New York! New York!

The girls & I had an amazing 3 ½ days in New York City with my aunt, Tammy. We arrived to hot, humid weather Saturday afternoon and visited Grand Central Station, walked & shopped the stores along 5th Avenue and had a hot dog in Central Park. We ate dinner in Times Square and then bravely figured out the NYC subway system to get us back to our hotel.

Sunday we took the subway to the financial district and took the Staten Island Ferry round trip to view the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Manhattan. From there we enjoyed the street performers in Battery Park, gazed at the history and beauty of Trinity Church and cemetery, viewed the construction at the World Trade Center site, and spent a little time in the Century 21 discount department store.

Sunday afternoon we were awed by the performance of “The Lion King” – truly a highlight of the trip. Afterward we enjoyed dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, did a quick tour of Rockefeller Center area and the NBC studios and then crashed at the hotel to watch reruns on TV and recuperate!

Monday we took the subway to Canal Street in Chinatown and exposed Tammy and the girls to their first “back room” shopping experiences for knock-off and fake brand name purses and other bargain merchandise. What a kick! We stopped in at the Text 100 office for a quick visit and then once again crashed at the hotel at the end of the day.
Tuesday McKenna wanted to sleep in so Tammy, Kayla & I ventured off to Rockefeller Center, visited a few more shops along 5th Avenue, and walked through Greenwich Village and SOHO. By that time our feet were “barking” and we were all officially “shopped out.” After an early dinner, we took in a movie in Times Square before the 8pm performance of “Grease” on broadway.

We had quite the experience flying out Wednesday morning – we woke up to a tremendous thunder storm which dumped over 3 inches of rain in an hour in Manhattan and a tornado touched down in Brooklyn! We were soaked getting to the airport, but were luckily only 45 minutes late getting into Seattle.

We had two days to “regroup & repack” for our week of relaxation at Lake Curlew in Eastern Washington. Philip arrived there on Monday after traveling 1400 miles in two days from Colorado. He says the fishing is great and all of us are more than ready to have the four of us (& Rowdie!) back together again as a family on Saturday.