30th Birthday trip. Day #3 NYC

We woke determined to make our last full day in NYC full of lots of good things. (Although I did sleep until 8:30 a.m.- I haven't done that in years!)

We headed out and ate breakfast at a local cafe and had bacon, egg, and cheese, bagels, coffee, and pumpkin bread. From there we walked down to Central Park. It became quite obvious that the park was really big and we weren't going to be able to walk all of it in the amount of time that we had and the 90+ degree temps. We hired a pedi-cab and it was worth every penny! Note for any of you that plan to go- do NOT pay the price they first ask for. Bargain with them and don't give up- there are so many of these pedicabs that they're willing to drop the price significantly. We got our driver to drop the price $50 for a short ride!

Here are some pictures from our time in Central Park:

I felt sorry for our driver. It was so hot and i know we were heavy after all we had been eating!

Where's Marcus?!

These people were performing "Amazing Grace" when we walked up. It was the most beautiful arrangement of it I have ever heard. The acoustics were great there, and they were super talented!

We stopped for ice cream and water!

From there we went to walk through the Plaza hotel that I am a little completely obsessed with.

My favorite Christmas movie is Eloise  at Christmastime which was filmed at the Plaza. See the Eloise flag??

They even had an Eloise store!

Next we went to lunch at Carnegie Deli. The sandwiches really are as big as everyone says they are, and expensive too! They sat us at a table with another family of 4 plus a businessman eating alone. It was strange to be piled up so close to people you don't know, but they were all from the south and very nice. Marcus and I split the Chicken Salad Sandwich and ordered fries and potato salad with it, and water to drink. Our bill was $40.00! It was good and I'm glad we went but to me that seems a little high for a sandwich!

After that we went by Dylan's Candy Bar to get a treat for our kids, and then toured the Nike Store.

and then we got on the Subway and rode all the way to Chinatown to purchase some sunglasses and t-shirts.
This is another place you need to bargain. Don't be afraid to walk out if they don't meet your price!

After covering so much of the city in one day, we were exhausted! We went back on the Subway to our hotel and rested for a short while. That night we ate at a local Pizza place, spent some time in Times Square,

Marcus got some Chicken on A Stick

and then we finished the night with cheesecake in Times Square.

We were so tired from all that we had done and seen over the three days we had been in the city and sad to see our trip come to an end.

The next day we traveled home, but not before Marcus got a New York style hotdog in the airport at 9 a.m.!

We were so glad to see our kids when we got home that it made leaving New York much easier. I still want to go back again and get to stay for longer next time. It is an amazing city and full of interesting people and things to see. I am glad I live in the South, but I wouldn't mind vacationing there more often! :)

Thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law Dorothy and father-in-law Mike for keeping our out-of-control slightly rambunctious kids for us! It is not an easy task to have two Osborne babies for almost four days, especially when they're away from home and cranky. We can't thank the two of you enough!

Thanks to my Mom and Dad for keeping Josie. And thanks to any of you that bought items that I have been selling over the past 6 months. Every bit of the money I earned selling stuff went towards this trip as did every other dollar we could save other places. It was totally worth it! I'd rather spend my money on experiences than on 'stuff' anyday!

Love y'all!

30th Birthday trip. Day #2 NYC!

Waking up and being 30 years old for the first time isn't too bad when you're in New York City! I was greeted by Marcus who brought me my favorite coffee from Starbucks as well as a Chocolate chunk cookie. Here's a picture of me enjoying it while laying in the bed watching the Early Show.

Life is good!

Next we had room service deliver breakfast to our room. They set up a table with fresh flowers, amazing food, and coffee. We enjoyed eating together and looking out our window at the busy city below.

After breakfast we headed out for Top of the Rock, which was great. It’s the top of the Rockefeller Center building and gives you a 360 degree view of the city. We didn’t have to wait in line at all and went right up. I’ve done the Empire State building before and have to say that I enjoyed this more. It was beautiful up there and not nearly as crowded as the ESB was when we went a few years ago. Here are some pictures…

After Top of the Rock we hailed a cab and took it to Little Italy where we met our tour guide, Scott. Scott runs a company called Scott’s Pizza Tours (www.scottspizzatours.com) where he does walking or bus-riding tours of the best pizzerias in NYC. This guy is great! He knows all about pizza, how it’s made, where to find the best pizza, and he is highly entertaining! We spent three hours walking around Little Italy and eating some amazing pizza!

Waiting for our tour to leave...This was before realizing that I had bought tickets for the following Wednesday accidentally. Scott let us go along anyway.

Eating fresh made mozzarella

The Contents of our pizza tour goody bag :)

Lombardi's pizza- seriously the best I've ever had. Voted Best Pizza on the Planet according to a Zagat survey

Lombardi's coal burning pizza oven

Scott had the restaurant give me this for my birthday

and then led everyone in singing to me. So nice!

The buildings there were BEAUTIFUL!

After our walking tour, we took the subway back to our hotel and decided to take a short nap before our evening out on the town. 

To celebrate my birthday, we had made reservations at The Capital City Grille. There are several of these in NYC, but we were at the one right near Radio City Music Hall. It was rated the #1 restaurant in NYC so we decided it must be good! Besides that, they offer a pre-theatre menu with three courses per person for only $40 which in New York is a GREAT deal!

If you know me very well, you know that this is not normally a way that I dress! We decided since we were having a big night out on the town to dress up a little. Although I felt a little 'out of my element', we had so much fun!

I don’t have any pictures from our meal or from the Cirque de Soleil show we went to see called Zarkana. The acrobatic tricks in this show were amazing, but we couldn’t follow the story line whatsoever. It was at Radio City Music Hall and the props and staging were unbelievable!

After our show we walked to Juniors to get some Cheesecake and then went back to our hotel to enjoy it. We stayed up late that night talking and enjoying the city. 

Tomorrow- Day #3!