The Bryner Bunch

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Our Trip to NYC

Ben and I took a trip to New York to celebrate the last week of my 20's...yup, I am turning 30 in a few days. Not excited about it, but I am trying to think positively:) I am sure my 30's will be great...right?! Also, Jen and Matt are planning a trip to NYC in December so this gave us an opportunity to swap kids...perfect! Ben was going to do some work there, but it fell through so we decided to go anyway and I am so glad we did!

However, we did get off to a rocky start by missing our plane...ugh! I know, so not the way I imagined our trip starting! But, we got there, just about 11 hours later than expected:) Not only were we arriving late, but our cab driver couldn't get to our hotel room due to all of the road closures surrounding the Occupy Wall Street protest which was occurring less than a block away. So, that added another hour or so of driving around in circles until we decided to walk with our luggage a few blocks to make it to our hotel room just shy of 1:00 AM. As you can imagine, we were spent at this point! Wow, this all sounds so bad! Luckily, we made up for it the rest of the trip and had a great time! Our goal was to do all the things we didn't get a chance to do the last time we went to the big city. We did a lot, but as you can imagine, we still have many more places to visit! It is weird to have so many pictures of just me and Ben (without our kids), but here ya go!

Occupy Wall Street Protest

So, the Occupy Wall Street protest became quite the tourist attraction and got bigger and bigger each day. Since it was on our path to and from our hotel, we walked by it many times. It was kind of cool to witness first hand an event that was getting so much media buzz across the nation. It also was crazy to see all of the groups of NYPD hanging around seemingly doing nothing, but standing there and being entertained by what they were witnessing. Granted, there were multiple arrests that took place daily, but for the most part, all of the protesters seemed very chill...in more ways than one:) Here are some pics of the protest:

That is a boy dancing in the leather dress by the way:)

Day 1

Construction of the new Freedom Tower at Ground Zero

The absolute BEST gluten free restaurant ever!

He ate like 10 of those

Ben was so excited to stop by the Dash Boutique:)

I'm embarrassing, I know:)

A sea of umbrellas

Can you see me?

We did a lot of subway riding. I was scared most of the time, but it was faster than taking a taxi.

That night we also did some shopping and then went and saw a late movie...Footloose...loved it!

Day 2

Time to visit Lady Liberty

Our ferry ride over was VERY cold and blustery

Not cool, Ben

At the top of the Statue of Liberty

A piece of the World Trade Center

New York City Temple...so beautiful inside! We did sealings and met the temple president.

Such an amazing experience!

After Dinner at PJ Clarke's (very yummy), it was time for the opera at the Lincoln Center

My Aunt Char (my mom's sister) and Uncle Sam (who live in Manhattan) were kind enough to invite us to the opera and took us out to dinner after. We had a wonderful time and it was soooo good to see them!

Thanks again! We love you!

Day 3