Empire State Building and our last day

We made it to Wednesday and we are still physically alive. The heat beat us down and naps were in order every day. Hunter and I had planned to go back to the Today Show again....did not make it. We all managed to get out of bed at somewhat of a decent hour. We hit a local diner for brunch...nothing to brag about. Made one last stop at the Nintendo store and then took the subway to some last minute sites.

We went to the Twin Tours site (now all construction) and the small memorial exhibit. Then it was up to China Town so Hunter could buy a couple of purses (Steve had to help her cut the deals).

Then it was off to the Empire State Building for the real views. It was late enough in the day that there was not much of a line. So many pictures and different views taken. This should be a must on any first timers trip to NYC.

It was late and again long overdue for some food. We ended our last night and meal with a large pizza pie...yummm.

Girls and Guys go seperate ways

Tuesday night we had to split up. Nathan really wanted to go to some old school arcade in China town and Hunter wanted to shop. So the guys went one way and we went another. Hunter and I went to Time Square for dinner and some girl time. We walked the streets...attempted to get a glance at some stars (no luck), played in Toys R us, M&M store and Forever 21. Ripley's Believe It or Not took my $33.00 and a couple hours of our evening. The lights, action and billboards all make for an adrenaline rush. Enjoy some of our pictures from the night.

Empire State Building

We bought tickets to the Statue of Liberty prior to our trip. In fact about two months prior and we were only able to get tickets for the pedestal (the crown had already been booked through August). In the end it was a good thing, because I thought that my lungs were going to burst walking up the 130+ steps. It is 354 steps to the crown. I highly recommend buying these tickets ahead of time as it kept us out of the 1-2 hour wait for the ferry.

The ferry ride to and from is just beautiful. And the view from the pedestal is fantastic. The museum inside was easy to follow, but the kids were bored with the reading pretty quick. We were able to take a lot of great pictures of the city. The picture of  the four of us in front of the original torch.

I took over 500 pictures of our trip and will post a link when I once I get them transferred to a photo site.

         

                                           

The Today Show, city tour and Avenue Q

Hunter and I (the guys bailed on us) got up about 5:30am to go see the Today Show being taped. We thought being there that early we would have had our prime pick of where to stand. NOT so lucky. We did have a spot behind the cooking segment where we were told that we were on TV quite a bit. I wish I could see it...but the teenage son forgot to set the DVR.

Amy Robach and us

We spent most of the morning watching the Today Show staff cook this chefs food only for her to come out and take credit

Since it was the holiday weekend, the main crew was on vacation themselves. Sad for me, as I had brought Matt Lauer a gift. We were able to meet Amy Robach and snap a quick picture. Lester Holt and the weather guy kept walking right past us. Who needs their picture anyways. We had a hoot with the people around us. After we left and arrived back at the hotel...we turned on to see that Kathy Lee and Hoda had on one of the twilight stars. Hunter was a bit bummed. However, it was time to get ready for our bus tour around this busy city.
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We took a City Sites bus tour of down town area. It was stinking HOT!!!  Somehow we managed to plan our trip when the city decided to have their hottest heat wave since the early 1980's.  This was a great way to see a majority of the areas which we would not be able to see in such a short time and get the history with it. We did get off at one of the wharf areas for a quick break (they happened to be having a Texas tour in this area) and pick up our tickets for our Off Broadway show that night.

Nathaniel had begged to see this and I caved in. This would not have been my first or even second choice. But I must admit that I laughed throughout a majority of the show as the premis "it sucks to be me" was quite funny...but I strongly caution anyone who wants to see this musical that it is definately not kid appropriate. Infact, there is about 20 mins that I found quite unnecessary and inapproriate. But who can make a trip to New York and not see a musical.

Nintendo and Legos NY style

The pictures will say it all. Along with I was glad to not have a little one here to hit the parents pocket book hard. The teen was bad enough!

                                                       

And we are off...

Hunters first ever plane ride

With Steve already on his way to NYC (he left for a detour a few days prior)...the three of us had to fly and transfer to the hotel on our own. Happily we made it alive! And might I say, those taxi drivers are completely insane. We got acquainted with our nice sized room and hit the pavement for our adventures to begin.

There were so many activities packed into this vacation that the only logical way to record them will to break them up by day/event. So if you don't care about what we did, you will not want to not bother ready the next 5-10 posts. Otherwise, enjoy NYC, Canada and Pittsburgh from our eyes.

There were a few hours to kill before we had to make our way to the harbor so we went to Rockefeller Plaza. We experienced the Nintendo Store, the Lego store (there will be a separate posting for these), the NBC store and the general vicinity. I think Steve and Nathan also had what they referred to was "the best hotdog ever".

We arrived on July 4th and I thought it would be clever to go check out some fireworks over the Hudson river. Funny mom...what was she thinking. We walked down to pier 90 for what was to be our great view. There were thousands of people there. An unexpected cruise ship and a mass of trees to obstruct our view. We attempted to watch the festive sky, but opted to leave early in order to beat the mass chaotic crowd out. After the trek back to the hotel, we enjoyed our first night of new york style pizza and called it a day.