New York!

 For Sawyer's senior trip we went to New York! It was our last family vacation for a couple years. It's a whole different world there! So many fun things to do and see!

Red eye flight! The kids were excited at first, but quickly learned that it isn't very easy to sleep on a plane.

Times Square

We hung around Time Square quite a bit. So many fun shops, and the best place to people watch. It didn't matter what time of day or night we were there, it was always packed. It was a sensory overload!

Time Square!

 The famous ball that drops on New Years.

There were crazy characters all over Time Square to get pictures with.

We found the famous Naked Cowboy! Unfortunately, we found an old naked grandma too. Some things you can never unsee!

They had the biggest Toys R Us I've ever seen. It was 3 stories, and had a big ferris wheel in it. They had a whole section dedicated just to peeps! I LOVE peeps!

 Time Square was fun at night when everything was lit up.

 Yay! We found Batman!

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center has so much to do! We walked around the center, took an NBC tour, a Radio City Music Hall tour, and went up Top of the Rock for a view of the city. 

The Center

It was fun to see some of the famous places from movies.

 This is a view of part of the center and the Top of the Rock building.

 The kids in front of the Channel Gardens.

 We were there for Memorial weekend, so they had all the flags up around the center.

Bailey had 2 things on her New York bucket list. She wanted to ride in a cab, and get a hot dog from a street vendor. After our crazy shuttle ride from the airport to our hotel, she changed her mind about the cab. But, she got a hot dog in Rockefeller Center!

NBC Studios

We took an NBC Studio tour. We saw Brian Williams news set, Jimmy Fallon's studio, and the Saturday Night Live studio. We learned lots of tips and tricks about how they run things. It was pretty interesting.

Radio City Music Hall

We took a tour of Radio City Music Hall. It is an awesome building that was built in 1932. At the time it was the largest indoor theater in the world. So much smoking went on in the building, that it became blackened and run down. They have since renovated the inside to make it look exactly how the original  interior looked. The stage is huge, and is the home of the famous Rockettes. We got lucky, and actually got to go on the stage during our tour. We met one of the Rockettes too!

 The lobby of Radio City Music Hall.

 The stage and auditorium. 

 Sawyer and Bailey on stage.

We met one of the current Rockettes!

Top of the Rock

We went to the observation deck at Top of the Rock. This gave us our first real view of the city. It was an incredible view!

 Top of the Rock building in Rockefeller Center.

Here is the view of the central Park side.

 A view of the city with the Empire State Building.

 We could even see the Statue of Liberty!

 We were so high up that the elevator ride popped our ears!

USS Intrepid

We spent some time on the USS Intrepid. It was an active aircraft carrier for several years. Now, the only one open to the public as a museum. The Intrepid served as the temporary command center for the FBI during the September 11 attacks, and during the investigation. It has a couple dozen air crafts on it's deck, including the British Concord. We also toured the Growler Submarine which is in the water right next to it.

The USS Intrepid.

 Messing around with the guns on deck.

 Good thing he's not really in charge of this gun! 

 One of the planes on deck.

The British Concord

 Bailey sitting in the captain's chair on the Intrepid.

The bunks.

 One area was dedicated to hands on activities. My kids had WAY to much fun! Keep in mind that the one pulling all the faces is technically a legal adult, and the other is 13! Who would have guessed?!?

Apparently there is a big problem in the air control tower.

 Sawyer's getting down to business!

The Growler Submarine.

 After walking through the sub, it's crazy to imagine what it must have been like with 100 men crammed aboard. The sleeping quarters made me claustrophobic.

 One of the control rooms.

Everywhere we went in New York, people would take professional pictures of our family, give us a ticket, and then we had the option of buying them for a ridiculous amount of money. They were taking pictures as we boarded the submarine. I told everyone that when the picture guy counted to three, everyone make a crazy face. Then I secretly told Mark and Bailey not to really do it. When the guy counted to three, Sawyer pulled the best face ever, and the rest of us just smiled! It was the best part of the whole trip! I was laughing so hard I was crying! Then when we looked at the picture at the end of our tour, we were laughing all over again! We totally should have bought it. Best picture ever!

Empire State Building

We got a good view of the city during the day from Top of the Rock, so we saved the Empire State Building for night time. It didn't disappoint! The view of the city all lit up at night from that high is amazing! The kids were excited to walk into the lobby and see where Elf went to find his Dad :)!

It was lit up red, white, and blue for Memorial Day.

A view of the city from the observation deck.

 This is the ball in Time Square from the top of the Empire State Building.

Subway

I was so nervous to ride the subway, but once we did it a few times, I really enjoyed it. Really great place for people watching. There was always someone announcing that they were homeless, and looking for money. The first time we rode it, a homeless guy started making his announcement really loud. Sawyer got nervous and said he's been watching too much 24, because he thought for sure the guy was going to announce that he had a bomb strapped to his chest. But there were also a lot of people who would get on and play an instrument and sing to make money. It made the rides entertaining. Bailey made sure she always had dollar bills in her pocket because she liked paying the singers and musicians. 

Me and Bailey tried to look tough and gangsta on our first ride so we'd fit in. I don't think we pulled it off very well :)!

9-11 Memorial & Tribute Center

We spent a morning at the 9-11 Memorial Site & Tribute Center. The Memorial is a somber place, but actually very peaceful. The waterfalls, and the whole area is very beautiful. The Tribute Center is another story. It just made me want to cry to see the pictures and read the stories. I felt like the Memorial did a great job of honoring the people that lost their lives in the terrorist attacks, and also made you feel very blessed to live here and proud of our country. The Tribute Center is the place that makes your heart ache and serves it's purpose for us to never forget what happened. Both are equally important, so it was a perfect combination.

 This is one of the new World Trade Center buildings.

 One of the Memorials.

Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise

We took a 3 hour sightseeing Cruise around the whole city. It was rainy and overcast during the whole thing. We like the rain, but it made for some crummy pictures.

Cruising!

 The Statue of Liberty was still closed for repairs after the storms, but we got to go right by it.

 Broadway Plays

We saw 2 Broadway plays while we were there. 

Wicked was hands down the best part of our trip! It was so good!

We also saw Spiderman. It wasn't nearly as good. 

We took an Inside Broadway Tour, and learned a lot about the theaters, and the business in general. They told us that Spiderman would never leave New York because of all the technical things involved with the production. We decided to see it while we had the chance. It was disappointing after Wicked. We wished we would have picked a different one.

American Museum of Natural History

We spent a morning at the American Museum of Natural History. It is huge, and you could easily spend days there looking at everything. We just breezed through, because we have been to a lot of zoos and museums and seen most of that kind of stuff before. We did find some stuff from the Night at the Museum movie though.

 We found the Gum Gum Dum Dum from Night at the Museum!

Central Park

We rented bikes in Central Park. It was a nice break from the city. It's still always crowded, but at least we could see trees and grass. This is the one place I wish we would have spent more time exploring.

 Bike ride!

 There were signs at places of interest in the park. You could call the number, and a celebrity would tell you about it.

 The tree canopy.

 There are 2 lakes in the park. This area was really pretty. This is Proposal Bridge.

 A view of the city from across a lake.

 Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

We loved the wax museum! It was pretty cool, and a fun place to take pictures. Some of the wax figures looked so real that it was creepy!

Who doesn't love the handsome Harrison Ford?!?

 Sawyer and his good friend Johnny.

 This picture is so great! 

 Owww! I feel good!

 Meet the royals.

 We give him two thumbs up!

Oh hi!

 Live with Regis and Kelly!

Sawyer's dream came true!

 Of all the people in the museum, the kids were most excited about the Avengers!

 Definitely the best picture of the day!

Grand Central Terminal
We took an audio tour of Grand Central Terminal. This place is fascinating with so much history! It's the world's largest train terminal, and everyday 750,000 people pass through the building.

I remember as a kid when our house was crowded, my mom would say, "This place is like Grand Central Station." I never quite understood what she meant. But when I look at this picture, I totally get it. This is how the building looks all the time.

Here we are taking our audio tour. We would follow a map, and when we got to a certain spot we would push the button on our headsets and get facts about the terminal. It was kind of fun! The clock above the information desk has been there since 1913. It is accurate to within 1 second every 20 billion years.

In front of the ticketing windows.

This was the whispering wall. One person could stand facing the wall in one corner, and another person could stand facing the wall in the opposite corner, and they could hear each other if they whispered back and forth. So weird, but it totally worked!

Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
We visited the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. We took a tour and learned some of the history of the building.

The building was incredible, and these pictures don't do it justice. This is looking back toward the front doors.

This is looking from the front doors into the main area. It is so big and open.

 There were several chapels off to the sides of the main area. They all had beautiful stained glass windows, and carvings.

This is a statue of Joan of Arc. People still come and lay flowers at her feet.

This is the Bishop's chair, and some choir seats. This whole area was so cool, but it was dark and hard to get good pictures.

After the Cathedral, Sawyer went back to the hotel for a nap, and me, Mark and Bailey went to the Museum of Jewish Heritage. We only had an hour to look around before it closed. I could have easily stayed there all day reading all the stories and information about the Holocaust. It is a subject that fascinates me.

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
We went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I loved it here! It was such a nice, peaceful break from the concrete and noise of the city. Sawyer wasn't impressed. He said it was like a zoo without animals. I think that's hilarious!

The rose gardens.

The lake had tons of cute little turtles in it!

The whole Japanese Garden area was my favorite.

Brooklyn Bridge
We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. It's about a mile long, and gives a great view of the city.

Food Tour

We went on a Food Tour. We didn't like our guide, but the food was yummy! We stopped at 4 places. Three had regular food and one had dessert. On our first stop we tried Falafel, a middle eastern dish. It was my favorite thing on the tour; very tasty! Our guide also suggested some other places to eat in New York. We went into Chinatown to eat at a Chinese place the guide recommended. Chinatown was a little out of my comfort zone. Very dirty and run down! We didn't love the restaurant, but afterwards we went to a Chinese ice cream shop and tried some strange ice cream flavors. We had red bean and almond cookie ice cream. Surprisingly very yummy!

Coney Island

Coney Island was fun! I can't believe how crowded the beach got. We played in the water for awhile, walked along the boardwalk, and ate a famous Coney Island hot dog.

She would play in the water all day, every day if we lived by a beach.

Roosevelt Island Tram

We rode a tram over the water to Roosevelt Island. We didn't do anything on the island. We just wanted to have the tram ride. It was very cool!

The tram was up as high as the Queensboro Bridge.

Coming down to the island.

New York Library

New York has so many great old buildings with so much history. The Library is one of those. There are grand marble walls and staircases, murals on the wall and ceilings, carvings, etc.

 This is the entry area.

Yankees Game

We went to a Yankee's Game while we were there. This was one of the best parts of the trip. Such a fun atmosphere. Not only did the Yankees win the game, but we saw a grand slam! So cool!

Yankee Stadium

Manhattan Temple

On our last morning before we flew out, we went to the Manhattan Temple. Bailey did baptisms, and Sawyer was able to perform the baptisms.

Manhattan Temple

New York was a fun place to visit. There was so much to do and see, but I was ready to come home. I'm not much of a city girl. I could never live in a place like that. It made me grateful for my small Idaho town.