New York

Well, we went to New York. I have always, always wanted to go to New York. Daniel came home one day and said that he was going to New York for a training. He didn't even want to go and knew that I had been dying to go for years. Then a few weeks later he came home with flowers and said, "Here's your early birthday present. (flowers, roses) They were on sale." I thought, "what the?? I get flowers because they were on sale and not even on my real birthday, which was a few weeks a way." He kept telling me to put them in water. So, I finally did and the card fell that said, Happy Birthday, and when I picked it up I barely saw the back so I flipped it back over and it said, "What state flower are these (roses)?" I looked it up after dinner... New York! So, Daniel's wonderful mom and sister took care of our kiddies and we went to New York on September 15th-18th. It was so fun.

Coming out of Central Park

The first day we got there in the afternoon and we went to the hotel, dropped off our luggage and took off around the city. Our hotel was right next to Times Square. We walked to Central Park, which is huge. It was just like I thought. It was crazy to get into the park and it didn't even seem like it was surrounded by a big, crazy city.

Taxi Cabs. They were everywhere.

We found the LDS Temple. It was crazy to see it sitting in the middle of the city. The first thing I saw was the Angel Moroni. While we stood there looking at it from across the street, I was thinking...'Here sits the temple of God right in the middle of Manhattan, where thousands of people walk by everyday and most have no idea what they are walking right next to.'

Giant statue by Central Park.

We finally found a good pizza place. John's Pizzeria. It was so good and looked way different inside then I thought it would. This is the celing. It had stained glass windows and was really high.

Pretty.

I had a picture of Daniel too, but I must have skipped it when uploading...

Bummer. His was funny too, but now mine is just dumb...

Random.

There was a 3-story Toys R Us in Times Square.

It had Jurassic Park. The T-rex really moved and looked real. We thought it was looking at us.

There was a ferris wheel in Toys R Us.

And Candy Land.

5th Avenue had all the stores like Prada, Saks, Juicy, etc. And the Trump Tower.

In the middle of all these buildings there were churches too.

The NBC store in the Rockerfeller Plaza had lots of stuff from their shows.

I thought The Office bobble heads were funny.

And the Dundie Awards. Daniel doesn't think some things are as funny as I do.

The next few pictures are of Times Square.

Friday afternoon we took the Subway to Canal street. I can't believe that subway system is under the city. It was crazy. We did not fit in. It was all the new yorkers and we were not one of them because we had no idea what we were doing. We were just hoping to not get lost.

Canal Street is near Chinatown. It was crazy as soon as we stepped up from the subway. (It is not like Chinatown in San Fransisco.) At first I had no idea what the little chinese lady was yelling at me. I later figured out that she was saying something about Gucci, Prada, etc. "what you looking for?" ha ha.

To ge the 'real' stuff you had to follow them to the back where they said there was "no security." We didn't follow. I didn't feel good about illegal merchandise. We did barter with them and I got a bag that I hope wasn't illegal. There were tables with bongs spread out to buy and guys handing out free drugs. No thanks. People were constantly asking you what you were looking for and shouting out what they had to sell you. Rolex, Prada, Gucci, jewlery, sunglasses. I offered $15 for a purse and the lady said, "Ha. You can get a wallet for fifteen." It was hilarious.

This is the entrance to the Apple store which was down a spiral stair case.

FAO Schwartz. I made Daniel take off his shoes and play The Big Piano.

Don't worry, we found Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Soldier outside of FAO. He was funny.

Night time in Times Square.

It was so fun and there is so much to do in New York. We needed more time. We got there Wednesday afternon and Daniel was working from 9-5 on Thursday and 9-3 on Friday, and we left Saturday morning so we didn't have much time. I hope we can go back someday and go to more places. Happy Birthday to me! Thanks Daniel, mom-in-law, and Brittany. It was fun.