PRE-WARNING: Great trip...LOOONG Blog!!
Luckily my family does a few fun things, and lets us tag along. This time it happened to be my brother-in-law's dental convention. (who knew dentistry could be so much fun.) I actually don't know how much of the convention he made it to but all that really mattered is that he had an extra hotel room and was kind enough to extend an invitation to his favorite sister-in-law. :) (ok maybe it's Shawn he likes, but we'll take what we can get.) Anyhow thanks to his hotel room, my dad's frequent flyer miles, and my mom's wonderful grandma/babysitting skills we were able to have a an awesome, kid free week in Manhattan.
Shawn & I thought since we were in NYC on Thanksgiving, we had to at least attempt the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. It was complete chaos and more people than I could ever image, but totally worth the experience at least once.
These balloons were enormous and had about 40 people underneath directing them. I of course had to get a picture of Dora to send to Brylie at grandma's house. Now she says "Mom, you should have taken me there with you." Next time Brylie.
This is where Shawn and I stood amongst the thousands of people. I had to sit on the subway rail because...well I'm short. But I did have a much better view even though my bottom was completely numb & I nearly fell to my death about 5x from people pushing me. Thankfully we both survived and met some very nice people from South Carolina.
My niece Jaycie & I in Central Park
TIME SQUARE...Shawn is in awe, quite the site for us small town folk. :)
Christmas Spectacular @ Radio City Music Hall.
The Rockettes were pretty amazing and I think Shawn was quite impressed with their leg extenstion.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
My nephew Landon's favorite attraction on the trip was the Charmin building. He could not believe it was a whole building designated to toilets! It was pretty amazing, they had people outside dressed as toilets, singing about enjoying the go, then you went up the escalator to your own private bathroom with an ipod, and the nicest toilet paper ever! Then a giant pit filled with toilet paper to jump in, and as you left they would take your picture on a giant toilet. Quite the place! Said to be the best seats on Broadway, and I don't know if I could argue.
"City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style..."
ok so as corny as I may seem, and regardless of Shawn's numerous rolled eyes, I seriously sang this song the entire week as we walked the streets because that's exactly what it reminded me of. Every window had the neatest Christmas displays and all of the buildings were lit up. I LOVED IT!!!
The above window theme was "Couples that were meant to be..." (Cleopatra & Marc Anthony, Salt & Pepper, Michelle & Barack Obama-Peter did not appreciate that one, but I had to get a picture of Mr. & Mrs. Clause.)
Ice Skating in CENTRAL PARK....
Actually Jess & I sat this one out. I know kind of a party pooper but my last experience in Boston was not the best, and I thought my body would be safer on solid, dry ground.
I had a great time, watching the kids try it for their first time. Talk about good sports...they sure don't give up! :)
It was usually Jaycie helping Landon up, I don't think he lasted on his feet more the 2 minutes at a time but it didn't stop him from trying and I just happened to catch Landon as the hero. What a sweet brother!
And what could be better after a workout of ice skating or watching people ice skate, then a hot dog from a vendor. I think Landon ate 3, which could not top Peter's 6. (I don't think he slept very well that night, glad I wasn't rooming with him. :)
Between all of the fun we thought it might be a good idea to include a little education on our trip, so we headed to the Museum of Natural History. (aka: where Night at the Museum was filmed.)
Jaycie of course wanted to stay the night to see if the exhibits really came alive.
The dinosaur exhibit was awesome. As you can tell by the expression on Peter and Shawn's face, they are completely enthralled.
This is me on the moon...
this is how much I weigh on the moon.
Shawn of course thought we had to make it to at least one sporting event while in the city, and I opted for the one in doors. So on Saturday night we headed to Madison Square Garden and were lucky enough to scalp some tickets for 20 bucks a piece. I felt a little dirty while doing it, but I love a good bargain!
Turns out they were playing the Orlando Magic, so I was even able to see Jamie's Duke boy toy J.J Reddick make it off the bench to score two points. (He is quite the cutie Jame. )
After the game we headed over to the Empire State Building, to check out the view.
It was pretty windy that high up, we were worried Jaycie might blow away.
STATUE of LIBERTY
that is one LARGE foot!
The United Nations, where a lot of important things happen.
ROCKEFELLER CENTER
unfortunately we didn't get to see the tree lit up because they were doing it the night we flew home. This is just a small portion of our trip, but I have already gone on much to long, needless to say it was an amazing trip and thanks so much to Jess & Pete for taking us along.
