We love NY!

We made it to NYC and we love it! It is absolutely the sparkliest city I have ever seen. We arrived about 6 pm in Newark and surprised our kids with a limo. I think it was the best idea ever. They were truly so shocked and we all felt like rock stars! After the obligatory photos, we all stretched out on the seats and fell asleep for the ride to the hotel.

The hotel is wonderful. You just never know when you book over the Internet, but the room is big, the beds and pillows are oh so comfy. We have a balcony and a little kitchen. We are staying at the Affinia 50.

We had breakfast the next morning at the Morning Star diner where we throughly enjoyed our eggs and BACON! Then, we went to Cirque Du Solei and saw the show, Wintuk. It tells the story of a little boy's quest for snow. Along the way, he meets all these unusual people that do acrobatics, juggling, balancing feats, etc. At the end of the show there is a blizzard of paper snowflakes covering the entire audience. It was magical.

We had lunch at a deli in Times Square and shopped a bit. We went to the giant Toys R Us, the Hershey's store and the M&M store. We walked back to the hotel and passed out around 6pm. Jet lag! We were up very early...Cole, Abbey and I walked around the corner to a bagel shop for breakfast. Then after dropping off breakfast for Bill and Will (they spent the morning hanging out in the hotel room), we walked to Rockefeller Center in the slushy, snowing, drizzly wet weather. It snowed a little during the night and the kids had fun throwing snowballs and getting wet. We are loving all the Christmas trees and decorations and music everywhere.

We were going to ride to the Top of the Rock to see the views, but the visibility was zero. We thought about taking the NBC tour, but it didn't open until 9:30, so we joined a small group of people lined up outside of The American Girl Place. Abbey was is heaven! She was so excited. She did some shopping around and bought Julie, the new historical doll from that time so long ago, the 1970's. It was fun and Cole was a real trooper. He did say it gave him the creeps, though. We topped off the morning with hot chocolate from Starbucks.

At 1pm, we had tickets for The Lion King. It was great. The opening scene with all the animals, Circle of Life, was stunning. Abbey got so sleepy during the show....jet lag strikes again. After the show, we passed a beggar on the street. I still remember the first beggar I ever saw. It made me cry. Will wanted me to give him some money. He was in a wheelchair and had both legs amputated. I gave him a dollar, while Will hid behind a huge planter. When I walked back over, Will said he wanted to give him $10. So while Will hid again, I gave the man another $10. Call me crazy, but I know what my little guy was feeling and thinking.

We took a cab to a nice Italian restaurant and all three kids were so sleepy, they fell asleep on the drive back to the hotel. We were in bed by 6pm again. Unfortunately, when you fall asleep so early, you wake up really early and it is hard to go back to sleep. I am sitting here awake at 4:00 am. Everybody else is sleeping, I think...I hope.

Today, I am not sure what we are doing. If everyone is up early, we may go hang outside the NBC studio for the Today show filming. So look for us, if you are watching this morning.