New York City

Lee and I recently celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary.  For a couple of years we've wanted to do something "big" for our 10-year mark.  (Especially since Lee forgot our anniversary two years in a row, and I forgot last year!)  We had a big four-day trip planned out, but decided to be a little more modest and just went up for a day.  We really enjoyed it and the kids had a fun time at Lois'-thanks!

After spending lots in toll roads and $14 to go in a toll tunnel into Manhattan, we parked about 10am.  We found an awesome parking garage RIGHT across from the Gershwin Theater where we'd be seeing a play later that night.  We took off for the subway.  I have been to NYC two times prior to this, but never on the subway.  It's a little confusing.  Lee finally got the hang of it later.  I sort of did. Oh, and this is what made me sick. While standing, waiting for our train to arrive, other trains would loudly zoom by and watching them made me sick.  Once I was inside the train I was fine.  Ever since Elden was born I get nauseous so easily.  Weird.


First stop: the free Staten Island Ferry. I have been to the Statue of Liberty (Lee too) and Ellis Island (not Lee) before so we decided to take the free ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.  It was great seeing the skyline of the city too.


A guy at the ferry station playing...he was really good!


Next we walked around seeing points of interest like Wallstreet, an old cathedral, Little Italy and Chinatown.  I wish NYC's Chinatown was more like San Fransisco's Chinatown.  Lee said the one in San Fran was much more touristy--not an actual China-town like NYC's was.  We had a hard time figuring out the subway at this point and wasted a good 1/2 hour, maybe 45 minutes of trying to figure it out.  Lines 4, 5 & 6 are confusing! We headed up to Little Italy, bought some dessert for later at Ferrara's, then ate at Da Nico's Ristorante. We didn't do much in Little Italy and Chinatown and actually visited those spots again later in the afternoon.


We then headed to the Ground Zero memorial. It was amazing. 9-11 has always been far removed from me, if that makes sense.  I was on my mission when it happened and I basically just heard about the terrible ordeal and saw a tv clip only here and there.  I never saw a lot of coverage of the disaster and of the proceeding months that followed.  Anyway, I was really excited to go to the memorial and see it.  It was amazing.  It's a special place.  What courage and strength those people had; what a great country we live in.  God does love us and is mindful of us.

After Ground Zero, we actually went back to Little Italy and Chinatown and looked around more. We bought some cute mini-mugs at a Chinese store for our kids. I wanted to buy something from our trip for them, but not something I would want to throw away the next week. The mugs have New York stuff printed on them.

After getting some gelato/Italian Ice, we headed back on the subway to St. Patrick's Cathedral where mass was in session. We also stopped at Central Park, yet another place I hadn't been to before. We ate our yummy pastries from Ferrara's there.

There are some amazing street artists there, like this one!

On the way to Central Park we of course walked through upper Manhattan. So nice! Lots of fancy shops. We walked past a Cartier store where a group of people were standing. I asked who was inside and a couple people told me that it was rumored that Michelle Obama was in there. Right after we left a cop car drove up with its lights on, apparently to break up the crowd. We walked into Tiffany's too and looked at some of the displays. It was fun seeing ladies walk out with their little Tiffany bag getting a picture in front of the store. Definitely not a bag to flash around after that...we walked past a Gucci store and I had no idea they sold kids' clothes! Thought you might like this picture Steph.

We then went on a speed walking trip to try and see the Manhattan Temple. We should have traveled one more block West. Oh well. It was getting too late and we wanted to make it back to our van to change for the show that night. Lee bought tickets to Wicked. It was a fun play. We splurged big time and got some fun drinks and some M&Ms for $4. A single-serve king-size bag for $4. That was expensive! I told Lee it's for all those times we don't buy food at the movie theater (when on the rare occasion we even go to a movie! I think that last movie we saw was Harry Potter the summer of 2011). But truly, it is so rare that we buy food at the movies, or the zoo, or the fair! Anyway, it was a fun night.

On our way out of town we decided to drive all the way down Manhattan to Brooklyn and over to Staten Island. The bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn was free, and I thought surely the toll bridge from Brooklyn to Staten Island would be maybe $5 or so. Wrong! It was $14. Ugh...all that driving for nothing. And Lee turned right at a red light (after stopping of course) and got pulled over. How were we supposed to know that you can't turn right on red in the city? They don't have any signs up stating so! Luckily Lee didn't get a ticket. That would have ruined the trip budget for sure!

Farewell New York. It was so, so fun!

Lee and I are excited to take the family back there. We drove to my brother's that night (Darrell & Stacie) as he lives under two hours from there. We stayed for church and had a fun lunch with them. Thanks Darrell and Stacie!

I saw this sign on our way home and thought of my good friend Ruth.

After lunch at my brother's, we were off to the Heits to pick up the kiddos and go home. Thanks for a wonderful weekend Lee! Happy 10th Anniversary!