A few months ago, my family announced that they were taking a road trip to Boston for the marathon and would be visiting other places along (and out of) the way. I had to work and my oldest niece had play practice, so we planned to stay home and take care of their dog and house. But a few days before the trip was to take place, we just couldn't resist and quickly made arrangements to join the family on the trip. I missed their first stop in Philadelphia because I couldn't get out of ALL my shifts, but we had visited last Summer, so I didn't feel too left out (read about that trip 1 // 2). I ended up meeting them in New Jersey late that night, and the next morning we headed off to NYC.
I was really nervous to be driving in NYC, all my previous city driving experience was nothing compared to this. But, I was quite pleased with myself and the other drivers in our party (we had three cars... imagine trying to keep three cars together in the middle of NYC... i'm convinced it's impossible). I stayed calm, learned the ropes quickly (you just go, don't stop or people will honk at you). After we found overnight parking, we headed up to our hotel room and enjoyed the view for a bit. We were lucky enough to have a great view of the statue of liberty from our room, just over the top of all of that construction...
We then headed out to Times Square where we ate some delicious NYC pizza, my nephew and I took a few selfies (I promise he's saying "cheese" even though he looks kind of scary...), then we headed over to the shops. As we crossed the street, we were suddenly surrounded by suspicious costumed characters... The way they were grabbing at the children in our party was disturbing, so I started pulling as many kids (we had eight kids total...) away as I could and telling them "that's enough"! Yikes... don't get too close to those guys.
We checked out the Disney store and enjoyed the beautiful displays and nostalgic merchandise (including one of the glass slippers from Cinderella!), then headed into the M&M store. I don't know what it is about that place, but I just can't resist buying a big bag of my favorite variety (crispy and mini) when I visit. After our shopping was done, we started our walk to central park.
As we walked, my eyes hardly knew where to look! The beautiful buildings, interesting locals, and small details like this street flower shop- it was sensory overload and I loved it!
To be continued...
