New York City!!!

Alan and I headed to NY last Thursday! Ben and Ashley have been living there for the past year but are headed back to TX soon so we wanted to take the opportunity to go and hang out with them in the big city while they were still living there! We had SO much fun! Our days were PACKED full of walking and sight-seeing! Ashley and I were like the paparazzi! We both took our cameras with us everywhere we went and took around 400 pics between the 2 of us! I have chosen some of my favorites to post on the blog and thought I would go through the pics to summarize our trip!

When we got there on Thursday Ashley took us to a local diner, Friend of the Farmer, and we talked about all we wanted to squeeze in over the next couple of days. Later that evening we walked around the Meatpacking District, the High Line (an old elevated railway turned elevated park), and out to Pier 46 (near Chelsea/West Village)...very interesting people in New York! I was really amazed by the diversity of people in New York and pleasantly surprised by how nice and helpful that everyone really was.We made a stop at Magnolia Bakery on our way home that evening too. Yum! We knew we would have to go back at least once during our stay! :-)

On Friday we got up and headed to Times Square. All the signs and colors were AMAZING. I think that may have been my favorite part...I had to just stand there a couple of times and just take it all in. We went in the M&Ms store, the Hershey's store and just had fun being silly and taking pictures.

We got to experience the NY City Subway...and loved it, especially when my feet were aching and calves hurt so bad I just hobbled along. :-)

Then we walked to the Gershwin Theatre and bought our tickets to see Wicked. We walked some more and passed a local pub...The Perfect Pint. Alan thought we better stop for a beer...Ashley and I agreed! Then we headed to Wall Street where we saw the NY Stock Exchange and Federal Hall where George Washington took the oath of office to be the first president of the United States! So cool! We also walked by ground zero and went to the World Trade Center Gallery. We met up with Ben and had lunch and then decided to go to the Brooklyn Bridge that evening.

After we walked the bridge we had dinner at Lombardi's...the first pizzeria in the United States. It was SOOOO good! On Saturday we woke up and went to the Statue of Liberty. It was AMAZING and surreal. It was SO beautiful and we had a beautiful view of the city.

This is an exact replica of her face

We passed by NY City Hall on our way to Wicked. On our way back we passed by Ellis Island but we didn't have time to stop. We were running out of time before Wicked began! We literally made it there with 1 minute to spare! The singing, performance, costumes, story line...was ALL amazing! Alan and I both loved it and thought it was worth every dime! As soon as the show was over we met back with Ben and Ashley at Central Park. There we watched a street show, the guys played Frisbee, we all perfected our jumping skills :-) and just took in the beauty of the park!

After the park we went to Shake Shack for burgers. Ben and Ashley had been telling us about how good they were and they weren't kidding! It was SOOO good! We sat outside and enjoyed dinner together...the weather was absolutely beautiful that day...perfectly clear and in the 70's. On Sunday we went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for church. As you can imagine it was AMAZING! I felt blessed to have been there!

We had lunch at Cafe Habana and then Ashley and I headed to Macy's...the SIX floor Macy's!!... while the guys went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Guggenheim.

We had reservations that evening for dinner at Buddakan and then made one last stop at the Magnolia Bakery for a hummingbird cupcake. SOOO good! We were SO full! We went back to their apartment and packed our things and then headed out on Monday morning.

We had SUCH a GOOD time. Ben and Ashley were the perfect hosts and tour guides. It was nice to get away for a couple of days...just Alan and I. Of course we missed our sweet girls SO much but they had a ball at Poppy and Boba's and were absolutely SPOILED there!

Thank you Ben and Ashley...for everything!! We LOVED hanging out with you all in NYC!

Thank you Mom and Daddy for keeping the girls so that we could go and know that our little angels were in the best hands possible!

I didn't think to get a video of everything we saw but here are a couple of video clips from our little vacation!!

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