Just before Gray and I went to Hawaii, Gigi, Sarala, Nana, and Helene
had a special birthday trip to New York, and I got to go along!
Gigi, Sarala, and I left NC and went and stayed in VA, and it was such a bonus for me to go along because I'm so thankful I got to visit with our cousins in VA and meet some new babies before heading to NYC! Then, we left the next day and drove to New Jersey.
One of the main highlights of the trip was to take the girls to the American Girl store in NYC--the largest one! It was 5 floors! I was amazed myself. Those stores are any little girls' dreams, and the girls had SO much fun there!
The lunch was so nice and fun, and I know McKenna had a blast too!
Gigi had made (yes, made!!! She's awesome) Sarala and McKenna "I heart NY" shirts
and gave them to her on her birthday along with a pretty suitcase for the trip.
McKenna really didn't know what to do with herself! ;)
It was all SO cute!!!
With the original McKenna, girl of the year 2012, when Sarala got her for her birthday.
Doesn't McKenna look fancy with her new do and that crown!!!
Gigi and Nana treated these girls right with a shopping spree,
getting the dolls all fixed up at the salon and getting their ears pierced
The subway and train to Jersey were fun.
It really really made me miss Europe....but, then again, I miss Europe ALL THE TIME!!!
Us ladies in Times Square!
This is actually the next day. Sarala never left McKenna out of sight
and carried that sweet doll all over NYC the rest of our time there!
It was a cold day, so perfect excuse for the girls to "need" NYC sweatshirts!
And, the cold is a perfect excuse for me to "need" a warm drink!
I still hadn't been in America long enough to be used to having Starbucks on every corner!
Times Square
My sweet girl loves finding India everywhere she was!!!
The M&M store was quite fun!
Getting some street food
Getting ready for our Broadway show!
We went to see Cinderella. We had tried for Lion King, and I've heard it's incredible.
I LOVED Cinderella and Broadway! I'd sure love to see another!
Seriously, what 8 & 9 year old girls get to see a Broadway show???
(Actually there were so many little girls at this show)
They just don't know what a special trip this was!
I loved being on the NYC streets and seeing little things like this!
Ummmmm...what a toy store!
I wanted to buy Gray so many things from here. Man loves some candy!
This was really fun!
We finished up our day walking through the streets....
....being silly....
...and checking out Grand Central Station
I loved Grand Central Station! It just reminded so much of Europe!
Finding more India!
We began our last day going down Wall Street
...and seeing the bridges
Sarala wanted to draw the bridge...and the sunshine felt SO good!
Then, we caught a ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty!
This is looking back...back to WTC 1...the new one going up!
There she is!
NYC!
Next, we went to the 9/11 Memorial.
This is WTC 1 going up.
Two Memorial fountains like this with all the names engraved on the sides.
It was quite sobering and pretty emotional for me.
Not being in the US when this happened still makes it a little surreal.
The girls took lots of opportunities for fun and playing around.
We ended our evening at the Empire State Building!
I had not planned on going on this trip. I had planned on a fun week in Clemson with my hubby and boys. I also needed to pack for Hawaii!!! Gray packed all my stuff (and more) and came back to Raleigh and we flew out the next day! It was a crazy whirlwind! So, here is what the boys were up to in Clemson while we were away!
Gray buzzed the boys' hair!!!
They had a staff picnic with Crosspoint!
They went downtown Greenville!
Gray went to the Avett Bros. concert without me...
and my sweet friends, Cayce and Liz kept the boys!
Gray had to go to the dump (in the truck with some nasty stuff),
and loaded all 4 boys in his pick up.
He says he was nervous about it, but I think he loved having his boys in the truck. ;)
Gray took the boys to Clemson's big spring practice game.
See!!! They don't just love the Tigers because of me!!! ;)
At The Rock!
Then, he even took them sliding down the hill, famous for the cardboard sliding!
And, they had a picnic on Bowman too!
What a fun time in Clemson they had!!!!
