New York State of Mind on Day 5

Sunday morning started out by celebrating Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue. What a beautiful church! It was a bit odd that in the opening for mass the priest announced what Sirius XM channel the mass could be heard on. I am so glad we had the opportunity to do this.

After church we headed over to the famous Carnegie Deli for lunch! What a crazy experience!






The tables are crammed so tight I am sure fire codes are violated with the number of patrons in at any one time! The meat on the sandwiches was at least 6 inches thick! We had to also try a piece of NY cheesecake which was fabulous and again a HUGE piece!

Walking back to the hotel to pack up and check out! I thought this was a cute picture of Grandma and Cara! The streets of NYC are not very stroller friendly at all! Our stroller took quite a beating for sure! However, we found it safer to have her in the stroller with the crowds of people, but on this Sunday afternoon the streets were not very crowded!

Cara being cute!

Later in the evening at the airport pulling her own suitcase! The night before we were leaving (to come to NYC) I was getting us all packed and she came up to me with her suitcase and told me she was packed too! Inside was her little handheld Vsmile with 3 games and Baby Cara! It was pretty cute so I had to let her take it! We tied Baby Cara in because the bag wouldn't zip all the way which was a good thing!

Despite the rain we had a great trip! It was so fun being in the heart of the city and seeing all the famous landmarks with my daughter and parents this time. A huge thank you to my parents for going with us to help with Cara and for letting us crash in your hotel room!

NYC Day #4

Another rainy day in the city changed our plans for the day! Instead of taking the walking tour through Central Park with the big group we decided some shopping (an indoor activity) would be on our agenda. We hopped on the subway and went to the world's largest Macy's! Also possibly the world's most crowded Macy's on a rainy Saturday with a big sale going on. So after some quick browsing there we hopped in a cab headed for FAO Schwartz!


We were there for afternoon story time, notice Cara had to sit down front and center

And we got to try out the BIG piano! So Fun!

Scott and his students didn't let a little rain stop them from enjoying their time in Central Park

Later that evening after nap time back at the hotel we met up with the group at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner before going to see Mary Poppins on Broadway!

Mommy and Cara at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner

Time to pose with Daddy

Waiting for dinner at HRC

Scott bought this program book for the show and you can tell by Cara's reaction that it was money well spent (back in rain coats because it was raining AGAIN)

Waiting outside the theater for the show

New York Day #3

This morning started out nice and dry which was perfect for a trip to the top of the Empire State Building!


Mommy and Cara posing for Daddy

A bit hazy, but at least we had a 5 mile view, could have been worse with the weather we had encountered so far

Daddy and Cara posing

More views of the city! I believe this one is the Hudson River which was the landing strip for a plane recently!

A family picture!

A beautiful afternoon to enjoy Rockefeller Plaza! On the itinerary for this afternoon was a behind the scenes tour of Radio City Music Hall and then NBC Studios!

Cara waiting in line at Radio City Music Hall

Cara was dancing on THE STAGE at Radio City Music Hall

A view from the top balcony at Radio City Music Hall

Cara posing with a Rockette

After dinner at Bubba Gump's we headed over to the Gershwin Theater to see Wicked! Grandpa and Cara headed back to 5th avenue for more shopping at the Disney Store!

The Big Apple Day #2

On the planned agenda for Thursday morning was a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island! Unfortunately when this trip was planned 8 months prior no one anticipated this to be the most rainy day of our visit!

On the ferry heading to the Liberty Island, notice how wet we got on our walk from the subway to the ferry despite our umbrellas and rain jackets. Cara stayed nice and dry in her stroller with the rain cover on it

The view from the ferry looking out. The awful weather conditions dull our view!

Standing on the ground looking up to Lady Liberty!

Cara chose a Statue of LIberty sucker for her souvenir

Usually looking at the city from the island is a breathtaking view, but not on this rainy yucky day, if you look real hard you can see the outlines of the building


The itinerary for the afternoon included walking tours of Battery Park and the World Trade Center site as well as a bus ride through Soho, Greenwich Village, and then shopping in Chinatown! The four of us opted out of these plans and took the subway back uptown to our hotel to dry out!


The rain subsided in the evening just in time for our trip to Little Italy for dinner!

Little Italy!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Sal Anthony's and then headed back to the hotel for the night! The big group was headed to New Jersey to get checked into the hotel and we would all meet again in the morning at the Empire State Building!

New York Day #1

Scott planned a band/choir trip with his students and they were unable to fit it in during the school year, so he planned it for June. Cara and I really wanted to go but did not want to endure the long bus ride, so we decided to fly. Grandma and Grandpa F decided to come along to help with Cara since it was a great opportunity for them to see New York too! So early Wednesday morning the 4 of us boarded an airplane, and later that afternoon Scott boarded a bus with 57 students and parents. They would be arriving in the city bright and early Thursday morning!

Our hotel right in the middle of Times Square at 48th and Broadway. In the bottom part of our hotel (the first 3 floors) was the theater for West Side Story

The view looking up the 43 floors of our hotel. Every building in the middle of Times Square was plastered with billboards advertising current movies, theaters, and stores

Grandma and Grandpa with Cara in Times Square. The streets of downtown NYC were not stroller friendly and children were very few and far between

After an afternoon rest and change of clothes we headed to the American Girl store on 5th Avenue! Cara and Baby Cara dressed in their matching dresses and ready to go.

Eating at the American Girl cafe, notice Cara took her cute pigtails out while in the stroller walking. Guess she did not want to match Baby Cara that closely!

Grandma and Grandpa at the cafe waiting on dinner

We walked over to Rockefeller Plaza which was just one block away from AG

And then hit the biggest Disney store outside of Disney World I have ever seen. We enjoyed shopping on 5th avenue that day. We stopped for a walk through of St Patrick's Cathedral as well. After a long day (with a very early flight) and lots of shopping and walking we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

To hold you over...

We are heading out of town for a few days to head to the Big Apple!
So many posts ahead when we return from our visit to the Statue of Liberty, Radio City Music Hall, NBC, Empire State Building, etc. But to keep our loyal blog viewers with something cute to look at while we are gone here a some of the shots from her photos a couple weeks ago!

Pool Time

What a fun weekend we had, despite Mommy hurting her back! Grandpa and Grandma A came to visit and we took them out to dinner at Iaria's and then to see Wicked for their birthday present (which is a bit early since they both have summer birthdays). Cara really enjoyed their visit which included our first visit to the neighborhood pool this season.

All dressed and ready for an afternoon of pool fun

Walking with Grandpa A to the neighborhood pool

A nice refreshing swim in the baby pool, the big pool was pretty cold

We celebrated Father's Day on Sunday with Daddy and Grandpa A since we would still be in NYC next Sunday. Daddy got a new Ipod Touch and he was super excited!

Grandpa got this personalized travel mug covered with Cara's picture and a hat with LED lights

Grandma helped Cara make this cute nurse hat to take care of Mommy after she hurt her back! Mommy somehow twisted her back putting Cara in her car seat and really threw it into major painful spasms! Now with new meds and a couple days of rest it will hopefully be all better in time for our trip on Wednesday!