Girls Getaway!!!!

On Sepember 4th I left for a girls weekend in New York. We planned this last December and it seemed so far away when we planned it at the time. But it came and went and now I'm left with lots of pictures and a ton of fun memories. Tom's sisters and Mom were finishing off a family vacation in New York and my sis-in-law Sandy and I came to join them for the weekend. We both flew on Southwest so we met up in Chicago, after a 2 hour delay we finally took off for New York City. We originally were suppost to arrive into Long Island at 8:30 pm but arrived at 10:40. We knew that the last train to leave Long Island to go to Manhattan was at 11:15pm. We knew we had to hurry otherwise we would be taking a $150 cab ride. So after some running we finally made it to the train station with about 10 minutes to spare. We took the 90 minute train ride to Penn Station and then we hopped on a subway to our hotel. We got off the subway and it was about 1:45 am. Our hotel was in the financial district so there weren't a lot of people on the streets. We were a little scared since we were wheeling our luggage through town....a dead giveaway that we were tourists. So we finally arrived at our hotel talked for a while then after a little sleep we woke up and left the next morning at about 10am. Our first stop was to Wall Street where we took a look at the New York Stock ExchangeWe roamed the streets for a while then we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry to get a peek at the Statue of Liberty. We tried getting a picture with all of us in front of the Statue of Liberty but the lighting was off and it didn't work.

And on our way back we were able to get a shot of the New York skyline.

Our next stop was at the wharf and we stopped for some pictures. We then went to Canal St. and chinatown to do a little shopping. All the girls wanted a new purse so we went down to see what we could find. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures but had a great time searching for the right purse. I can't tell you how many secret doors we went through. After we went shopping we went to SoHo, which was so much fun! We even stopped at a little cuban cafe that Jen had recommended for some good food. She said that the corn was really good.I like corn on the cob but I LOVED this corn on the cob, it was seriously sooo good. Maybe one of the tastiest things I've had. It was grilled and rolled in some sort of sauce then rolled in some cheese that I don't know the name of. If you go to New York you gotta try it, I wish I had gotten two!

We then went back to the hotel to rest a little bit and get ready to go to the Mets game. We wanted to go to a Yankees game since they were going to be tearing their field down but they weren't in town, so we settled for the Mets. It was interesting, we found out after we were there that they were going to be tearing down Shea stadium as well. So we were glad that we got the chance to go!

Barbara wasn't feeling well and Amy wasn't in the mood to go to the game. So Sandy and Jen and I had a great time together, even though they lost. We had decided before the game that we would meet up with Barbara and Amy in Times Square for dinner. So what do you know we decide on Sbarro for dinner. Nice choice for pizza in New York huh? I was starving and that cheese pizza never tasted so good!The next day we saw a little bit more of the city and we waited in line for 1/2 price tickets for the Broadway show. We also saw the Empire State Building, but decided not to pay the $20 and wait in the long line to go to the top. We also stopped at Mood Fabrics, if any of you are Project Runway fans, you'll know that that is where all the designers go for the fabric on the show. For lunch we stopped at the Shake Shack, Barbara, Amy and Jenny had eaten there before we came into town.and said it was really good. They have really good hamburgers and fries.

After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready to go to the matinee showing of Mama Mia! An hour later we were all dressed up ready to go!

I loved every minute of that show! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip! When we came out of the show it was pouring rain! We knew those umbrellas we were carrying around all day would come in handy. We knew we would be going to dinner afterwards and walking all over town so we all brought some flip flops in our purse to change in afterwards. So here we are walking all over the city with the rain pouring constantly, not letting up at all. We stepped off so many curbs landing in puddles of water, laughing like crazy! Having some fun with the camera, we took this picture in black and white with only the yellow highlight. I can't tell you how many we had to take to make sure there was a taxi in the picture.For dinner we went to a place called Rickshaw Dumplings. They only serve dumplings, so we ordered a plate of each kind they offered. It was really good and lots of fun!And to top the night off we saw a special for a pedicure and a manicure for only $19! We couldn't pass that up. And when we were finished it was still raining! We went back to the hotel, put on our warm pajamas and popped popcorn, had candy and watched a movie in our room. What a great day!

The next day the weather was perfect, it was about 80 degrees and there was no humidity at all. It was so nice. We stopped to see the temple, right in the middle of the city! For lunch we stopped at New York's most famous hot dog stand Grays Papaya. We each got two hot dogs then we headed back downtown, on our way we took a walk through Central Park. That place is amazing! I can't believe how huge it is. We had some extra time so we went to check out FAO Schwartz toy store. Of course we couldn't resist taking some time to play the BIG piano. We had so much fun!Here we are attempting to play Heart and Soul, I kind of figured it out but Jenny and Amy really had it down.This was so much fun, I want to go back and give it another try!

Serendipity - The art of finding something by looking for something else. You can't go to New York without stopping at the cute little restaurant Serendipity and getting a frozen hot chocolate. We actually got two... and a hot fudge sundae and a strawberry cheesecake sundae. Doesn't that look good?!!?We actually finished most of it but we were soooo full afterwards, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to eat again that day!After Serendipity we thought we would walk it off and do a little more shopping for souvenirs and check out Rockefeller Plaza. It's funny how in real life things look totally different than you imagine.

And here we are shopping for t-shirts for our kids. We all ended up buying the same ones for our boys and they all ended up like this......


Now that is what I call a cheap t-shirt!

Monday was our last day in New York so we all had breakfast at a little bakery and then we left to catch the train to the airport. They have trains leaving for Long Island only once an hour and we barely caught the one we needed without a minute to spare!

What a fun trip we had! So much laughing, walking, sweet treats, and fun memories! I'm so grateful that I had the chance to spend some time with my mother and sister- in -laws, I feel like we all get a long so well and are great friends! And thanks to my sweet husband for wanting me to go and get a break. I had so much more fun knowing that our kids were taken care of and getting to spend time with their Dad. The boys had so much fun with him, of course he took them to do some really fun things!