{Sunday Reminiscings}

I thought I would start something that I do each Sunday...{Sunday Reminiscing}. Since I'm so behind on my scrapbooking, and don't see myself ever catching up, I'm going to try and chronicle some of our family memories each week. Here goes the first one:

NEW YORK 2006

It's hard to believe it's almost been a year since Bob and I went to NYC with Kevin and Kellie. Last year, Bob turned 40 and I surprised him with a trip to New York. My mom was working for Jet Blue at the time and she gave us some Buddy Passes to use for the flight out there. It was so great. We took the midnight flight to JFK and arrived about 6 in the morning. That was the worst part of the trip...we were so tired. We stayed at a Marriot in New Jersey, but the PATH station was right outside the front doors of the hotel. We spent the first few hours on Thursday morning sleeping in our hotel room! We wanted to go into the city so bad, but we were just too tired. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed and then dragged ourselves around the city. We went into a Banana Republic and Kevin sat down in a chair and fell asleep! I took a photo! We caught up on our sleep that night and the by the time we had to come home we were tired again. We had a great time together. I wish we could make it a yearly tradition...but I know how those things go...they don't!

Some highlights:

We saw "Wicked" the night we arrived. I loved it. The music was fantastic. I could watch it over and over again. "Mary Poppins" was the second show we saw. We bought our tickets from a guy selling them on the street...the one thing we were told not to do. But it turned out just fine-although I was the one who was going to take the heat for it if was a bust :O! Our seats were not that great but we still enjoyed the show. We all agreed that the kids would have loved it.

We rode the ferry over to Ellis Island and to the Statue of Liberty. Both Bob and I had been on the ferry to see the statue but just as a "float by". Getting off and visiting the museum at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty was so worth it. We walked up as far as we could in the statue. Since 9/11, you can no longer walk to the top of the Lady Liberty. It was a little chilly and it rained quite a bit at the statue...but we didn't mind.

SOHO...we spent a lot of time there...shopping and eating! Even Kevin shopped. And of course Bob shopped...for shoes! Kellie had some Friends and Family discount cards to Banana Republic that were good while we were in NYC. Kevin and Kellie purchased some things for themselves. Bob spent most of his shopping time in shoe stores...go figure. It is so funny to see the different way the two of them shop. Kevin just sees it and does it all at once. Bob goes into the store and looks at the shoes 4-5 times (on different occasions) before he buys them!

Kellie and I bought some fun things for the kids at the Scholastic Store and some fun shoes at the Skechers Store. The Skechers Store on Times Square was so great. They have a DJ stand at the back of the store where the employees, (one in particular), DJ the super loud music. This "sister" was so dang funny. She was singing and dancing and offering discounts if you purchased in the next 20 minutes...which we did!

We also found this really great store-UNIQLO. They had some cute kids clothes for great prices. Kellie and I got some great shirts and jeans for the boys. And I actually got something for myselft too. That was the first time Kellie used her bargaining skills. We had both been rung up and paid but then a lady at a register next to us was getting quite a discount. Kellie asked about it and the employee then returned everything Kellie bought, rung it up again and gave her the discount. Kellie then made her do it for me. Not happy employees...too bad!

All of our traveling in and out of the city was through this PATH station. It is the site of the former World Trade Center. The station is huge and a major connecting point. Since our hotel was actually in New Jersey, we always took the train into the city and then connected onto the Subway from there. Thank goodness we had Bob as our guide. He is amazing with the maps. Of course, he is not spontaneous at all and is not happy if we accidentally get on the wrong train. I say, go with the flow!

We had some yummy eats. If you don't know where to eat in Manhattan it can be a little overwhelming. I mean, where do you go? I think you absolutely need to find out where to eat ahead of time from people who are in the know. My mom and I and Maddie had been to Balthazar in SOHO before, so we knew we couldn't go wrong. Balthazar is a little French bistro with delicious food. And the atmosphere is so European-loved it!

We also grabbed a sandwich at Dean and Deluca, one of my favorite places. Kevin got some of the most delicious cheese I have ever tasted-it had ash in it-I wish I could remember the name.

And of course, we had to have New York pizza. However, I must say, it was not as good as I thought it was going to be. We still haven't found the best New York pizza there is to offer...I'm sure of it.

On our last night there, we were in SOHO (of course) and we wanted some really good food. Not knowing where to go, we walked up and down the streets and we. were. starving. We decided to go in this little Italian place...bad idea! We sat down and I think, Bob or Kellie went to the restroom...YUCK! Yes, it was Kellie and she said the bathrooms were dirty. We all decided to walk out! I've never done that before but boy was I glad we did! We found the absolute yummiest Italian food I've ever eaten. Apparantly it is a favorite of the locals. We all really enjoyed our food and would have gone back if we'd had another night. YUMMO!

Since our trip, I've watched the Food Network and seen a few different shows on NYC. There are a few places I would like to try.

One of the great things about the trip was the weather...it was the end of November and the beginning of December. Instead of Winter weather we had Spring temperatures. In fact, there were a few times, it was too hot because of the clothes we were wearing. We never really needed our coats, except for the day we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. If we took our coats with us, we were sorry we had them because we just had to carry them around with us-I'm not complaining. :)

We had such a great time...I hope we can do it again sometime!

p.s. thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids-we couldn't have gone without your help.