Last Friday we woke up with an itch for some cool weather. It was getting cooler in Phoenix (it was even coming close to chilling temperatures like 95), but we didn’t think it was cold enough for us. So, what would any normal person who wants a little cooler fall weather do? Jump on a plane that very day and head to New York City.
To get us in the mood for New York we watched a non-fiction drama based on the New York called “Chicago”. After finishing that, I understood why the Olympics were going to Rio, but couldn’t figure out what it had to do with New York. So, we watched another non-fiction documentary called, “West Side Story.” This one made more sense. As soon as we got off the plane, people were snapping their fingers and singing about how they felt pretty, oh so pretty.
We jumped onto the subway and took off to Harlem to visit some amazing friends, Noah and Allison Riley. Harlem is nothing like the Globetrotters lead you to believe, but we still enjoyed it. Noah and Allison were the most incredible hosts; they fed us, guided us, entertained us, and I’m sure they would have bathed us if I had asked.
After spending a lot of the night chatting it up, we got up a little on the late side and went out to see the sights and famous people. At our first stop, we did run into a few movie stars…let’s see if you recognize them and can guess where we are at:
Yep, you’re right, we were at the Late Night Show with David Letterman.
OK, we weren’t. We were at the Museum of Natural History or as Sarah likes to call it, the Natural Museum of History. Though we were unable to capture it, Rowan was laughing and giggling the whole 3 hours. He didn’t fuss at all, he was just wide-eyed and amazed.
Here Sarah is showing Rowan how birds eat out of their mother’s mouth and then she got upset when Rowan tried it.
While I would have preferred to visit the Museum at Night when Dick Van Dyke comes to life, it was still a blast during the day. We then decided to brave the cold and meet up with Trever and Carah. Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli:
That was one awesome Reuben. Rowan even enjoyed looking at it but not as much as he did this piece of New York Cheesecake:
It was delicious, to say the least. We left feeling very full and very happy.
We then traveled to the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty impressive. Sarah was jealous of all the people that were running the bridge.
It was then on to Ground Zero. We tagged along with a little tour group and learned some facts about the construction of the Freedom Tower and what the plans are for the open space.
We then went to Staten Island Ferry and Battery Park to try to catch an evening glimpse of the Statue of Liberty.
We met up with Noah and Allison in the Park and they took us on a tour around the Wall Street area. Here’s a good lookin’ bunch of Aggies:
From there we went to Times Square and enjoyed the lights.
Rowan must have been looking at one huge piece of cheesecake covered in lights:
Speaking of cheesecake, we stopped by Juniors and at a tasty meal topped off with some more cheesecake. Carah dominated that:
We finished up the night watching ice skaters at Rockerfeller Plaza.
We then headed back to the Riley’s. We talked to Carah and Trever about going to church in the morning before going out to more sights, but we ended up sleeping in and went to a later church with Noah and Allison.
In 1899, the streets of New York echoed with the voices of Newsies. Peddeling the papers of Joseph Pulitizer, William Randolph Hearst, and other giants of the newspaper world. On every corner you heard them carrying the banner. Bringing you the news for a penny a pape. Poor orphans and runaways, the newsies were a ragged army, withour a leader. Until one day, all that changed:
Rowan does make a cute Newsie. We forced him to see enough papes to pay for the trip. Due to the recession, he wasn’t able to sell any and wasn’t able to procure any government bailout money. But the people at church still thought he was cute. Church was exciting in Harlem, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
After Church, if I recall, we took a stroll through Central Park in fall. Sarah tore her dress, what a mess… It was just like that song by Wayne Gretzky.
It was a lovely day to stroll through Central Park. Rowan slept the whole time.
We then popped in to FAO Schwarz and, once again, Rowan was wide-eyed and excited. He kept reaching for everything. It was a lot of fun. Sarah and Rowan got to play on the BIG piano.
Sarah was super excited over some dollhouses and little props designed to steal people’s money without them thinking they are being robbed.
They had a huge Lego statue of Andre the Giant with a beard being led by three hobbitses.
We then met up with Trever and Carah again and headed to the Riley’s for the most delicious butternut squash lasagna. It was so awesome. We then rolled our full bellies to the couches and chatted for the rest of the night.
The next day, Rowan, Sarah and I were going to go to Palmyra and Niagara Falls and then on to North Carolina to visit Sarah’s aunt Marcie, but ended up loving the Laguardia airport so much that we decided we would spend the whole day there. Flights were cancelled, we were kicked off flights, other flights were full. So, we read some well written books that required intense concentration:
We had such a great time trying to figure out how we were going to get out of New York that we decided to head back to Phoenix with Trever and Carah who showed up in the afternoon.
Rowan had a great time on the flights. I have really never seen/heard a baby do so well. We have been blessed with a traveler.
Back in Phoenix, Trever and Carah’s last flight to Salt Lake was overbooked, so they spent the night at our place and took off the next day.
All-in-all, we had a blast. The trip may have been short, but with the Riley’s and Trever and Carah who wouldn’t have had a good time. Big thanks to the Riley's for all the hospitality and fun! New York was a blast! Not a blast like the one Chino gives Tony for wearing too tight of pants and jumping and snapping better than he can, but a blast like a good time. Jets and Sharks forever.
I loved these pictures that Trent's dad took-- it's so hard to pick my favorite! I just printed a bunch out too, and put one in a frame that will probably be a Christmas decoration for years to come.
Yayyyyy!
