I Love New York City- Days 3 & 4

Day III
On Day Three our our NYC adventure, we headed straight to brunch at Clinton Street Bakery.  Before leaving for New York, I found this place as one of the best places to brunch in the big apple, and then I found out it was national pancake week, and THEN I found out they would be serving up german chocolate pancakes that day! Oh goodness, it was heavenly.  Even though it was Monday, the wait was  still pretty long, but once inside we found this cozy place super inviting and exceptionally good.  I got of course the german choc pancakes and Andy got a southern breakfast with the most delicious bacon. Mmmmm bacon. After breakfast we did some shopping in SoHo and then took a train to Brooklyn.   What a darling lil place.  A sweet woman guided us to the best viewing spot of Manhattan Skyline.  It was once again frigid, but it the sun was out, the sky was clear, and it was a gorgeous sight.  It was totally worth it.  We didnt make it to the Brooklyn Bridge, it was just too darn cold, but we kept going and found the Staten Island Ferry.  At this point, we sat back, floated along for the ride, saw Lady Liberty in all her majesty, and relaxed a bit.  On our ride back, we admittedly fell asleep.   The waves, the rocking of the boat, the warm air inside the ship.  I admit, I tried hard to fight it, but once we landed it's a good thing Andy heard the bell cause I was out for the day.  In a daze, we headed over to Grand Central Station.  What a gorgeous place.  We took some pictures, walked around, watched the trains come in and out, and admired how clean it was for such a busy place.  Keeping up with our non-stop pace, we headed to dinner at Lombardis Pizzaria and lucked out on not having to wait in line.  We shared a yummy pizza, and enjoyed it.  Off we headed to the top of the Empire State building for a view of the city at night.  We really lucked out on clear weather cause, although cold, it was breathtaking.  The lights of the city were outstandingly beautiful.  We saw the city during the day from the Top of the Rock, and that was neat, but to see all the lights at night, it was like Christmas times a billion.  Such a gorgeous city. We headed back to Erinn and Andrews to visit for a bit, and I'm pretty sure I was out of it because we were so so tired, but they are seriously the best, and we loved our time we got to spend with them!

Day 4
Have you ever eaten a cookie the size of your head, well at least your childs head?  No, well I have and I recommend it to everyone.  Erinn took us to Lavain bakery. I'm pretty sure they have won awards and stuff, cause their cookies are down right good.  Benson and Eliot were so happy to be eating cookies.  I'm sure we all had huge smiles on our faces.  After our cookie breakfast, We  walked across Central Park and it started to snow.  Oh my goodness, it was gorgeous.  The light snow had started to stick and I cant believe how pretty that park is.  So much to do and see, what a wonderland in the summer.  I want to go back, so the Smiths might be seeing more of us in the future!!  After exploring some bridges, and paths, we ended up at a French Pastry shop called Laduree off Madison Ave. I was able to buy a small box of macarons brought in from Paris that morning! MAIS OUI! They fly them in each day so they are fresh and they were a great memory from Paris.

Later, someone stopped and asked us for directions, and happily Andy was able to direct them.  HELLO it was only our 4th day there, but that's what I love about NYC.  It is so huge, yet so small at the same time.  We did get lost, so dont get me wrong, it is just so fun to get a feel for it.   We walked down Madison Ave and enjoyed lunch at a quiet little restaurant inside Bloomingdales called La Train Bleu.  It literally is a little blue train on the top of Bloomingdales that holds a restaurant inside of it! Super cool, and we got super lucky to find it cause we had no idea where we wanted to eat, and Andy found it on his phone. It was a nice calm place to talk about our trip and the adventure we had before heading back to the get our stuff for the airport.  Erinn and Andrew and the best.  We are so grateful for their kindness and letting us stay with them. We loved our trip so much!!!  We took subway to JFK, took around 2 hrs 15 minutes.  Arrived home at 10:50pm, both not feeling well because we forgot to drink water, but super excited to see Jake, so we woke him up and his eyes got big! It was an amazing trip.  I was so happy to snuggle my little boy again though!

I Love New York City - day II

Ok, so I know I've slacked on the updates around here, but all in good reason.  We have been BUSY! I have written down at least 6 posts I need to do, so here's my attempt!

Day 2 in NYC was a lot slower.  We still did a lot, but we were already pooped from jam packing our first day.   It was Sunday and we wanted to keep the reverence of the sabbath with us, so we planned for the 9/11 Memorial.  It was a really frigid day for some reason, but we just kept on walking to make it to our scheduled tour.  You need tickets ahead of time, so we booked ours and made it in time.  It was very solemn, and very touching.  So many lives lost.  I remember looking over the edge of the memorials where the foundation used to lie, and water falls several feet into a void.  No matter how hard I tried to see the bottom of the void, reaching to the tops of my toes, I could not see the bottom.  It was made that way, because of the void left in the lives of so many Americans.  The lives lost can never be replaced, but I found great peace in the atonement knowing that these precious lives were not lost.  Sometimes it is hard for me to comprehend the evil of other human beings.  I just dont know how someone could kill another.  I'm thankful to know that goodness and righteousness will always prevail no matter how dark the days ahead may seem.  I hope those hurt by the loss of life on 9/11 will find peace through the goodness of other humans, despite this huge tragedy.  We read many names and we thought of where we were that day.  We watched a video about those coping with life after loosing their loved ones, and I am amazed at the faith of those suffering.

We left the sacred grounds of the memorial and briefly stopped by Wall Street, the Bowling Green Bull, and headed to church at the Morningside Heights Ward.  What an awesome ward.  That was the first time in years I've sat through church.  It was heaven sent. There were so many outgoing members there.  I was amazed at the stroller parking inside the building.  Leave it to the Mormons to have lots of kids! :-) It was impressive to see all the strollers parked inside.

After church, we headed to the Met museum to see a beautiful greek sculpture exhibit, then headed straight for the European art gallery.  Andy and I took a humanities class in college together, so it was fun to see and talk about our favorite artists.  Loved it! We saw several Vermeer's, and one of my personal favorites, Jacques-Louis David.  The museum was closing so we ran through the rest of the exhibit, and Andy wanted to see the Armory.  We glanced at some cool pieces, and walked our way to Serendipity for a cup of frozen hot cocoa! I fell in love with the shabby chic eclectic mix of furnishings, and the unique menu.  My mouth waters just thinking about the frozen cocoa.  It lived up to the hype for me, and Andy loved it too.  We caught a cab and went back to the Smith's for an amazing dinner and watched the super bowl, Beyonce and then the power went out in the stadium so we just chilled with the Smiths. We crashed into bed afterwards, and I'm pretty sure we had to try really hard to wake up the next day!