Somehow Makenzie and I convinced our parents that they should send us to New York this summer to visit Matt and Madi (who were doing their summer internships there) so I flew home to hang out for the day, and then flew to NYC with Makenzie that night.
But while I was hanging out at home, Makenzie had agreed to take these kiddos ice skating, which meant I was going as well.
Thank freaking goodness for these blue things.
Tate decided he wanted sharpie whiskers on his face for the day.
One quick red eye flight later and we were in the JFK airport, and then one quick tram ride later and we were in the subway. Then a not so quick subway ride later we were in the Upper West Side, and then one quick trash-day-smelly-walk later we were at Matt and Madi's apartment. Then one quick nap later and we were ready to head to Times Square.
That Friday morning included going to Times Square and the Times Square M&M, Disney, and Hershey stores. The FAO Schwarz toy store, Rockefeller Center, eating Magnolia banana bread pudding (recommend x100), and going to the NYC public library-where it was surprisingly very hard to find the books.
Quite a library entrance if I ever saw one.
Also it was hard to find a place to sit down, which was greatly needed at that point.
It was time for lunch, so we hit up Los Tacos No.1 (recommend x1,000)
The line was long, but it was worth it.
We then got a post lunch dessert waffle.
We then waited for Matt (Tiffany's husband, who also just so happened to be in Manhattan on the same weekend) to show up so he could get us the VIP hookups to the Empire State Building.
Matt works at LinkedIn, who conveniently have their NY offices in the Empire State Building. Employees get to take guests up to the top with VIP access, which means, no waiting in lines.
Looking out at the top of the first elevator ride.
The look out from the top of the 2nd elevator ride.
(Recommend knowing someone who has the hookups x10,000)
The tickets we got were partial view-but also front row, so we didn't mind.
We had a great view of the orchestra, and could also see every drop of spit that left the Phantoms' mouth as he sang. Which was actually disgusting.
The play was amazing.
Post play pics in Times Square
Naturally, it was time for dessert, so we got gelato
Matt and Madi's selection.
Makenzie and I's. She was thrilled to be taking a picture.
The next morning Makenzie and went on a solo journey to pick up donuts for breakfast.
En route to donuts, we stopped at Grand Central Station.
Then we picked up breakfast, and headed back to the apartment.
But not before going to Levain bakery to try a cookie. Donuts and cookies. Breakfast of champions.
Again, thrilled to be taking pictures with her food.
Dad surprised us by booking Makenzie and I a stay at a 5-star hotel for the night. So we went to go check in and drop off our luggage.
Our ivy covered hotel.
We spent some time checking our new digs.
We stopped by Washington Square park,
where Matt and Madi got their portraits drawn.
We had to stop in City Cakes to try one of their 1/2 lb. cookies, a little pre lunch snack before we got...
Artichoke pizza.
(recommend x100,000)
We walked around Chelsea Market, and then headed to Brooklyn.
Where we went to Mister Dips so we could try EVEN.MORE.FOOD.
A carrot cake dipped ice cream cone.
A PB and Chocolate dipped cone.
aaannddd some cheesy fries. Anyone concerned about our diet yet?
Then we walked the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.
The closest we got to the Statue of Liberty.
This was also the night of the Manhattan power outage, so getting a subway back to midtown was a long process- most of it spent in a hot, humid, and crowded subway station. But we did in fact make it back.
It was a very strange feeling to walk out of that subway station to a dark New York, tall buildings just looming in the night with no lights on.
A photo from that night.
Our hotel was a block or two from the source of the power outage, so it too was in the dark. They had some emergency lights in the lobby, and handed us flashlights and snacks as we walked in. Around 11pm the power came back on.
The morning everything was back to normal, and we went to our hotel's restaurant to have brunch.
The food was pretty dang good.
A ill lit picture of our room.
After church with Matt and Madi, we headed down to Lower Manhattan to see the sites which included...
The Wall Street bull. There was a huge line to take a proper picture with it, so we said no to that.
And Ground Zero.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Central Park.
Where we ran into Matt.
We ate dinner back at Matt and Madi's place and wound down the day there.
The next day it was an early morning to catch our respective flights to California and Utah.
Recommend x1,000,000 going to NYC with your siblings. (thanks, Dad!)
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