NYC

Joe and I just returned from a get-away to New York City!  We were there for 4 nights and 5 days.  Joe's parents were gracious enough to drive down to our house and spend time with the kids so we could get away.  We are so grateful to them for coming down and the kids had a blast with Nana and Papa. 

The main reason we wanted to go on this trip was to go to the US Open tennis tournament.  And while we were there we did all the other NYC tourist-y things.  We had a great hotel right in the middle of Times Square.  I expected the city to be busy, but there were so.many.people.  Wow.  And there is literally a Starbucks on every block.

We left Thursday morning super early from Augusta and arrived at our hotel about 11:00, so we still had the whole day ahead of us.  We walked around, got something to eat, went to the Top of the Rock,  walked around and shopped, and then after dinner that evening we went to Madame Tussauds wax museum.  It was actually right next to our hotel, and it was fun to go into.

Central Park from the Top of the Rock

The New Year's Eve ball in Times Square

This picture is for Tate!

On Friday we got up early and took the train into Flushing, NY for the US Open.  We had tickets for the day at the Arthur Ashe stadium.  We got to see three matches of tennis and had good seats.  The first match was Li Na vs Robson, the second match was Djokovic vs Becker, and the third match was Hampton vs Sloane Stephens.  We had great weather and it was so cool to be able to see them play tennis in the stadium.  We also walked around quite a bit and could see a lot of tennis players on the practice courts.  It was tons of fun and we totally could have gone one more day.  We took the train back, changed and got some dinner and went back to the hotel.  We were wiped out!

We saw Chris Evert announcing for ESPN

On Saturday, we went to the Statue of Liberty.  We didn't have tickets to go all the way up to the crown, but we got to walk around the base.  It was very cool.  Ellis Island was closed, unfortunately, but it looked like a neat place to visit. 

Ellis Island

After we got off the ferry, we went to the 9/11 memorial.  It was really neat and the two pools where the buildings stood were beautiful.  It was a very touching place to be.

The Freedom tower at the 9/11 memorial site

From there we wandered up towards Chinatown, eating at a food truck along the way for lunch.  From Chinatown, we hit Little Italy, then walked up to Soho and Greenwich village.  Those neighborhoods were really neat and we are so glad we wandered through them.  We took the subway back to our hotel.  We walked a ton that day and we were so tired!

Drinking a glass of sangria in Little Italy

On Sunday, we got up early and went to the Today show.  We were on TV!  We felt like dorks, but it was super fun.  It was neat to see how they do things.  After that we went to Central Park to walk around.  It is huge and we only made it through like 1/4 of it.  Then we went to Macy's.  It was nine floors of shopping!  Later that evening, we went out to dinner and went to the Broadway show, Wicked.  It was fabulous!  We didn't know what to expect, but it was really good and even funny!

At the Today Show

Central Park

On Monday, we got a late checkout, slept in a bit, and shopped around until we had to head to the airport.  We had a little delay in our flights getting home, but we eventually made it late that night.

Really, really good pastries

Lots of shopping  and looking around.  Joe loved it!

The kids were excited to see us the next morning (or I guess I should say excited to see what we brought them!) and we were excited to see them.  We brought the kids US Open t-shirts, and some candy and other junk.  I also took all the hotels little shampoo and soap and lotion for Adria.  She loved it.  My dad used to bring us the soap and plastic cups when we were little and we thought it was the greatest!  It's the little things.

We missed the kids a ton, but Joe and I had a great time just the two of us for the five days.  It was so nice eating meals without the kids and doing whatever we wanted during the day and not listening to fighting or whining.  It was also nice to get away from the routine of our days and not have to do bath time, bedtime and meals for a while.  But we were definitely ready to get home and love on them.  Now we are detoxing the kids from being spoiled by Nana and Papa.

We had a great time in New York, but it is good to be home.  I have a great appreciation for the openness and cornfields of Iowa and the rednecks of the south!