New York

I'm finally getting around to writing about New York. I'm totally slow since we've been home almost a week, but such is life.
We left early Friday morning for the long, long, long drive to Long Island. Jack was pretty good all things considered. We had to make more stops than we would have had we gone sans-Jack but he didn't do too much freaking out until the last hour. He was decent right up until we hit New York City. We were going through the city, the Bronx to be exact at rush hour and it was INSANE and Jack did alot of crying while we were trying to direct ourselves and it was just not fun. Then as we headed along long island, the closer we got to the Hughes, the louder he screamed. He was beyond being beside himself by the time we got there and we were all pooped from the drive. I've never been more relieved then when we saw their cozy little house!

Since we had left rather early, we got there at a decent time around 7:30 or so. It was great to see Mark, Kim and Henry. We had missed them all and Jack was super happy to be able to move and crawl a little bit before he settled down to bed.

WE stayed up that night just catching up and watching some TV relaxing and were very happy when we went to sleep!

Saturday we got everyone ready and went to some pretty awesome outlet malls by their house. I got some super cute clothes for Jack and a few things for Branden and I too. It was valentines day and I guess you can say the boys gift to us was the 4 of them putting up with us shopping for a good 4 hours. By the end of shopping we were all so pooped so we spent the night just chilling.

Sunday was church at their ward which was embarrassing to say the least. They have the weirdest building EVER! Most buildings have doors on both sides of the chapel going into the hall, but apparently not theres. I assumed that the doors on both sides of the building would go to separate hallways so when Jack started crying I went to the closest door to take him in the hall only to be surprised by the door I opened heading directly outside. it made such a loud noise and there was a teeny tiny wind gush. It as so humiliating I quickly and sheepishly ran out the other door as soon as I realized my mistake. Their ward was fun though, lots of babies around Jack's age for him to have fun with. Sunday afternoon was nap time and some more hanging out.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early and headed into the city. It was pretty cool to see New York City, but I have to say when I go again (which I desperately want to) I will go without a baby. NYC is not designed for babies or strollers. I would have to say the worst part of the day was lugging the strollers up and down the bajillion flights of stairs in and out of the strollers. My legs were going to die! I swear more of those subway stations need to get elevators!

Cool Pictures Branden took while we were waiting for our subway.
Jack Snoozing above and Me with Kim and Mark below.

When we were in the city the first place we hit was the Rockafeller Centre (30 rock I love it!). Branden and I went to the Top of the Rock while Mark and Kim kindly watched Jack for us. It was amazing, you get such an awesome view of the city and we just loved it and got some really awesome pictures.

Us in front of 30 Rock

Us at "The Top of The Rock"

After the top of the rock we ate and went to the museum of natural history. There was alot of cool stuff to see. I loved the dinosaurs. We didn't stay super long though. It was a holiday (Presidents Day) and so the place was just flooded with people. It was just too busy!

Me and Jack with a meteorite

After the museum we walked around Central Park for a bit, then hit Times Square. We were going to go in the giant toys r' us there, I really wanted to. But again, being a holiday it was beyond busy. So we just took in the sights at Times Square. After that we went by Bryant Park where they were setting up for Fashion Week. It was cool because there was major papparazzi there. We were hoping to catch someone famous (apparently Justin Timberlake was in one of the tents) but the babies (jack particularily) was too cold for much of a wait.

Branden and Jack in Times Square

And that was pretty much our day. We went back to the station to catch our train home and ate a tgifridays while there. My only real regret of stuff I missed was not eating at any cool restaurants. There's lots more I want to see and do there, but we will definately visit again!

We left New York bright and early the next morning (at 3:30) which made us extremely tired, but the drive so much easier on Jack.

We really had a great time on our mini-vacation. It was great to get away and I loved just being able to spend time with Branden and Jack with no distractions. It was great seeing Mark and Kim, we really miss them! Thank you so much guys for being the best hosts ever and taking care of us while we visited you!