a better sentence

[sane]

Is there a better way to express the following?


"Many years ago, when I was a small kid, our family was vacationing in New York and was staying at a hotel in mid-town Manhattan."

[Tdol]

Is and was staying necessary?

[Raymott]

Is there a better way to express the following?


"Many years ago, when I was a small kid, our family was vacationing in New York and was staying at a hotel in mid-town Manhattan."

If it's a stand-alone sentence just giving that information, it would be better to use the simple past. "our family vacationed ... and stayed ..."
Your sentence is good if it's the start of a story or anecdote about what happened at the time.