly counting. Lots of counting off. Everyone has a buddy so we all help keep track of each other. And we haven't lost anyone yet!
Michelle: No we haven't!
Jim Bob: Although we did have a slight issue at the hotel this morning. We were taking the elevator down, and a couple of them stayed in the elevator and went back up accidentally to another floor. So no confusion in Times Square, but we did almost lose a couple in the hotel.
Q: What else have you guys been doing since you've been here in New York?
Jim Bob: We did Times Square. We went to Toys R Us in Times Square and the kids all got to ride the ferris wheel in there. That was pretty cool.
Michelle: And we took the ferry around the Statue of Liberty. They all loved that. Oh and we heard that there is this pickle factory in New York! And we were all so excited because we just love pickles!
Q: So did you find it? I didn't even know there was a pickle factory here.
Michelle: Yes we did! It was down on Orchard Street. And we practically cleaned them out! We just love dill pickles. We ate a bunch there, and we got some more to bring home.
Jim Bob: Yeah it was down around Chinatown. We also walked around Chinatown. That was great.
Q: How do you get around New York with 17 kids?
Jim Bob: We've had 2 vans taking us around.
Q: So no subway with a party of 19?
Jim Bob: Well we have done that before actually. We all took the subway in Washington DC before. But we didn't do that this time.
Read correspondent Janet Shamlian's blog about her visit to their home HERE.