When Dan asked where I wanted to go for my 30th I instantly thought of New York. I have been there a couple of times but never in the winter/Christmas time. Since my birthday is so close to Christmas, I thought we should take advantage of it and go there for my 30th birthday celebration. It was a perfect trip.
We obviously couldn't go on my actual birthday since its so close to Christmas so we decided to go the beginning of the month. We worked with my sisters and they planned to fly out! A lot of different parts had to work in order for this to happen and it all worked so smoothly.
My sister Michelle flew in first on the Wednesday before. We got her from the airport and played with the kids for a bit. When Dan came home, I took advantage of having my sister being here and we went out on the town for a bit. Megan flew in the next day.
The next morning we woke up bright and early, got June ready for school, grabbed an Uber and headed to the airport. Just us.
The flight was so quiet, we watched movies, read magazines and enjoyed our snacks. I didn't have to share any! We landed earlier than we expected, which was a nice surprise because it gave us more time in the city. We got to our hotel, freshened up for a bit and then headed out the door.
Before we did, Dan pulled out a little gift for me. We agreed no gifts for my birthday on this trip. We would save them for my actual birthday with the kids. So I was surprised when he got me something. He got me my very own selfie stick! Dan HATES them and we make fun of people who use them. Then there we were, using a bright pink selfie stick in the heart of New York!
Our first selfie stick picture. It's blurry because we suck at using it and we were laughing. Guys, I really love my selfie stick.
Our hotel was literally in the perfect location. We didn't know it at the time, but when we went out of our hotel, walked a couple of blocks and realized we were central to everything, we knew our hotel was in a prime spot. It was great for walking and close to subway entrances!
Our selfie stick out on the streets. It was super awkward pulling it out and I even made fun of myself for using it, because I make fun of people who use them. It really was great!
Our first dinner was at Bar Pitti. A tiny little Italian Restaurant that my sister Megan told us about. It totally is awesome having a sister who lived there for 12 years. She knows all the real New York places to eat. It was so authentic and AMAZING! Let me say that again. AMAZING!! I can safely say it was the best pasta I have ever eaten. Pasta is my FAVORITE food, so it's saying a lot. SO SO GOOD!!
I loved all the lights and the little tree stands all over the streets selling trees. It was Christmas EVERYWHERE!
After dinner and walking around we were tired so we headed back to the hotel, grabbed hot chocolate and enjoyed a night in.
Ya'll, no word of lie, Dan and I slept for 12 solid hours straight! I think we needed it. We missed our breakfast plans but we agreed it was totally worth it.
We got ourselves ready and headed out for the day. We had our days planned out, so out we went.
Our first subway ride.
Our lunch was at a hotdog stand on our way to the World Trade Center. Dan's first New York hotdog off of the streets. So good and warm on a cold day.
Our first major stop was the World Trade Center. It was somber and beautiful. You can't help but just feel the presence of what this place represents. It's amazing.
I loved all the flowers that were stuck in peoples names.
Trinity Church was next
Selfie Stick
And then just a good ol' selfie
Charging bull was crazy crowded. There were so many Chinese tourists. We had to fight them off for a picture! They were everywhere!!
Battery Park and Statue of Liberty. It's so funny how small the Statue of Liberty actually is. We didn't want to waste our time on the fairy, so we snapped a few pictures from the harbor and then headed on our way.
I seriously loved how there was Christmas trees everywhere! It was just Christmassy all over and it was all over the city.
Brooklyn Bridge was our next adventure. We may have gone a bit out of our way to get there. Let's just say we took the "scenic route" but we made it to walk the Brooklyn Bridge.
One of my favorite pictures of us from our trip.
We went over to Brooklyn and ate at Grimaldi's Pizza. AMAZING! We ate the entire pan of pizza.
One long subway ride back to the Manhattan. He was such a gentleman and always gave me the only open seat.
We did more sight seeing and hit Canal street for a bit. That was so much fun! Dan got to see the craziness of negotiating and the trade of all sorts of things. It was great! We got the kids souvenirs and headed back to our hotel.
Literally the only reason I wanted to come to New York at Christmas. The tree at Rockefeller Center. I seriously got teary eyed as we turned the corner and there it was! Pure MAGIC!
The magic continued on 5th Avenue with all the Saks lights and window displays. We shopped a bit and then headed to our first nights show.
We went to the Christmas Spectacular show with the Rockettes.
The entire facility. It was huge. So funny story. Dan bought these tickets on stub hub and we purchased them in section CC. We just didn't quite realize where section CC was.
People, our seats were literally front and center. You couldn't get a better seat in the house. We saw everything unclose and personal. To the point where it was almost awkward because you could make eye contact with people on stage. It was so great!! We were surprised with how well our seats were!
Radio City Hall was beautiful inside
Meanwhile back in Texas the kids were having a fantastic time with their aunts.
They took the kiddos to the Nativity that our church puts on for us.
Movies and Party mix
Back in New York we were enjoy all our Christmas Festivities
The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular show was great! We really enjoyed it!
After the show we took a bike taxi over to the Empire State Building
It was pretty late at night so we decided to not go up to the top, but we did walk around and explore down in the lobby.
We got back to our hotel late that night. We ordered Thai food and brought it back to our hotel and ate it in bed. We used to do that all the time when we were first married. It brought back a lot of fun memories before the kiddos came into our life.
Saturday we woke up a bit more earlier than the day before. We got ready and then went and got bagels and hot chocolate for breakfast. It was a much colder day but we didn't let it slow us down any.
We spent a good part of the morning walking central park and enjoying all the festivities in there. They had these little shops set up so we went and looked through them all.
The park was beautiful with all the different colors of leaves
After Central Park, we headed over to the Shake Shack.
We then walked around Bryant park with more shops and yummy smelling foods!
This might be my favorite New York picture. That guy was not pleased with us!! Hahahaha
We rode the subway over to Yankee Stadium. Neither of us are Yankee fans but it was still fun to see the stadium and walk around.
We came back to our hotel and got ready for dinner and our show for that night.
We had some time so we decided to go walk down to the Trump Towers to see if there were any protestors around. There were so many police officers and a lot of areas blocked off. It was crazy so we didn't spend too much time down there.
Before our show we went and had Sushi and Katsu. Our meals were never a disappointment.
Our show that night was "School of Rock". Our friends actually recommended it to us when they were here back in July so we thought we would give it a shot. The show was fantastic. The kids played all their instruments live! They were so talented!
After our show we went back to the hotel and got ready to head home the next day.
We had to get our Uber car by 4:30am. It was early and we were tired. We literally did not stop the entire time we were there. We definitely did New York.
We met my sister Megan at the airport, said our hellos and our goodbyes because her flight left pretty quickly after we arrived. The timing worked out great!
My sister Michelle and the kids were waiting for us and they were so excited to see us! I really missed them and my heart was so full hugging and holding them again. Michelle had a later flight, so we hung out and then took her to the airport.
I can't thank my sisters enough for coming! It's a really busy time of year and it meant a lot that they left their family's to come watch mine. I kinda have the best.
It was seriously such a wonderful trip. I truly loved every minute of it. I loved holding Dan's hand the entire time, I loved laughing and getting lost with him and talking all about life, and our life together. I really can't help but smile and have a chest full of butterflies as I think of my life as I am about to start a new decade. If 30's is anything like my 20's then I have a good thing coming.
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