New York New York!!!

Ben and I lived in NYC right after we were married and we loved the big city.  The Dawson's are living so close to NYC and we thought it would be a shame for them not to visit the Big Apple while living in the east.  So in a completely selfless spirit we decided to take them to NYC on a' guided tour.'

Day 7: We left early Friday morning and drove (well we mostly slept while Ben D. drove- he is awesome)straight to NYC.  As we drove out of the New Jersey tunnel into Manhattan we were struck with the awe of the tall buildings, tree lined streets and homeless man peeing in a jar? Yep, that was Andrea's first experience in NYC, not the most glamorous but pretty accurate.  The first hour was a blur; parking near the hotel, walking to the subway and getting oriented and starting on our busy day of walking and sightseeing.  The Dawson's were a little overwhelmed and nervous for the first little while; the places we went and saw were packed with people and tourists and they were quickly thrown into the rush of a NYC lifestyle but they slowly started getting used to it.  In the first hour Jasen described it as, "Being as busy as Washington DC and as dirty as LA but crammed closer together." By the end of the weekend he said that he probably could/would live there! Here is some of what we did:

We went to the 9-11 Memorial building.  We did not have tickets so we just saw from outside and we didn't spend too much time there because it was very crowded.  We then walked to Trinity church, a beautiful old church in downtown Manhattan. 

 Then we walked down Broadway to see Wall Street and ended at the Bowling Green, home of the famous Charging Bull.  The bull was crowded with tourists so we did not spend too much time there but made our way south to Battery Park. 

 

Waiting at the Bowling Green

Looking up Broadway!

 Battery Park is at the southern tip of Manhattan and is one of the best land views of the Statue of Liberty (we did not go to the statue but just saw it from afar).  At Battery Park we watched some street performers while eating  some traditional food truck hot dogs. 

 

 

 

We then walked along the south coast of Manhattan and saw the South Street Sea Port on our way to the Brooklyn Bridge. On our walk we saw City Hall and wore out Elizabeth!

 

 The Brooklyn Bridge is a great place to see the skyline of Manhattan.  It was a long walk but beautiful and so fun. 

 

Look at the poor sleeping baby!

Ben and I walked the Brooklyn bridge as newlyweds on one of my first nights in NY.  We took a picture then and took the same picture now; it is crazy to see how much we have changed and how much we have grown in almost 7 years!

 The bribery to get the kids across the bridge was the promise of famous ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.  It was worth it; it was delicious and Elizabeth loved it (she had not had a cone before and thought that was a cool new way to smear chocolate on her face).  While we waited in line for the ice cream, Elizabeth ran around the park chasing pigeons!

 

 

 

 We then hopped on the subway, which took us to mid- Manhattan and spit us out at Bryant Park.  From Bryant Park we could see the Empire States building and walked to Time Square. 

You can see the Empire States Building right behind her!

 We saw Time Square in all of its glory in the early evening; the lights were shining bright, there were tons of street performers and crowds of tourists.  We saw all the billboards, Broadway signs and the New Years ball (which did not impress the kids).  We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, always a fun experience, and then went to the many fun shops in Time Square. 

 

 

 We went to the Toys-R-Us; which has an indoor ferris wheel, huge dinosaur replica, lego displays and so many cool toys and things to see. 

 

 

 

 We also went to the Hersey's store (we got free kisses) and the M&M Factory.  Spencer kept saying, "I didn't even know they had this many colors of M&Ms!"

 

 We left Time Square early to get back to our hotel and settled; we were all so tired.  We stayed at a Hampton hotel on 6th and 23rd; it was weird to see a hotel smashed in between buildings but it was nice.  Ben, Ben and Jasen went to the car to get all our luggage and noticed that one of the wheels in the van was flat; so Ben and Ben spent the evening getting that fixed (poor guys).  It was an exhausting but super fun day!! 

Mom wont let you jump on the beds at home but in a hotel- jump away!!

Day 8: We had a slow leisurely morning (at least as leisurely as you can with a 1 year old) and enjoyed that wonderful breakfast buffet.  Then, after loading the car, headed out on our second day of our NYC adventure. The bottom floor of the parking garage that we parked at was having a garage sale/ flee market; it was really cool to see all of the antiques and fun stuff being sold. 

Our lazy morning!

 

We then made our way to the upper east side of Manhattan.  We got off the subway and walked up 5th Avenue, and saw all the fancy shops, towards Central Park.We walked through the Central Park Zoo, but didn't go in.  The kids liked seeing the zoo that the movie, Madagascar was made about. 

 

 

 

 We then walked through Central Park; the kids liked climbing the rocks skewed around.  There were two races going on at the time so the park was busy. We went to the famous Central Park Boathouse and got to  lounge on the rocks and we saw a ton of turtles. 

 

 

 

We then saw the Bethesda Fountain, a famous fountain in Central Park that is in a lot of movies.

 

 

 

 

The photographers!

We walked across Central Park to Columbus Ave. We walked south on Columbus to Ben and my favorite pizza place.  There we got two big pizzas and ate in the small park across the street from the temple. They loved the New York style pizza and we tried 'Wafles and Dinges' (dessert waffles) for dessert. 

 

 

 

 

The New York Temple is really cool because the bottom layers are a church building and the top floors are the temple.  We went in to use the bathroom and the Dawson's were shocked at how peaceful and spiritual it felt (verses the busy streets of NY). 

 

We then went to Columbus Circle to catch the subway to go to China Town.  In China town we went to Canal Street, which is where all of the tourist shops are. We were able to look around and haggle for some 'china town' souvenirs. 

 

 

From there we went back to the hotel because we had to leave to make it to the airport for our flight.  We had lots of fun on the subways and by the end the Dawson's were old pro's!

Awww!

It was so hard to leave the Dawson's (we had so much time) but being shoved out of a car in rush hour traffic to catch a subway makes the parting quick! We spent an hour on the subway (with an overly tired and grumpy little girl) and then went to wait in the airport.  And wait... and wait! Our flight was delayed a little over an hour (we were supposed to leave at 7:50 and didn't leave until almost 9:30).  Elizabeth and Ben both slept through this flight but, for the life of me, I could not sleep.  We arrived in Denver around 12:50 (poor Elizabeth had a hard landing) and did not get home until past 2 (thanks Mom and Dad for picking us up so late).  It was an exhausting ending to our speedy fun filled week!!

Cute baby girl running laps in the airport in her PJ's

 

 We really had so much fun and wish we could live closer to the Dawson's.  Elizabeth had fun with her family and convinced them that she was cute (not too hard).  It was a fun adventure and definitely an experience to remember!!