Thursday, October 24, 2013

New York, New York!

The Big Apple.  The City that never sleeps.  The Empire State.  The Capital of the World. 

There’s a reason why there are so many names that accompany this great city, and we finally were able to experience it!

Ryan, Mindy (Ryan’s mom) and I decided to create a memory together and spend a weekend as a traveling trio!  We flew through the night on Friday only to find we would not be able to check in until later in the morning…so, we dropped off our bags, put on our walking shoes, and made our way through the heart of the city!  We walked up and down Broadway, found a cute little cafĂ© for breakfast, and made our way back to the hotel. 

Nap time :)

The amazing Ian and Ashleigh Cropper just happened to be in NYC that same weekend, so we met at Penn Station and rode down to a fun little restaurant in West Village, and parted ways to fit in the rest of our plans for the afternoon.

We walked around the Rockefeller Center in amazement (the ice skating rink, all the shops and stores) and then made our way up to the “Top of the Rock.”  The elevator went up as fast as the Tower of Terror in Disney Land!  It was amazing!  We went up 67 floors in seconds!  From the top, the views were incredible.  Definitely the best way to see the city.

Next, we made our way over to Broadway St. to watch a Broadway show on Broadway St!!  A bucket list item of ours!  Lion King was absolutely amazing.  I am amazed at what people can do – amazing dancers, singers, and creativity with various scenes, especially the stampede.

Afterward, we stopped by Carlo’s Bakery (I was way too excited) and stopped and got pizza at this little hole in the wall – everyone is right!  You cant go wrong with pizza in New York!

The next morning, we woke up with just a few minutes to throw on some clothes and make our way to the local branch a few blocks away.  If it wasn’t for the missionaries we saw across the street, we would have never seen the building!  It just looked like any other apartment!  What a neat experience that was.  It was a tiny group of people, but they seemed so close.  We even lucked out and got to hear their primary program, all ten kids!

After church, we decided to eat at Sardi’s – a special place in Mindy’s heart.  Over 25 years ago, she and Dave were flown to NYC for an award and after seeing a Broadway, walked across the street to Sardi’s to meet up with an older couple who had taken them under their wing.  It was so special to eat there with her, and Ryan and I want to carry on the tradition!
After lunch, we walked through the BIGGEST street sale I have ever seen.  Down blocks and blocks of Broadway, all you could see were scarves, jewelry, bags, food…it was a sight to see.  We stopped and got a few trinkets, and made our way to Central Park.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  We rented a few bikes and rode around the entire park.  It was beautiful!  And huge!  We made a few stops here and there, and took a detour to ride by the New York Temple, and really enjoyed the fresh air and green scenery – not much of that going on in the city.

Afterward, we rode all the way down to the Financial District, where we saw the famous Bull, walked down Wall Street, saw the NYSE, and by that time we were ready to be done with the day.  We made our way back up to our hotel, which just happened to be right next door to Korea Town, and Mindy and I decided to be brave and eat with Ryan at a legitimate Korean Restaurant.  He was in heaven :)


There are a lot more things here and there that we did, but overall these were the highlights.  It was such a fun getaway, and we were so lucky to spend it with Ryan’s “one hip mamma” as he liked to call her throughout the trip!  Until the next adventure!

(Get ready for picture overload)
























Little Folsom


We were so excited last week to announce to the world that WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!  It is such an exciting time of life.  I have been keeping a journal the last few weeks, so I will post those shortly.  But, we wanted to include our little blog in on all the fun :)