new york. new york. one day.

We were SUPER lucky and got an "unexpected" trip to NYC!

We had not planned on going back and so it was 

a real bonus for us to be able to do this!

Cost of 4 round trip tickets:  Free

Kyle decided to book the trip, take the big kids (a "last

hoorah" for Josh), leave the "littles" at Grandma Regulars (thank

you Grandma Regular) and in a whirlwind of something

like 24 hours he had the thing planned and told us.

Thanks to (free) "Hotel Wilcox" (Adam and Amy) for one

last stay.  They will be moving back to SLC either this

summer or the next with a new job and we will miss

the opportunity to bunk with them in a city that

has stolen a tiny sliver of each of our hearts.

We love the hustle and bustle and sights

and smells and noises and people and shopping

and food and the whole experience and feel really

grateful the NYC has been on our list so many times

the past few years.  A free place to stay and some

other creative ways to go free in the Big Apple have

made cheap, yet VERY FUN! trips.

If anyone ever needs advice on "Free in NYC" call

Kyle, he has a list that never ends.  (Free in some cases

 is also equal to very cheap.)  

We have never felt cheated in spending very little, 

yet still having a great time.

NYC 2012

 We arrived at around midnight on Weds/Thurs. and Josh

read us a bedtime story...."The Communist Manifesto."

It put us all right to sleep.

 Thursday morning--our daily hike across Columbia University

Campus to the 116th Subway station.  It was really pretty weather.

 Columbia.  It is such a pretty campus.

116th subway stop, we pretty much can find our way to or

from (almost) any place in NYC from this stop.

Take the 1 train and you'll be good!

Tile work at the 116th stop

Taxi cabs all in a row.

Cookies for breakfast from Levain Bakery.

They are the size of a softball and delicious.

Plus they have eggs in them, so that counts, right?

Down to Times Square.  Grace HAD TO hit Forever 21

within 24 hours of being in the city.  She worked REALLY

hard and saved ALL her very own spending money for

clothes shopping in the city.  She spent and spent.

Elvis IS alive, lest you thought he was dead.  We saw

this same Elvis on Easter Sunday--lets just say he was

NOT a very friendly Elvis!

Josh and Kyle shopping for some new Yankee hats.

Grace & I going "gangsta" in the hat shop.  I tried my hardest

to make that one facebook face all the teenage girls make--

how did I do?  Not sure 40 year old lips bend the same

way teen age girl lips to. But I tried.

The tulips were blooming and the trees had popcorn.

Spring is seriously beautiful in the Big Apple.

And of course, pizza was the first request for everyone

for dinner that night.  No one does pizza quite like New York.

We love it.  I am pretty sure I could eat pizza and a salad 

everyday.  Oh wait....I almost did.  Almost.

Divine.

Delightful.

Delectable.

Dinner.

We ate the whole thing too.

And for dessert?

Yup, gotta have a black and white cookie.

Mission accomplished.

Next we headed to the Rockefeller Center to watch the sun

set over the city.  The Rock is half the price of the Empire State

Bldg. ($20), the line is literally almost NO wait to go up (where as

the Empire State Bldg can take HOURS to wait in line to go

up).  And the view is equally divine in my opinion.

Top of the Rock.

Manhattan in all it's glory.

Funny story:  Apparently the Top of the Rock

has WiFi, while we were on top, Puddy called us to

facetime and we actually were able to connect on

our IPHONES with her ITOUCH and talk.  We turned

the camera around and showed her our view of the sun

setting over New York all while standing on the top.

It was REALLY windy.

All these photos were taken on my IPHONE.

I have better camera ones I will post (or not) at

some point--but was lazy and snapped a ton on my

phone this trip.

Getting closer to sunset.  LOVE this shot.

The lightening and sunset were beautiful, if I were a 

professional photographer I would have been in heaven.

Good night New York.

End of Day One.