Halloween 2021

So just like almost every other year I definitely felt like we didn't do as much as I had hoped for Halloween this year, but with constant colds, my New York Trip, and just being pregnant it was a recipe for a lazy year. However, I still made the most of it so here's what we actually got to do this time around:

Sept 11th: costume shopping - this is a big part of Halloween, of course, but picking out costumes is so fun. Initially we didn't think we'd have a Spirit store open near us so we were just going to look online and have the girls pick from the options there, but then I saw our store nearby did open so we went and let them look around. Larry and I always do a theme so we went with Paw Patrol (since the girls love it), he chose Mayor Humdinger, I will be Chickaletta, which we found both online at a good price. Gwen ended up going with our theme opting for a Skye costume, but Cara picked something that is just so Cara - the hulk! With Lucy we figured we'd recycle the old Lion one Gwen wore when was almost 1 (she's so much bigger than Cara or Lucy is at that age), but when we tried it on it was a little too small so we're doing Gwen's dog costume from last year (see Trick or Treating portion below for pic).

16th: Cornbelly's - we had a discount coupon for Cornbelly's and even though Cara was still fighting an ear infection, she had been on antibiotics for a couple days and everyone said they were feeling good enough to get out of the house so we ventured to Cornbelly's. We were able to take the girls on some rides, let them play on some playgrounds (They have multiple ones there), go through a gravity house, and even do a bit of the corn maze (The girls got sick of that kind of quickly and so we left at that point to go out to dinner). Even though we didn't do nearly as much as you could've done, we still had a few hours of fun for the day :)

25th: pumpkin carving - we didn't really do a pumpkin patch this year (Cornbelly's had pumpkins for grabs, but we didn't get them there), so we just grabbed some large ones from Costco. I love the ones there since they are large and not expensive. Monday night we had the girls pick out their favorite designs from a book we got. Normally the girls want nothing to do with pumpkin guts, but it's my favorite part haha. This year, however, Cara loved pulling out the guts. She thought the slimy-ness of it was so cool. After carving was done we found some candles to light them up and marveled at the work. I love pumpkin carving night most of all haha.

27th: decoration drive - I had seen some houses in our neighborhood and in the one  across the street so I figured a drive around both to look at decorations when it started to get dark would be so much fun! Turns out between the two 'hoods there were really only a couple hand full of houses that actually had any decent decorations (although many with a huge spider web...makes me wonder who had the deal on those haha). I was bummed we didn't get to see as many as I had hoped, but the girls had a lot of fun - though that may have been mostly because they got to be in the car unbuckled so that was just the fun part for them haha. 

30th and 31st: Trick or Treating - in Utah it's a big deal if Halloween ends up on a Sunday and there's this whole "should we go out Saturday or Sunday" debate. I was all for going out either night, figuring we'd just play it by ear. Well then Tori mentioned having an overnight and having Lilly and the girls go out on Saturday so I figured why not? I know I'd love to go both nights so that's what we did. Saturday night we went one direction from our house and went until the girls were done walking and man were there SO many people out. We didn't go all out with our costumes (mostly because we started late since we had Lilly's birthday party until around 7 that night), but still neighbors got the gyst of it (and seemed to go crazy for Gwen's costume). Then Sunday we all got dressed up and did the face paint and the whole shebang; then we went out, much earlier, and started in the other direction from our house and I went until the girls were tired again. It didn't feel like as many people were out and not as many houses were lit up, but it was Halloween, dang it, and my girls were going to have fun. Overall, I didn't go all out like normal, but we had a TON of fun and it was the Halloween I had always dreamed of. I'm so glad this is (or should be) my last Halloween pregnant and I'm so excited at the idea of taking all my kids out next year (if not then, then the following year). My girls have been so excited to get all the candy they got (and boy did they score big) and it was so cute hearing "I said trick or treat and they gave me candy" or "look a candy bowl on the porch" comments. Everyone loved their costumes, although Lucy wanted nothing to do with any costume haha. 

And now Halloween is over and the girls are down and we can get excited for Gwen's birthday and Thanksgiving and I'm so so excited for the other holidays and to get my Christmas shopping started. 

4 Months (weeks 14 - 17)

 

Compare/Contrast: Well the sickness thing was made more fun this time with 4 colds (one right after the other) all of September and a little into October. Then I had to have my 2nd covid shot around the 23rd of September and THAT, on top of everything else, made it the most miserable weekend of my life! I would never want to re-do that time.

Sleep is like normal. When I sleep, it's great, but I have to roll back and forth a lot. I'm also a little nervous at how quickly I've gotten so big. I know it's just because my ab muscles are shot and my uterus is expanding so quickly (little baby has a whole ocean to swim in in there at this point haha).

Finding the heartbeat on the doppler is a bit different this time, it's a little harder, but I think it's just mostly because of my excess skin I still have.

I still absolutely love tomato and look forward to my bacon, tomato, and cheese sandwiches for lunch almost every day. I love that I can eat more now and getting full doesn't make me super sick anymore. 

Best Moments This Month: The biggest and best moment was definitely going to New York with Stace. This was such a great trip and it was so much fun to get away. Not to mention it helped me get away when I was feeling constantly sick and so it helped me feel better and get back to normal and take care of my (still a little) sick family when I got back.

The doppler and finding the heartbeat are always great moments! When I had my 16 week appointment they couldn't find it as easily so we got to have an ultrasound and it was a relief for me. It was really really quick, but I could see movements and a full skull (I was nervous about that this time for some reason). I loved that appointment.

Feeling better is also a great moment. I tried to go off my medicine, but I noticed I got too sick if I was hungry and it got to be too much. BUT I am down to only 1 pill a day - yay! The best is no more colds and I'm feeling more productive (just this last week) and helpful with the family. Things are feeling so much more normal and I'm loving it.

Our Halloween month has been fun, not as productive as other years, but I've decided to enjoy what we can do rather than stress about what we didn't do. 

And lastly, feeling movements. This baby is starting to make itself known and I LOVE it! It's my absolute favorite part and I'm going to do all I can to soak in the rest of this pregnancy.



What I'm Looking Forward To: Definitely the anatomy scan scheduled for Nov 22nd. And, of course, the holidays coming up. I love those! Oh and we have a family vacation planned for the first weekend in December and I'm so excited for that, it's going to be SO much fun!

When Sickness Took Over Our House

So let me just say how miserable this last (almost) month has been! Cara started school on September 2nd and on the 5th she was acting very down and sad. I thought she was depressed, but then Larry said she mentioned her ear hurting and we realized it was probably a sickness from starting school. We got her some Tylenol and let her rest the rest of the night. 

I was keeping on top of temperature checks and she'd go back and forth on having a fever. She never had one when it was school day so I'd let her go back. Well after another week Lucy started to act sick and then it hit me. And it just kept going. Luckily Larry and Gwen never caught anything, but we could not get it to stop going back and forth between the rest of us. I'd have maybe a couple good days and then be back down. I had a feeling mine was just because I'm pregnant so my immune system isn't as good as it usually is, but couldn't figure out Cara and Lucy. We were giving them medicine, I got humidifiers, letting them rest....everything we could think of. I didn't feel we needed to go to the doctor because they never had high fevers and I figured as long as they could rest and get medicine it would go away. 

I finally had to call my midwives to ask what I could take for a cough because I couldn't stop coughing. Especially after my 2nd covid dose, I was up coughing ALL night long and my nose was plugged up so I couldn't breath on top of everything. I ended up stealing the girls humidifier so I could breath at night before my New York trip. 

Luckily, while I was away I was feeling so much better and Larry said the girls were doing great and didn't have issues. He even took them out to Nickel City to have fun. When I got back, though, it hit the fan! Cara ended up having to come home early on Tuesday with a fever of 102. She came home and immediately went to bed and slept for hours. Up until Thursday she was sleeping ALL day and night long and would hardly eat anything. I was really getting worried so I finally made a doctor appointment for Thursday morning. They said she most likely had an ear infection and possibly sinus infection so they prescribed amoxicillin for her that we immediately got right then. She didn't love it (and still cries a little when she has to take it), but it's been helping her feel so much better already. We are keeping this weekend open in case everyone is feeling a little sick, but hopefully we can get out a bit and get some fresh air (our house is smelling a little lived in and needs us to get out haha).

Anyways, I'm glad I'm feeling so much better and can help take care of any sick kiddos, but I hope they can stay not sick for a while! We are definitely using hand sanitizer a lot more and I'm washing my hands any chance I get to keep it at bay for me at the very least!

Journey back home

Well our day to come back to reality has arrived. We have had such a great trip it felt like a good stopping point. My feet and legs were too sore to continue walking through a city and I was antsy to see my family again (especially after a couple early days haha).

The ride home wasn't the best, though. Yes, the shuttle we were able to take straight from the city to the airport was nice, but finding it took some help from some nice strangers who directed us in the right direction. And it wasn't cheap, but much more convenient than subways, trains, and airport trams with all our luggage.

The Newark airport was the absolute worst airport I think I've ever been to. It was the Wal Mart of airports - 10 TSA spot options, but only 2 were open, meaning we spent at least 45 minutes in line to get to it. Stace had issues getting her bags through security that amounted to now having her kindle out of her bag (seemed a bit overdramatic for a non computer), and then there weren't many food options around our gate so it felt like we had slim pickings (we were flying over lunch time and knew we'd need real food). Then the most annoying part - we had to go to the gate to find out when we could board and they informed us that we weren't supposed to have any carry ons (we both had the standard 2). NO WHERE on our ticket did it say that, but they said it said "basic economy" which means no bags. I don't understand that, especially when we saw people with 4 large bags going on the plane. I'll never fly United ever again because of this! We were able to get an exception to our bags and get on the flight - and even got people to move so we could sit together, but they didn't have movie options, just direct TV so if a movie started soon, you could watch that, but otherwise you just had to watch what was on when it was on. Oh and no caption options, which I like to have. The flight home was extremely bumpy and I was way too tired to read, I ended up sleeping most of the way (even with that it felt like such a looong flight). Because of all the turbulence I felt so sick and had a pressure headache by the time we landed, we were SO ready to get into a car to get home. I still had quite a bit of food left over too so it felt like I had overspent on that...just all over felt gross and like I needed an apple or something healthy.

Luckily, Larry was able to get the girls up earlier and meet us at the airport within a decent time frame and we were able to get Stacey to her mom's house to start her drive home (I felt SO bad she still had such a long leg ahead of her, but she made it home perfectly fine). I was good enough until after dinner, but then my sinuses started hurting SO badly. I've had trouble winking my left eye or clenching my jaw. I'm SO exhausted and ready for bed. The girls are down now so I think I'm going to skip unpacking and go to bed and take care of that stuff tomorrow! Good night blogging world - it was such a nice trip and I'm definitely ready for bed!

Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, 9/11 Museum, China Town and Serendipity

Good day! Let me just say if you had asked me around 3 how today was I would said "eh...it wasn't terrible, but not as awesome as yesterday", but now that we've reached the end of the day I can say it was another great one!

We had a very early start as we had to be to the Battery Park ferry to the statue by 9 so we had to get up around 6, get ready, go eat breakfast, and head to the park. Breakfast got a little scary because we went to this market/breakfast place and while were were eating these two strange guys came over on Citi Bikes and just acted very weird. We were at the only table outside so maybe they were just waiting for that, but they kept circling us and giving each other weird looks. It made me VERY uncomfortable. We ended up texting our husbands just in case. I knew Larry wouldn't read mine until he woke up so I told him if he didn't get another text from me by 8 to call someone and then told him our location and as many details of the guys as I could see. I also made sure to say out loud "okay, so they'll just meet us at the park and I told them we'd give them their tickets when we meet up" to make it sound like we were expected somewhere and it would be noticed if we went missing. Maybe I was being paranoid, but rather safe than sorry in a new city (especially on a dark and VERY deserted corner). 

We finished up breakfast and headed down to Battery Park. We were a little early and I was VERY sore and had a huge apple juice to drink (I couldn't find a small one in the market) so we sat on a bench to just rest for a second. We then walked over to stand in line for the ferry. Luckily we planned ahead and knew today would be the gloomiest day so we got lucky when it started raining, but we had the proper jackets and hats. Stace did NOT fair well on the ferry ride to the statue and I felt SO bad. She forgot to take her Dramamine so it was very very rough for her, We got to the island and she had to sit, but once she got her bearings she felt so much better. We could only get tickets up to the pedestal, but it was still a cool view and how close you get to her is still really cool. Unfortunately, you couldn't even see Manhattan from the city with how cloudy it was. We definitely climbed a ton of steps! We ended up taking our time going through the gift shops (I was looking for this wind up statue toy I saw last time that I hate that I didn't get, but they didn't have it...Stace had to find a spot that had motion sickness meds...luckily they had one). So we had to rush over to Ellis Island. We knew we had to get some food there since we had to rush to the 9/11 museum after this so I got some chips while Stace ordered real food (I just didn't feel hungry enough to need it). We didn't get to see too much of the Ellis Island museum...nothing like what I was telling her we'd see so it was kind of a bummer. But we had to hurry and get back to our ferry to take us back. The ferry rides were still a bit rough for her and I felt so bad because I knew how horrible feeling nauseas like that was. But once we were back on the island she was doing good and we rushed over to the 9/11 museum. 

We got there just in time for our reservation and ended up seeing so much more of the museum this time. They took out the parts that really made me cry last time so that helped, but seeing all the "missing persons" posters they had for people you knew were from the towers was heartbreaking enough to make me tear up a bit. We also got to see the airport camera footage of a couple of the terrorists going through security...that felt crazy and surreal. They looked so normal and not nervous or anything...weird. We spent about 2 hours in the museum and it felt SO weird coming out and back into the normal city. After seeing that same area filled with dust, fires, papers, and sad and bloody people for so long it was so weird to see the opposite of it. I felt like we had time traveled. We of course had to see the pools they had there too.

After that we had time to head over to China Town. Stace really wanted to see that and Little Italy and since Little Italy was such a treasure I figured maybe China Town would be just as cool. It wasn't. We made it a block and a half and turned around. Unless you went there for a reason, it just wasn't worth seeing. On our way back to the hotel Stace decided we really needed a good place for dinner after the way the day had started. She looked up "must see" places on her phone and mentioned Serendipity. Now I had mentioned going when we originally started planning this trip, but she was like "eh...whatever" about it so I didn't push it. When she mentioned it now I was like "YES! We NEED to go there tonight!" so we planned that, but we had some time to kill.

Now here was when I had a kind of exciting moment. Since we had extra time and I had two large hoodies for my mom I decided there was NO way I could squeeze both into my bag so I needed to exchange one for a shirt for me (she only asked for one hoodie so that wasn't a big deal). We went to the store armed with our receipt and the sweater and when I went to the store owner he threw a MAJOR fit. The address on the receipt wasn't the same as his store (but I KNEW it was the right receipt and the address on the receipt wasn't even a store, it was some bank or something). He kept saying I was lying and it was 100% not his store. I asked him to print off a receipt to show me and saw the one he printed did actually have his address. He threw SUCH a fit that I just walked away  saying "yeah, yeah, whatever" while Stace bought some pens. I was so angry though because I knew it was his store so we went back to our hotel (not too far away) so I could find the right receipt. I couldn't find one with his address, but when I looked at the receipt at the store next door (the one I actually bought my mom's sweater) I saw the time stamps were so close together, I also found the pics I had sent to my mom that were from his store (with the owner even in one of them) and they were time stamped as the same as the receipt. I googled the name of the store on the receipt and it came up his actual address so I was SURE he was trying to run some sort of scam. Then we realized we could look at the receipt Stace just got for her pens and sure enough it had the same information as my receipt. We stormed back (I have never walked to fast even though I was extremely sore). I showed him both receipts and he asked how we paid, when we told him Visa he immediately apologized and said we were right. I was still so angry, but Stace reminded me he was saying sorry and I needed to forgive him. I told him the sweater I wanted to exchange (it was much thinner so it wouldn't take as much room as the one I was exchanging) and he even helped me pick a good size. He also threw in these $100 bill magnets that we normally wouldn't buy, but they were free so why not? He must have said sorry about 50 times and explained his machine prints visa receipts weird and said he needed me to understand. I told him I did and I'm fine and I thanked him for doing the exchange. I felt VERY happy with my victory though, not to mention proud of myself for standing up for myself (the old me would've apologized and walked away crying over such confrontation). I'm using this ugly magnet as a lesson for my girls: don't be afraid to back down when you know you're right, but also don't be afraid to admit you are wrong and apologize!

After that we headed to Serendipity for dinner and it was the best way to end the night. We talked about our Peak and Pit of the trip (a tradition I like to do). We even asked the locals how they did trick or treating (turns out the apartment dwellers that hand out candy just sit on their stoop for trick-or-treaters). We both agreed yesterday was the funnest day, but we definitely ended the trip on a high note. I was happy to get a caesar salad (I had wanted one since yesterday at lunch haha) and then we both got big frozen hot chocolates....they were AMAZING!! We couldn't even finish our food, Stace got the appetizer nachos and both plates were almost larger than the table we were at haha. 

Overall I'm very very pleased with how this trip went. Stace and I travel very well together and between the two of us we can figure almost anything out. I'm so hoping that tomorrow's travel day is a smooth one. I'm excited to get home and see my family, but I am definitely dreading figuring out how to get to the airport...I'm not a nervous flyer, but I am a nervous airport traveler...I hate the timing and being on someone else's control. Plus we're flying United...I haven't flown anything but Delta in a very very long time! Wish us luck!

Friend's Experience & Apartment, Wicked, and A Lovely Sunset Cruise

Oh man was today one for the BOOOKS!! Yes I'm VERY VERY sore after yesterday but it was an absolute blast and I'm kind of sad it's over...I wish I had planned today's stuff for the last day of our trip, but oh well. Let me go back a little and explain what helped make today great! Originally the idea of coming to New York stemmed around going to the Friends Pop Up...it's always switching cities, but New York is always one of them so we figured that would the safe bet. Then when we booked the trip we couldn't find ANY October dates for it and we were really bummed. I kept holding out hope it would open, but up till last month I never saw anything. For today we had originally made reservations for Rockefeller Center for the morning. Stace didn't say she cared to go, but we had the time and I figured it's a New York thing so it might be cool to see. Then about a week before our trip she mentioned that the Friends Pop Up finally had October dates and I saw Saturday morning was open. I immediately booked it and said "see ya later Rockefeller!" haha. I figured we could at least see the building from the outside, we just lost our seeing the city from high above reservation, but I knew that the Empire State Building was just as good, if not better so we were fine.

We had to start this morning pretty early, we stopped at this Chelsea Bagel place for breakfast and it was AMAZING! We just got bagels and a smoothie, but they were so yummy! I might need to do more bagels once we get back home haha. We then headed over to the Friend's Pop Up. We had to wait outside, but then saw the gift shop was open so we "walked" that. It was VERY tiny, but I found a cute onesie for the baby and a cool book about ALL the episodes that I was excited to get. Stace got found some goodies too, but we both agreed they could've had a TON more haha. 

How could I pass THIS up?

We finally went out and waiting in line and when we got to go in we were giddy with excitement! They did a great job of staggering people so you didn't feel rushed, they took TONS of photos in so many fun spaces from the show. Being in the apartments was by far the coolest thing. We were literally in heaven and I wanted to soak it all up for as long as I could! We went through the cough in front of the fountain, the apartments and hallway, the "pivot" couch stairway, the marble dog "switching apartments" part, and then ended at Central Perk. It was GREAT!!! Like I can't even tell you how great it was! I almost wish I drank coffee because you could order it at Central Perk, but I just can't stand it so it isn't worth the wasted money.

After we finished that we saw we had just enough time to go by the Friend's Apartment. We knew it wasn't the real one, but the one they used for outside shots, but it was still really really cool to see (once we did finally find it haha). They even had a couple tour groups going there around the same time, we luckily got our pics in before they could crash ours haha.

After that we headed over to where Gershwin Theater was (where our Wicked would be shown) and then stopped for lunch at nearby place. We had to rush, but our waiter was VERY nice about it (I told him the second he brought our water that we were in a rush so the quicker we could get out the best and I think he was happy to do that so it would give him more to wait on to get more tips). We had JUST enough time to eat, pay, and then walk to the theater. 

Now Wicked...that was an AMAZING performance. I was SO excited we got to see it at the biggest theater and in New York City...definitely not off-broadway haha. It was so much fun to watch and the acting and music were amazing! It was hard not to love it. Of course, I always get choked up when the actors all come out and bow and totally teared up when the main ones came out haha. They did a great job and totally deserved the praise.

After the play we headed to dinner, we ran into Hell's Kitchen and knowing the name sounded familiar we ate there. One great thing about New York is since they made the whole "vaccine to eat inside" mandate all restaurants have an outside seating area so we got to eat outside a lot. The weather has been nice so far and it's been nice, however at Hell's Kitchen you still have to show your card to go in to use the restroom...that was crazy haha. We both ordered the 2 tacos entree figuring that should feed us a bunch for our late night....turns out the tacos are VERY tiny and it felt more like a snack than a dinner. They were good though. I got the chicken and Stace got the steak and we swapped one so we both got one of each. 

After dinner we headed to the Circle Line Cruise dock for our sunset cruise. The streets going out felt VERY sketchy and I was a little nervous about walking back and how iffy it would be. Like I said, Larry and I avoided night time as much as we could so being two girls made me feel pretty nervous about being out so late. Luckily, the boat tour was SO great! We saw so many awesome sites, and seeing the skylines all lit up was awesome! We got some great info about different parts of the city (seems the edge has all the really fun stuff like an indoor skating rink, a top golf type range, and a concert/movie in the dark venue...lots of great thing). We even got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and get  some really good shots. I actually felt better on the boat because I realized everyone there had to be a tourist so we wouldn't be the only ones leaving the area so late. It got a little chilly and I was getting hungry so I ordered some hot chocolate and a pretzel to share with Stace. The pretzel was super salty so that was unfortunate, but the hot chocolate was nice....VERY hot!

I was pretty obsessed with her this trip!

Walking back to our hotel wasn't too bad after all. We found some well lit and busy-ish streets and even ran into Madison Square Gardens (I always wanted to see that in person). We did end up walking past some homeless and desperate people, which was really sad to see them all under their blankets in front of a church, but otherwise it was a great day.

It's SUPER late and we have a super early day tomorrow, but I'm SO happy with our choices for today. It was a GREAT day that I'll remember forever!! Now to get as much sleep as I can for tomorrow!

Grand Central, Empire State, Central Park, The Met, Little Italy, and Times Square

Today was a MUCH better day, not that yesterday was a hard one to beat haha. Even though almost everything we'd done today was something I had already done, we did it in a different way and had a lot of fun.

We started the day at Grand Central Station. I had told Stace it wasn't super exciting, but I get it is one you feel you have to see so I understood her wanting to. We go there and got a few pics and then she agreed it really isn't anything special so we left, haha. 

I found the famous parade route!!

We then decided to head over to the Empire State Building. It was way before our reserved time so we walked around looking at the souvenir shops (she likes to go to ALL of them). We also tried to find me decent walking shoes because apparently the walking ones I packed are too small so I'm wearing my regular street shoes that didn't feel they were great for walking as much as I knew we were going to be. Unfortunately, none of the shoes were cheap enough for me (I'm not spending $80 on shoes for a short vacation! No thank you!) so my street shoes were going to have to do. We ended up finding some cute little gifts for people (including a lot of back and forth from my mom and Cindy on sweaters...my mom now has 2 sweaters because she kept changing her mind haha) and then headed over to ESB. This time felt different than last time. They had a lot of fun art work and pictures and interactive things to go through, including a cool "King Kong going through the windows" exhibit. We got some good shots there and then took the elevators up to the balconies and got some really good shots there. It was a much clearer day than when I went last time so that was nice, I even got to see the Statue of Liberty from there...that was cool!

The view of the Statue of Liberty

After that we headed over to a New York pizza place...again, food was only okay, nothing exciting (which is what happened last time...their pizza might not be all it's cracked up to be after all). We then headed over to Central Park and rented some Citi Bikes and took a nice ride through the park (after having to ride in the streets to get to the park...that was very strange). I love the park. It's so pretty and if I lived in the city, I'd be there every chance I could to eat lunch and just read. The bike ride was bumpy, but nice. We didn't get to see as many statues and lakes as the last time I was there, but we covered a LOT more in one day this way (I also found out that Stace is SUPER directionally challenged haha).

Red faced - but proud of myself!

We rode around for about an hour and then docked our bikes back and headed over to The Met. I love this museum and am so glad Stace got to see it. Although I didn't have the same reaction as before, the paintings  weren't as awe inspiring as before, but they did have a new "period rooms" going on and that was pretty cool. And of course we got to see the famous window wall room that is in all the movies. Stace liked the storage room the most haha.

One of the period rooms - very beautiful

We ended up finishing the museum pretty quickly so we decided to head over to Little Italy for dinner. Now this part I hadn't done before and it's definitely worth seeing! They had such a cute decorated area to walk through, the food was FANTASTIC, and they had a fun Christmas gift shop. Stace of course had to stop by all the I heart NY stores to see things too and I had to stop at a cannoli shop to get one of those (I had never tried one and figured Little Italy was the best place to get one). I got a cannoli and Stace got an éclair and we figured we'd split them, but we didn't eat them tonight...we were WAY too full by the time we got back to our room for the night.

                                                                                           

                                                                         

After Little Italy I felt we had enough time to see Times Square, Stace wanted to see it at night and Larry and I were very adamant to avoid the city at night so we didn't get to see it that way when we came. We stopped by our room to put our treats in the fridge, and then headed out again. The one big difference between this trip is pot has very clearly been legalized this time and the city REEKS of the smell! They had edible food trucks all over Times Square too. We got to see quite a bit, but again, it's not something you can spend hours at. We did stop at the Disney Store and I got some cute Mickey and Minnie stuffed figures for the kids. We also got our pics of the street and then headed back for the night.

We've done a ton of walking today and I'm sure I'll be feeling it tomorrow, but luckily my shoes haven't been too bad. We squeezed in a lot more than we had planned, which was nice. It was a fun, busy day and I'm glad we had time to come back and get a shower in. I feel like I'll be taking a lot of showers while we're here haha. Anyways, time to figure out timing for tomorrow, it should be a REALLY fun day (everything will be new for me!).

New York City - Here We Come!

Today is day one of our big New York Trip I planned with Stace. I was a little nervous about how the trip was going to go with me being pregnant and even though it was a crazy day and a rough start to our vacation I think it means things will only go smoothly from here on out haha.

Just wanted to get a bump shot before I left

Our flight here was smooth - although it was the first time I heard them call for a doctor on board (the closest they could find was a radiologist that sat behind us, but it was for a flight attendant that passed out so I guess it worked). I got to watch the new Bad Boys movie - I always love watching a new movie on flights, thank you Delta! I also read a ton of my Doctor Sleep book (which I'm loving so far). We made sure before our flight to get some food since we'd be flying over lunch time and landing right around dinner time so we stopped at Panera and I got an egg, bacon, & cheese sandwich, muffin, and a smoothie. The smoothie was gross (it tasted mostly like greek yogurt which I'm not a huge fan of), but the sandwich and muffin were REALLY good and definitely held me over.

We had to take a tram, (2 level) train, and subway to get into the city once we landed so that was interesting, but not as terrible as I dreaded it would be. Unfortunately, once we got to the city we did a TON of walking! For some reason my directions were WAY off this time and I ended up walking us in the wrong direction and so we had to turn around and walk an extra like 8 blocks out of the way. 

We FINALLY got to the hotel around 7:30 to discover it wasn't there. There was a building with the name of the hotel, but all the windows had paper on them and you could kind of see into the dark lobby and see that no one was at the front desk. I tried calling to see if someone would answer and nothing happened. Stace finally called Marriott to see what's going on and then I happened to look at the reviews of the hotel - turns out they took reservations, but they weren't open yet. This had to be the most frustrating part. WE were so sweaty, sore, tired, and very hungry so we were CRANKY!). After a long time on hold with Marriott I decided to just book a hotel nearby that was available (there weren't very many options and not a lot in a budget friendly range. I was lucky to find one that was only two blocks away). The only unfortunate thing is that it doesn't offer breakfast like we prefer, but take what you can get. 

We decided to walk to a McDonald's for dinner (even though we said we wanted to make sure we didn't eat anything we could get back home). On the way we found a taqueria that we decided to try for a new place. It was only okay, nothing special, but it fed us haha. Now that the first day is done and it had it's rough moments, it was nice that we were able to make things work and figure out a new plan. Now we've eaten, we've rested, we've taken showers and we're going to relax while I figure out timing for tomorrow. It should be a fun trip!