The Big Apple

After some prompting from this sister, our family decided to take a trip to N.Y.C. over Thanksgiving. Why did you want to go to New York, you ask? I'll be honest with you, it was all to see a guy. I'll give you a hint: boy wizard. Yep, we made a special trip to New York all so that I could see Daniel Radcliffe in his musical, "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying." I am not ashamed; I am a big fan. And I figured, why not? Our family loves musicals so I figured this was the opportunity of a lifetime to see a musical in New York featuring my favorite actor. And so our Thanksgiving New York trip was born.

We flew in Wednesday evening and our first stop was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade early Thursday morning.

It was not as cold as it could have been, and it was worth the wait. We loved seeing the floats and balloons and couldn't believe we were actually there!
We toured New York and Central Park, my favorite spot.  I loved the little pocket of natural beauty contrasted with the harsh lines of the city.

For Thanksgiving dinner we went to a family-style Italian restaurant called Carmine's. It was delicious and a very fun atmosphere.

After dinner we went to see the Rockettes. We all enjoyed watching their tap-dancing and kicks and it got us in the Christmas spirit!

Friday morning was shopping time.  Black Friday in New York was a busy adventure but we braved it in search of deals and steals.  After our shopping we headed back to the hotel room to recuperate and watch the ill-fated Razorback game.  As much as we loved being in the city, our relaxing time together in the hotel room was one of our favorite parts of the trip.

The whole week led up to Friday night... the night we would see Harry Potter IN PERSON.  Can you feel the excitement?  We went to eat with our Uncle Robert at a slightly less-than-par pizza joint.  It was so fun to see the city with a "local." :)

And then....

The show was better than we expected!  Daniel was a star and I was so proud!  The whole family loved the play... it was clever, upbeat, and fun.  Afterwards we rushed to the stage exit and waited for an hour and a half to catch a glimpse of Mr. Radcliffe on his way out.  And we got it!  Due to both my and his short stature the picture is only of the back of his head, but it's something!  (The little one in front of the security guard is Daniel!)

We were exhausted by the end of this wonderful trip, but the days away did us good.  We enjoyed our time together and loved N.Y.C.!  

Elizabeth