New York Trip

So we have been back from our trip for a week now and we finally feel like we are getting back into the swing of things. We had a blast on our trip but we were really missing Peyton the entire time we were gone!! Peyton on the other hand did not seem to even notice that we were gone and if she did she didn't seem to mind it so much! She stayed the week with Dev's sister Hollee and her husband Bryan, and I am sure she was just showered with tons of attention, which she loves! She is a really good and easy baby which is lucky for us and even luckier for anyone that has to watch her for a few days. We left for New York on the 15th really early in the morning, I flight left at 8 am but we had to get to the airport at 6 so I was up at 4 making sure that I had packed everything. I was really excited to get going but I was a little nervous about the flights, I have the attention span of a 2 year old so a 5 hour flight was sure to be a challenge for me. However we had a layover in Minneapolis so it broke our flight up perfectly! When we were landing we were able to see New York City so it got us even more excited!

We stayed in Newark, New Jersey which is just across the river from New York so I figured it would only take us a few minutes to get into the city. I was very wrong! First we had to catch the hotel shuttle back to the airport, at the airport we caught a bus that took us to the PATH train station in downtown Newark, then we took the train into New York City, so every morning it took us about an hour to get into the city! It was crazy and some most people make that sort of commute everyday! The PATH train dropped us off right at the World Trade Center site, which was really sad to see. I thought that maybe more progress would have been made with rebuilding, but it seems like nothing has been done. I know that isn't the case but looking at it, it's still a big hole in the ground. The first day that we were there we went to the Empire State Building, and it was way awesome! But they are doing renovations so we took the elevator up to the 80th floor and then to get to the observatory on the 86th floor we had to walk up the stairs! It was pretty bad, not because of the walk but there were so many people crammed on the stairs and there was no air conditioning so it smelled pretty bad, especially since they were right in the middle of a heat wave! We made it to the top and the views were incredible, you could see everything! After that we jumped on the subway, which is the fastest way to get anywhere in the city! The subway tunnels were hot as hell!! Seriously, you would think that going underground things would maybe cool off, but not in this case! We went uptown and Deven and I had won David Letterman tickets a few days before we had left so we went and got in line to go see the show, my parents went to go see Mary Poppins on Broadway while we were gone. Letterman was pretty good, the guests for that day were Maggie Gyllenhal and Neil Young and to be honest they were pretty boring! But the experience was pretty cool.

The next day was my birthday! We got up early and headed out to go to the Statue of Liberty. Since Sept. 11th, they don't allow people to go all the way up to the crown, so we walked around and took lots of pictures. After that we headed back uptown to go to the American Museum of Natural History. This place is huge, we were there for about 3 1/2 hours and we didn't even see half of it! We also hit Time's Square after we were done with the museum. The food in New York is so expensive!! We went to TGI Fridays and I got chicken fingers and it was $20, for freakin chicken fingers! So we decided that for the rest of the trip we were going to find deli's and little mom and pop restaurants to eat at. At those places the food was still pricey but you got a ton of food. Dev got this sandwich and it was the biggest sandwich that I had ever seen! On Friday we were pretty tired from all the walking and the heat and humidity so we decided to take it easy and only do a few things and then make it an early night and head back to the room a little earlier. We headed out to 5th ave., where all the expensive shopping is! I took some pictures of the stores that I will never be able to afford something from and that was pretty fun. We also went to Tiffany and Co., my older sister Darcy is getting married on Wednesday so my parents thought it would be nice to buy her a necklace to wear from there. So we were successful in finding a necklace and we headed out for Central Park. We walked through Central Park, which is huge, and we went to the zoo and that was pretty fun. By the time we were done at the zoo we were just about done, we had one last stop to make. I had to go to the giant toy store FAO Schwartz to see the big piano from the movie BIG. After that we headed back for to the hotel to rest up for the big game the next day!

Saturday was the Yankees game! We headed out early so we could make the trip all the way uptown to the Bronx in time to see batting practice. Once you walk out of the Subway tunnel you are right there by the stadium, it was awesome! The new stadium is right across the street and it's going to be huge! It was super hot that day and our tickets were out in the bleacher section so the sun was directly on top of us the entire time we were cooking! The game was awesome, it was so cool being there and seeing my favorite team playing in such a historic stadium the last year that it was going to be used! Corny to some people I know but it was really awesome for me! The Yankees won and have continued winning ever since! I am telling you I am good luck! We left the next day and it was back to work the day after that! We had a great time, but if we go back, which I told Dev we had to so I could see a game in the new stadium, it was going to be during a cooler time of the year!