Wednesday, August 20, 2014

NYC 2014 - Day 2

Our second day in New York was jam-packed with sight seeing. We started off at FAO Schwarz toy store. We liked this store much  more than the Toys R Us in Times Square. It felt classy, had a great layout and they had any and every.single.kind.of.toy you can even imagine, each in its own themed area. Seriously. Plus amazing staff demonstrating toys to show you how cool they are. We strolled through each area and fantasized of doing our Christmas shopping in the big apple.

Safari section...any stuffed animal you can imagine

The "Schweetz" section...any candy you can imagine!

My sweet tooth :)

Infamous Big Piano

Lego section

I mentioned this dog in Jayne's 11 month post. It was one of the first things we saw when we walked in the door. I gave it to her to keep her occupied and well, it was love.

Muppets area-you can customize your very own muppet there!


They even have a baby section. Ah, if you can't tell-we really enjoyed FAO Schwarz...kids at heart I guess!

From there we took a short jaunt to see Serendipity...

and then made our way to Tom's Restaurant, famous from Seinfeld for my Seinfeld loving hubs. They actually don't ever eat there (the show was filmed in LA), but the outside is what they always show before diner scenes. The food was actually good and decently priced-Plus we enjoyed the Seinfeld memorabilia on the walls and references in their menu

Next up was the Manhattan Temple. It popped up out of nowhere, right across the street from the Lincoln Center.




We decided it was time to let Jayne stretch her legs so we made our way to Central Park. Mmmm-I do love Central Park!



We found a nice area of grass to just unwind and take in the surroundings.



This little one loved crawling around (not many places to do that in NYC) and pulled the grass to her little heart's content

(Jayne & I are that little white blob of people in the middle right of the bridge)

Our walk through park let us to Belvedere Castle, which provided some stunning views


I just love how the city skyline suddenly meets the treeline

We decided we needed some air conditioning to cool our bodies down. The Museum of Natural History is right across the street from the park and provided the perfect cool down.

We made it for the last hour (free entry!) and even found our favorites from Night at the Museum



We finished off the day in Rockefeller Center. We had a scheduled trip to the Top of the Rock for sunset. Luckily we had some time to kill beforehand and stumbled on this Godiva chocolate shop. Their iced chocolate was to.die.for! I gladly forgo-ed my dinner for this little beauty!

Our Top of the Rock visit was well worth it. We opted for this route rather than the Empire State Building because you can see the city and park from the Rock, and it was cheaper.

Central Park

Panoramic Shot

Our seasoned traveler. The other tourists thought it was so cute that she was just sleeping amid the hustle and bustle up top

City View



Jayne woke up halfway through our visit to the top and obliged us with some photos
(check out the tourists behind us in these pics. They were loving Jayne!...We got points, smiles, and waves from so many people. She made friends wherever we went on this trip! )




Another day in the books. Thanks NYC!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

NYC 2014 - Day 1

Our first day in NYC we headed down to the Brooklyn Pier. We were lucky enough to spend our time in NYC staying at our friends, the Walkers' house in Brooklyn. They were the best hosts anyone could ever wish for. Plus look at that cute Rudy child of theirs. Waking up to that lock of curls was a perk!


Brooklyn Pier is awesome and has playgrounds, exercise parks, basketball courts and turf fields-all with this amazing backdrop


and this view. What more could you want!?

 We hung out on the pier for a while, playing on the swings...

And just taking in being in NYC




 We made our way down the pier to the bridge. A lot of people were out enjoying the beautiful summer day!




We made our way to the infamous Shake Shack. MmmmmMmmm. Their custard was amazing on the hot summer day...or any day for that matter!

View from our table in Shake Shack-right at the base of Brooklyn Bridge

Jayne was a bit less enthused about Shake Shack. She chose to nap instead :)

From Shake Shack we headed across the Brooklyn Bridge. I just had to keep pinching myself reminding myself that I was actually there-walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. It wasn't the movies, I was in NYC. Thanks Phil for taking me to the city! :)




Across the bridge, then we headed to Ground Zero.

This place is very sobering. I just kept replaying the events of 9/11 in my mind over and over and imagined what it would've been like to be in the city, let alone in that area. 

Jayne was born on 9/11/13 so it was special to have her visit with us. We love having a new life and something happy to remember that day by.



Very humbling and gives you a new perspective on life.

The new One World Trade Center is amazing. Its huge and majestic-standing where so many lost their lives.


Work it Clark!

Later that night Phil, Jayne & I headed out to take in Times Square in all its night-time glory. Miss Jayne was all smiles... 

We made our way by Rockefeller Center... 


...Rockefeller Building...

...past Radio City Music Hall...

...and then arrived at Times Square 

Jayne was enamored with screens and lights.

I was amazed by it all too! I couldn't believe it was so late at night. By the looks of the place, you'd think it was the middle of the day...a very busy day! While in Times Square we visited Toys R Us, the Disney Store, the M&M store and finished off at a frozen yogurt shop



We were tired by then and made our way back to the Walkers to rest up for day 2!