New York City

This summer's vacation was to New York City! We both loved the Big Apple. It was warmer than I was expecting, in the mid 90's most of the time we were there...but much better than 105 degrees!

Since almost all airlines charge for checked luggage, we were able to pack in only carry-ons. I have to brag on myself for just a moment. I am known to over pack. You never know what shoes/shirt/pants you'll be in the mood for on the particular days you'll be gone. Not that my closet has an over-abundance of clothes selection, but I digress. We were able to pack in these 2 bags!

Of course, I packed in the bigger, roller one, but it's still a carry on size! 

Flying in to JFK

On the Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan

Lady Liberty! She's a little smaller than imagined her. But we didn't get any closer than this, so maybe she would seem bigger up close.

Times Square

We were waiting in this line to get Mary Poppins tickets. This ticket office opens at 3pm for same day, half(ish) off tickets. We got there at 1:30pm and there was already about 100 people in line!

Mary Poppins was AMAZING!!!! Magical. Awesome. I would absolutely recommend seeing it if you have the chance. Chris loved it too!

New Amsterdam Theatre, Mary Poppins has been here for 5 years.

Times Square at night. When you are inside a building and look out the windows, it looks like it is daytime because it is so bright!!

One World Trade Center going back up! They originally called it the Freedom Tower, but have since changed that to One World Trade Center.

Firefighter memorial outside the fire station closest to ground zero.

9-11 Tribute Museum. There is one picture for every person that was killed that day.

The plans for the plaza are so cool. The memorial will open to the public on 9/12, 10 years and 1 day to the attacks. The footprints of the world trade centers will be memorial fountains.

Empire State Building. It is sad that the first thing I thought of when I saw this was..ELF!!?

Gorgeous views of the NYC skyline from 80 stories up!

You can see the statue of liberty out there! You can also see the One World Trade Center going up on the very left of the picture. 

The Today Show studio

The city from the Top of the Rock!

Church at Hillsong NYC. It was in a club! Church was AWESOME. There was standing room only and when we left there was a line of at least 300 people out the door waiting on the next service.

After church we got a few dogs from Gray's Papaya.

Then walked down to Central Park to eat them.

This is SPRAY PAINTED! We were blown away with how this guy made his posters. We stood and watched him on the street in Times Square for about 30 minutes. Amazing.

Monday night we went and saw Voca People. It was AMAZING! It was described to us as a mix between Glee and Blue Man Group. It's all acapella and the sounds they can make with their voices is incredible! You can check out a video of them here.

We had a late flight back, so we had time to meet my cousin, Lindsay for lunch. She's lived in NYC for almost 2 years, and it had probably been about 5 years since I'd seen her!

 

After lunch, we still had a little time to kill, so we went and watched Zookeeper. It was cute. Not as dumb as I was expecting, but still had some dumb parts. I liked it a lot better than Mall Cop, if that's saying much! 

And now we are home. It's always bittersweet coming home from vacation. It's nice to sleep in our own bed and not live out of a suitcase. But the time away from everyday life is always a nice break. But...energy and money runs out...so, vacation must come to an end!