Happy Turkey Day...New York City!

So, kind of on a whim, we decided to take Haliaka to NYC for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving day we awoke and started on our road trip. It took us a little over 5 hours, which we thought was good timing since it was a holiday weekend. We stayed at the Doubletree Inn in Chelsea.

Before dinner we decided to take a walk to see the outside of the temple. It's such a funny location, in the middle of bustling New York City, and BAM, there's Moroni and the temple spire.

Then we walked to the Porter House restaurant where we had reservations for Thanksgiving dinner. Before dinner though, we had to stop to see the light show with music and these wonderfully large stars dangling from the very tall ceiling of the mall.

It was time to dig in! If you can't really see, Keola is the only one who actually got the traditional Thanksgiving meal - turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberries. Haliaka and I decided to go with the dish the restaurant is known for...steak! Boy, was it scrumptious!! What did Lillie have, you might ask...oh our dear daughter stayed true to her little 'old palette and had what else, pasta with butter.

Cheers, All!

More of the light show extravaganza.

Lillie couldn't decide what she loved more, the twinkling star lights, or the blue lit trees outside.

The next morning we headed to a bakery/cafe we had read about online - Clinton St. Baking Co. We had a little bit of a wait, and then were seated in this quaint little cafe. We ordered, waited a little more, and THEN...the most delicious pancakes and honey smoked bacon we have EVER had! Wow! So delish!

We were pretty smart to have brought Lillie's stroller, as we walked quite a bit on this trip. Here she is hanging out while we waited for our table.

Subway rides are always an adventure, and the NYC subway didn't disappoint. Let's just say, the stroller proved to be the 4th person on the trip and very difficult at that! ha ha

Well, we couldn't let Black Friday pass without some shopping in NYC. First stop, FAO Schwartz! What fun we had in this well known toy store. As you can see, it WAS Black Friday and the crowds were out, but it wasn't as bad as we had expected.

A little photo shoot before we took a dive into all things toys!

This was a little tower they had that people could climb a spiral staircase to and take a view of the store. You would have thought this was the best ride ever, according to Lillie.

Can we say "Candy Bar"

Typical toy soldier you say...hardly! This large gem is constructed ALL of candy!

"PLEEEEAAAASE!!!"

After the toy overload, we decided to go a little more sophisticated. So we took a stroll into Tiffany's. So BEAUTIFUL! Although I will admit, we got a few funny looks from ACTUAL customers. But if you look behind us, you can see there were MANY others who were there to just window shop!

Next stop, Saks Fifth Avenue. Look at the decorations! It was even more beautiful in person.

I could REALLY kick myself for not taking a picture, but you'll just have to ask Haliaka about her experience in the lime light.

Then it was off to Rockefeller center.

We went to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Of course, they took my camera, so no pictures. Lillie absolutely LOVED the show - from the 3-D show, to dancing Santas, to the Rockettes dancing, and the finale of the live nativity story with live camels and sheep. Such a fantastic show! After, we went to see some of the decorated trees in the lobby, but as you can see, the lighting didn't quite work.

Saturday, we took some time to see the Statue of Liberty...from afar. We had all seen it before, well, all of us except Lillie. My poor baby kept saying, "I can't see her crown. Can we go and see her crown!" But, as you can see, the crowds were out in force, so a picture was the best we could do. Not to mention it was FREEZING with blowing winds. Maybe next time, Lillie.

We spent the rest of the day shopping at the pier, going to Macy's, visiting Chinatown and having delicious dim sum, and then resting for our trip home. What a GREAT trip!