Central Park

Yep, it was time for a 'sit-break'  We took a bench in Central Park and ended up running into Grandma and Papa and Matt & his kids.

We sat a bit and then took some pictures by these rocks.  What a great place for a family picture!

 We explored many spots on the rocks...

Kelsey and Kaili

 And then, in true Arveseth form, they all started hiking the rocks...

 Renae & I sat and chatted and pretty soon figured out that they weren't coming back...

 When we found them, this was the reason for their non-return trip....Brandon had found a playground on the other side!!!  'Finally, something that isn't boring!'

And Sydney, doing cartwheels....she spends as much time like this as she does right-side up!

NYC

After Top of the Rock, we headed to Toys R Us to ride the ferris wheel.  Amanda remembers this from when we brought her here as an 8 year old.  They wouldn't let the kids ride by themselves because Brandon wasn't 7.  We seriously should have fibbed about his age, but Mike volunteered to go.

 It was a long ride!  But everyone had fun!

 The girls don't even know who this giraffe is!

 Some pics of the kids in Times Square.  Brandon was being silly, so this was more difficult than it looks!

 We strolled (took a subway) down to the Temple and church building. It was locked, so we couldn't show the kids how people in the city go to church, but it was still a good thing to show them.  We made sure they saw the Angel Moroni on top of the building.  

We also pointed out Julliard!  We then headed to Central Park...more on that to come!

Top of the Rock!

Oh, it's taking me forever to get this trip posted! We just ended Nutcracker week and so today, I had to clean the house and do the laundry and grocery shop. All of which had be neglected for the past week!

So, here are the views from Top of the Rock! Amazing unobstructed view of Central Park...

 A view of the Empire State Building

 Statue of Liberty!

 My cute family!

 This room we had to pass through to get outside....funky lights

 This is Sydney....have you met her?  So her style :)

 Getting a better view of the Statue of Liberty!

 Brandon and Sydney kept looking through the other side of the telescope

 Almost all of the Arvy's up top!

We went back to the souvenir shop and Brandon was complaining. We said to him, "Brandon, we told you there would be lots of walking...." and he said, 'Ya, but you didn't tell me it was going to be boring!'  Classic.....

 We ate at a little sushi shop in the basement of Rock Center. It was good and we had a lot of sushi!

 Oh, one more pic....

More to come!

Rockerfeller Plaza

I have just a couple minutes right now, so I thought I quickly post...

 Here are the kids at 'our stop' at the subway.  21st Street in Queens.  Each kid really wanted to be able to master sliding the metro card and going through the turnstile.  Well, by the last day, all of them could do it!!!

 Our first stop was Rockerfeller Plaza.  We were going to go to the top of 30 Rock.  This is the first time we have done this as it's only been open a short time. We bought tickets and had about an hour to kill before our time.  I loved the topiary...isn't it cool?

 So, we explored the plaza.  Brandon zeroed in on the Lego store.  He, Mike & Sydney went in there while Amanda and I waited outside on the bench. Amanda was not feeling well.  Not a good way to start! Luckily, she perked back up after some ibuprofen.  When we got home, we realized after a trip to the doctor that she had strep! We just kept her dosed up the whole trip and we got through it! What a trooper!

 The ice skating rink and iconic statue.

 We also walked through St. Patrick's Cathedral. What a beautiful building!  Great discussions with the kids about the differences between the Catholic Church and our Church.

Mike also had the kids give a donation in this church to help the poor. 

PA to NYC

My pictures are out of order in my computer, so I found some from the game that I didn't want to miss!

 We were trying to get this family shot while the stadium people were shooing us out...

 Darling girls!!! Maddie, Amanda and Kaili

 Here we are at Steven & Hillary's house.  Jason was playing 'five' with Uncle Mike

 Abi and Emma showing me the presents Grandma and Papa brought them....

 Hillary and Jason opening his birthday present from grandparents and below Emma checking out what Amanda is doing...

 Corvin and Zac played football in the backyard...

One last family shot before we headed to Philly and the rest headed to Matt  & Alisa's house.  We missed seeing Alisa, but we also really wanted our kids to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

 We loved the details of Independence Hall and loved seeing the courtroom as well as the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The above chair is original!  We had an amazing talk with our kids about how our freedoms came about and the sacrifices these men made so that we could enjoy such an amazing life.  In one of the displays, where we couldn't take pictures, they had the press release copy of the Declaration.  What they think is the original ink boat was there. There was also a sign explaining what these men went through and a quote by Ben Franklin saying, "We stick together or we hang together" or something to that effect...I'm sure I missed a word....anyway, we had a great discussion with our kids on what that meant and if they would have the courage to do something as amazing as they did.  I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything.

 But Sydney might have...this is after a sibling fight....

We ate at an Italian restaurant that had been in Philly forever...family owned place and it was delish!  

 Then, we drove into NYC!  Our GPS took us right into the city and almost into Times Square.  Mike did awesome driving and would fit in as a New Yorker.  The kids were loving the lights and crazy traffic.  After we got to the hotel and got a roll-away for Brandon (we were loving this room that was big enough for a roll away! Our last room in NYC was about the size of our closet! Not joking!), Mike and the men took the rental cars to the airport.

 We got ready for bed and then Amanda and Brandon put on a show!

 So cute!  This is the view out our hotel window! We stayed in Queens....and it was great!  We were super close to a subway and the deli and shop people by our hotel were so nice.  We ate breakfast each morning at the deli and stopped by the shop when we would get back each night.

Mike got back pretty late, but we were all asleep!  Which was good, because we needed to gear up! One thing I wanted to remember, but don't know where to list it was our drive on the toll road from the game and then into NYC.  They had service areas so you could stay on the toll road.  Not something we are familiar with as Utahns.  But, we stopped at a service stop to use the bathroom and ran into Utah fans! We were like 2 hours from Pittsburgh.  The lady lived in Virginia and had come down with her kids for the game! Go Utes! Loyal fans, I'll tell ya! It was fun to chat.  Renae made friends everywhere she went, just chatting with everyone.  I think she's ready for a mission after watching her on this trip!

The countryside was gorgeous!   We really did enjoy this drive.  More to come!!