World of the Wilsons: Good-bye, LA! Hello, NY!

Monday morning was the start of our New York vacation. It started off just like any other morning. Eli was unaware of any change in his routine and was happily playing and eating while we were trying to do some last minute packing. Our plan was to leave by 9:00 so we could make our plane in Baton Rouge by 12:00. This way we would have at least an hour to check in, go through security, and make it to our gate. Tammy came over to keep Eli and he was more than happy to start playing with her. He gave us hugs and kisses good-bye and that was that. I really was thankful that there were no tears or desperate cries for us to stay. It made leaving so much easier.

We got to Natchez and Josh started talking about stopping for breakfast since we were going to arrive at the airport an hour early. We decided to double check the itinerary to make sure we had the flight time correct and it wasn't until then that we realized that a HUGE mistake had been made. Instead of looking at the departing time, we accidentally looked at the arriving time for our flight. MAJOR OOPS!! It was then that we discovered that our flight took off at 11:00 and not 12:00!!! It takes at least 1 1/2 hours to get to Baton Rouge and it was 9:00 when we realized our mistake...you do the math....Yeah, talk about the worst feeling in the world. I was literally so sick to my stomach I thought I was throw up. That was the end of feeling happy about this trip. I was so worried that we weren't going to make our plane and I don't think I said two words to Josh the entire way we were speeding to Baton Rouge airport. Oh wait, I did say, "Cop!" once to him when we got close to Baton Rouge. You would know that we'd run into the only cop on the highway!!! Luckily for us, either the cop's radar gun was broken or he was feeling extra nice, but we didn't get pulled over. In fact, he sped by us and we followed suit :) To add insult to injury, we missed the turn for the airport when we got to Baton Rouge. I guess we were just so frazzled that we weren't paying attention. By this time it's 10:35, the luggage for our flight has already been loaded, and they are starting to board all the passengers on the plane. We FINALLY make it to the airport, I jump out of the car, grab our bags, and run to the ticket counter. Josh drives like a madman and finds the first parking spot he can. While he's parking the car, I'm doing my best trying to sweet talk the lady into letting us get on the plane with our luggage. She's not buying it at all, until, my sweet husband walks in flashes his pretty blue eyes and uses his charm. Samantha, the check-in lady, then decides to hand tag our bag, carry it out to the plane herself, and allow us on our plane. BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU, SAMANTHA!!! I immediately start thanking God for Samantha and asking him to bless her immensely for her goodness :) We run to security, run to the boarding gate-shoeless, I might add-and run aboard the plane. We sit down in our seats, check our watches, and it's 10:55 AM. WHEW! We made it by the skin of our teeth and thanks to some wonderful providence from God and a very nice ticket lady. I told Josh after we were seated that I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER want to go through this again. We will check, double check, and triple check our tickets to make sure we get to the airport in plenty of time to make our plane! I also told him that Hollywood always makes rushing to the plane look like such an adventure in the movies and so thrilling. It's NOT! Get there early and wait like a good passenger :) It's worth the peace of mind!

Josh feeling pretty happy that we made it on the plane!

It takes about 30 minutes for me to calm down and quit feeling sick once we're in the air, but when I do I finally relax and start to look forward to our New York adventure. We make good use of our time in the air and make an itinerary of things we want to do/see in New York. Here's our list in random order:

-Times Square
-F.A.O. Schwarz
-Statue of Liberty
-Staten Island Ferry
-Chinatown
-Little Italy
-Eat a NYC bagel
-Eat a NYC pizza
-American Museum of Natural History
-Central Park
-Ride the subway
-Rockefeller Center
-Wall Street/NYSE
-Wicked and Phantom of the Opera (knew we were definitely doing these!)
-Brooklyn Bridge

As you can see from our list, there were so many things we were going to attempt to do while we were in NYC. We knew we may not be able to do them all, but we were going to do our best trying!

We flew from Baton Rouge, LA, to Dallas, TX, and then boarded our connecting flight to Newark, NJ. We arrived in Newark and I discovered that in the craziness of trying to get on the plane earlier that morning, I had forgotten my coat. Thankfully, I was wearing a sweater that was pretty warm, so I grabbed a scarf and tied it around my neck to provide a little bit of extra warmth. I knew that there was an H&M store close to our hotel, so I figured I'd just go there and get a jacket once we were in NYC. Our ride to our hotel arrived and it didn't take long at all to get there. We unloaded our bags, checked in, freshened up a little bit, and then left to go in search of food.

Our humble abode while we were in NYC. The room was small, but you couldn't beat the location! We were in Times Square!

Our friends, the Welch's, just happened to be in NYC at the same time, so we called them when we arrived to see if we could meet up with them for dinner/dessert. I was STARVING! I hadn't eaten since Dallas and was famished. We walked to Roxy's Delicatessen. It was about a block over from our hotel and when we got there the Welch's were just finishing up their delicious New York cheesecake. They looked SO GOOD, but Josh and I wanted real food. I ordered a cheese pizza hoping for that wonderful New York pizza that I had heard so many good things about. Unfortunately, Roxy thought their food was much better than it really was. My pizza was very chewy, but I did eat every single bite because of how expensive it was and because of how hungry I was. I did sample Taylor and Justin's cheesecake slices though and they were REALLY good! Josh and I decided to come back to Roxy the next night for dessert only. I was already looking forward to that!

Our whole group in front of Roxy's

Since New York City is "the city that never sleeps", Josh and I adopted that motto and tried to squeeze as much as we could into every day/night. We left Roxy's and headed to Rockefeller Center with the Welch's to do the Top of the Rock tour.

FYI: Rockefeller Center was built during the Depression in the 1930's. It is comprised of 18 buildings on 21 acres of land. The most impressive building, the one that has the Top of the Rock tour, is located at 30 Rockefeller Center. The observation deck is on the 67th-70th floors and provides a great skyline view of New York City at night.

We bought our tickets and rode the coolest elevator ever up to the 67th floor. The elevator had a clear ceiling that played a video as you ascended to the observation deck and the elevator shaft had lots of colorful lights that made the whole experience really psychedelic. We walked onto the observation deck and if the fact that my ears popped on the way up to the top didn't give away how far up we were, then the view that we saw upon leaving the elevator definitely did! WOW! It was so pretty up there, but it was so windy, especially for a girl who didn't have a coat yet! I knew that this was a once in a lifetime experience though, so I just made the best of it. I was able to take some beautiful night time skyline views of NYC, so the whole experience was definitely worth it! I would love to come back and do this tour when it is Christmas. I can only imagine how pretty it will be then!

Swarovski crystals that were suspended in the lobby supposedly creating an inverted model of the building at Rockefeller Plaza (at least that's what they said)