New York City Day 3

Thursday April 4, 2013

The first thing we had to do on Thursday was go and get our Explorer Passes.  For a discounted price we got tickets to 5 attractions of our choice.  We had to get these at the NBC store at the Rockefeller Center. 

We could see them filming though the window.  No one wanted to get up early to see them on the plaza but at least we got to see them.

Our next stop was the subway on the way to the 9/11 Memorial.  

We made it, we had to go through security and then we were in.  It was somber place.  The fountains are a beautiful way to remember the events of that day and all the people that died because of it.  Everytime I think of 9/11 I remember the events of that day.  I was getting my young children ready for school when my sister in law Cat (that lives in Boston) called me and and asked me if I was watching tv? I said no? Then she said to turn it on and as soon as I did I saw the second plane hit the second tower.  I was just in shock! No words could describe the horror.  That entire day and the following days we spent watching the destruction and watching the news to get some answers. I am grateful to live in the USA.  I wish peace could be had throughout the world between countries and people.  I am grateful for the sacrifice of many to keep our country safe and to protect our freedom!

Mary Alice Wahlstrom and her daugher Carolyn were on one of the planes that crashed.  They are from Utah and I have the priviledge of knowing her daughter in law Margaret.  I have worked with her in Nutcracker.  We had to find their name and remember this amazing family.  There are so many names listed around the fountains.  

Our next stop was the boat ride to the Statue of Liberty.  It was only a few blocks (by now we were used to walking all over the place) so we walked down Wall Street.

The five girls.

The five moms! (L, Cheryl, Amy, Monica, & Brenda)

The Zephyr.  The ship that took us close up to see the Statue of Liberty.  Ellis Island is closed because of Hurricane Sandy that destroyed a many things around the coast in New York City including manking the island not safe.  It is scheduled to reopen on July 4, 2013.

Inside the Zephyr having a snack.  

And there she is... The Statue of Liberty!

After the Statue of Liberty ride we walked to Chinatown and Little Italy.  We were so hungry and as we walked down the street in Little Italy and there were people trying to get us to come in to eat.  We finally settled on:

The sat us outside but we were so cold that the girls asked for them to move us inside.  Luckily they did and we enjoyed our food a lot more this way I think.

After that we went to see the Empire State Building

Beautiful view!!!

A little windy!

Then it was time for the Lion King!  The theater was next door to our hotel.  Nice not to have to walk this time.

Miles walked Thursday:  8.8 miles

New York City Day 2

Wednesday April 3, 2013

We had breakfast at the hotel.  It was a warm breakfast with fruit and lots of food.  The line to get food was kind of long but we didn't have to pay for it so it was great!

After breakfast we had a little bit of time before the girls had to be at their dance classes so they all decided to go to Forever 21 pretty much across the street from the hotel.  This store was HUGE!  The girls looked so cute wearing their Dance Company gear. 

  

They have an NYC taxi inside Forever 21??? 

The walk to the dance theater was about 10 blocks so about one mile.  These dancers were so excited to dance at a school that they had heard so much about! 

We snuck a couple of pictures of them dancing before they told us we were not allowed to take pictures.  This was a jazz class.  From our point of view the girls did great but they felt so unmatched to the ability of the dancers there.  While the girls danced we (the moms) just talked and hung out for a while.  We were thinking that seeing Wicked on Broadway would be pretty wicked!

This is a picture with the instructor.  He told us "they did great! They definitely had a workout and then some."

Pictures outside the studio!  I just have to point out how perfect and effortless S looks.

We had a little time between classes.  We looked up the Soup Man from Seinfeld and it was only a couple blocks away so we went over there.  Once there we realized that you had to order your soup but there was no place to sit. We were cold and we needed a place to sit so we just took pictures and went to another soup place where we could be warm.  So NO SOUP FOR YOU! 

Back outside Alvin Alley. 

While the girls danced at the African Dance class we walked up to Julliard to get our tickets for a Repertoire that they were having.  We were planning on going tonight but it was pretty much sold out so we got tickets for Friday and now we had Wednesday night open.... What to do???  Wicked???  We decided to see if we could get tickets.

The New York City LDS Temple is right across the street from the Lincoln Center and Julliard.  What a beautiful sight among all the chaos of the city.  We went in and just looked at the chapel area.  Once inside it was like being in any chapel in Utah.  Quiet and peaceful and it even had a gym inside.

I took a picture through the window.  Then they told us to come in.  I was ready to video when they told me that it wasn't allowed.  But at least we got to watch their African dance.

Then we went to the box office to see about Wicked tickets and they had some awesome seats available.  So we splurged and bought them.  Pricey but it was worth every penny!!!  Amazing show!!!

We got a picture together! 

After the show we went to the M&M store.   

Times Square never gets old! 

Amount walked Wednesday = 5.1 miles

New York City Day 1

Tuesday April 2, 2013

S and I had the opportunity to go to NYC with some of the girls from the High School Dance Company.  There were 5 girls and 5 moms that went.  I am so grateful for a supportive husband that understands the importance of these special bonding times with my daughters.  He takes time off work to be with the other children and doesn't complain about the extra work that must be done when I'm not here.  I love him so much and some day we will take this trip together!

Anyways, we left on Tuesday morning.  We all met at the airport and we were off to NYC!  This is the first of many pictures we took of the five beautiful young women!

Emily, Sid, Tiana, Gibson, & Michelle

We rented a private van to take us to and from the airport.

This was the view from our first room. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square.  We had three rooms.  All the girls were in one room and the moms shared 2 rooms.  We ended up switching rooms with the girls so that they would be closer to the moms but that meant giving up our awesome view!

We had tickets to see Newsies on Tuesday and we didn't know where to go for dinner so the girls asked the concierge and they recommended this little Italian Restaurant called "Tratoria Dopo Teatro".  The food was delicious!

Then we had to rush to get to Newsies on time but we made it!  The hard part at first was just getting oriented to which direction to go. After all there were no mountains to tell us east or west?

After the show... one thing we were not prepared for was the cold weather.  I should have know that its always cold in NYC but I guess I was hoping it would be warmer.  

Some of the cast members came out to sign autographs and the girls were in heaven!

I love this picture!  Times Square at night! It was freezing but we had to get some pictures.  We told the girls we would go to the hotel to change and come back out but once inside and we warmed up the moms were too tired to go back out.  Sorry girls.  It wasn't a trick to get you in we were just tired and cold.

It was a wonderful first day in NYC. I had never been there for longer than a day so this was an awesome, fun trip for me.  And to spend five days with my amazing and beautiful daughter was priceless!

One of the moms had a FitBit that kept track of the miles we walked so I will post it at the end of each day.

Amount walked on Tuesday = 3.3 miles