Jake and I managed to get away together without children for the first time EVER last week. The only time we have left our children for more than a matter of hours has only been when I am delivering another child. It was a pretty big deal. It has been 8 years since we just went were WE wanted to without having to put on and find shoes for small feet. Only fed ourselves, slept in together, or were away from the demands of small children for like I said more than a matter of hours. Everywhere we went the week before Kate would tell every body "my mom and dad are going on a trip" They were very excited for us, and not sad to not be coming one bit.
Jake had a meeting with a company he does work for as well as a conference he could attend in New York. These things come up occasionally and he usually doesn't go, or might go by himself. When New York came up he was very excited because he has always wanted to take a trip to New York. I happened to be not pregnant or nursing for the first time in forever, the stars aligned and we booked us both.
We had a lot of fun planning out our trip the weeks before and dreaming of sleeping in and going wherever we like without toting around four small children.
Then the day finally came. My mom was a hero and took all the kids at our house with some help from my dad for the week The kids were excited to have them in charge.
We flew out of Salt Lake to New York. Our first trip hiccups came those first hours. I forgot my camera. And our flight was delayed about two hours. Perfect because I knew we would forget something and have some problem with a detail of our trip, and these were little things that didn't really affect much. Except you will see the pictures from our trip are mostly selfies taken on Jake's cell phone.
We arrived in New York JFK airport around 11pm. We grabbed a cab into Manhatten and checked in to our hotel- The Warwick. Which we picked based on expedia reviews for four star hotels. And it was fairly nice. a little small, but nice as well as historic. We tried to go out and grab ourselves some dinner, but couldn't find anything that was open after midnight so we came back and ordered room service.
The next morning was Jake's meeting and conference. It wasn't until 10am so we didn't set an alarm. I woke up to him showering and glanced at the clock- it was 9:38 am. We had slept until well past 9:00am. Making the vacation already amazing. He made it to his meeting fine and left me alone for a few hours in the city. After getting ready for the day myself without having to usher children out of my bathroom while I was dressing (amazing) I set out to look around and explore where we were. Our hotel was in the shopping district just off 5th avenue. So my exploring mostly was me wandering in and out of stores we don't have at home leisurely and eating both breakfast and lunch by myself. I snapped some pictures of things I thought the kids would like like a giant lego building and spiderman. I ended up stuck on the other side of a street while a Dominican Republic Pride Parade took place- so I walked and walked and walked until I could get across and headed back to my hotel. Jake had a great meeting with all the people who think he is amazing and unbelievable and they wined and dined him until he decided to come back to me which was about 3pm.
As part of our planning for our trip we bought a New York City Pass It included entrances to all the museums and other tourist things as well as transit on the double decker tour buses. So we hoped on a tour bus and took a historical tour of uptown. Then we took a walk in Central Park. Then we walked over to Eatily- a italian market and eatery that our friends from New York had recommended. It was adorable and beautiful and we enjoyed some dinner and italian sodas. Next up was the Empire State Building. It was one of the things that was open late at night so we decided our night would be spent there. By luck- it was the Super Moon that night. A giant full moon over the entire city of lights. Sadly the entire world (literally because we met people from about 15 different countires while waiting) decided the Super Moon was the best night to climb to the top of the city and see the view. So we ended up waiting for several hours. But we did have some interesting and friendly folks all around us to pass the time with. And we both decided it was work it. It was spectacular. Crowded. But spectacular and a little tummy churning being up so very very high.
We had big plans to wake up really early (I think we set our alarm for 6:00am) so that we could get in a full day of events and sights. But that does seem silly since our kids wake us up at 6am every morning. So we ignored the alarm and ended up sleeping in until almost 9am again. We finally got on our way and headed to Grand Central Station to ride the subway to Battery Park so we could see the statue of Libery and Ellis Island. We rode a ferry out to the island and took a tour of the Statue of Liberty. Then we boarded another ferry and went to Ellis Island. Ellis island was surprisingly moving to both Jake and I. I enjoyed it much more than the Statue and I think Jake did too. There were several plaques and displays giving credit to Mormon converts in countries across the globe as well as Mormon Pioneers headed westward for immigration and development during the 1800 and 1900 hundreds. I really liked this part as well as finding information about our own ancestors. The island itself is full of crazy, sad and hopeful history which we both found very interesting.
We had to cross several things off of our days itenerary because the tours took longer than expected and we started later than hoped. We headed back to our hotel, touring through several neighborhoods including China Town which was not super interesting except that it was like a whole different country, completely filthy, and we saw the LDS missionaries there too. We also stopped by the UN and saw them just as they were taking down all the flags for the day.
We hurried home, got dressed up (Jake even ironed his clothing with the room iron which is a crazy big deal because I haven't seen him iron in maybe 8 years :) I guess he wanted to look nice for our date. We grabbed a quick dinner where I literally downed my crab legs in about 5 minutes because I didn't want to be late for our show. We had tickets to see Newsies on Broadway. I had been looking forward to it maybe most of anything. And Jake and I both agreed it was our favorite things we did on the trip. It was a great show. We've been singing the songs and made the kids watch the Disney movie of it since we came home.
We stopped on the way home for a little shopping for souvenirs for the kids. The each ended up with a t-shirt, and licesnse plate with their name on it keychain and a personal item- a skyscrapper for Kate, and NY Giants football for Sam, and singing green monkey for Marianne and a little New York teddy bear for Beth.
The next morning would you believe we had plans to get up early and see the sights only to sleep in again. I guess we are exhausted parents! When we headed out for the day we went and rented bikes to ride around Central Park. Although we didn't get far- this was one of the most memorable things we did too. The weather was lovely, even if Jake refused to get a tantam bike and just pedal me around so I didn't have to. After this we walked to the MET. We spent most of the day at the MET but didn't even see half of the exhibits. Our favorite and most memorable was the Egyptian exhibit. I'm not sure what is anything is left in Egypt- I'm pretty sure the MET has all of it!
We headed home. It was starting to rain and rested a bit before heading out to the New York Mets Baseball game. I say we rested- I think we both fell asleep- we are not use to walking ten or more miles a day. New York touring is a lot of walking. And a lot of toursits. We were some of the only american's everywhere we went. It would have felt like we were in a foriegn country except that we were at some of the most iconic American locations. I guess that is what we get for doing the really touristy things.
We rode the subway to the Mets game. Which took 45 minutes or so, and as subway rides always, we were accompanied by tons of interesting people and conversations- but not many tourists this time. Walking into the stadium alone was amazing. Jake had never been to a professional baseball game. There was a rain delay but we didn't mind. We got giant slices of pizza and not nachos. When the second rain delay came in the 7th inning we decided to head home. We stopped and got some famous New York Cheesecake on the way home then turned in.
The next morning we just woke up, checked out and headed to the airport. We watched Million Dollar Arm on the way home which was entertaining. I was ready to be home. And exhausted.
I teased Jake that our "vacation" was more like a 7th grade history field than an vacation to me. It was not a vacation for sure- more like an adventure. We did enjoy the time together. And when Jake asked me my favorite part I declared it to be that I didn't feed anybody for three and a half days. We felt a bit of freedom to in that we should do at least a weekend get away more often.
Jake recently won an all expenses paid amazing luxury trip to Croatia as a bonus with one of the companies he does marketing for. And if I would buy a plane ticket I could come too. But we decided not to go. And after this three and a half day vacation- I'm glad. It was hard to turn down an amazing free vacation, but nine days away from our kids seemed to hard, and we both mentioned on the way home how glad we were that we said we wouldn't be going.....we'll see how we feel mid September when instead of riding helicopters around Croatia I am potty training a 3 year old and making too many people too many snacks all day long :)
We arrived home to a warm welcome. My mom even managed to keep up on the ridiculous amounts of laundry somehow :) The kid tackled me as I walked in and all was right again. My baby especially seemed to love me too the moon.
I'm tired just from recounting our trip here. Here are some pictures to go along.
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