New York City Day 2

  Thursday was our first full day in NYC.  We woke up pretty early because we had a show to get to.  While I got ready, Joey ran down to the corner deli and got us amazing breakfast sandwiches.  I couldn't get over how convenient it was to always have everything you needed so close by!
   After we got ready, we headed to the Sirius radio headquarters.  Covino and Rich were doing a live taping and we got to be in the studio during it.  We met lots more fans and Joey loved getting to meet so many other fans.  They even brought in some really good NYC pizza for lunch. 

At the studio

During the show

Had to take a quick picture

  After the show, I wanted to do some shopping.  I wanted to treat myself to a new Tory Burch handbag for my graduation present.  We got a little lost, and ended up walking for miles through Central Park.  Central Park in the summer time is gorgeous, but it was a lot of walking!!!

Central Park

  After so much walking, we finally arrived at Tory Burch!  Of course with my luck, we got there and they were sold out of the purse I had my eye on.  So, it was basically a waste of time!  We opted to take a cab back to the hotel because it was hot and we were tired!  We quickly learned to not take cabs in NYC.  It took so long because of traffic and it was very expensive!

 
   There was a really neat little Mexican place next to our hotel.  Joey was hungry from all that walking, so we stopped in so he could get tacos and I could get a margarita.  It hit the spot!

Such a neat little place!

 
   After our snack, we headed back to our hotel to change for the night.  The hotel only had two elevators and they were the smallest elevators I have ever seen.  You had to stand in the elevator single file.  Here is a picture of Joey in front of the elevator to show how small it was.

    The place were going for the night was pretty far.  We decided it was finally time to try out the subway.  What an experience that was!  It was raining that night, and we ended up getting off at the wrong stop and had to walk through the rain.  The subway system can be confusing at times!  Luckily, someone told us that Iphone maps have a transit option and we started using that and managed to navigate the subway much better after that!  We bought Metro passes and ended up using the subway the rest of the time we were there.  It is just so much faster.

In the subway

On the platform

    We headed down to the harbor for a city cruise with the rest of the convention goers.  It had been raining on and off all day, but it cleared up for a bit.  We were all waiting in a line to board the boat, and the sky just opened up and it was a torrential downpour.  We all got soaked!  Because of the weather, the water was VERY choppy.  I am very lucky that I don't get seasick.  The storm left as quickly as it came in, and it ended up being a very nice night.  The cruise was a lot of fun and we got to see some great sights like the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.  I am glad we got to go on the cruise.

The skyline

Statue of Liberty way off in the distance

Closer shot of the Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

     After the cruise, all the convention goers headed to a nearby bar for drinks.  We had a blast and met so many new people.  It ended up being a pretty late night, but we had a great time!

New York City Day 1

   For my graduation, I knew that I wanted to celebrate with a trip somewhere special.  Joey and I went back and forth as to whether we would take the kids.  He asked his dad if he was available to babysit and he was.  So, that decided that we were going to go without kids.  We decided that we wanted to go to New York City.  Joey had never been before, and I had only been once before for only two days.
   Joey has listened to this radio show on Sirius radio for a very long time.  The hosts are named Covino and Rich and they have an entire community of fans.  Every year, they host a fan convention in NYC.  Joey has always wanted to go.  The timing was perfect, so we decided to go to NYC during the convention.  I decided that Joey did such an amazing job of supporting my dream of getting another master's, that I needed to support one of his dreams.
    We flew out on Wednesday morning.  There was some weather on the east coast so our flight was a bit delayed.  Joey and I were a little nervous how were were going to get to our hotel once we landed.  Luckily, we met someone on our flight that had grown up in NYC, so he told us he would help us navigate things once we landed.  What a help that was!  By the time we landed, it was dark and a little overwhelming to say the least!  We did as true New Yorkers did, and took an air tram to some train station, where we then boarded a train which took us to Penn Station.  From Penn Station, we took a taxi to our hotel.  It took a lot of different modes of transportation, but we finally got there!!!!

    Joey and I were amused to see that our hotel was an authentic New York hotel room.  It was the tiniest room I have ever stayed in!  The location was great and we spent very little time in the room, so it wasn't a big deal.  The only issue was that the room was so small we could leave our suitcases open and out, so every morning we had to zip them up and put them on top of the armoire.

Joey demonstrating how small the room was 

He could almost touch his hands from wall to wall

   After we checked out our room, we needed to get something to eat.  We looked on Yelp, and there was a restaurant that got really good reviews right by our hotel.  It ended up being next to the hotel.  The upstairs was a pretty lively bar, but the basement was a quaint little area that was much more our style.  We ordered poutine and a chicken sandwich and both were really, really good.

At dinner

Yummy chicken sandwich! 

   After dinner, we walked around the midtown a bit and saw some of the famous NYC sights.  I just love New York City!

Times Square which is literally the sea of humanity at night

   After some sightseeing, Joey wanted to meet up with some people that were there for the convention.  We met them at a bar called The Perfect Pint.  I have to admit, it was a little awkward meeting and hanging out with people we had never met before.  It wasn't awkward for long because we truly met some of the nicest people ever.  We had such a amazing time during our trip meeting new people.

   After a drink, we were exhausted from a long day of traveling and we knew we had a busy day the next day.  We called it a night.  Our first night in NYC was a definite success!!!!

Emmy at 18 months

  Here is out little cupcake at 18 months.  She is growing like crazy and shows us something new almost every day.  She is such a delight!  By far her favorite thing in the world to do is play outside.  She is such an outdoors girl already!  She is like the dog, and literally will beg out the back door to go play.  She will play in the backyard for hours.  I love that she loves getting fresh air.  She always sleeps like a champ after all that outdoor time. 

Playing outside.  

Playing some basketball 

She is obsessed with these blocks and asks me to get them out multiple times a day

Poor thing fell on the back patio and scraped her chin up good

Water World

  Jameson is the only one of the kids with a summer birthday.  He decided this year that he wanted to go to Water World for is birthday.  My brother, Ashyn, Dawson, and I go every year.  Everyone else had not been in years and years.  My sister got a birthday package that came with all sorts of neat stuff like a private cabana.  The weather was great and we got lucky and it did not rain at all.  The kids (and adults) had such an awesome time.  I'm hoping Jameson decides to have his birthday there every year! 

Waiting for Water World to open

Ready for some fun

The kids 

Our group

Part of the birthday package included this ginormous funnel cake layered with ice cream.  This thing was huge and I am not kidding when I say the kids devoured this entire thing in under 5 minutes!  It was really tasty!  

What a special birthday cake!