New York Trip

I have been a little timid about posting my trip to New York, only because I had SO much fun and saw so many things I don't know how to pick and choose what to include! SO... HOLD ON! I want to remember all the things we did and so its going to be a long post!....

My parent invited Jenise and I to go to New York with them, they had to go to pick up their Mexican Visas! I was REALLY excited when they asked me but i was a little hesitant to leave the kids for 5 whole days! BJ encouraged me to go for it and assured me we would figure out all the babysitting! He is so good to me! I left on Friday night and got home Wednesday night. So BJ had the kids over the weekend and his mom and sister watched them Monday- Wednesday! They were all so great about helping, THANK YOU THANK , everyone!
Jenise and I flew out of Vegas and landed in the JFK airport where we met up with Mom, Dad and Abby. We drove through Long Island and then into downtown New York where our hotel was! We stayed at the Grand Hyatt on 42nd street RIGHT next to Grand Central Station! The hotel was OVER the top beautiful, I took lots of pictures of the flower arrangements (shocker, I know!) I didn't get a picture of our room, it was swanky but a little small, we called it New York sized!We got everything put away and headed out for dinner! One of the bell men recommended this great burger place that was only "a couple of blocks" from our hotel! The food was great, the burgers were MONSTROUS, and the atmosphere was really fun!
This was my first run in with what came to be known as "MOM BLOCKS!" The bell man told us only a few blocks but it really turned out to be more like 6 or 7! The bell men and my sweet speed walking mother LOVED to walk everywhere and the only way to convince the rest of us was to tell us it was just another block or two! So by the end of the trip ANY time mom or a native New Yorker would recommend the walk I held by breath and gritted my teeth! Lets just say I got LOTS of exercise!
After dinner we walked over to Grand Central Station (which wasn't even one mom block from the hotel:) It was beautiful! The ceiling was a teal color with constellations all over it and the walls and floor were all marble! It was also kinda neat to try and think of all the movies that had been filmed their through the years! Dads favorite part was the Maserati cars they had on display!
The next day we found a neat little weekend street market! Of course each of us girls found a few things we just couldn't live without! We also stopped for breakfast at this crepe stand! It looked and smelled SO good, mine had nutella and strawberries! hmm yumm! It was large and WONDERFUL!We also saw a stand that had anything you could think of dipped in chocolate, strawberries, pineapple, marshmallows, and lots more! They looked fantastic!
After we browsed the market we caught a tour bus that took us around to all the sites and let us off to wonder around!Our first stop was Rockefeller plaza! The NBC store was right next to the plaza so we went in to and looked at some Office memorabilia! Gotta give a little shout out...
Then we walked around and found my favorite store....ESPRIT.... unfortunately not maturity but I did find a BEAUTIFUL coat I will dream about forever! New York shopping is all about looking and loving not so much about BUYING!We started off in the direction of Times Square and our first Hot Dog stand! I got the sausage, cause they said it was spicy, and it defiantly lived up to the hype! I had a total of 3 hot dogs during our stay and loved every one, even if my stomach wasn't as much a fan as I was! Tum Tum Tum TUMS!As we got closer and closer to Times Square the buildings got brighter and brighter!
We took our lives in our hands and posed for a picture in the middle of the street! TOURISTS! Here is a little shout out to DAD for always taking the pictures! Thanks CAMERA NAZI!
We stopped to eat (AGAIN, blame the PREGO!) when we saw this little deli right in times square! I got the cheese cake, Mom and Dad had a canoli, Abby went for the monster cookie and Jenise had a calzone! The cheese cake was really good, very creamy and not too rich! I give the New York cheese cake a stubby thumbs up! :)We got back on the bus and went down to Macys! I guess its the oldest department store and this location has been there FOREVER! Let me just tell you it is 13 floors and a WHOLE BLOCK long! So CRAZY big! We went in, just to experience it and realized that this was another look and love but not buy kind of store! I found a maternity dress that was only 350 dollars, that was my sign to head to the discount store! I did try on some FABULOUS Jessica Simpson shoes! We all helped Dad let go of some very well WORN in shoes and found him some really nice almost TRENDY loafers! Jenise and Abby took a little rest while we looked it was fun to say we had concurred Macys!Next we walked just a few MOM BLOCKS to the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING! The building is being remodeled so we only had to wait an hour to get up to the top :)! Once we got to the top it was dark but the light of New York City were beautiful! It was really incredible to be so high above such a busy exciting city!I am so glad we went all the way up!
Sorry the pictures are so dark, it was hard to capture it on camera!

It was late and we were all exhausted so we hopped into a cab (YEA) and headed to Little Italy for dinner! The street was lined with restaurants and they all had chair and tables outside! It was a really fun atmosphere!We settled at a restaurant called De Gennera and the food was by far the BEST Italian food I have ever had! I didn't know what most of the things were on the menu were so I just went for it! I was so glad I did, I had a "pink sauce" over my chicken with peas and mushrooms and a spicy marinara sauce on my noodles! I couldn't get enough of it! And to top it off they gave us this amazing sauce to dip our bread in! We think it was olive oil, parsley, garlic, cheese and something else that made it incredible! I think we went through at least 4 of them! Everything about dinner was very memorable! I LOVED IT!

The next day we spent a lot of time seeing as much of New York as we could! We stayed on the bus and saw some incredible buildings and areas of town! Get ready for lots and lots of amazing New York architecture! I was really taken by how beautiful and diverse all the buildings were, so I took LOTS of pictures of the building we passed!The Flat Iron Building!
After spending the morning on the bus we stopped by Ground Zero to pay our respects! It was a very busy part of town but the block that is still closed off was very somber! Most of the block is surrounded by a covered fence! But the absence of what is so noticeably missing struck me! We walked down one side street next to ground zero and found a small museum and a fire station! The fire station is literally across the street and were some of the first responders! Their station lost 6 men and had a very moving memorial outside!

The sign reads "All gave some, Some gave all. We Will Never Forget."
Then spanning the entire side of the building there was a memorial that read "Dedicated to those who fell, and those who carry on. May we never forget!" It was beautiful and you could feel the depth of what it meant to the people who experienced 9-11 on the front lines!

There was a small viewing area where you could see the construction and clean up work they were doing for the new building! It was hard to really grasp what was lost! I am grateful I was able to go and get a better understanding! I think it will take a long time for everyone involved to heal!
That night we went to Phantom of the Opera on Broadway! It has always been a dream of mine to go see this play on Broadway, so I was thrilled! The play was at the Majestic theater downtown. Our seats were perfect, we could see the whole stage but were close enough to see the actors faces!

We got all dressed up for our big night out!

My favorite parts were when the Phantom would jump out of places you didn't expect him! I loved how they used the fog and the light that came up from the floor to create the river scene! I loved the singing and the costumes! I loved just being there! It is something I will remember FOREVER!
Because we had such a late night we got off late the next day! We all took Abby to the Girl Scout Head Courters for a tour and then went to lunch and had some really yummy SUSHI!
We decided to try out the subway and went off to see the Statue of Liberty! The subways were a very packed and older then the subway system in Hong Kong! But it was a great, cheap way to get around!
In the park by the Staten Island Ferry we found this Statue that used to be in the plaza of the Twin Towers! It was very beat up, it had large wholes and was melted in some places! It is called The Sphere and was made as a symbol of world peace! I was really touched by the fact that even though it was damaged it remained strong!
Now this is sad as we got on the ferry my battery died! SO I only have a few pictures of the Statue of Liberty! But it was beautiful and the ferry ride was really relaxing and beautiful at sunset!

The last morning we were there we packed and then went out for lunch to a GREAT Indian place! It took us a while to get there, it was quite a few "mom blocks!" But it was SO WORTH IT! Indian has to be my favorite type of food, and this restaurants buffet was to die for! It was the perfect end to an AMAZING trip!
I am SO glad I was able to go! It is something I will never forget! I had a GREAT time with my parents and my sisters! I am so glad they invited me! I really hope some day I get to go back with BJ and the boys, because I loved the city!