NYC Part 1

It's time!! I know you have all been waiting anxiously for this post (yea right - you don't care I know!) So I am thinking it is going to be a 3 part post about our trip. Just too many pictures to go through. And actually I didn't take all that many pictures. I took a really old camera and didn't focus on taking pictures. We focused on the experience and having fun!

A little background on the trip... It started back in July when I was complaining about turning 30. Matt asked what would make it better. Jokingly I said that going to New York for my birthday would make it better. He said sure! I couldn't believe it! We worked it out with our parents to watch the kids and started making plans. I was telling LeeAnn about our trip and said you guys should come along. She said ok! So then it got even more fun since Brad and LeeAnn were joining us! Matt did an amazing job of planning everything! And can I just say everything on the trip worked out perfectly. We were able to do and see everything! It was great!! So here is the story of our trip....

We headed out really early on Thursday morning. Had great planes rides on the way up there. Got a great view of the city coming into Newark. We took a shuttle to our hotel (a very long experience). Our hotel was the Manhattan Times Square. Perfect location but not the best hotel! We got checked in and then went out for some great New York pizza!
We then got dressed up for the evening and headed up to the Met (the Metropolitan Museum of Art). We got our first view of Central Park.

Matt was so excited about going to the Met!! He couldn't wait to see all the paintings.

The museum was HUGE!! There was so much to see. Some of our favorites were the impressionist artists.

We then headed out to dinner. We walked a few blocks up to a great restaurant called Cafe D'Alsace . We then went back to the Met for a great Christmas concert. It was a church from Harlem doing a concert in the main gallery. It was amazing!! Such a fun experience.

Then we headed back up to Times Square and just took it all in. We of course had to check out the Toys R Us in Times Square. It is HUGE and so much fun! We were like a couple of kids.

We got up early Friday morning and got some New York bagels (we had to do that since we are bagel lovers).

Then we took the subway all the way to Battery Park and got on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

Can I just say it was amazing!! Really I think I enjoyed getting to see the statue more than I thought I would. It was just so big and moving. We had gotten tickets to go up in the pedestal so we climbed up the 170 steps and got to see some great views of the city.

Then we got back on the ferry to Ellis Island. It was not very exciting but that's ok we didn't stay long.

We had downloaded some podcasts of TV and movie walking tours. It was a great way to see some fun sights for free!

We saw the firehouse from Ghostbusters

And the courthouse from Law and Order

Brad and LeeAnn then got there so we met up with them and got started on all the fun with them. Just had to post this picture. It was a real New York pickle from a deli. It was the saltiest thing we had ever eaten. This was also the deli where we paid $30 for a sandwich! Yes $30!!! CRAZY!!!!! It wasn't even that good

After lunch we headed down to 5th Avenue to do some window shopping! Matt of course had to check out the Apple store. And it was really neat!

LeeAnn and I had to check out Tiffany's. Sadly we did not leave with a little blue box!

We headed back to the hotel to get ready for our amazing evening. We ate dinner in Hell's Kitchen at a great little restaurant called 44x10. The food was wonderful!!! We had a blast just visiting and experiencing a great NYC restaurant.

Then it was off to the main event...

We went and saw Wicked!! It was AMAZING!!!!! There is nothing like a Broadway play. I don't even know if I can describe it. It is just wonderful. We had never seen Wicked before and were on the edge of our seats the whole time. I could say it over and over but it was awesome!! We enjoyed going out for dessert after the play. I don't think we got back to our hotel any night before midnight. So unusual for all these fuddy duddy parents! It was fun.

So that was the first couple of days. Check back tomorrow if you aren't too bored and want to read more.