NYC!

I was lucky enough to get invited by Jen & Girls to visit the Big Apple --and LeGrand was such a good sport to take on Mom duties for 5 days!

 **Side note, just before LeGrand took me to the airport we were able to meet up with Laura J. and the kids on their way to visit her Sister in Oregon, I was sad the timing turned out like it did because we would have loved to been able to have them to the house and visit longer but at least we got to see them - it was so fun!

We had such a good time!  We all took red-eye flights and arrived at JFK bright and early on Thursday the 2nd of April.  No rest for us, we had a great first day filled with a yummy breakfast, Visiting Ground Zero, Seeing the Statue of Liberty and a trip into Hoboken to the famous Carlos Bakery!

We started day two with another delicious breakfast then headed for lots of fun :)

 We stood in a wet rainy line to get into the 9-11 memorial.  We had decided on day one that we probably wouldn't go, then Brent said one of his co-workers said it was his favorite place they visited so we decided to go back.  I'm SO glad we did, we spent almost 5 hours there and didn't even realize it.  It was done so perfectly, bringing September 11 back to life.  It was truly touching and amazing.
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 Then we headed into china town and ate at one of my favorite places, the dumpling house - food was yummy as always.  I sure love those homemade dumplings :)  We took a stroll by Little Italy too!

 

And stopped by Time Square on the way back to the motel.

Day three we visited the Empire State Building

 Yummy Burgers, Fries & Shakes at Shake shack!

 A stroll on 5th Avenue, Past Radio City, Rockerfeller Plaza & visit to Magnolia Bakery

Day Four was Conference Sunday & Easter (Not really sure how it happened that our trip got planned over this day- I was sad not to be home with the kids but we had a good day). We took a nice walk through central park & a ride on a horse and buggy.

 We stopped by FAO Schwartz, Dylans Candy Bar, and had a fun Brunch at 420 5th.

 Then Jen and the girls headed to see Wicked - I had planned to get tickets to a different show at the same time but decided not to so I wandered through time square and ran into the 'Naked Cowboy' (and other naked (topless) women - it's getting racier in Time Square than I remember :| ) 

 I rested a bit in the motel until Jen and the Girls got done then we took a trip up to see the temple & saw some Cops on Horses, on the way back - I love seeing cops on horses in NYC.

 Then they headed back to the Shake Shack for their last dinner in NYC, & I had a lobster roll at a place across the street - YUM!

On Monday the 5th Jen and the Girls had to be to the airport early so they packed up and we said our goodbyes.  I didn't fly out until that evening so I visited the dumpling house one more time & stopped by Katz Deli and picked up some delicious pastrami to bring home to LeGrand

I arrived home around midnight, completely exhausted :)  It was a super fun trip and a good break, but I was happy to be home :)

The kids loved their little surprises (Including these fun hats from the Hershey's store) and the Pastrami was SO GOOD.  I couldn't believe it was as good as having it at the store!