NYC Trip - Day 4: Central Park, Rockefeller Square, Brooklyn Bridge, & Rehearsal Dinner

We started our morning off with Tony and I taking the subway over to Brooklyn to pick up my mom and Sherri from there hotel to bring them with us on our adventures.  They were both scared of the subway and didn't know much about Ubers either.  Tony and I decided to enjoy some of their breakfast from their hotel while we were there.  

We then all went to the subway and made it back to our hotel where we were going to meet up with the others.  We took Sherri and my mom up to the front desk and got them a fresh cookie.  The others then came back to the hotel from getting themselves breakfast and we all headed out.

We all took the subway to go see Central Park. It was a nice walk to the park and fun to see the different things within the park. We then decided to go to Rockefeller Square.  We saw the ice-skating rink and all the state flags.  Julie's family and my mom decided they wanted to go up to the top of the Rockefeller Center while the rest of us toured around there.  We went and saw the NBC building, the MLB store, and the Fox building.

We then all met back up together to go get some lunch.  We decided to get pizza slices.  It was pretty good pizza and fun that we were all able to eat together.  My mom didn't really like her pizza choice, so we all kept offering her some of ours and then we took a picture of her with all of our pizza slices.  It was pretty funny.

Julie, Sherri, and my mom then got an Uber to go to Teagan's apartment in Brookly to help her make flower bouquets for her reception.  The rest of us took the subway to go walk the Brookly Bridge.  A nice, although strange man helped us to get to the start of the Brooklyn bridge.  They have a walkway just for walkers and then a separate one for bikers and then, of course, the road where the cars go.  It was pretty cool to walk across the bridge, and I am glad that we were able to do it.  We then took the subway back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal dinner.

After we were ready, we met Boyd and Kimball at the bottom of our hotel, and we took the subway to the church that Teagan and Sam were to be married the next day.  A bunch of Teagan and Sam's friends were waiting outside of the church since Teagan was running late because her flower helpers all showed up an hour late.  

Wendy and Benje ended up joining the flower people and they all then came to the church together after the flowers were done.
After Teagan got there, we all went in and started practicing where she wanted us all to be lined up and how they wanted us walking down the aisle.  We then lined up on the stage and practiced our parts.  I was feeling particularly silly and spent most of the time goofing off.  I had to keep my family entertained while they watched the practicing.

After all the practicing was done, it was time to eat.  Teagan invited all the wedding party and anyone coming in from out of town to the dinner part.  My uncle Norman and cousin Robin came, and it was so nice to see them.

After everyone had eaten, some of us got to give a little speech/toast to Sam and Teagan.  I was asked to do that this night as a bridesmaid.  All the people before me had written out toasts and all sounded so good.  I just went by the seat of my pants and my heart.  I think it worked.  

Teagan and Sam then each talked about their bridesmaids and groomsmen and gave us all a gift.  It was so nice to hear about everyone and see that Teagan and Sam have such a great group of friends.

We then helped clean up a little and then went and got some ice cream around the corner from the church.  After eating that we took the subway back to our hotel.  It was a fun day and exciting evening.  

NYC Trip - Day 3: Yankee Baseball Game

We all met downstairs at our hotel to go get on the subway that would take us right to the Yankee stadium (except Wendy and Benje, they went to a show).  Kimball was pretty tired and took a little nap on Tony. We all were able to have seats, and it took about 30 minutes to get there, so not bad at all. 

Our station stopped right in front on the Yankee Stadium.  We just had to walk down the stairs and cross the street.  We bought some bottles of water outside the stadium and then we went in. 

We got there a couple hours early so that we could walk around and check out the stadium.  We went down as far as they would let us to take pictures of the home plate and the field.   

We then walked around some more before we found our seats.  We were up pretty high, but we still had a good view of the field straight back from the first base line.

Tony and I then went and looked around for what we wanted to eat.  We decided to get a bucket of chicken fingers and fries.  We figured we could share with others and then have a bucket to take home.  They were pretty good and was perfect for sharing.  The fried couldn't use more salt, but besides that it was great.

The seats all then filled in and the game started.  It was kind of a slow boring game to start.  Not much action on the field, but it was fun watching the fans for both teams.  We chatted with a guy behind us from New York who is a Met's fan.  He was cheering for Boston Red Socks because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  We thought that was pretty funny.

Teagan joined us about halfway into the game.  I decided she was lucky and exactly what the Yankees needed because they started playing better once, she came.  The game got more exciting and the Yankees ended up winning 4-0.

At the end of the game, we took our time leaving the stadium.  Julie and Betsy went around and got some of the buckets that others had left behind for themselves.  We then made out way through the crazy crowds to get ourselves to the subway.  We then got ourselves on the subway and us ladies even got us seats.  We hunkered down all crammed in the subway and made our way to our hotel.  People slowly started leaving our subway car with each passing station and it slowly got better.  It was late and we were glad to be back at our hotel for a good night's sleep.

NYC Trip - Day 3: Financial District Bull, 9/11 Memorial, Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

This morning, we started off by taking pictures by the Bull in the Financial District, also known as FiDi by the locals.  We noticed it was least busy first thing in the morning, so when in FiDi you gotta take a picture by the bull.  We preferred the front of the bull, versus the back.  

We then went to see the 9/11 memorial fountains. It wasn't too far from our hotel, and it is such a site to see.  It is awe inspiring to see the huge holes where the twin towers used to be and how they made it into something so beautiful and such a nice tribute to those who died in such an awful act so many years ago.  We did not go into the museum since it was kind of expensive and we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get to the pier when we needed to be there.

We looked up a breakfast place and had some yummy breakfast.  It was a sit-down place that was able to seat us without any problems.  The food was good.  

After eating we made our way towards our hotel, but we stopped by some government buildings we wanted to see first.  They weren't open because of the government shutdown, but it was cool to see them.  We then back to our hotel to pick up Wendy and Benje to go with us to the Statue of Liberty by way of the subway.

We got our tickets and wrist bands before going in the gift shop and finding out that we could get Jr. Ranger pins at each of these stops.  Betsy and I got our Jr. Ranger pin at that shop and then we walked over to get in line to board the fairy that was to take us to the Statue of Liberty.  We got in pretty fast, and the boat was pretty full, so some of us found some seats in the middle of the boat while others stood outside on the top of the boat.

When we got to Liberty Island, we walked over to put our bags in the lockers before going up into the Statue of Liberty.  Wendy and Benje didn't have tickets to get up into the crown, so they stayed on the island and checked out the museum and gift shop.

We took the elevator up the statue.  They have a deck area to walk all the way around and see the sites.  We were able to go up the teeny tiny spiral staircase to go up into the crown.  The stair way was really small.  Boyd got up one level and had to turn around because of vertigo and other issues.  The rest of us continued up the many stairs and made it to the top.  We were told we only had ten minutes to spend at the top.  It was so small that we all just took a couple pictures and then headed back down.  

I almost think going down was harder because I had to really focus on not slipping on the small stairs.  Physically I didn't have any problems, but my muscles were definitely tensed, and I felt it after.  The muscle in my right leg was going crazy and shaking a lot.  It was a fun experience, but I am not sure it was all that worth it.  It was so small and hard to see out the windows and then we felt rushed to go back down so others could come.

We met back up with Boyd and then toured around the bottom of the Statue of Liberty.  It was pretty cool walking around the island.  We then went to the museum and Betsy, and I found a Ranger so that we could get Jr. Ranger pins.  We had to feel out a paper this time and then get sworn in.  It was silly, but I am glad that we got the pin.

We then met up with Wendy and Benje and got in line to get back on the boat to go over to Ellis Island.

At Ellis Island we walked around the main floor for a little bit before Julie's family and us decided to get some lunch at the cafe.  The others continued to tour the building.  After we ate, we walked around and read some of the history of that historic site.  It was very interesting to see how immigration worked so long ago.  After we had seen all that, we wanted to, we got in line to get back on the boat.  The boat came after not too long, and we took it back to New York.  

We stopped at the Statin Island Fairy depot to get some Italian Ice.  We then walked back to the hotel to rest up before we left for the Yankee game.

NYC Trip - Day 1 & 2: Travel to Newark, Pizza, IBM, Time Square

Tony and I got the kids all off to school before packing up the van and heading to the airport.  We parked in long term parking and then got on the shuttle to go to the airport.  

We were able to go through security quickly and got to our gate without any trouble.  We then had an old friend (Amy) of Julie's come up to us and chat for a while.  Her and her son are also on the same flight as we are going to Newark where they live.  That was a fun to see her.

We wanted to get a sandwich to eat on our flight, but we couldn't find a sandwich place in the B terminal.  So, we decided to hurry and walk back to the A terminal to get our sandwich.  It was taking longer than expected, so I took Tony's luggage with mine and went back to our terminal.  I figured he could walk back faster without his luggage.  Once he got to our gate, we were able to board without problems.

It was a good flight.  The seats were small, but we had good shows to watch and a yummy sandwich that kept us full.

We flew into Newark, NJ.  We checked our bags at the gate, so we had to wait for them.  After we got them, Tony checked to see how long it would take to use public transportation to get to our hotel in New York.  He also looked up how much it would be to use a Lyft at it wasn't too bad, so that is what we did.  I am so glad that we did that.  We were able to see the sites of New Jersey and New York, and it was so much easier and more comfortable.

After we got to the hotel in the Financial District, we checked into our room with fresh baked cookies, snacks, and bottles of water.  Our room was kind of small but clean with plenty of places to unpack and put our stuff.  

We then decided to go get some water for our room and some dinner.  Tony found us a grocery store and then we decided to get some New York pizza.  It was good pizza and the perfect way to end our first night in New York City.

The next morning, we got up and got ready for the day.  Tony found us a yummy looking bagel place to eat for breakfast.  We walked there and waiting in line for our food.  We figured it was a good sign that they had a line of people.  We were right because the food was very good.  It was colder than I thought it was going to be, so we walked back to the hotel for our jackets and just ended up eating there.  

We than left to navigate the subway to get us to Teagan's work at IBM.  Tony became a master of subways this past summer, so we had no problems getting to IBM.  The building is right by Madison Square Park, where the first Shake Shack was started.  

Teagan came down and checked us into the building.  We had to show our ID's and get permission to go in.  She showed us where they work and do different productions.  We met some of her co-workers and then chatted on the roof of the building where you can see the Empire State Building.  

After our tour we met up with some of her co-workers for lunch.  We walked through the park and had lunch at an Italian restaurant.  Her friends and co-workers were very nice, and it was fun eating and chatting with all of them.  

After lunch they went back to work, while Tony and I stopped at a gelada place.  It was okay.  After we went to the Harry Potter New York store.  They had lots of fun Harry Potter stuff, and we found some good stuff for Megan for Christmas.

We then got back on the subway and walked around Time Square.  It was fun to have Tony see everything and he looked forward to seeing it at night.  After we walked around there for a while, we went back to our hotel for a little break and to freshen up for dinner.

We were going to meet Sam and Teagan for dinner at a perogies place, but we realized that Julie, Boyd, and Kimball were going to be coming to the hotel in time for them to join us.  Julie wanted to go to a restaurant closer to our hotel, so we went to Teagan's second choice that was within walking distance to the hotel.  

We met up with Julie's family after they checked in and then we all walked to the restaurant.  We were able to get a table for all of us without any problems and then Sam and Teagan met us there.  The food was American, and it was actually pretty good.  

After dinner we went back to the hotel where we met up with Kevin and Betsy.  We all then got on the subway and went to check out Time Square at nighttime.

It was a lot busier at night and a lot brighter with all the huge screens shinning.  It was fun to experience it with my siblings, and we all had a good time checking out the square, the people, and some stores.

After we had seen enough, we went back to the subway and took it back to the hotel.  It was a good day of site seeing and spending time with family.