Friday, April 14, 2017

NYC Days 3-5

The forecast for day three was rain all day so we changed up our itinerary and planned to go to both indoor museums. Marcus had read about the crowds at the 9/11 Memorial so we decided to knock it out first thing.

 
 
 
Words can't describe the powerful impact of the 9/11 memorial. It's truly one of those places you have to experience yourself to get a true fill for it's magnitude. We were there two hours and could have easily spent half a day.
  
The last pillar that was standing from the original World Trade Center. It's kind of the centerpiece of the whole museum and everything is built around it.


 
This is 3000+ tiles of all different shades of blue to represent every life lost in the attack. No two tiles are the exact same. You can get an idea of how large it is by how it dwarfs Georgia Grace!
Since it was raining we didn't spend a lot of time observing the outside pools but I did snap a few pictures from under an umbrella. They are HUGE.

 

 
One World Trade Center that replaced the world trade centers. It is the tallest building in NYC, just like the original buildings.

If you make a trip to NYC, the 9/11 memorial is nonnegotiable. You must do it. It's worth a trip to the city just to see it.

  
After we explored the memorial, we took a subway to meet my brother at Ralph's Coffee. We hadn't seen him since Christmas so it was a sweet reunion. We turned a corner and sister spotted him :)


Two cuties! She got out her little toy camera she brought and started taking pictures of him HA!
 
It was so good to see him and to have an NYC expert help us plan our trip and make sure we maximized our time and resources. He's a true Manhattanite now.

 
Sister taking more pictures from her stroller view and through the eyes of a four year old. And just look how she stood out against all the drab colors of the city! She brought some sunshine to the city.

 
I snapped a few pictures from the subway. I didn't feel comfortable taking many because I didn't want to make people feel uncomfortable but for us country folks that aren't use to having our personal space violated like that-it was worth documenting! :) We were pleasantly surprised at how nice and generous people were. On multiple occasions people offered me their seat so I could sit and hold Georgia. It made my heart happy :)

 
As I mentioned Jack stayed with family while we were gone and I received various pictures of him at a toy store, grocery store, outside, etc. I think he was extra spoiled this week! And he picked out all the groceries in his cart HA!



 
American Museum of Natural History was up next

 
All the animals were real and are now stuffed and displayed. There were some really amazing ones.


 
We took a selfie with the life size blue whale :)

  
Georgia and t-rex-he was so big I couldn't fit both in the picture!

 
We went to The Burger Joint that night for supper. It is hidden behind this curtain in a five star hotel. The restaurant is seriously a hole in the wall, the menu is written on cardboard and it's just so crazy that it's in the lobby of this hotel! But delicious burgers.

 
The Trump Tower was in our path on the way home from supper so of course we had to stop and check it out. When in Rome, right?

 
We could go in the lobby area but not up the elevators. We got to talking about how many secret service people were probably watching us at this very moment!

 

 
The grandparents enjoyed this pictures :)

Our last full day in the city began early at Magnolia Bakery. 

The trick to missing the crowds? Get there when they open! 

 
It just so happened to be my 30th birthday! So a picture in front of the bakery was warranted.
 
 
And a picture in front of the NBC News studio that had the date displayed was warranted as well :)

 
For my birthday we decided to go to the Top of the Rock to see the best views of the city.

 

 
Sweet sister and New York City!


 
 
 
A memory the three of us will never forget

 
I can't brag enough on how well behaved Georgia was the whole trip. We decided as her reward we would take her to American Girl Place and let her pick out one thing for Lea. She was ecstatic!

 
Literally running through the store!! :)

 
Thumbs up for shopping for her doll!

 
Shopping and deciding on what she will buy for Lea

 
This dress was the winner!

 
And the breakfast bakery set-she loved both so we agreed to two things for Lea :) She deserved it! It was seriously like taking a fourteen year old without an attitude to NYC instead of a four year old!

 
We headed to the East village for some pizza for lunch-delicious!

After a little rest in the hotel room, we headed to visit Cody as his apartment. Oh my it's the cutest! It looks like something straight off of Sex and the City or Cosby Show. He told us that Janis Joplin lived in his apartment building back in the day-so cool!

 
His view from his bedroom window. He is living the life!
 
 
Family picture on the front porch minus Marcus who had to take it for us. Just look how cute it is!!

 
Cody had us dinner reservations and bought our meal for us which was super sweet of him! We ended my birthday with a trip to Cookie Do-the latest craze to hit NYC. It's actual cookie dough you can eat-they use pasteurized eggs. I can't think of a better way to celebrate turning thirty than edible cookie dough in NYC.

 
Yum yum yum!

 
We couldn't eat at all but I finished it off in the airport the next day!

 
This is what four days of city exploring will do to ya.

 
Our last day in the city we slept in and just took our time getting ready to head home. I took Georgia to the lobby to get a few pictures of her in her jammies. Totally channeling some Eloise :)

 
The hotel was absolutely beautiful but it didn't hold a light to my girl!

We had a little fun too :)

 
We walked to the Chic-Fil-A that was close by for lunch and then did a little shopping before it was time to head to the airport. We were super duper ready to be home and see Jack at this point!
 
 
Goodbye Roosevelt Hotel, thanks for a week of memories!

 
Our view from the window of our Uber as we drove over the Queensboro bridge-spectacular!

 
We had an evening flight and I snapped this picture of New York as we headed back down south. I really love traveling and exploring new places but goodness there is no place like home!

 
She got to go in the cockpit on our flight home from JFK airport! Probably because she was wearing Easter onesie pajamas and carrying a babydoll on a flight full of adults. What an awesome memory for her!

We had a really awesome time in the Big Apple. It was pretty cold most of the time, we were excited to get home to warm and sunny weather. Cody plans to move to Chicago in the fall so I'm not sure if or when we will ever be back but it's definitely a trip everyone should take at least once in their lifetime. 

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