I sigh with satisfaction and a little bit of longing thinking about the fun time I had with my mom and sisters in New York over the weekend. I have always wanted to visit New York and my first time there was anything but a let-down.
My aunt and uncle are finishing up as mission presidents for the
LDS Church in New York, and they opened up the mission home to us for our stay. It was such a lovely, comfortable home.
When I left Clay and Ellie for the airport, I might have shed some tears. But it was good for me to have an all girls, no kids (besides angel-baby Kaylyn) trip before our baby boy arrives in less than two months. No big deal.
Here is the mission home where we stayed with my awesome aunt and uncle.
This was our first of many subway trips. I was impressed with how many people instantly offered their seat to me as soon as they saw I was pregnant. I was struck by how friendly New Yorkers were to us despite the stereotypes you hear. People were so eager to help us with directions and recommendations.
On our first morning in New York, we went to the Museum of Natural History (where "Night at the Museum" was filmed). We saw a cool star show, but the ocean exhibit was my favorite. Then we followed a recommendation from a friend and headed to the charming little cafe from "You've Got Mail." The brunch was delicious, and so was the shopping at SoHo afterwards.
I loved the pretty neighborhoods of the west side. You always see these pretty doors with steps leading up to them in so many movies, and the fire escape decks are everywhere in New York. One thing I found surprising was that no cars seem to stop or pull over to make way for ambulances with their sirens on. My sister-in-law's sister works in an emergency room there and she says they just don't care and there's too much traffic everywhere.
We saw "Mary Poppins" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Broadway. They were both really well-done shows, but I enjoyed the second better. Still, I was surprised that the shows were not my favorite part of our trip.
Day two in the city was by far everyone's favorite. We rented bikes and pedaled around Central Park for hours. It was a gorgeous day and the park was packed with people and things going on. Zumba in Central Park? Sign me up!
Apparently, we were all in the mood for stripes that day. It was kind of a funny site.
The great day continued with some amazing food. That's an understatement. We ate the best pizza I have ever had (we all agreed on that) at an authentic Italian place in Greenwich Village. Our appetizer was housemade creamy mozzerella with basil, tomatos and prosciutto. After dinner, we went to the famous Magnolia Bakery for some banana bread pudding my sister-in-law said was a must-try. It was incredible, even for those of us who aren't big on pudding. Other yummy foods during our trip included hand-dipped gelato popsicles and fresh tacos.
All the Cone sisters. (Our maiden name)
It was fun to be part of such a big, busy city, but I would have a hard time living there. After awhile we all started feeling a little claustrophobic from spending so much time underground on the subways and on the crowded streets surrounded by high rises.
On Sunday, we went to the World Trade Center memorial. I'm so glad we did it. As I looked at the place where the towers went down, it was so surreal to think it actually happened. In place of each fallen tower, they have built big waterfalls with the names of the victims surrounding them. They are building one tower to replace the two that fell (bottom left of the collage) and at 1,776 feet, it is the tallest building in the nation.
Times Square!
As I was warned, the Statue of Liberty did look much smaller than it seems in all the movies, but it was still cool to float past it on a ferry.
We checked out the mission office on our last day.
Four full days in the city was a perfect amount, we thought.
On the way home, we saw the girl (Kim) who won Survivor at the airport carting around her 1 million dollar novelty check.
Coming home to Ellie and Clay was so fun. Since I've been home, Ellie has given me a lot of extra snuggles, kisses and hugs and randomly says things like, "Thanks for coming home, mommy," "Happy Mother's Day!" and "How was your New York?" She loves the snow globe of the city I brought back for her.
