Ben and Amy's Excellent Adventure

It started out as just dreaming and scheming. Thinking up fun stuff for someday.
Then we saw how cheap the flights were. super cheap, even at only a few days notice.
Then we found out we could get a free hotel room. sweet.
Then we realized that some fabulous aunties were available to watch our children. fabulous.
We debated about it for a few hours and finally decided "Let's go for it!" It's always easier not to do something out of the ordinary. I mean, how crazy is it to leave three small children behind and dash off to New York City for a night? Totally crazy! But it was so much fun and something we will always remember. As one of my friends said, parenting is joyful but it is hard work and consuming and sometimes you need a break. It was hard for me to leave my babies. Very hard. But it was so refreshing for just the two of us to go off on a spontaneous adventure.

Our flight left at 6:00 a.m. We only took one carry-on and didn't check any bags. We checked in on-line the night before so when we got to the airport we simply went straight to security. Very slick.
Here we go!
Just a few hours later we were sitting in downtown NYC for lunch at this place.Can you read the blue street sign to see where we are? I brought along this 5th Avenue candy bar specifically for this photo op.
We went up 70 floors to the top of this building, the Rockefeller Center.
Views from the top:

Empire State Building.Can you see the Statue of Liberty? This picture taken from on top of Rockefeller Center was as close as we got. Next time we'll actually go see it. Yes, there will be a next time.Am I really in New York City???Ben is outside the NBC News Station where they broadcast the TODAY show. Since we didn't get there until the afternoon we missed our chance to be on television. Next time.Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza. It was fun to be in the city at Christmas time and enjoy all the lights and decorations.Looks like Ben is practicing what to do if we get mugged. Actually, I always felt very safe. I was surprised at how normal the people were. We didn't see as many weirdos as I was expecting. There were plenty of business looking people but there were also babies in strollers, college students, and just regular folks that I might run into at the grocery store back home. And, everyone was very friendly and personable. I was pleasantly surprised.This is kind of a dark picture but can you find me inside Grand Central Station? There's a food court in the basement where we got some yummy gelato.

Getting caught up in the Big City excitement.
This is inside the NYC Public Library. It's a gorgeous building.

We sat on this bench in the library for over a half hour. I felt like I could literally not take another step. We had walked so much that my legs felt like jell-o.

Christmas decor in the library.We ate dinner at this steak house. It was very much a hole in the wall atmosphere but the waiters wore tuxedos so I'm not sure whether to call it a fancy place or a dive. Definitely a place with character.We sat next to a family with three daughters probably each about 10 years older than our girls. It was fun to watch them interact and think of all the wonderful years we have in front of us as a family.We got to Times Square just as it was getting dark. So many lights and people. There was a buzz of energy and excitement there. So fun!

The show we went to was in a theater inside this Marriott hotel.We saw White Christmas and loved it!I don't remember ever seeing the movie but we'll have to watch it. The play was fabulous! Great dancing... including tap dancing which I love. Lots of fun costumes and great music. One of the characters was played by David Stiers who was on the TV show M*A*S*H. We've watched all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H so I was excited to see him perform but I could not recognize anything about him, even his voice. He's quite a bit older now so he must have changed quite a bit. I could recognize his picture in the program but without that I would have never known it was him. Keeping the streets safe. We heard a lot of sirens while we were there. Sounded just like NYC in the movies or on TV.
Ben liked this billboard.

My Broadway debut!We were only gone from our house for 33 hours but this is an adventure we will continue to smile about for a long, long time. I'm sure every Christmas from now on we will say, "Remember when we took that crazy last minute trip to NYC?" Ben had been there before but this was my first time ... definitely not my last. And definitely not our last adventure together. Heck, every day is an adventure at our house.