NewYork City!!

Well, I just got back from a trip to the big apple with my 4 sisters. It was a blast. We met up on Thursday the 16th and I stayed until Saturday the 18th (3 of my other sisters stayed until Sunday the 19th -- but that's a story in and of itself).

Here's the news of the trip...

Wednesday my sister Jennifer flew in from California to Salt Lake. My sister Ruth and I met her and we went out to dinner -- Devin tagged along and he was the one that took us to the airport. Anyway, after dinner we went to Ruth's house and changed into our PJ's. Our flight left at 12:01 am Thursday morning so we wanted to be comfy on the trip.
We actually didn't get to sleep much on the plane, I never realized how difficult it is to really sleep well on an airplane before. Every time I would wake up I'd see Ruth sleeping against the window (she said she didn't sleep, but I don't believe her) and I'd see Jen sitting in the middle wide awake -- just sitting there.

We finally landed, but it was only around 5:30 in the morning New York time. We had an adventure finding our luggage. You'd think you'd just be able to follow the baggage claim signs, but the JFK airport signs are not helpful. All we did was follow the signs saying "baggage claim" and we ended up in a totally different part of the airport. We ended up in some really small baggage area. When we asked someone, they said that it should have been right by our terminal. We had to go outside the airport and walk around. Plus, to welcome us to NYC we almost got ran over by zooming taxis.

Our second adventure was getting from the airport to the hotel in Manhattan. We decided to be cheap and take the subway. First of all, it was very difficult lugging a suitcase -- wheels or no wheels -- through the little subway entrances. When we got on the subway we were in Queens and we were about the only white people on there. Funny story of the day: We got on and Ruth (the only experienced subway traveler in the group) told me to grab a bar. To which I replied, "Oh, I'll just hang on to Jen" Okay so that was the stupidest thing to say. The subway starts and Jen and I go flying. REALLY EMBARRASSING!!

We get to our hotel, but it's only a little after 6 so of course we can't check in. We left our bags with them and went off to tour around! Here are some things we did that morning...

1. We went to the American Girl Place store (You have to know that when I was younger I was a HUGE fan...I have 3 of the dolls. So this was a must for me)
They even had a Doll hair salon. You'd put your doll in the salon chair and they had actual people hired to do your dolls hair. How'd you like to explain that job "Oh I do dolls' hair all day for my job :)They also had a restuarant and they were nice enough to let the dolls eat free. One would hope the dolls eat free.

2. We walked around -- A LOT! Saw the Rockafellar Center and ice rink, Radio City Music Hall, and St. Patrick's Cathedral

We went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral and looked at all the beautiful architecture and stained glass. Here was the gorgeous rose window:We also went to a cathedral called Grace Church. Outside Grace Church we saw a special appearance of...SPIDERMAN?!?

Grace Church also had beautiful stained glass. We sat for awhile and listened to the organist play Bach music....until we all fell asleep! I woke up to see that both Jen and Ruth on either side of me were fast asleep. We decided we should go to the hotel and take a nap.

After some much needed R&R we got ready and headed out for a night on the town. We walked around Times Square (which was right outside our hotel), went to dinner, and went to a play "Altar Boyz." I had never heard of it before, but it was HILARIOUS. It's all about this catholic boy band that tries to save the world from sin through song and dance. It was set up like a concert and was very interactive with the audience. We had excellent seats on the 3rd row. My sister Jennifer really wanted to see it because it has Neil Haskell who was on "So You Think You Can Dance" and was one of the top 3 contestants -- She loves him. Anyway, the "boyz" in the band were Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan (He's Spanish), and Abraham (Jewish). It really was quite enjoyable with songs like ... God Put the Rhythm in Me and La Vida Eternal. It was a great evening.

Later that night, my two other sisters Rebecca and Julie arrived and we spent the evening in our hotel making a big sign for the Today Show the next morning.

I did most of the lettering while everyone else colored...I was very proud of the end result.

Well, it was a very fun, event filled day! That was just the beginning of a lot of walking, touring, shopping, and just plain fun in New York. More to follow...