New York City with my Babe.

On Wednesday Wayne and I took off to New York City! It was Wayne's Father's Day present this year. Boy, did I benefit in coming along. It was a blast.

We woke up just before 4:00 a.m. to get ready to head to airport. Can I say how weird it is to take nothing but a purse with you to the airport. HEAVEN!! Security? A piece of cake! Waiting to board? Lovely and quiet. The flight? Sleep, peaceful slumber. I knew Wayne would be able to put on his own seatbelt sans sound effects and sit still without offering him a constant string of candy, coloring books, and/or trucks. Traveling can actually be quite relaxing if I do say so myself.

We arrived in NYC at 7:15 a.m. Called the limo service to take us to Manhattan and again, relaxed (well, minus the 85 mph weaving) as our driver dropped us off in the financial district. < Can you see part of the New York Stock Exchange sign? I had really wanted to see ground zero and was surprised to see a huge construction site level with the ground. Everyone I've talked to that had seen ground zero had seen a huge hole. Not anymore. We were able to go the Visitor Center and we've said many times since that it is the best $10 we have ever spent. There were posters of missing people that hung all over the city as people tried to locate their loved ones, recordings of the first emergency response teams, and emotional video footage. It brought all of those memories flooding back to the surface. I could almost remember that day when I watched the television in utter shock when the airplane hit the second tower. The room was dead silent. Tears were streaming down our eyes. We couldn't believe that we were being attacked. If any of you go the NYC, we highly recommend the Visitor Center at Ground Zero. It's small, but worth it.

We later walked to Trinity Church and St. Paul's Church. Two beautiful buildings. I thought of my brother-in-law (who is an Architect) and how much he would love the architecture. St. Paul's was a refuge for volunteers, firefighters, and police officers during the September 11th attack. We were once again humbled by the pictures and memories that have been made there.

Picture outside of Trinity Church.
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Wayne by the historic St. Paul Church sign.

We stopped for food at a few fun Cafe's and kept walking to Times Square. About halfway there my hip started bothering me. Enough that I was limping a bit and we decided to take the Subway the rest of the way. We walked out onto Broadway and saw half of the road blocked off for bands that were playing. There were chairs set up and people lounging about. We took full advantage of the seats and sat back and enjoyed the music for a while.

Our next stop was West Side Story. Oh yeah, baby! We loved it! You can't beat four rows back at the Palace Theater.
That place is HUGE. I loved the girl who played Anita. Part of the songs were sung in Spanish and it wasn't my favorite, but I didn't hate it for that either. If I spoke Spanish I'm sure I would love that take on it. I left wondering what my life would have been like had I pursued musical theater which was my initial post high school plan. All the questions rolling around like "Could I have been good enough to do that eventually?" That being said, I am not at all sad with how my life has turned out. Just makes me wonder is all.



We ate dinner at the Olive Garden right across from the theater and stopped at the M&M Factory to get some souvenirs for our kiddos. Right after that it was time to head to Grand Central Station to catch our shuttle back to the hotel. As we walked by Grand Central Station there were about 6-8 police officers with helmets, combat boots, machine guns . . . major gear. I've never seen that before. I don't think it was unusual, just something I've never seen.

The shuttle back to the airport took about an hour. We had an hour til our plane boarded and once we were on the plane we sat on it for a little over an hour until it finally took off. We drove home just after midnight, thanked Kim for taking our kids (thanks again!), and hit the pillow HARD.

We've now decided this is something we need to do at least once a year while we live in New York.

Just a quick addition:
I have the hardest time getting Trevor to say his prayers. I eventually say them and he chimes in with Amen at the end. I know that one day he'll take over when he's good and ready. Tonight he said that he didn't know how to pray. I beg to differ. I told him that he knew how and that it didn't need to be long. I told him to just thank Heavenly Father for his blessings, ask him to sleep well, and thank him for Jesus. So, he started his prayer, which I suspected would sound much like something I had just uttered to him. This is what he said instead.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my blessings.
Thank you for my family.
Please help me to learn about electricity.
Please help me to not be scared of the darkness.
Please help me to learn to swim.
Please help me back float all by myself.
Please help Lexi to not hit me.
Please help me to not be afraid of yellow eyes, those are Sith Lord eyes.
Please help me to get on my clothes all by myself.
Thank you for my friends.
Thank you for my blue wall.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

I can see why we are told to be as little children. What a perfectly pure prayer. Way to go T.