New York with Collin and Weston

When Collin decided to go to Buffalo for his special, 12 year old trip and let Weston come along, it was under the agreement that Weston let Collin come on HIS trip. So, it's one year later and we are back to New York! Only NYC this time. We left on a Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 11. 

First experience on a subway. We spent LOTS of time on subways.

We stayed very close to Times Square at the Sheraton New York. It was a nice hotel and great location.

First glimpse of Times Square!

Lots of recommendations for Jacob's Pickles so that's where we went for dinner. It really was good. We got the fried pickles, sausage gravy & biscuits, mac n cheese and one of the fried chicken sandwiches. Easily one of the best chicken sandwiches I've ever had. We were stuffed but had to order the deep fried Oreo. I dunno why. I guess I thought they'd put some cool spin on it. Nope. Just like a fair Oreo. Gross. And the bread pudding. I was way too full to evaluate this properly. In fact, it was an emergency situation just getting back to the hotel, my stomach hurt so bad. No one else seemed harmed in the eating of this dinner so I guess I just have my stellar stomach to thank.

Back in our hotel room, planning for the next day, I see this Instagram post. My already ailing stomach clenched. I checked other sources to see if it was true. It was. This was in retaliation to the Israel conflict. Full blown panic started to set it. I showed Travis. What are the freaking odds?!!!!! Why. Why did we have to be in New York City of all places on global jihad day?!!! Should we try to go home? Were we in actual danger? I text my sisters and begged them to pray for us. Travis and I talked about what we should do. We decided to rearrange our plans and go to Central Park and the temple on Friday. Hopefully open spaces and the Lord's house would protect us. The dread in my gut didn't subside.

Thursday morning we got to Dominque Ansel bakery right when it opened! We ordered their famous cronut and DKA's, which is croissant like dough with a caramelized crust. Literally EVERYTHING behind the glass looked incredible though. Of all the bakeries we went to on this trip, Ansel's was the best for sure. Weston got a macaroon too... his fav!

My stomach was still hurting so I only took a bite, but ohhh my gursh. It lived up to the hype.

I had gotten tickets beforehand for the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, not early enough to get to go to the crown. But riding the ferry and getting to see it from the pedestal was cool too!! Hi, Lady Liberty!!

Collin has been begging to get an app called Be Real. Apparently everrrrybody has it. I've been holding off for awhile. I decided to strike a deal. I told him if he does a dance reel with me on this trip, I'll let him have the app. He begrudgingly obliged. This was our first place we danced! He was definitely mortified that people were watching. 

NYC skyline behind us! This was from the pedestal.

Oh boy, did they NOT like Ellis Island. We walked in and they immediately found a bench to sit on. I had to coerce them into walking around and looking at the exhibits. History was not on their list of enjoyable activities. 

Collin is taken with the idea of enlisting in the military. So this memorial seemed to grab his interest for a second.

The street performers were a hit.

But not as much as this squirrel. 

Art, history, cultural.... nah. Show me a squirrel and these boys are excited!

We couldn't decide which tall buildings to tour. One World Trade Center.. also called One World Observatory is currently the highest building in the United States and Western Hemisphere and the 7th tallest in the world. It's the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center. We should have bought tickets earlier because there weren't any available for walk ups but we managed to buy some and go in relatively soon. The elevator up is made of 145 TV screens and shows you simulated views of the city as it takes you up 102 stories in 47 seconds. Our ears popped multiple times on the way up. You are never out in the open like with the Empire State Building. And you're not technically at the very top either. You can walk around the whole floor though and the view is very incredible. We were told that it sways ever so slightly and you could feel it. 

This was the next site for our dancing!

Looking down at the water fountain base of the other WTC building.

Ok, we had heard about Lost Tacos and it was very highly recommended but I was skeptical. I mean, we live in Arizona. We have the best tacos in our backyard. What could NYC have to offer? 

Turns out, a lot.

These were absolutely the best tacos ever. The boys agreed. Best food we had the whole trip. You HAVE to eat here.

The menu was kind of confusing but I recommend the flour tortillas over corn. And if I remember right, the quesadillas were better than the tacos. They weren't a typical quesadilla. 

Next, we went to the 9/11 Memorial. The last time we were here, the memorial wasn't built yet, so this was our first time. Of course you know it's going to be sad, but I wasn't prepared for just how sobering it would be. I definitely shed some tears and just felt the heaviness of it all. Hearing the audio recordings of some people on the planes who were able to call home and leave messages were the most emotional. I was also stuck with how old fashioned the pictures seemed. It still doesn't feel that long ago.

No idea why I took a picture of this building. It looks old and historical. Maybe that's why.

The Shaheens took their older girls to NYC recently and said how much they loved walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I had never done that before and we were relatively close so we decided to do that. Cue the most whining you've ever heard from teenage boys.

Why do we have to walk across it? My feet hurt. Whyyy? We have been walking forever! This is dumb. There is not point. Why? Please can we do something else. 

Clearly I overestimated the emotional capacity of young boys in doing anything cultural.

There WAS a snake handler trying to get tips as we walked up. You know Weston is all over that!

Ok, how cool are these pictures?! Some of my favorite shots of the whole trip. The complaining was worth it. 

There were vendors selling everything under the son, every step of the way. We heard Jay-Z's song, Empire State of Mind, every few steps. The same lyrics over and over again:

In New Yooooork
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do 
Now you're in New Yooooork
These streets will make you feel brand new 
Big lights will inspire you 
Let's hear it for New Yoooooooork)
New York, New York!

Lots of vendors had the selfie sticks that circle on a track. So you put your phone on the stick and it rides a motorized track, spinning around you while you dance/sing. Somehow I got Weston to do it with me! I thought the video turned out super cute. I was glad we did it!

It was a long subway ride and lots of walking back up to the north end of Manhattan to grab a quick dinner. We were hustling to get to our Broadway show in time! Ace's Pizza is in Rockefeller Center. The boys needed to go to the bathroom so I ordered while Travis went with them. Collin saw Jimmy Fallon in the hall when he came out! He knew he looked familiar but didn't remember his name. Then we saw a billboard of Jimmy Fallon and he was like, that's him!! Haha. Too bad no one else got a glimpse of stardom. The boys deemed the pizza "fire". I thought it was aright. 

It was hard to decide which Broadway to see. We landed on the Michael Jackson Musical. The play highlights quite a bit of his early life. I didn't really care about that. I just wanted more dance numbers! I mean, it's Michael Jackson for heaven's sakes! So many huge hits. I would have loved a whole night of production numbers. The few they did do were amazing though.

I always think of Rachel Green when I see Bloomingdales!

How long have I wanted to try the frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity?!!!! This was a big moment for me! I love the movie, Serendipity, and watch it every Christmas. 

A quick scan of the place left much to be desired. It honestly felt like an old, worn out kids play room doused with some circus paraphernalia. Alice and Wonderland meets Tim Burton in a 50's diner. The frozen hot chocolate was over $20 for one and it's primarily thick, whipping cream. Womp womp. Fun experience anyway and now we can say we've tried it!

Weston pulling on his NYC Ethicas!

I had a lot of recommendations for this trip! I pulled this paper out countless times as well as consulted the long texts I had gotten from Molly Wright about what to do and where to go!

Well, today was the day. Global violence day. Friday the 13th. We had seen an increase in police officers around the city yesterday and today there were even more. But business seemed to be going on as usual. We thought we'd try to stay out of the subways as much as possible. 

The flowers outside our hotel awning were so pretty! 

Magnolia Bakery gets two thumbs down. I remember really liking it when Casey shipped some in for Shelley's birthday and she gave me one! But being there in person was different. There are almost no options and the bread pudding is premade, sitting in a fridge in the entryway. It's mid at best. I could make a better version.

It was a bit of a fiasco renting bikes for Central park. The bike racks you can rent from all over the city use an app that only lets you rent one at a time. So between mine and Travis's phones we got two bikes. Guess who demanded them? The wussy's with the young legs! Whatever. I wanted exercise. So Travis and I rented regular bikes from a stand right inside the gates. The weather was, chef's kiss, wonderful! I absolutely loved riding around and taking in all the pretty trees and activity going on.  

I spotted the Gapstow Bridge from afar (you'd recognize it from so many movies) and wanted to go see it, to which Collin whipped around and gave me the most EXHASPERATED look and sharply complained, "What IS IT with you and BRIDGES?!"

Geez.

 SORRY.

Needless to say we did not go see the bridge. 

They spotted the apartment building from the Disney show, Jesse! We tried to go inside, but the bellman stopped us almost immediately. As suspected, the inside looked nothing like the sets from the show!

Stopped at Bethesda Terrace and did some more dancing for our video!

Mangos and street performers!

Then we went to see the obelisk.

The Obelisk was created around 1425 BCE in Heliopolis, Egypt, an area north of modern-day Cairo. It sits on a rocky hill known as Greywacke Knoll, across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

So this stone structure was made about the same time the Abrahamic land promise is realized!

Feeling like we were taking our life in our hands, we braved the subways to get to Bleecker Street Pizza. It was THAT highly recommended. Remember the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld? This place felt just like that. You put your order in to a no nonsense worker and you do it fast then step aside. Pictures of celebrities lined the walls and we gratefully took our slices and found a miraculously empty table. 

It was good. I would go back for sure.

Look. It's us NOT being bombed on a subway!! :)

It was time to go to the temple! Molly told me to go to the building next door, 2 Lincoln Square and act like you belong and take the elevator to the roof for an awesome view. She said the church owns the building and the missionaries live there. So we tried. But the bellman stopped us and asked us who we were there to visit. We all froze as the boys looked at me. My brain raced as I tried to come up with a believable name and nonchalantly replied, "The Johnsons". The bellman's face didn't register any emotion as he returned to helping the influx of people who were crammed in the entryway but he ever so slightly nodded his head at us so we calmly turned and got onto the elevator! Once the doors closed we all let out audible sighs and laughter. It worked! Haha, I had just lied and was a terrible example to my children, but it worked! Hey, it's not like we were creepers trying to break into someone's apartment. Surely our tithing helped pay the rent on this place. ;) We rode to the top and found the door leading onto the roof. It was amazing!! Truly, such a pretty view! The pictures don't do it justice. I think the adrenaline rush getting here helped our euphoria. Collin happily participated in the last segment of our dancing video. He also did a few back flips. The boys all changed clothes and it was time to do baptisms!

The temple is not very noticeable. It just blends in with the surrounding buildings. You walk in and there is a tiny lobby with a bellman. You go to the left for the temple and turn to the right for the church building. The baptistry is immediately to the left of the temple recommend desk. I just observed so I sat on a bench and made conversation with an older woman who apparently comes to the temple every single day it's open and has for years. She was on track to do 10,000 baptisms. Travis baptized the boys and then baptized her until the temple workers said that was good for now. She dried off then sat to the side until the next people who came were willing to baptize her. I was astounded. I think she said she was from Tawain. The temple workers joked that she was trying to get all of China baptized. I helped witness while the boys got dressed.

After the confirmations, we walked through the church portion of the building. A funeral was going on in the chapel. We wandered down the hall and walked into the Relief Society room. This was the view outside the window! How about that?! A corner window in NYC for your RS room!

Why does this mural remind me of the graphic murals in the show Parks and Recreation?! Never seen anything quite like this on the walls of a church before!

Just a little corner of peace in a very busy city.

These types of posters were being put up all over the city. It was alarming and heartbreaking. We actually were stopped by a group of Jews who were on the street handing out prayer candles. They stopped us thinking we were Jewish. I tried my best to convey my sympathy and support. 

We thought it would be fun to walk through Chinatown and Little Italy. We saw missionaries on the street and smiled and said hi. They stopped and we asked them where they were from and how long they had been out. One appeared to be Chinese and he was smiling and chipper. The other was a white guy from Utah and he said it was his first day! He hadn't even been to their apartment yet. He looked shell shocked. We tried to say comforting things. Poor guy! 

Megan told us to stop at a little shop called Sweet Moment and get the milk shaved ice. It was a fun, different type of treat!

Little Italy was full of pesky restaurant owners trying to pester us to go in their establishment. We went into a few souvenir shops.

Sine we did One World during the day, we thought it might be cool to do the Empire State Building at night. It was a risky, tourist place to be, but nothing bad had happened all day. We hoped it would be ok. They really upped their game at the Empire State Building since the last time we had gone. It is way more interesting to tour than One World. The exhibits were super cool. They had screens that looked so realistic, portraying what it would have looked like when it was being built. 

I loved seeing the city at night! It was magical and still. There really is something about this place that transcends any other city. I love it.

They reminded me that there is a scene in Elf that takes place in the Empire State Building lobby!

Macy's Day Parade! It would be so cool to be here for that one day.

Now it was time to really see Times Square.

Weston wanted a souvenir from the M&M store. 

I swear Times Square has gotten more screens over the last 15 years. It was mesmerizing.

We were told that this area is the worst for nakedness but I don't remember seeing anything too scandalizing. Maybe the cold weather helped. The smell of marijuana was awful though.

We walked a little ways to get to B Slide Pizza.

Okayyyyy people. 

This place was where it was at.

For sure my favorite pizza of the trip.

 Bleekers was definitely yummy. Your typical, greasy slice of pizza. 

But this place had the yummy, artisan, chewy crust. Wood fired, Napolitano style which is my fav. The brussel sprout appetizer was way yummy too. We were seated on the street which I thought was fun.

Oh hey, look! Sbarro. Travis's favorite NY pizza joint! ;)

Not sure we really needed ice cream... ok, definitely sure we didn't need it... but we had to maximize every opportunity! Leeuwen's was fun to try!

We were so wasted at the end of each day. Getting these boys up in the morning was no small feat!

It wasn't convenient, but we made the trek back down to the south side of Manhattan for our last breakfast. Lots of walking and subways. We got lucky and didn't have to wait long for a table at Clinton St. Baking Company. Sometimes the wait is 2+ hours! This had more of a cozy, diner type vibe. Weston got his gourmet hot chocolate. Collin and I got the blueberry pancakes with the famous caramel butter syrup. Weston got the chocolate chunk pancakes, but I think they were a bit rich. At this point in our trip I think we were all sweating sugar and butter.

Lots of police everywhere. We were told that every single officer on the NYPD was required to work yesterday. No one was given the day off. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest Catholic cathedral in the United States. It blew me out of the water. I was not expecting this level of grandeur! It was one of my favorite parts of our trip and a must see, in my opinion. The architecture, sculptures, art, alters, stained glass and overall ambiance took my breath away. It was so ornate. So detailed. So magnificent. I walked around in awe and reverence. Well done, Catholic church. Well done.

Of course, we needed to use the bathroom and there was only one. ONE! It was crazy to me. We stood in the longest line. And it almost seemed like an afterthought. Like they put a toilet in a closet.

Such an incredible mosaic!

I've been in lots of Catholic churches and cathedrals that felt dusty and dark... in more ways than one. This one felt different to me. Very well cared for and inspiring to the soul.

Collin was having flashbacks to his preschool days! He went to mass every week when he was 5. 

Those doors! That organ!! My jaw was on the ground at every turn.

We had enjoyed such great weather so far, but our luck had run out. It was drizzly and overcast all day.

Back to Rockefeller Center. We were one week shy of getting to see the ice rink.

FAO Schwarz. A toy store. Now here was a place the boys could get behind. We had fun watching all the toy demonstrations. I bought some markers, fake snow and a remote control car for Tanner.

The world's largest Nike store! I actually got a good deal on a cute pair of shoes!

Apparently this space age style is becoming trendy.

It took a loooong time to get to this bakery. I think we took a few wrong turns. So. much. walking. And subways. Complicated by lots of rain. We finally made it. The cookies do not look good but they exceeded my expectations! I wasn't expecting the chocolate peanut butter one to be so good. I got extra to take home to share with Marcie and Karen for helping with our kids. Maybe not the best choice as the box was huge and I was already lugging around toy and shoe boxes. We were almost out of time and had to decide if we should try to get to Joe's pizza or if we go to the Natural Museum of History. The museum won. 

More walking in the rain. 

It kind of felt like we were on a pioneer trek. 

No more pep in our steps. 

The boys were very, very done.

I had to muster lots of energy to try and convince them this would be worthwhile. 

 It was hard to even figure out how to enter this monstrosity of a building. 

The lines were very long. I got online and bought the tickets that way which saved some time. It's hard to even describe how big this place is. Wikipedia says it's 2,500,000 sq.ft. Good grief. On with our trek. Quite a way to finish a trip of walking. 

The boys were not happy about it.

But honestly, this place is insanely cool. The room with the giant whale hanging from the ceiling made my jaw drop. The animal exhibits were unlike anything I've ever seen. We got lost amongst all the wings and floors. There were absolutely gobs of people everywhere. Seemed everyone had the same idea for a rainy Saturday. The dinosaur fossils were super cool. Of course we were thinking about the movie, Night at the Museum. Just disappointed that the statue of Theodore Roosevelt had been removed two years ago!

Give me some gum gum, dum dum!

We wearily, dragged our bodies back to the hotel to collect our luggage and head to the airport. Apparently I was too exhausted to take any more pictures! We flew in and out of whatever airport is farther away from Manhattan, I can't remember if it was JFK or LaGuardia. Whichever it was, required subway rides, walking, shuttle trains and tons more walking. Just getting to the airport was it's own travel nightmare. If you ask the boys, this trip was too much walking. For future reference, the iconic culture of New York City is a little lost on teenage boys, but we had a good time, nonetheless. It was an adventure! I'm so glad we got to spend this time with both boys, two years in a row! What will we ever do next fall when we aren't in New York?!