Life without 2...

Last, Thursday evening we left our little house in Struthers, Ohio to venture to NYC for 3 days and 2 nights. Gary and I have been looking forward to this trip with about 90 days or so. We found out a friend of my dad's was one of the Umpires working the game in New York City. The Yankees versus Royals to be exact. My dad asked him if he could by chance swing us any tickets since Gary is a Yankees fan, and has never seen Yankee Stadium. For those who are unaware this is the last year of the original Yankees stadium which is one of the oldest ballparks. Well, Thursday we found out the tickets may not be available to us, however, we went to NYC anyway. We did eventually get bleacher seats off of stub hub and after fees and such we ended up paying 200$ for tickets that originally cost 19$ each. It's that big of a deal to get to go to a game there before the stadium is gone. I wanted to post entries the whole time we were there, but it is NYC and life gets crazy leaving no time for blogging. Here is a play by play of our trip.



Thursday Evening/Friday Morning:

I stopped to see the kids as they were going to be staying at my mom's for the next three nights!After that I went home to finish packing, pump breast milk and shower before we took off. Our Hotel check in was not until 3pm on Friday, but I wanted to arrive early enough to take Big Daddy into the city and see things as it was his first time. Also, if you have never been to NYC depending on traffic it can take hours to get over the George Washington Bridge to actually get into the city. We left at about 12:30 am Friday. I began driving while Big Daddy slept! About an hour and a half into the trip though I was tired and we exited Interstate 80 to sleep. We ended up sleeping an hour and then Big Gary began driving. At this point it was about 3am or so. I fell asleep for another couple hours and woke up to Big Daddy needing a break. We were at a rest stop in the middle of NO MAN'S LAND, Pennsylvania. We used the restroom and got back to the car where I decided I needed to pump milk AGAIN! As I was pumping in pulls a car and out gets a lady Police officer, a man officer and a female prisoner shackled and cuffed in a jumpsuit. FUN! Now I am freaking out, thinking about movies where the officers are in on the escape lol! I say to Big Daddy I am not rinsing the breast pump off till she is gone. He thinks I am nuts since she is shackled and all. We waited, they left, we washed the pump and took of again. By this time it was 3:43 on my clock making it about 3:30 am. I began driving, trying to keep up with the good time Big Daddy had made. We eventually switch again a little outside the Delaware Water Gap which is on the other side of the Pocono Mountains. At this point according to miles you about 2 hours away from NYC, and it is about 6am. We eventually get to the George Washington Bridge and over in about 5 minutes which is awesome. It is about 9:30am at this point as we had to search for a place to eat about 8am and it was an adventure. By the time we actually pull into the hotel though because we got lost or we thought we did but it was just mad traffic and we passed our hotel initially it was about 11:30am! Thank Gosh we left when we did! lol We got to check in early and we napped a few hours!



Friday Evening:

We get ready and get on the Subway to go down to Times Square. We take the "N" train and the ride is so much fun! When you've never ridden on a subway you get a little excited to do it! We walk up from the subway station underground and are immediately greeted by the greatness of Times Square. I have seen Times Square before but it was still awesome, and Big Daddy's awe struck eyes to the masses of people and tall bright flashing buildings was cool. We are hungry and the first place we see to eat is none other than Red Lobster! We decided against it and look for some where else. We ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe. Nice, fun, good food but pricey. We eat and leave and the sky is beginning to look stormy. We find two umbrellas at a vending stand and buy them. We see the huge Toys R Us and decide to check it out! Three floors and a Ferris Wheel which spans all three. TOO COOL! We just walk around and get one of those disposable cameras. (I forgot my digital) We leave there and it is pouring rain outside. We go to a few more stores and eventually decide to make our way to the Empire State Building. We hail a taxi which in pouring rain is insane! Go the few blocks and pay our 5.50 fare. We go into the building and buy tickets to go to the top observatory, which is closed due to weather. We then go to the street where it has at least stopped raining for a bit, and find our way back to the subway, and head back to the hotel. I had to pump breast milk again, so I did this and then we headed to this Stove restaurant bar recommended by the hotel staff. We walk down a scary alley see a huge rat and finally get to the restaurant. We have a drink and decide to eat. We sit at the bar and soon a lady that is regular there (Mary) sits next to us. She talks our ears off and asks us a ton of questions. She eventually gives us both a bite of what she ordered to eat for both dinner and dessert and then buys us each a drink. Me a Bailey's and coffee and Big Daddy a beer. We finish those say good-bye to Mary, and Michelle our bartender and walk back to the hotel. NO rats this time! We get to our room, in five minutes Big Daddy is passed out in bed! NYC can wear ya down!

Saturday:

This was to be the big day! The Yankees game! Since we didn't have tickets from the umpire anymore we decided to wake up early and I was going to take Big Daddy to do all the tourist type things of NYC. Empire State building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, and also WTC site! We woke up ate our big free breakfast at the hotel and were loading into the shuttle to the Subway station to begin our adventures. My phone rings and my dad insists we Stub Hub tickets and he will pay for them, so ewe have to get out and do just that. We find the bleacher seats pay for them and it says it can take 3 hours for the email tickets to arrive! It is already 9:30 am now and the game begins at 1:05pm. Our tickets arrived an hour later, and we set off for the Subway to catch the train to the game. It was sure to be interesting as we had to take the downtown "N" train to Lexington Ave. and then transfer to the "4" train. Well, not realizing what we did we took the downtown "N" train to Lexington and instead of getting on the uptown "4" train we got on the downtown "4" train! We ended up going further away, the next stop we got off and got back on the uptown "4" train, which would take us to 161st in The Bronx right at Yankee Stadium. Mission accomplished we were at the stadium, we decided to stop at Stan's sports bar/grille and get a beer. The place was packed 269 people by law are allowed in the building! There had to be 469 people and cops/fire Marshall was not enforcing this rule! We drank a beer each two bottles of Bud Light = 12.00$ We went out purchased two BBQ hot dogs and onion rings from the walk up window at Stan's and ate those. One should also not though Stan owns everything on this street. I believe there was the bar, the grille, a tax service, a store, this Stan guy meant business when he purchased places next to Yankee Stadium! We made our way inside the stadium watched in the sweltering heat the game I got a candy cane sun burn lol, and I cheered against the Yankees in their home field (I have nerve). In 13 innings Yankees won 3 to 2 against Kansas City! Big Daddy was like a 5 year old attending his first ever game! It was so good to know I got to help him get there! We left the game went to the Empire State Building which took us 2 hours in line for 15 minutes of viewing from the 86th floor! Was worth it! Big Daddy liked it! We then decided dinner would be Red Lobster in Times Square so I could use my discount and check out the NYC Red Lobster! It was totally awesome! 3 floors! I took a picture with our server to be funny! I want to work there though because after 4pm every day they automatically put a 15% gratuity to every one's check! Can't get any jerky mean don't tip people! After dinner we decided to head back to the hotel and get some rest! Sunday was another fun filled day and afterwards we would need to take off back to home!

Sunday:

We woke at 6:30am showered and went and a big free breakfast again! We then packed all the stuff up checked out and loaded the car so it was ready when we returned to take off for home. We then got the shuttle to the Subway and figured how to get the proper transfers so we would end up in Battery Park, and be able to purchase our tickets to ride the Ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis island. We did this and shockingly were able to get on the next ferry and head to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty! If you have never seen it, it is amazing! What it stands for and means is awesome! Also, to get a view of what so many of our ancestor's saw when they were seeking a promising life in America is amazing. After these two things we walked up the road to the WTC Site! We couldn't see much there, since they are beginning to construct the new towers, or whatever they are planning to put there! It was sad and I had to try really hard not to cry, and let myself get really angry. After the WTC site we made our way to the Subway to go back to Harold Square so we could hit a few souvenir shops and have lunch before going to our car to leave. We ate at this brewery type place the food was yummy, but they also automatically add an 18% gratuity to the check. Servers in NYC obviously need not be any good because they automatically get a tip! We then hit a few souvenir places, and walked back to the Toy R Us in Times Square again. We purchased a few things there and made our way to the "N" train to go back to our car at the hotel. I go to the hotel bathroom pump breast milk really quick and we take off. It takes us an hour to get from our hotel to over the George Washington bridge. We however. make great time with "Lead Foot" Big Daddy driving the whole way. We only stopped to use the bathroom, get drinks, and gas one time. The whole drive home including the 1hr we waited to get out of NYC only took 6.5 hours. By miles alone not counting traffic it is really a 7 hour drive! GO US! We ended up sleeping at my mom's Sunday night! No need to disturb the kids, and I took Big Gary home to get ready for work in the morning.....

This was our trip! It was fun It was only us catching up on time with each other, and it was much needed. The whole time though all we could think about is how much we were missing our children, and how we would have to bring them there to see the big things too! I was happy to be home and able to snuggle my little Gary and kiss my sweet little girls soft cheeks! Although, I am all for taking time to be husband and wife, I missed being Mommy and Daddy too! Pictures are to come. We used three disposable cameras for the trip. We will see how well they come out!