Tuesday, October 6, 2015

New York, New York!!

This past weekend Nick, my parents, our friends the Mitchells, and myself all went to New York City! We went in celebration of our 30th birthdays this month and my mom's 60th next month! I also found out on our trip that it is the Mitchell's 40 wedding anniversary this year!

We had an amazing time! Even though it rained, it didn't stop us from doing anything. 

We arrived on Thursday about noon and rode a limo to our hotel. That's when I started using the selfie-stick! 

Most of the pictures were taken with my phone. The selfie-stick pictures did turn out a little blurry, so I apologize for the poor quality of the photos, but I think you can still see the fun we had!






We walked through Times Square on our way back from lunch. This is when I realized I should have practiced more with the selfie stick. It was hard to pose and take the picture. There was also some construction going on, and it was hard to take pictures in a moving crowd.




















Before our play, Nick and I went to get a drink at a rooftop bar. It was raining, so we had to sit inside, but it was still fun to look out into the city from the 55th floor.

We saw Buzz Lightyear on the way back. 
Then we went to see our first of three shows, Finding Neverland. We were all tired because we had all been up since about 3:00 a.m. We were a little worried we would be too sleepy during the show. However, this was one of my favorite shows ever, and we had no trouble staying awake! The music and dancing was so lively and entertaining. The star was Matthew Morrison, and he was wonderful! I bought the soundtrack on iTunes, and I've been listening to it over and over again since I've been home (and Nick has too!). It was the story of James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. I loved the way the story was told, and I cried all through the end.  I would definitely see this show again!








Times Square was so bright at night that it looked like the sun was out! It almost hurt our eyes!


Friday morning we went on the Circle-Line tour. This was a ferry ride around the city. It was wet and and a little chilly, but this was a cool way to see most of the city and hear about some of its history and current events. However, some of us had to stand on solid ground until the boat left because the rocking was too much for us! It made us sick to even watch the boat rocking! But once we took off, it was great!




The Statue of Liberty was more beautiful in person than I imagined! We also passed under the Brooklyn Bridge, saw the Freedom Tower, the Empire State building, and saw many locations where movies were filmed.

It was a very grey day, so the pictures aren't great, but our view was wonderful!























After the tour we went to a restaurant called Freemans. The atmosphere was so fun and the food and drinks were just as fabulous. 


Then we walked around and did a little shopping. We also stopped for one of these cookies.
I'm glad I bought these rain boots a day before we left. It was wet, but it didn't slow us down from walking around and enjoying the city.

We also used Uber several times! Nick downloaded the app, and he could get us a ride in 3 minutes or less. The drivers were always very kind and drove very clean and nice cars. We had a good experience with each one we used.

That night we went to see Amazing Grace. This was about John Newton, the author of the hymn "Amazing Grace." This was also a good show, but the best part was at the end when the entire cast sang the hymn. Then they sang it again with the audience. It was so beautiful that it also brought me to tears!

This is a picture of the special drinks served during this show. The other shows had special drink names too, but this is the only one I took a picture of.
Nick's veal parmesan after the show.
We went to Becco two nights in a row. We all thought we would go to bed right after Finding Neverland, but we were so worked up that we went to get dessert. So after Amazing Grace we went back to have an 11:00 dinner. It was fabulous. And again, I tried with the selfie stick.....best I could get!

There was a special request for Harold to use the selfie stick himself!


The next morning we went to the Neue Gallery to see the real "Woman in Gold" painting by Gustav Klimt. It was a beautiful painting! We took another selfie with the picture of it in the bottom of the museum. If you don't know what I'm talking about go watch the movie Woman in Gold starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds.
Then we walked down 5th Avenue before strolling through Central Park.






After this we went to see The King and I. It was another great show! Broadway actors and actresses are by far the most talented people in the world! And musicals are my favorite form of entertainment!  Two of the three shows we saw had many talented children as well.

After the show we took another Uber ride over to our next dinner location. Before we ate, we walked around Chelsa Market. It was a wonderful market full of restaurants, stores, and other fun things.





Our final night! We ate at The Standard Cafe in The Standard Hotel. I think this was my favorite meal. I know I had one of the best salads here. It had a delicious almond vinaigrette as the dressing. At the end of the fabulous meal (I had lamb) we had dessert with a candle to celebrate Nick's birthday, which was Sunday.






Nick and I took one more walk around the surrounding blocks of our hotel (it was at he corner of Times Square) before going to bed. We had a wonderful trip and loved everything about New York. It is a cool city with interesting people, fun entertainment, and good food! Thanks Lovie and Doc for an amazing trip!

While we were gone, these people stayed home with CiCi and Pops. Thank y'all for keeping them. We came home to a house of balloons and Happy Birthday signs! Thanks to my sister and her family too for watching them some too!
Millie also cried for about an hour after we got home because she didn't want us to come home yet because she was having too much fun. I think she was also worn out.

We are glad to be home and with our little people again, but I still can't stop thinking about our trip! I keep replaying the shows in my mind as I sing the songs, and every cup of coffee I drink doesn't quiet measure up to the $7 cup of coffee at the museum.  

Happy 30th to Nick and me and Happy 60th to Lovie!