A dream come true...

One of my all time biggest dreams officially came true this past weekend. Blake and I were blessed to go on a three night trip to the Big Apple! New York definitely did not disappoint.
We flew the red eye Wednesday night and arrived at 8:30am on Thursday. Even though none of us got much sleep, adrenaline kicked in and we hit the tourist attractions. It is probably hard to believe but we accomplished all of this...

Thursday:

• First Subway experience!
• World Trade Center and the visitor center
• Ferry over to Statute of Liberty
• Ellis Island
• Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange
• Lunch at Olivia Gourmet Restaurant
• Canal Street for some shopping
• Dinner at Serendipity (my favorite meal of the trip)
• Dylan's Candy Shop
• Trump Tower
• Saw Nicholas Cage taping his new movie LIVE. It was awesome to see!
• Cupcakes at Magnolia's Bakery

Friday:

• RAIN, RAIN...go AWAY!!! (It finally did about 10ish)
• woke up at 4:45 to go to the Today Show LIVE
• watched Taylor Swift perform in concert
• Rockefeller Center
• Breakfast at Astro's
• Macy's...where the Thanksgiving Day parade occurs
• Empire State Building
• Lunch at Saks 5th Avenue
• 5th Avenue and FAO Schwartz
• Times Square
• Dinner at Carmine's
• Broadway show...WICKED!! AWESOME!!!

Saturday:

• Went to Dean and Deluca's
• Breakfast at Duke's
• went to SOHO
• walked through Greenwich Village
• Saw Sarah Jessica Parker's house that Sex and the City was filmed at
• Shopped at Canal Street
• Lunch at Dos Caminos
• Carriage ride through Central Park
• Dinner at Tavern on the Green
• Walked through Times Square again

Sunday:

• Breakfast at Astro's again
• Took a taxi to the airport
• Arrived almost 3 hours early...only to find out an hour before we were supposed to leave we had a 3 1/2 hour DELAY!!!
• Travel time: 14 hours...including the taxi ride!! We arrived home at about 1am! LONG DAY! It was such a joy to see Aubrey Rose and chase her all around the house the next day. BEST reunion EVER! And now on to the pictures!!!

Us leaving Blake and my house Wednesday night

Christina brought us some hats for the Statute of Liberty. Thanks B&C for making this trip such a blast!!! You guys are the best!

My first Metro Card Subway experience.

Lunch at Olivia Gourmet's


I loved seeing the New World Trade Center site. After, walking around we went to the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. I loved being able to experience this.



On the ferry to see the Statute of Liberty




Experiencing Canal Street in the rain


Adorable restaurant...Serendipity

Friday morning....getting ready to watch the Today show LIVE! 6am!

This is how dark it was when we arrived at the Today Show. Taylor Swift was already singing at this point. What a life! (Not a life I would want....that is for sure.)

Taylor Swift performing

Thank goodness there was a guy selling ponchos right outside our hotel!

Probably the best $3 we spent!!

I loved seeing the Today Show live.
Here is the outside of the NBC News Studio



Below is Matt Lauer. Meredith was not cohosting this morning. Not sure if the lady is Natalie or who it was. Either way I loved seeing all of this!

Then, we went to the Empire State Building. Even though it was completely overcast, I loved experiencing this too!

Kind of fun that this LOVE sign was just on the sidewalk near our hotel.

We have the BEST husbands!!

A cute fountain in Greenwich Village


I LOVE him!!


Carrie Bradshaw's house from Sex and the City




Definitely a highlight was the madness of shopping in Canal Street.

It is absolutely impossible to pick a favorite memory from this dream come true trip, but if I had to, it probably would be the carriage ride through Central Park. AMAZING!! I never knew how HUGE it was and just a place to unwind and refresh. I loved it!

This trip definitely could not happen if it weren't for a ton of people. First, Bill and Linda, you not only watched our little girl and took such good care of her, but you also blessed us with so many of the details for this trip. We absolutely can not thank you enough! My parents and Jesse and Allie were so incredibly sweet to watch Aubrey Rose as well. Even though Jesse and Allie did not follow my number one rule, (DO NOT let Aubrey learn any new words by the time I come home!) we feel so blessed to have so many people who love Aubrey Rose the way we do. Aubrey learned BAnana (I had heard "nana" before we left, but not BAnana) and she officially knows what a dog says, "Woof, woof, woof, woof." She says this now all day long. Hopefully I can get it on video! And then, to our amazing tour guides, Blake and Christina! We still can not believe that you guys took time out of your busy schedule and spent the money to join us. You truly made the trip a blast! There is no way we could have experienced all that without you guys. They were so sweet to make a list up of everywhere we should go, organized the itinerary by locations and then guided our steps to accomplish it. BP had his IPhone, which was phenomenal, to navigate us through the subway systems and streets. Christina taught me the ins and outs, not only of the shopping, but also and what and who to look for. It was a phenomenal trip! And all the more fun to experience it with friends. Definitely a dream come true!!!