we interupt this travel log for a very important message!

I AM GOING TO BE A

GRANDMA!!

**YES**

Megan & Tony are expecting

I have known for a couple of weeks, but was sworn to secrecy.

When they told us I screamed & started bawling & cried for almost two hours straight.

(I am a TERRible secret keeper... this has been very hard for me. There are several people I purposely haven't spoken to for weeks, just because I knew I couldn't keep my big mouth shut)

So the due date is October 29th, which is approximately 2 weeks from when the missionary comes home. We haven't gotten his release date yet.

2009 is shaping up to be the best year ever

day two in the city: april 10th

We headed into the city a little later than yesterday.

Just a little tired.

For sure no one reading this will ever want to go on vacation with me!

I tend to over plan... if you didn't notice from our adventures the day before.

I just don't want anyone to miss anything.

Who knows when/if we'll ever be back?

Some houses on the way to the train.

It was overcast, a little cool, but not raining- so the weather was good!

It was just about lunch time so we stopped to get some New York street food. Oh boy- street carts are regulated like restaurants. You shouldn't worry about eating at these, not to mention... the hot dogs are FANTAstic! I think food tastes better in New York. Actually, I think food tastes better if I'm not making it-

(notice the fruit cart in the background?- you can buy fruit on carts just like hot dogs & pretzels)

Do you ever watch Unwrapped?

We love that show & saw how they make these Sabrett hot dogs for these street carts. They are only sold here in New York & they are made of the finest ingredients. Fantastic- a hot dog with everything $2- not bad!

Jack had this skewer of grilled chicken- also very good!
The girls shared a pretzel- why don't I have a picture? Because I am an idiot.

Today we were headed to Times Square-
the busiest, most touristy place in the city.

First stop
Toys R Us
This place is insane- and voted Trent's favorite place in all of New York city!
It's kind of like a toy store amusement park.
Right when you walk into the revolving doors there are people taking your photos with characters. Today it was Spider Man- I don't know if it's always spider man? Trent refused to take a photo with spider man- who cared we weren't going to buy it at the photo desk- so there you go- There is an INDOOR ferris wheel here. It is full sized 3 stories, maybe 4 high.
Trent also refused to ride on it & seeing the size of the line again- score.


While Brett & the kids were in here watching toy demonstrators-
everything from a guys using a magic set to puppeteers-
I ran over the the Time Square ticket booth just to see what time tickets went on sale.
In Time Square you can buy same day tickets for Broadway shows discounted up to 50%.
We were hoping to score some tickets to Mary Poppins, Phantom, Lion King or The Little Mermaid. I found out that Phantom & The Mermaid- don't do discounts... but the others didn't go on sale until later- we didn't get back this day-( but more on that tomorrow when we did get some.) It's kind of a crap shoot getting tickets this way- it's first come, first serve, long but fast lines & only what hasn't been sold up to the actual performance is available. We didn't do Wicked like this because we just couldn't risk not seeing it- but if you want to see theater- save a little money & you don't really care what you see because you have several choices- this is a great way to go.

Next stop

M & M World!Again- this place was very full of people- to but it nicely.
I am sure Times Square is always full of people.
You just wouldn't believe all the merchandise they sell here!?

Everything is cute here-

EVERYTHING

m & m mugs, pens, bags, t-shirts....... on & on cuteness

Walls & walls of m & m's and merchandise for sale-

(but really it's all junk.)
Thankfully- I had just stared de junking & spring cleaning at home.

the thought of picking up more junk or sending m & m stuff to the goodwill in a couple of months helped me keep my whits together.

Next up-

right across the street

THE HERSHEY STORE

Trent really, really wanted to buy this 5lb. Hershey bar.

Who can blame him??

The kid doesn't even like candy....

so just like every stinkin' piece of candy he has ever brought home

I would've eaten it-

Not to mention- I didn't want to carry this around all day- so we passed on it.
The Hershey store is like 1/8th as big as M & M world.

They do have loads of great stuff & it smells .....

like chocolate.

The good news- they give out samples of miniatures to kids.

They let kids turn these cranks & candy comes down through the ceiling & down slides into a bucket. REally fun & then - they didn't give big kids or adults sample- not cool.

Next we headed off to lunch at another favorite place that we always eat at.

Europa Cafe

I don't know if this chain is located in other places, but you see several of them in Manhattan.

The lime bars are so good- they are always my favorite.

I've never seen lime bars anywhere else.

Does anyone have a recipe for these?

they have kind of a cheesecake like filling in the middle, lime on top... oh they are so good.

Next we walked down to Central Park.

Brett took the kids over to see the temple, not too far from the park- while I took a side trip to one of my other favorite places in the city.

It's hard to believe there is a temple here - right in the middle of this bustling city!

You can't even tell it's here- it's on a regular city block. Just one block from the ABC studios where they film Regis & Kelly. The last two times in NY we took the time to go to the temple. This time we just stopped by.

I took pictures on my phone of where I went & I will hopefully add them later.

This place is so cool, upscale & heavenly for me.

Kate's Paperie
I did splurge & bought some beautiful little sticky notes...

oh the joy.

Anyone who really knows me knows- I LOVe daffodils.

They are really my favorite flowers.

Central Park was Full of them!

Central Park is truly a treasure- It's gorgeous- It's amazing.

All this beauty & life here in one of the busiest cities in the world.

There are baseball fields for public use.

Walking & bike trails.

The famous Tavern On The Green is here.

I love this photo- even though it is blurry.

At this point we were getting pretty tired.

Trent refused to take a picture.

We were headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art -

on the other side of the park & farther down.

We decided to get a taxi.

This was an absolute thrill for Trent who immediately started quizzing the driver about the cash cab... thankfully he told us that he had NEver seen him in his 13 years of driving around the city. He also said almost everyone who gets in his cab asks about him.

Driving across the park.

We made it to the Met- which is open late on Fridays & Saturdays, thankfully.

I couldn't believe the fresh flowers in the entry.

All the fresh flowers are donated by someone. I should have taken a picture of her name plate. What an amazing gift to the museum & all it's many visitors!

We went immediately to the Amoury section of the museum because I knew the kids would love it. This museum is absolutey a MUST see if you ever come to the Big Apple. I love it here.
To be honest, I think brett gave the kids a mini lecture about not complaining- maybe not- but they were very good, acted interested (except for Trent) and behaved the whole time.

When we walked in here (this amour is from the 1400- 1600's- stunning!)

Trent asked "are we going to see the armour of God?"

We had a little FHE lesson on 'putting on the armour of God' a few weeks back.

I tried to explain that you cannot 'see' the armour of God. Can you see honesty? Can you see someone's clean thoughts? he replied very sadly, "I have dirty thoughts!" I said- what?

he said "I think bad words! But Hailey makes me think them! She makes me so mad!!"

I nearly laughed my head off.

I could spend days in this place. It really takes days to see everything. We were only here a couple of hours.

The EArly American section was closed for renovation.

I was bummed because Jack- a total American history lover- would have loved to see the original painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware.

The painting of a rich early New Yorker would have to do.

His actual sword was in the case below. I think he may have had something to do with Central Park... sorry fella' hate to get your story wrong, please forgive me?

We split up & Chloe & I went into the Eygyptian section.

Chloe made a wish.

We walked past hundreds of European & Greek statues with arms or heads of even worse... other body parts broken off. These statues are centuries old! It's amazing they exist at all. Trent kept asking " why is that guys 'private' broken off" it was getting upsetting to the poor little guy.

Finally we made it up to my favorite section of the museum.

The European masters.

What a chance of a life time!

We saw this beauty

By Claude Monet- absolutely thrilling!

We also got to see Piccasso & this Sunflowers by Van Gogh.

Then....

my camera battery died.

I'm seriously. not. kidding. folks.

Thanks goodness for cell phones that take pictures!!

as soon as I figure out how to get the rest of the pictures off my cell phone I will keep this going-

for now-- back to real life here in Utah.

Today I am ballet driver & working at a wedding dinner/reception tonight.
Plus it is actually SUNNY HERE!!! I think it is supposed to be sunny all week. I can't believe it, I may live? I am so happy to see the sun- I really, really missed it.

first day in the city ~ thursday april 9th aka:longest post ever!

I cannot begin to tell you how nice our hotel was.

Everything was perfect.

Lucky for us we stayed on hotel points Brett had accumulated.

I have no idea how much it really costs to stay here.

{chloe's breakfast... I wonder if she ate all that?}

After breakfast we jumped into our rental car & headed to the train station.

There are so many beautiful old homes & neighborhoods in the East.
NOt that there aren't in Utah- but homes are different in the East.
Different architecture, etc. I loved seeing these. It makes me want to move, for a second.

We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day.
Little did we know- this would be our only sunny day.
It was absolutely gorgeous.


Trent was beside himself with excitement to get onto the train into the city.
It's a 39 minute ride from the Bay Street station to Penn Station.

Penn station is right near Madison Square Garden.

We immediately, hopped on one of these. As Shannon told me... it was worth the price. The tour was a blast, so informative & the kids loved being on top of the double decker bus. It was such a gorgeous day!

The hop on hop off bus is such a fantastic way to see the whole city. You can get off & back on where ever you like, that way you don't end up killing yourself (as much) walking or paying a taxi. The local bus is good-- but

first stop- the Empire State Building.

We didn't go up because we were planning on going to the top of the Rock-

The views were incredible even from below!
I hear it's $25 for an adult to go up, a little less for kids.

OUCH- hey it's New York- of course it's pricey!

the Flat Iron building.

I love this building. How many times have you seen this baby in photos?

I didn't know but learned on the tour that this is right near the famous scene with Marilyn Monroe & her skirt flying up in the Seven Year Itch.

I would love to go in here someday.

The spring trees & flowers were so beautiful.

It really is amazing how clean & friendly this city is.

(what the heck? are those wrinkles on my neck?)

The tour guides on these are really great- this guy was our favorite.

WE went through the fashion district, SOHo, China town, Little Italy & on & on.

it's amazing how quickly one district/neighborhood to another change in this town. It's really such a small bit of space with so much going on. One block may have one type of architecture & business going on - the next completely different.
He went through & explained all the different neighborhoods, how their names came about- the whole history

I don't know why but it cracks me up that there is a Best Buy in there.

Trent about had a heart attack & wanted to go in? why??

to buy a laptop of course!

He also begged to go into the big city HOme Depot?

we have a home depot in our town!

I love seeing all the old buildings.

The detail on every thing is really stunning.
I wish the pictures could do justice.

NO trip to NYC for me would be complete with out a stop here.

One of my very favorite stores of all time & I'm not really a shopper- so that is saying a lot!

Even though I continually beg on their website- they haven't built a store in Utah, yet.
It is probably a good thing....

We hopped off the bus at the

World Trade Center stop.

There is really nothing to see right now. It's all under construction. Nothing there but a fenced work site. Not even a small memorial like there used to be. It looks like they are making progress, but these things take a lot of time. So sad.

Many people don't realize it but directly across the street- right there across from where the twin towers used- to be is a VEry old little church.
It wasn't harmed at all that day. A miracle. It's where the firefighters & people went for weeks after - well, there are many cathedrals & churches where people went, but this is the closest to all the workers, fire fighters, etc.

As you can see here-

it's where President George Washington went to pray after his inauguration. It's amazing that this building is here & in such good condition.

Firefighters from all over the world stop here & bring their station's patch.

They pin it here as a show of unity & respect. I know I will get the story wrong so I don't want to directly quote it, but during church services (I think I'm getting this right?) the pastor wore patches people had left. Now there are hundreds.

We decided to eat lunch before hopping back on the bus.This place Oliva was next to our bus stop & full of different ethnic food.

Plus a bakery.

Can you believe we didn't get anything from the bakery?

NOw that I think about it, chloe asked for something... it was busy, crowded. DArn it.
I need to get my priorities in order!

I got a spinach, Turkish Panini with taziki sauce.

The kids shared Gyros & pizza. MMMMmmmmm

On our wait for the next bus we had a great conversation with the grey line employee, who had the best New Jersey accent. The kids were glued to his every word. Then- look here- trent saw a cement truck!

Trent's career goals have adjusted on this trip- besides being a cement truck driver... he is going to be a pilot & fly airplanes.

Trent spent the whole time in the city looking for Ben Bailey & the Cash Cab.

No luck. It's a wonder we didn't lose the little guy. He was constantly walking to the edge of streets looking intently at mini van cabs to see if his numbers were on it. You have to understand-. these are busy streets, people walking- bustling around. You can't just stop & look at cabs with out ruining the walking mojo.

Wall Street
and

Battery Park

There are always All kinds of people in Battery Park.

It's where you get in line buy tickets to ride the ferry over to Liberty Island & Ennis Island.

One thing we learned right away- we were not the only ones here on spring break.

this place was PACked. It's always packed, but still- it was much busier than the two previous times brett & I had been here. The wait was 3 hours for the tickets & then you waited to get on the ferry. At this point in the day there was no guarantee we would get on so we decided to try again later.

Jack bought a pair of sunglasses- $5.

Sweet.

and trent got a toy cab & tour bus

double sweet.

We headed past the Sea Port & uptown.

This is Rockafeller plaza & yep there is still ice skating going on.

The kids kept commenting on all the movie scenes they have seen from here over the years. It's so true. This place reminded them of Elf.We thought we would try to get in on the NBC studio tour-

and head up to the top of the Rock- Rockafellor Center.

NO luck- I guess the were not running because of spring break??

what? I was not happy- don't they want the tourism money? dang- I was so dissapointed!WE did see all kinds of crazy fun stuff in the NBC store where Sienfeld was playing.

Jack was loving it.

There were hilarious products from all our favorites.

Great stuff here.

Our next stop?!

American Girl

I was so excited to take the girls here.

It's three stories of little girl/doll- madness or joy- depending on how you look at it.

Not everyone shared my enthusiasm.

I had to explain that this was on my 100 list

with tears in my eyes... fits were being thrown & not just by me- it had been a long day.

I explained- if nothing else--- we can stop here & go to the bathroom!

THis really cracked me up.

In the bathroom stalls are doll holders.

This is serious business.

Trent wanted me to take this picture of him for Lily.

the bitty baby area is my favorite.

I love that bitty baby!

Look!

She has a new cupcake birthday outfit.

So darn cute.

Somehow my 15 & 12 year old weren't that excited...

why did my girls grow up so fast?

We were here a couple of years too late...

This place too was PACKEd with spring breakers who had dinner reservations & hair appointments. You could hardly walk around.

and yes, after the fit I threw... we saw a lot of little precious girls throwing fits too.

The wait to get your

DOlls hair done?

2 hours!

up the street we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Mass was just starting & I wish it would'nt have been so crowded. I used to go to Mass sometimes with my neighbor growing up & she would come to primary with me. It would have been so good for the kids. In NYC here when there is Mass it looks like there is some kind of terrorist threat going on or something. The police & swat team are all here in front of the front steps... just in case, I don't know what?

these guys are so nice- and so willing to take pictures etc.

He was nice & looked up the address to Dylan's Candy Store for us.

He would'nt let the kids sit on his motorcycle though- he said he only lets hot chicks do that.

Down the street we headed into the Trump Tower-

we happen to love The Apprentice- so that was a treat!

Then FAO Shwartz-

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures here?

It's like a major toy time overload...

this batman & jack were in the lego section.

Right outside of FaO is the Coolese Apple store ever.

You can't really tell from the photo, but it's a glass structure with an apple on it.

You walk in a glass door, down steps to a HUGE apple store. REally impressive.

Everywhere we went were beautiful spring flowers.

Carnegie Hall

David Letterman was on Hiatus...

I guess everyone needs a spring break?

Right next door- Angelo's Pizza.

We have eaten here every time we have come to the Big Apple.

It is so GOOOd.

Walking upstairs to the dining room I took this shot of guys making pizza.

there is NOThing like real NY pizza- YUM

After dinner we walked another three blocks to the Gershwin theatre...

to see

WICKED!!

THIS was just the first day-

Now you know why I am wiped out & trying to catch up & it took me so long to post!

What a great time- more to come-