More Than Enough: NYC

We flew into New York late Thursday night. Our flight was on time, but once we landed, we had the pleasure of sitting in our plane on the tarmac for almost an hour. We weren't too upset, because a) we were so tired and b) we didn't have anything planned that night except to check into our hotel and go to sleep. We arrived close to 2 a.m. at our hotel that night and passed out.

After a good night's sleep, we woke up around 9 a.m. (which was 8 a.m. TX time and late for us!) and started out on our first day of sight-seeing. We found a nice place near our hotel for a big breakfast, since we didn't really eat dinner due to our long travel the day before. We debated trying the subway first thing, but decided due to the AMAZING weather to walk to our first destination - Rockefeller Center. We wanted to get a good feel for the city right away, and had heard the view from the Top of the Rock couldn't be beat.

On our way, we passed by Radio City Music hall. I'll admit, I was star-struck just by the sites. I made no apologies for my neck-craning gazing as we walked past. And no one seemed to care, as there were so many touristy-type people it was difficult on most days to tell locals from tourists.

We bought our NYC passes and had about 40 minutes to spare before it was our time to ride the elevator up. We walked around the bottom of the center and just took in the sights. Did I mention how beautiful the weather was? We couldn't have ordered more perfect weather.

Looking north from the Top of the Rock, at Central Park and the Upper West and East sides. We would visit this area on Sunday.

Facing South.

Looking straight down. I was a little dizzy after doing this, but I wanted to show J how high up we were. A kind German lady took a picture of us with a breathtaking background and it, along with a few other pictures, disappeared from the hubby's camera. Boo.

Back down around the bottom of Rockefeller Center. The flowers were gorgeous and still in the shape of easter eggs and bunnies since this was the Friday after Easter.

I didn't take pictures of all of the churches we passed, but this is Saint Patrick's Cathedral and it was too stunning to pass without a quick pic.

I was pleased to see a lot of great shopping right around this area as well (we were right around 5th after all). What made me laugh the most was the Lego store right next door to this...shopping for the whole family!

Next, lunchtime! We found one of those awesome pizza places on the corner and had a slice and a soda. YUM! Jody actually took video of it! ha! After filling our bellies, we ended up in Times Square. Thanks to Disney Jr, our oldest son saw a short piece about this store and what you can make/buy there and told us that ALL he wanted from NYC as a souvenir is a remote control Lightning McQueen that you build at this store. So, an hour later, we walked out with all of the pieces to build TWO of those bad boys with our guys once we returned home. It was worth it - they are super cool and the boys LOVE them. (Plus, this is a pretty neat store.)

After our shopping spree, we headed down to the World Trade Center area. We wanted to go on Friday, and have a chance to really take it all in before the weekend rolled around. I am so glad we did. Other than a few tourists, it was mostly business folks down there and the church across the street, St. Paul's Chapel, where most of the firefighters and rescue/recovering workers went for food, sleep and comfort just had a handful of people in it. We were able to really look around and read through all of the information. It was overwhelming. I highly recommend going there to anyone that has never been. Not only does it serve as a quiet place to absorb the events of that day, but the history of the church itself is A-MAZING. Did you know it is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan and George Washington's original pew is still there?

We had planned on taking a cruise around that ol' gal in the harbor but the wind was insane by the time we starting our walk to the pier. Anyone that knows me knows that me + wind + boat = extreme sickness. My sweet husband agreed it wasn't the best idea so we decided to call it a night and find somewhere fun and cozy to eat. We ended up at a fantastic Irish pub called O'Flaherty's. The food was divine, the atmosphere perfect and was just the way we wanted to end our first day.