New York, New York

I HEART SUPERMAN

Ground Zero

Statue of Liberty

Too cool for NYC

Dinner on the roof of our hotel!!! Best night ever!!

Hurray for mac and cheese pizza!!

Red Velvet and Lemon Cheesecake- yum! Do I have something on my teeth?

Today was awesome! We slept in a little and felt really relaxed all day. We just went with the flow which is a great way to do new York. We didn't set any time constraints. Our first stop of the day was Times Square! (15 minute walk) It was unbelievable! Parker and tanner were speechless. All the signs and lights were out of this world! Parker straight away located the Toys R Us so we spent some time playing around in there. The deal breaker was the Jurassic park area with a life sized T Rex that roared every few minutes. No bueno for Parker. ;-) We did take a picture in front of the candy-land section next to King Kandy ( candy-land is a favorite at our house lately) we also explored the Disney store which was phenomenal but totally not as cool as disneyLAND.

After perusing times square and getting a feel for it we got a subway pass and headed down to ground zero and the 9-11 memorial. Parker loved the subway ride. It's so fast too! Like 10 minutes. Going to ground zero and seeing the memorial was very moving for me. I have such love and respect for those heroes who sacrificed their life to save others. Their bravery is awe inspiring. We showed Parker around the visitors center and watched a little video. They had little stuffed dogs to remember the dogs who helped find victims hidden in the rubble. It was quite a bit for Parker to take in but he had a reverence for it that made me proud. I can't help expressing my love for my brother in law, Matt, who FIGHTS for our freedom daily. Words can't express how grateful I am to him and his sweet wife for their sacrifice for US. Love you guys so much!!! At ground zero we met a police officer who is a Sargent in the marines stationed at Bolling AFB just like Matt! He was way cool and we are both headed to DC tomorrow! Small world.

From the world trade center memorial we walked to the waterfront and took the staten island ferry to see the statue of liberty! It was way more crowded than the last time I took it with Josi 10 years ago- probably cuz it's more touristy now than in February. But we enjoyed the ferry ride and still got to see the fabulous lady liberty and the fantastic new York city skyline.

We took the subway back up to times square and strolled back to our hotel. We found a nice little pizza place a local bakery right around the corner from our place, the Pod Hotel, so we decided to pick up some food from there and eat it on the roof of the hotel! The cool thing about this pizza place, Krunch Pizza Bar, is that they have Mac and Cheese pizza and we ALL know Mac and cheese is Parker's favorite! Score! The bakery had a variety of mini cheesecakes so tanner and I chose lemon and red velvet. Holy cow- they were scrumptious! We ate on the roof at sunset and watched the sun go down and the city light up. We also saw a big, full yellow moon in between the tall buildings which looked super cool. We relaxed and cooled off together in the fresh evening air. We felt really lucky to be there  in such a unique spot enjoying time together as a family. I cannot WAIT to see Josi tomorrow and spend time with FAMILY! Love you!!! Xoxo