New York Day 3

We sort of slept in a bit this morning, but it was much needed rest. We didn't wake up until 8:00, which was kind of a late start to get ready, eat breakfast and get down to Battery Park for our 10:00 Statue of Liberty reservations. But the kids were thrilled to have their first ride on a subway, even if we did get on headed uptown versus downtown and have to make a slight out-of-the-way trip to 66th Avenue. No big deal, it turned out. Our 10:00 time was just a time to get in line, and apparently getting there at 10:20 didn't do anything to mess us up.
Wasn't it too cold to ride on top, you ask? Yes. Yes, it was. Thank you, Lord, for long underwear.
But the view was totally worth it...
I don't even know what to say about this one.
This is as high as you can go up since 9-11. We climbed 153 steps to look up Lady Liberty's dress. A bit disturbing.

This sweet park ranger is the one who let us in to the monument, even though our ticket apparently didn't cover that part. I think he has a bit of a soft spot for kids. Putting him at the security entrance was kind of like having a golden retriever for a guard dog. But he was a talker and spent a few minutes telling my kids to make him proud, because they were his future. He was delightful.
If you've ever wondered what the statue looks like on the inside, this is looking straight up to the top from the inside stairwell.
The place was so swarming with people that there was nowhere inside to eat our very processed and over-priced lunch. It's really, really hard to dip french fries in ketchup wearing gloves. I never knew that until today.
This was our view of the Lady as we departed. This time we were smart enough to ride inside. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea. We were crammed in that ferry like cattle. Or perhaps one tired, huddled mass of people, yearning to be free...
Dana came to meet us for dinner tonight, and since there was a slightly important football game on, we hunted for a place where we could catch it. We ended up at a place with MASSIVE big screens and sat right down towards the end of the second quarter. It was bizarre how easy it was. Perhaps NYC at Christmastime truly is magical. Not magical enough to pull off a win against Florida, but who couldn't have been proud of the Tide tonight?

Afterwards, we walked over a couple of blocks to Rockefeller Center to see the tree at night. Us and about 50,000 other people.
Even with all the folks, it was still a beautiful sight to behold.


And as we were walking back, it began to snow little tiny diamonds from the sky. Picture perfect.
Tomorrow comes the reason for our trip. My beautiful friend will publicly profess her decision to follow Christ by being baptized in front of her family and friends. I'm so proud of you, Dana. I'm so grateful that God granted me the privilege of watching Him draw you to Him. It's been such an unbelievable honor to walk alongside you on this journey of faith. Love you, friend. :)

Pics from Day 2

I'm so tired, but had to post a few pics from today. This morning after we got up, we walked down to Times Square to see if we could see anything through the GMA window. This is how close our zoom could get to Robin...However, I just found out that a friend was able to get us inside the studio for Monday morning, so look for us! It might be hard getting the kids there at 6:15, but should be a fun experience anyway. Thank God this isn't the week of Britney Spears' birthday bash...
After a breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, we headed to M&M world, where much fun was to be had. Jeff's mom would have been in utter heaven!

They each got to pick a half-pound of whatever color they wanted. Far too many choices, so little time.

Next it was off to Toys 'R Us, where riding the ferris wheel was the first order of business. They were old enough to ride solo, but I was secretly delighted when they were put in a car with a grown-up!
Lunch was pizza...

Then on to Bloomingdale's to begin our walking tour of store windows. My favorite was Saks 5th Avenue, but these were really cool too.
Here's my babies making a charitable donation. They want to give at every single bucket. It truly warms my heart, even though I know it's kind of just a game for them. The Salvation Army folks don't play around up here, though. They're singing, playing instruments, talking into microphones doing a kind of auction-type thing. It's a lot better than that dang bell!
This is outside the Disney store. We went in for all of about 3 minutes until my cloud claustrophobia kicked in and we made a quick exit!
Next we wandered over to Rockefeller Plaza to check out the tree and ice skating rink. They are so excited about skating at Central Park tomorrow!

After a brief rest at the hotel, we headed back to Bubba Gump for dinner. We figured if we went early and then came back and dressed for the show we'd be able to get in easier, and we were right! We breezed in about 5:00 and got the perfect table right by the window, direction across from ABC. It was sweet!
As was our Alabama Mud Pie. If I hadn't walked about 15 miles today, I might need to be concerned about my calorie intake so far this trip...
There are some random red stairs in the middle of Times Square, and I'm not really sure what they're there for except they make a great place to climb up and take pictures. New Year's Eve, perhaps?

And the cherry on top of the sundae of our day was Mary Poppins. There are not enough words to describe how much I love, loved this show! It has to be in my top 5 all-time favorites. Absolutely spectacular! I think I loved it even more than the kids. If TPAC brings this, it would be worth renewing my season tickets just to see this one show.
To sum up this day in a word... Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious!

We Made It!

After a perfectly smooth flight and landing on a teensy-weensy plane, we arrived in New York City almost an hour ahead of schedule due to a nice tailwind. Unfortunately, we made up for lost time in the ride to Manhattan. Traffic was HORRIBLE. It took almost an hour and a half to get to our hotel, but we were entertained by our driver's foreign curse words and a little stint we had next to a guy in a black limo who had his window down and was belting out "Music of the Night" with enough passion to put Michael Crawford to shame. You have to love this city.

By the time we left our hotel, it was after 8:00, so we thought we might have a chance at getting into Carmine's for dinner. We were right, as it was only a 1/2 hour wait. When Jeff and I were here in 2005, they were closed for renovations, so we were really excited to get to eat there. It was more than worth the wait.


We had garlic bread, stuffed mushrooms, whatever their special penne/eggplant dish was for today with a side of Italian sausage. It was all delectable. Even Bradley liked it. :)
Times Square is as energetic as always, and the kids are just blown away by it. At one point, I bent down with my head at Bailey's level so I could see what she was seeing, and I understood why she was intimidated! That's an awful lot of backs and stomachs to a little girl. We passed Toys R Us and M&M World, and they are filled with anticipation to go in tomorrow. I'm sure it will be one of the first things we do.
And since there is a Starbucks every 20 feet or so, we decided to cap off the night with a little decaf white mocha and a gingerbread snowman.

Let the good times roll. :)

Christmas already?? Indeed, the festivities have begun. Because a very dear friend of mine is being baptized in New Jersey on Sunday and I wouldn't miss it for the world, our family is taking a little trip this weekend. Jeff and I decided that we couldn't go to New York at Christmas time without taking the kids, so we're all heading to the Big Apple on Thursday. (Well, not Bryant. I might be crazy, but I'm not stupid.)

Since this is the kids' Christmas present from us and we wanted to make sure they fully understood that, we wrapped up a bunch of stuff for them to open tonight.Right down to their brand new long johns, which my children have never had a reason to own before now!They each got a new hat and gloves as well. Brad's sports "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," which he thinks is pretty darn awesome. He was so crazy tonight, I couldn't get him to be serious for anything. But this picture strangely foretells of his teenage years, I have a feeling.Bailey's hat, not so much. It's strangely reminiscent to Cousin Eddie. I didn't know the ears would stick out that much. But oh well...

This is where they get to see how much their plane tickets cost... did I mention we wrapped everything?
They also got to see their reservations for Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty on Saturday morning and we ran down the entire itenerary with them that we've planned out so far, including our reservations for Serendipity on Monday. (Yes, that is Jeff holding the map, thank you very much.)
And my favorite shot of the night is when they opened up their tickets for Friday night. We'll be heading to the New Amsterdam Theater to see Mary Poppins. This, I can't wait for! Broadway, here we come.

So to the Cyberworld at large that now knows we'll be out of town this weekend, I'd like to mention that we do have a security system and a very scary watchcat. And two goldfish.

More pics to come in a few days. First, I must pack...