New York City!

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry I've been gone for a few weeks! I went to visit my parents for one week and then Brad, L and I took a trip to New York for Thanksgiving. It was a really great time! I promise to get those photos from Mawmaw and Pawpaw's up soon. They are stuck on my computer and my power cord has completely puttered out. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of early next week.

Anyway... onto our awesome trip!

A week or so ago Brad caught something on tv about the giant balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. He suggested we go to NYC and catch the parade in person, so we decided to go! It was so much fun!!!!!!

We arrived late on Wednesday and mostly just went to the hotel and crashed. L was so overtired and having the toddler crazies. The hotel had two rooms, one with the bed and one with a couch and tv and L was running between them over and over and over... We were relieved when she finally crashed on our bed. We were planning to get up super early and she wasn't going to get a real nap on Thursday. We ordered some room-service pizza and tried to sleep ourselves. It was hard! We were so excited!!

Thursday morning we got up around 6:30. We stayed in New Jersey because it was considerably cheaper without being too far away (we could see the city from our hotel) and the ferry was located right outside our hotel door. Since it was a holiday the ferry wasn't running until 7:00, and L wasn't going to last too long before the parade started anyway. We dressed in long underwear and lots of layers, but it was still cold. You can tell that we were very excited, because we rode on the top of the ferry into the city!



We caught a taxi to the northern end of the parade route. Many of the streets were blocked off to pedestrians (who didn't live in the buildings), and the first one we found allowing spectators was our viewing point. The news said that there would be about 3.5 million people (that's 70 times the population of our hometown!) and I think that they were all on the street where we were watching. We arrived around 8:00, an hour before the parade started, and we were probably around 50 yards away from Central Park West (the parade route). It was very crowded at that point, but as the hour ticked by more and more people crammed their way onto our street. Here is the crowd looking toward the parade route from where we were. Luckily, we had a really great spot right next to a building with a ledge. We were able to prop ourselves up against the building and see.



We decided not to take our stroller into the city, which was a VERY good idea. We certainly would not have been able to get to our spot for the parade with it, and L actually enjoyed riding on daddy's back (and sometimes front).

Here they are making faces at one another.



We took lots of photos of ourselves and each other waiting for the parade to begin.



(what better place to watch a parade than on your daddy's shoulders?)



There were also times when we got bored of waiting.



(I was maybe secretly hoping that she would scream and cry and all the people would move to another street :o). She didn't cry very long though.)



Here is a crowd view looking behind us.



And... just when we ran out of photos to take of each other, the parade started! I have to say that it was pretty awesome to see the same floats and balloons I've loved since I was a little kid. It was too much fun!



After a little while, we decided that we'd had enough of being sardined in with everyone and we decided to walk around. As we'd come in, we'd seen the street where the balloons were lined up to wait their turn in the parade. As we walked up that way, we realized that the barricades that were up earlier had been taken down and we could walk right up to the balloons and look at them. This was far more interesting to L anyhow.



There were still enough people around that she didn't want to be put down, though.



We found it to be hilarious that the streets were lined with these huge helium trucks. I mean, it makes sense, but it's funny!



We were planning on having lunch at a diner near time's square (thanks Laura, it was so awesome!) and so after a quick trip to starbucks, we started walking that way. When we got to Columbus circle, we'd caught up with the parade (and tv cameras!) and so we had to stop for a while anyhow. L had fallen asleep on her daddy's back and so we watched some balloons pass and sat on the steps of the Trump something or other. We decided that this was a MUCH better place to watch the parade than where we had been. Next time we're watching from there!







After the parade ended, we kept going south on Broadway to get to the diner where we were having lunch and passed the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Brad and I used to talk about how we were going to go to New York to see Dave sometime, and maybe we'll really do it, but this time just seeing the theatre was good enough for us!





We got excited when we realized that looking down Broadway we could just start to see Time's Square and the HUGE billboards. What can I say, we are really just crazy tourists at heart!



We ate our Thanksgiving meal at Ellen's Stardust Diner. It was so amazing! The waitstaff all sing and provide entertainment throughout the meal, and occasionally sing to individuals too. L needed to be changed while we were there, and they had no changing tables in the bathroom (my only complaint) and while I was changing L in the sink a woman from the table next to us popped her head in and said, come and look what they are doing to your husband. L still had her pants on and I peeked out and a waitress was singing to Brad. He was the deepest shade of purple that I have ever seen and I am so disappointed that I didn't get any photos! It was so hilarious, his head was down and he was clearly trying not to make eye contact, which was of course just encouraging the waitress to keep singing to him. It was awesome! I didn't get any photos of our meal there, actually. I'm not sure why I didn't, it was certainly a highlight of the trip!

After our bellies were stuffed we kept walking. Our plan was to end up at Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, but we wanted to walk through Time's Square first. We were not disappointed! The streetlights had been removed (for the parade we're guessing) and the streets were blocked off so that the utility workers could replace them. This ended up great for us because we were able to walk freely around as much as we liked.







Growling:



With a little cropping, this next one would have been our Christmas Card photo if L's eyes weren't closed. Oh well!





We then caught a taxi to Battery Park. The traffic was awful (nothing we aren't used to, really) so we had some time to sit in the car on our way. It was sort of nice. When we got to Battery Park we were able to go straight to the line to go see the statue since we had purchased our tickets online. There were tons of pigeons there and while we were in line, I spent my time ducking and hiding from them, and L spent her time watching and enjoying them.





Pigeon footprints:



After going through security we made it onto the ferry.



It was really cold, but L didn't seem to mind at all.



On the island itself, we walked around the perimeter exploring and taking photos.





Brad had a wonderful time playing with his longer lens.







L enjoyed some time to get down and run.





The sun was starting to set as we walked around the far side of the island and back to the boat to go back to the city and ultimately back to our hotel.





We didn't get away before L gave us her best impersonation of the statue.



As we continued around we got a great view of Ellis Island.







We headed back to our hotel. Although there were tons of restaurants open in the city, we were unable to find anything open near our hotel and the concierge was gone. The hotel restaurant was serving a special Thanksgiving menu, and so we got roomservice again. It was fun to sit in bed and eat turkey and stuffing and L was so worn out that she went right to sleep. We watched part of the incredibles on tv and went to sleep before 10:00.

Friday morning we planned to sleep in just a bit before heading out, but L had other plans. At 7:30 she was ready to go, so Brad went down to the bar and got me a diet coke and L some milk. I pulled myself out of bed and we packed our things and loaded them into the car before going into the city for the day's events. We got to the ferry before the boat and had time to take a few photos.





We took the 50th Street bus from the ferry to Rockefeller Center. When we got off, we were right across the street from Radio City Music Hall. That's on our list with the Dave Letterman show. We'll get to go sometime.



Only a couple of blocks away is Rockefeller Center and the ice rink that we see on tv so often. We didn't arrive until 9:55, but we did get to see just a glimpse of David Gregory.









It's sort of cheesy, right? :o) It was so much fun though. While we were checking out the tree the camera did show that area, so we might have been tiny dots, but I sort of doubt it. We did see Barry Manilow's people packing their truck to leave, but that's as exciting as it got.

After our brush with fame, we checked out the ice rink and tree in more detail.





I was hoping that this one would be a contender for that Christmas Card photo, but L was just not interested in smiling.





After exploring Rockefeller Center we walked up fifth avenue toward Central Park. We saw lots of landmarks and shops along the way.

St. Patrick's Cathedral:









We stopped in a small cafe for some pastries and hot chocolate and then headed into Central Park.





We had a pretzel and hotdog in the park and then decided to walk to the Empire State Building.

It was Black Friday so there were tons of people. It's a great thing that L was so excited to see them. She was waving at everyone we passed and saying "hi" even if they didn't see her.



I had to take a moment to look at the American Girl store. I don't know that I'm entirely comfortable with the dolls now but when I was about 10 all I wanted was a Samantha doll. They only had three characters back then, and only three books for each character, but I read all the books and Samantha was my favorite.



We'd seen this popcorn on the food network (yes, we are really big nerds) and stopped in for the mix. It was awesome.



After we got to the Empire State Building there were plenty of lines to stand in to wait to see the observation deck. We actually got to skip a few lines because of our stroller, which was really awesome, but there were plenty of lines anyhow. I was worried that L would get bored and cranky, but she was really happy the whole time we were there.



The observation deck was windy and cold, but it was worth it. The view was AMAZING.









L was still feeling very merry when we got up there and the first thing she decided to do when I picked her up was try to steal my hat.













We left the Empire State Building and grabbed some dinner before leaving town. It was a great trip! I think our legs are going to be sore for awhile, but it was so worth it. I promise to be back with a weekly update soon. Hopefully my power cord issue will be resolved!!!

See you soon!