Dennis and I escaped for a few days in late June to New York City. We left the kids with Grammy and Grandan in Orlando, then caught a flight from there to the city that never sleeps. Unfortunately, I hadn't slept much during the days leading up to the trip (getting everyone packed to leave ... and working on a video project!) so Starbuck's was our first stop at the airport. What a difference flying without children. You actually get to relax! If I hadn't just downed a Latte, I might have slept a bit!
But then I would have missed the GREAT view of Manhattan as we flew over the city! Amazing! (The camera was packed in our bag though ... sorry!) Dennis had traveled to NYC in January for business and stayed at a beautiful hotel called the New York Palace. So, he arranged for us to stay there too! And, to start our trip off in style, he had a towncar pick us up from the airport and take us into the city. What a guy!
My only surprise for Dennis was a lunch reservation at Grand Central Terminal at a fabulous restaurant called Metrazur. Grand Central was just a hop, skip and a jump from our hotel ... so we got there early and did a walking tour of the terminal (architecture, history, etc. - yes, we are nerds!) before lunch.
A great view of the Chrysler building with Grand Central in the foreground.
Dennis and I loved watching the constant movement of Grand Central from our table during lunch. I think if we lived near the city, Dennis and the kids would want to ride the train A LOT!
After lunch, we walked, and walked ... and walked! Just looking around is so much fun. One stop on Dennis' list was The News building. This was used as The Daily Planet in Superman the Movie, so that's why Dennis is striking his best Man of Steel pose.
We toured the New York Public Library, did a bit of window shopping, had some drinks and appetizers in Times Square ... and played cards in Bryant Park. This was probably one of the biggest surprises for me ... beautiful parks and open spaces, right smack dab in the middle of HUGE buildings. As we sat in the park, enjoying the very mild NON HUMID weather, we texted Aaron and thought about how cool it was that we were visiting NYC and he was visiting LA that weekend and that we were "chatting!"
We thought Abby and Tyler would appreciate this site from our walk back to the hotel. It's not like any parking lot we have in Tallahassee...
Dennis had made reservations at Tavern on the Green that night, so we braved a NYC cab ride (scary!) to get there, then we walked through the park and all around that night, enjoying the lights.
Finally, we ended up in the hotel bar drinking Cosmos!
What a view from our hotel room (30th floor) at night. St. Patrick's Cathedral was right below us. You can also see right down to Rockerfeller Plaza...
The next morning we hit the subway early (and by the way, the stories about subway rats are true!) and headed down to catch the ferry. Ask us how we
almost took the ferry to Staten Island instead of the one to the Statue of Libery and Ellis Island (that would have been my fault!)
The view of Manhattan on our way to the Statue of Liberty was beautiful, but the city sure does look different without the WTC towers.
Lady Liberty was a sight ... and I've spared you by NOT posting the shots Dennis made me take copying her pose! Again, Dennis and I are history nerds, so we really enjoyed listening to our audio tour about how the statue was constructed and unveiled many years ago!
And our stop to see how people became American citizens at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum (also complete with audio tour) was fascinating. When we got home, Dennis pulled out The Godfather, Part II where Vito Corleone goes through the same thing.
Dennis is pleading for the immigration officials to "please ..." let him into America!
We stopped for lunch in Little Italy and had some GREAT New York style pizza on Mulberry Street.
Then, we hit Broadway that night for a spectacular performance of Cry-Baby the Musical. We thought it was great (it had been nominated for 4 Tony awards), but we didn't know that it was actually ending its very short Broadway run. Oh well, it was a highlight of our trip (or at least, mine).
The next morning, we went to the "Top of the Rock" and took in a birds eye view of the city, especially the Empire State Building.
Then, we had a spectacular brunch at one of the best breakfast places in the city, Norma's, before walking through Central Park. We kept commenting that the kids would have LOVED the amusement park right in the middle of this huge park!
While we were ready to see our little guys ... Dennis and I thoroughly enjoyed our getaway. We're already talking about where we can go next!
Then, we hit Broadway that night for a spectacular performance of Cry-Baby the Musical. We thought it was great (it had been nominated for 4 Tony awards), but we didn't know that it was actually ending its very short Broadway run. Oh well, it was a highlight of our trip (or at least, mine).
The next morning, we went to the "Top of the Rock" and took in a birds eye view of the city, especially the Empire State Building. 
Then, we had a spectacular brunch at one of the best breakfast places in the city, Norma's, before walking through Central Park. We kept commenting that the kids would have LOVED the amusement park right in the middle of this huge park!
While we were ready to see our little guys ... Dennis and I thoroughly enjoyed our getaway. We're already talking about where we can go next!
It was great for Abby to have a chance to hang out with some of the friends she has missed, like Shelby...
And, here's Abby's friend Alex doing an experiment with a button and carbonated soda. Abby came home and described in detail how the bubbles in the soda helped the button rise up to the top of the glass, this after a toothpick pushed it down to the bottom. It's amazing how at five years old she understood this was demonstrating how we can help our friends by lifting them up (i.e. being kind) when something has gotten them down.
What a great week! Hopefully the Be Attitudes she learned this week will stay in her head for a long time ... especially Be Obedient!
Then, they surprised Dennis by waking him up with OJ, the newspaper (which we didn't give him a chance to read), and a HUGE bag of cereal from Sam's Club.
Abby was so excited to present this gift to Daddy, along with a hose storage rack/roller, some workout clothes, and a picture frame. It was a fun day!
I can't tie a tie to save my life. So, fortunately, Tyler was easier to dress in his role as Weekend Daddy ...
Happy Flag Day All! Abby and Tyler enjoyed dressing like little flags today (this cute sundress finally fits Grammy!), and we actually had a mini-lesson on why the flag has stars and stripes, how to display it, etc. (thanks to Google for making us appear smart to our children!)
Grandan, I tried your "I'm just evening it up" or "I'm pushing the ice cream down into the cone ... I'm not eating any!" lines, but he didn't buy it. We actually looked back at our pictures from a couple years ago, and it appears Abby's first cone was when she was about Tyler's age too. She's an old pro now ... lots and lots of practice at Chick fil A! 