Jack has been to NYC plenty of times for work over the last ten years but I hadn't been back since we left. The biggest changes I noticed were the cabs are way nicer!!! I told the kids they were spoiled as the first one we sat in had tv's mounted in the headrests and now all of them take credit cards which is way more convenient! I also noticed that tolls for everything have gone way up with the subway fares now double what they use to be. The other thing I noticed was the amount of people who ride bikes in the City now. I love that Citibank now has rental bikes available throughout the City finally catching on to what they've been doing in Europe for years! Gone are the days of Central Park being packed with rollerbladers on the weekend though. I think we saw one rollerblader the whole time we were there! Aside from these few things, returning to the City felt like returning home! I told Jack at any point I could easily move back and feel completely comfortable. We'll see if we can make it happen at some point!
So here are some shots from the trip:
First stop was to see if our old doorman was still around! Amazingly Eddy still worked at our building but wasn't working the night we dropped by. This was our first apartment after leaving student housing and the apartment that we later went on to buy. We were on the 14th floor with a great view down Broadway! Looking back we never should have sold it but who knew.
Next it was on to Times Square and the M&M and Hershey store...
As we were walking around Times Square Ty asked if he could have his photo with one of New York's finest which I thought was very sweet... They were happy to appease him!
The next day we took the kids up to Columbia to see the campus! Can you ever be too young for college campus visits?
It's hard to believe that our church building now also serves as a temple...
Probably our favorite place in all of NYC is Central Park. Jack and I spent countless weekends hanging out there so renting bikes seemed like the best way to share it with the kids, especially after some of the grumbling we'd hear as we explained that usually anything under ten blocks away meant walking instead of cabbing.
Most go to NYC to see all the cool museums but when you have a child who loves Legos as much as Ty does, hitting up all the toys stores to see the Lego statues was more up our alley...
We spent another day doing Wall St., 9/11 Memorial, and Lady Liberty! I don't think the skyline will ever appear right to us...
Before we flew out Jack and I had asked the kids if they'd be interested in seeing a show on Broadway. After going through the most kid appropriate ones, they landed on Wicked. Although I cringed at the amount we had to pay for the good seats that Jack wanted, it was well worth it. The kids loved it! Sage was especially excited when we exited the theater to find some of the cast members signing autographs. Here she is with the good and bad witch!
It was also nice that while in the City we were able squeeze in some time to visit my mom's cousin Leslie, our dear friend Tori with her kids, and our wonderful host Jon Moe. You'll also see that the pizza slices in the City have increased in size...and they wonder why American's keep increasing in size too...
Then we jumped on a train and headed out to CT but not before doing the Harlem Shake at the Harlem train stop! Jack played the music on his phone while I recorded them. It was hysterical...
Next stop: East Coast Roddy's: The kids were super excited to meet the NY cousins. James and Jaime had come out to Seattle and Jack had been to NY but the gang hadn't all been together since we left almost ten years ago which meant there were several new faces that had been added to the bunch! So here are some fun shots from our time at their new place on Candlewood Lake in CT!
No one ever gets tired of being tossed around on the tubes...
Some surfing and wake boarding...
and some swinging and jumping...
After a great time in CT we headed back to James' and Jaime's place in Rye for a couple nights! Here are a few cute photos we captured after church...
For our final day we decided to head back into the City to finish off seeing a couple things we hadn't gotten a chance to including going to the Top of the Rock. Although the temps were perfect, it turned out to be a hazy, overcast day but that in no way got in the way of Sage enjoying herself at the American Girl Store. We have yet to go on our Chicago girls trip but gave her the option of getting her new doll and some outfits on this trip or waiting until we found a good weekend for her and I to fly to Chicago. It's a no brainer asking a seven year old which they'd prefer...instant gratification it was so looks like Jack and I scored a trip to Chicago by ourselves the next time my parents come to town... All is well in the world!
It's amazing how fast ten days goes! Thanks to our wonderful hosts for making our trip so much fun! Looking forward to many more trips together now that we live much closer to one another!!!
