New York City!!

We'd been planning this trip since last year... I had booked two rooms in NYC and the idea turned into a plan.

Eric's grandma loves the Yankees... but had never been to a game before. We decided to change that. We invited both of our mothers and grandma Diane. The Yankees were playing the Red Sox the last weekend of September. Perfect, I thought.. because not only would that be a fun game, but my hope was that by the end of September, we could also avoid the humid heat of New York summer. And it was perfect! It was such a great trip!

We took the redeye flight on Wednesday night, so we to got to New York around 6am. Eric & I had booked a car service to take us to the hotel - as we couldn't fathom trying to navigate everyone on two subways with all of our bags. We may have even paid a little extra to have them come inside the airport and hold one of those signs that said "E. Murdock". It was totally worth it! It was easy and took us right to the front door of the hotel. In all honesty, it might have been the best money we spent all weekend.

Since we couldn't check into the hotel, we left our bags and went to a little diner across the street, fueled up with some breakfast, and then got on the the city tour bus.

We toured the city for a few hours - saw some famous spots...

and a few not-so famous spots....

We experienced an almost cliche diversity of New York tour guides- one street smart black woman that made us laugh and was by far our favorite, one book and history smart asian woman who even showed us the little known land of Brookryn.. not to be confused with Brooklyn.. very different. And one over zealous assumedly Jewish grandmother who pointed out little known statues and history from the cold-war era.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on 8th street, which is just a few blocks from the heart of Times Square. It's a perfect location and you can't beat the price (I don't think I can ever quit this job!).

After a power nap and a shower, we were ready to hit up the town again. We went to John's Pizzeria and it was really yummy pizza! Then we went to the top of Rockefeller Center and did some nighttime sightseeing.

On Friday we (ok, ME - it was my suggestion) decided to go shopping on Canal Street. And we picked quite the day for it. It had started raining before we got there, but the monsoon hit while we were shopping. It was pouring!! We bought a couple of umbrellas and continued shopping. We were committed! We found quite a few gems before the rain washed us out.

We were soaked to the bone by the time we got to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn for lunch. It was worth it though - another delicious pizza place!

The rain let up some and we made our way to Yankee Stadium. We came in rain boots and ponchos - we were prepared, but unfortunately, they still canceled the game due to rain.

Good news was, they rescheduled it as part of a double-header on Sunday and we could use our tickets for that game. So, we went to Serendipity for a bite and some much needed desserts! We ordered frozen mint hot chocolate and the Sister Act dessert, which came with a wind-up Nun toy on top! Awesome!

On Saturday, we got passes to the 9-11 Memorial. It was really special to visit. We even found the name of the firefighter that we were running in honor of in the 5k on Sunday. After the memorial, we went back to Canal Street to finish shopping.... sans the rain.

For dinner we went to Da Andrea - an Italian place that Miss Ashley had recommended. Glad we listened... more delicious food! Then it was off to see "The Lion King" on Broadway. It was an amazing show! The singing was fantastic and the costumes were spectacular!

Sunday morning was the Tunnel to Towers 5k run. Eric, Lisa & I had signed up to run it (thank you Runners Magazine for featuring an article about it the month before!). It's a run dedicated to Stephen Siller - a firefighter who died on September 11th. The run starts in Brooklyn - it goes through the Brooklyn tunnel and ends near the World Trade Center. We knew we were running through the tunnel, but none of us knew how long the tunnel was. It's 2 miles, btw!

 Over 30,000 people were there to run - there were people from the military, police departments and of course fire departments. A couple of firefighters were even running in full gear. The 2 miles in the tunnel was hot - with all those people - we were all dripping in sweat. As we entered the tunnel, people started chanting "USA! USA!" and it was echoing throughout the tunnel.

Partway through, I ended up running next to one of the firefighters in his uniform. I looked over at him as he took off his hat to wipe some of the sweat away. I wasn't even going to think about hot I was in my capri pants and tanktop running next to this guy. As soon as you got out of the tunnel, there were police and firefighters lining the streets on both sides. The firefighters were holding flags - each with a picture of one of the firefighters who died. It was such an amazing experience. Best run I've done so far!

Later we went to stroll through Central Park and eat some cheesecake we had bought from Junior's. Junior's cheesecake is definitely noteworthy! Yum!!

Then it was back to Yankee Stadium for game time. They were playing the Boston Red Socks and had beat them in the Saturday game and the first Sunday game. Unfortunately, since this was the second game, they didn't play Jeter or most of their starters. Kind of sad for Grandma Diane - since we were attending the game to see Jeter... but it was still fun! Jeter was hanging out in the dugout, so we still saw him, just didn't get to watch him play. More sad news... the Yankees lost in the 14th inning. Still a fun game though with, you guessed it... more good food! We ate pulled pork sandwiches and a LOT of fries (my fault again!).

We finally got to sleep in on Monday. :) Then went back to John's for more pizza. It was a favorite of everyone, so we wanted to eat there again.

We were planning on a visit to The Met... but we soon found out that like the theater, museums are also closed on Mondays. :( Lucky for us, the Guggenheim was not! I think some of us enjoyed the design of the place (it's shaped like a teacup!) more than the art inside, but it was an experience, none the less.

Then it was off to the airport... we were picked up in a Cadilac Escalade and were again pleased with our choice of transportation. I will definitely use that service again!

Mom, Lisa & Diane are now professionals on the subway (despite the fact that Eric & I made one or two mistakes in our navigating) and in taxis!

Overall, great trip!!! I love New York!!

To top it all off... we also welcomed two new babies! As luck would have it, Scotti had little baby Maycee two days before we left for New York... and Jennifer had little baby Autumn three days after we came back to Seattle. See?? September is a magical month! ;)