New York City

Park in Queens

So because all states are so close together in the east, we decided to take a weekend and go up to New York City. We had the best time! We went up on Friday when we woke up and it took about 6 hours for us to get to Queens. Torry lived in New York when he was little so he wanted to go catch up with one of his old friends. We went and had a great time. Getting there was a little bit of a scare though. We were using a GPS and on our way there we didn't realize that a tunnel we were in split before we exited so we went left instead of right. Well lets just say that tunnel dropped us off smack dab in the middle of downtown Manhattan. If anyone has ever been to New York City, you know that you do NOT want to drive in the middle of Manhattan. Well we drove on the biggest streets on Manhattan (42nd and Broadway being two of them) before we were able to find our way back out. Scary, but we made it. After we got there we had a little while until we met Jacob, so we decided to go to a near by park. We played there for a little and calmed down from the Manhattan scare and then went into Astoria. We had dinner at this great little place that actually made the wedding cake for the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." We had a good time and then decided to head to Hicksville, NY, where we would be staying. On Saturday morning Torry took me around to his old school that he attended and then where is old house was, etc. We had a really fun time seeing all the places he has told me so much about. After that we got on the Subway and headed for Manhattan. This time it wasn't nearly as scary because we weren't driving. We
had the best day that was full of adventures! We went everywhere! We started off at the wax museum and

On the Subway

took lots of pictures with us and famous people. After we were there we walked over to the water front and took a water cruise that took us to the major landmarks in the city. It was so much fun! It was super relaxing to sit and be taken everywhere, but also be seeing super fun things. It took us to the new 9/11 museum, the statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and even the Empire state building. It was incredible. After that we decided it was time for lunch, and who can go to New York (especially with Torry) and not get pizza? So we went to a place near by and got some authentic New York style pizza. I can see why everyone thinks it is so good.

Wax Museum

 After we had lunch we headed over to a toy store called FAO Schwartz. Apparently it is one of the biggest (and might I add, expensive) toy stores in the world. We decided to walk there, and on our way we passed some pretty fancy buildings. We passed Louis Vuitton, Gucci, The Trump Tower, you get the idea. When we finally got to the store, it was crazy!

 There we the most incredible toys I have ever seen. It was a huge building and it seemed as though the toys never ended. We decided that we wouldn't get a toy (obviously they were a little outside our budget) but we did find a section that was just sweets so we got a wholebag of exotic flavored gummy bears. So maybe not exotic, but uncommonly seen gummy bears. We got ones such as mango, strawberry banana, energy, etc. There was about 15 flavors that we tried. After we picked out our gummy bears, Paige was dying because we hadn't gotten her any candy, so on our way out we got her a package of sixlets. We decided that we should go to Central Park to eat them, so we headed to central park and all ate our candy. They were very good. After we finished our candy we headed over to the Cake Boss Cafe. We had seen it a little earlier when we walked to the waterline, but we weren't really ready for dessert. We decided to go back and get a cannoli and a cupcake. We had to get at least
 that so when we watched the show we felt like we knew what they were making. They were really good! We were both impressed as to how good desserts were. Well, we finished our desserts and had to go hit times square. We went and saw all kinds of cool things. People are EVERYWHERE, and I really didn't
 believe that until I saw it. The screens
 are huge and it is incredible how bright the town is when it is so dark outside. Torry has a tradition that everywhere he goes he has to get a hard rock cafe t-shirt. He has quite a collection of all the places he has been. Well, New York is no different, so we found a hard rock cafe in Times Square and got him a new shirt. By that point it was already like 10:00 PM so we decided to get on the subway before it was too late (and I don't know if I forgot to mention, but that morning Pagie got up at 6:00 AM because she isn't use to light in the morning, and by this point she hadn't taken a nap.) So we rode the subway home and instantly fell asleep when we hit the pillow.
Well on Sunday morning we packed up all of our stuff and decided to head to Coney Island before we went
home. That place is amazing! Before we went on the Boardwalk (yes, like the song!!) we found the original Nathans hot dogs. The place where they have the hot dog eating contest each year. Well we both got a hot dog and they were super good! I also got a mango/orange slushie, and wow...that was incredible!! Well we

Torry at Nathans in his new Hard Rock shirt

finished our hot dogs decided to head for the boardwalk. WOW! I have seen in movies where there is an ocean on one side and an amusement park on the other, but I always thought it was staged. It was the most amazing site I have ever seen! We were even walking on the Boardwalk! The real live boardwalk. It was so cool. Well we got in our swimming suits and decided to play in the sand a little before we went home, and
 Paige absolutely loved that. She thought sand was like the coolest thing ever. So we played for a little while but then knew we had to get on the road if we wanted to get home before dark, so we changed back into our clothes and decided to leave. Right before we left though we saw another brick oven pizza place and thought we should have lunch. We went inside and it was this little place that would only accept cash (which luckily we had) and so we sat down and waited. Oh My Gosh! It was the best pizza ever!! We must have gotten there at a good time because right after we sat down there was like

 a line out the door, but the pizza was insane! They used fresh mozzarella and basil. Man, it was good pizza. So after we ate we left very content with life and drove the six hours home. Luckily this time we didn't have any problems or get placed in the middle of downtown Manhattan. Either way, we had an incredible time! It was so much fun to see all these sites and get out in the world a little! Hopefully we can go back again soon and get another pizza and mango/orange slushie!

Torry's Birthday

So Torry turned 26. Yay! We decided to go to New York for his birthday but not before he had his traditional dirt cake and song! Happy Birthday Torry!