The Big Apple!

Last week, in grand tradition (we figured out that we have been every 3 years for the past 9 years...so that makes it tradition!) my mom, sister and I traveled to New York City. It was a short trip, but we jammed it full of excitement. We tried to find places we had never been before and tried to see things that we had never gotten to experience. It was a blast!

Day 1:

Direct Flight to Newark, train to NYC (just picture my sister folded into a seat with our gigantic suitcase for a 26 minute ride...lots of laughs!), Times Square arrival, Hotel Check-In, Ray's Pizza, NoLita, H&M, NYC Public Library, Bryant Park, Bubba Gump's for Dinner, South Pacific that night...no rest for the weary!

{Having a slice of "pie" at Ray's Pizza on Prince Street...the true original!}

{A huge shopping trip to H&M...I think we "only" spent about 2 1/2 hours in there and all of our spending money for the day!}

{South Pacific at Lincoln Center...Home of Juilliard!}

{The show was amazing! Our seats were amazing!}

{The view of Times Square from our 41st Floor Hotel Room!}

Day 2:

Breakfast at Dean & Deluca's, Battery Park, Crown Tour of the Statue of Liberty, West Village, Peanut Butter & Co. for lunch, NYU, SoHo shopping, The Friends Apartment, Little Italy for dinner, Mary Poppins, Carnegie Deli for a late night treat.

{There she is in all of her glory. It is ALWAYS foggy everytime we visit Lady Liberty!}

{Only 380-some stairs to the Crown...can you say out of breath! But the view was worth it!}

{Only 240 people a day out of the 15, 000 that visit everyday are able to climb to the top. I ordered our tickets in February.}

{View of Manhattan! You can see a spike from her crown in the picture.}

{Peanut Butter & Co...a restaurant that serves nothing but different kinds of PB Sandwiches. Delicious!}

{Saw this row house in the West Village and fell in love! If I lived here...this would be mine!}

{The Friend's Apartment! If only we could have seen Monica & Rachel or Chandler & Ross!}

{Amazing Muscial! The special effects were unreal...so fun to sing along too!}

Day 3:

Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Big Apple BBQ Block Party, Macy's on 34th Street, Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery (Sex and the City hot spot), Shopping 5th Avenue, American Girl Store, Radio City Music Hall and the TONY Awards! My sister and I politely pushed our way to the front to get the best views of the Stars! I felt like a 4th grader at a New Kids on the Block Concert! So fun!

{BBQ Ribs for a little tast of home!}

{Radio City Music Hall...the Site of the TONY Awards and the Red Carpet!}

It was at this moment that I wished I would have brought along my nice Canon with the super huge zoom! But I just had my little travel camera. So these two pics will have to do. I will follow with a list of the stars we saw.

{Mark Sanchez...Quarterback for the NY Jets!}

{Paula Abdul...we got to see her for a long time!}

Other stars we saw...Melanie Griffith, Antonio Banderas, Kelsey Gramer, Daniel Radcliff (Harry Potter), Green Day, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christopher Walken, Scarlett Johansen, Ryan Reynolds, Bernadette Peters, Helen Miran, Mr. Big, Matthew Morrison, Ricky Martin, and the cast of Glee! Needless to say...we were StarStruck!

Day 4:

The Plaza Hotel to shop at the Eloise Store, 5th Ave Shopping, Central Park for Lunch, Public Transport back to Newark Airport, 5 long miserable hours on the plane back home. We circled OK for an hour due to storms, headed to Wichita to refuel, back to OK to circle and finally land that darn plane! What is it with return trips from NYC?

{Remote Controlled Boats at the Conservatory in Central Park}

Four Packed Days of Fun! It was a Fabulous Trip!