New York City!

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”

Last week we went to one of our most favorite cities.

New York City! The Big Apple, baby.

Oh, what a trip it was! We went with our dearest friends, who we consider family. They are some of our most favorite people, and they are so much fun to be around. We love them! Every summer for the past 4 years we have traveled to a big city with them. It all started in 2009, when we went to Chicago. Then Boston in 2010. Then New York City in 2011.

So.....we liked New York so much....we went back again! 

You know I am a sucker for traditions, and this is one of my favorites! We have so much fun and you can usually bet that the trip will be jam packed with activities, sightseeing, shopping, and lots and lots of eating.  

We know how to do all of the above items extremely well. 

Truthfully, we were not supposed to go on a big trip this summer because, well, we had other plans. We all know what those plans were supposed to look like. They would have been up here for a change in pace. Instead of "big city fun", we would be doing "mountain city fun". Sightseeing would come in the form of a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a trip to the Grove Park Inn, and the Biltmore. Our planned activities would have been fly fishing and zip lining. Eating? Well, that could be any number of places. I am sure we would end up at our favorite sushi restaurant in Asheville. We would then have a discussion about how the sushi stacks up to 1) the sushi restaurant in West Tennessee or 2) the sushi restaurants in the big cities we have visited. 


While doing all of these things, we would be holding, loving, and rocking baby Jackson. 

Here is something beautiful about the trip to NYC.

WE had NO plans for Jackson on this trip.

This trip was booked after he passed away. 

There was no way my mind, or Russ' mind, could recess into that place. That is a welcomed feeling. A trip with no mental images of how the trip was "supposed to look" makes you feel normal again. We could just live life and enjoy ourselves! And we did. We so did.

Our trip in pictures...... 

 

 

We kicked off our first night at a fantastic Broadway show! The Book of Mormon!!

 

 

 A favorite picture of me and my guy in Times Square!

 It was Restaurant Week.....

Oh, the food. How I loved thee....

Brunch at Cookshop in Chelsea!

 I love brunch. I could brunch everyday of my life and be perfectly happy. It is the best.meal.ever.

After brunch, we hit up the Museum of Natural History! So very cool! So much to see!

 

 

 She loves maps.

Then time for some fun seafood at Oceana! Kinda funny I mention that, as the above photo is of a large blue whale in the marine life portion of the museum :) Love to learn about it and eat it?

Yep. This happened....

 

That would be a seafood tower of marine life, folks! Delicious! 

After dinner we were off to our next Broadway show! Harvey! It was a true play, and it was fabulous and so funny! It starred Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory.

 And....we waited outside after the play to catch a glimpse of Mr. Parsons!

So, we were having so much fun doing the Broadway thing....we decided to see Spiderman at the last minute! We attended a Sunday matinee. It was very, very cool. There is no other show like it, that is for sure! It has a ton of special effects and they do a great job of keeping the eye entertained the entire show.

What I love about the three shows we attended were....
1) Book of Mormon is a hilarious, innovative, modern musical! We are still singing the songs and quoting our favorite lines!
2) Harvey is a true play and I realized that I have never been to a "play" before. Everything I have seen has been a musical! It was so funny and extremely well done! Loved it!
3) Spiderman was full of special effects and constant set changes. It looked and felt like a comic book. It was neat to see how they made something that is drawn on paper come to life on stage! Oh, and people are flying around the theater throughout the show! Incredible!

Three very different shows. All three outstanding!

That night we ate dinner at a famous steak house, Gallagher's! So yummy! The restaurant had the coolest ambiance and a very laid back atmosphere. They are famous for their sirloin for a reason! We all ate our faces off that is for sure. However, we thought it would be a great idea to stop by M&M land in Times Square for dessert. We purchased our body weight in M&M's, and proceeded to eat them. I thought it would be a fantastic idea to get a large mixed bag of peanut, peanut butter, and pretzel M&M's. Ugh. So wrong. So very wrong. We all felt like we were going to vomit. Good idea in theory--bad idea in practice.

It is all fun and games until you try to eat everything on that wall.

On Monday, we traveled to the Yankee's Stadium for a tour! In every city we travel to, we always do something around baseball. We saw a Cubs game in Chicago.  We did a Fenway Stadium tour in Boston.  We attended a NY Met's game last year. Now we can say we did a Yankee Stadium tour! Traditions within a tradition! Love it.

 

 

Fun at the museum!

A soccer game was just played on the field, so they were working on it while we were there! This shot was taken from the seats where the press sits. Great view!

That night we at sushi at a restaurant called Sushi of Gari! We always do sushi in every city, and this one was a real treat! It was a small, quaint restaurant that had some very unique dishes. We enjoyed trying new things and sharing appetizers! We left full and happy--but not too full to make a stop at The Plaza Hotel for dessert! Amazing!

On our last morning, we went to Good Morning America! I am a huge fan of GMA. It is a part of my morning routine to listen to it as I am getting ready for work. Russ and I went and did this experience last summer, and it was a lot of fun. This time, we dragged everyone with us. Turns out, lots of other people are GMA fans too. It was crazy and packed. We did not make it on TV, but we did get some great photos with the anchors. We even avoided getting caught in a cat fight :) Fierce fans. Watch out!

 

 

  

After GMA, we had to rush to the airport to come home :( Goodbye for now, NYC!

What a wonderful trip filled with laughter, memories and love. We are so thankful that God has placed this incredible family in our lives. We would be lost without them. They fill our little cup right up, and it is currently spilling over with pure love right now. We love and miss all of them! Cheers to many, many more years of memories and traditions! Love y'all to the moon and back!

Traveling is good. Traveling is very good for us. Perhaps we will travel more over the coming months? Plan less and just go. Seeing the world and having fun is what Jackson would have wanted, we are sure of that because that is who we are and what we do. Who knows what we will do next or where the wind will blow us. I used to plan my life out, and could tell you exactly what is on the itinerary for the next 6 months. That is how I used to operate. Not anymore. The more I plan, the more it hurts. The more I will continue to "mark time", and there is no possible way to describe how much that hurts. We have found that there is less hurt and heartache in spontaneity. A quote that I love and am choosing to live by at the moment:

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” -Mary Oliver

Time to live life. I mean really live it. Do it right. Do what is right. Do it big. Make people on Earth proud, and make the little soon-to-be three months old angel proud. We miss that precious little life so very much.

Time to find beauty and enjoy life as we know it. A "Quest for Happiness" is the only label I can think to put on it. We will find it. Somewhere.

One wild and precious life.

We love and miss you Jackson Neil!

Love,

Emily and Russ

NYC Photo Purge....

 

 

 

 

 Thought this was an "e" but actually....it was a "9". Fail.