New York, New York

This last weekend I had a fantastic time during a "Sister's Weekend" in New York to help celebrate my sister Lara and her "big" birthday coming up. (Her age will remain unmentioned as she is not terribly thrilled about this particular birthday!!) Tami unfortunately was unable to make it but the three of us had a great time exploring the sights and sounds of the Big Apple at Christmastime.

We actually stayed at a really nice hotel in Newark, New Jersey which was connected to the train station and just rode the train 15 minutes into the city each day. We actually never even stepped foot in Newark since we would simply walk across the concourse from our hotel directly into the train station beneath. Not only did this save us some major moolah (probably about $1000 over the course of the two nights that we stayed there) but we also got a much nicer hotel this way. Highly recommended by me!!

The front lobby of our hotel was decked out with these adorable gingerbread buildings!

(Please excuse the quality of these photos. They were taken with my little point-and-shoot camera which is obviously on the fritz!! But at least you get the idea!)

On Friday we spent the day exploring Times Square...

And admiring all of the beautiful holiday displays along the way!

Of course no trip to NY at Christmas would be complete without viewing the famous Rockefeller Tree. It was huge and absolutely stunning!!

We watched the ice skaters in front of the tree for a bit before snuggling up with some yummy hot chocolate in a nearby Barnes & Nobles. It was frigid!!

The "ROCK" itself...

Saturday was spent walking around Central Park and window shopping at various stores along Madison Avenue. The evening culminated with a trip to Macy's to admire the adorable window displays and a visit to all 9 floors of the store!!

We all slept in on Sunday after a very tiring experience the day before (we figured we walked about 10 miles that day plus exercising at the fitness center that morning too!!) We were able to attend church that afternoon in the downstairs chapel inside the Manhattan Temple building. (Sorry about the TERRIBLE picture, but it was the best I got!!)

Besides being able to spend some great quality time visiting and laughing with two of my sisters, the highlight of the whole trip was definitely "The Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes" that we attended on Saturday. The show was 90-minutes of pure delight and entertainment and I can't wait to go back someday with the whole family!!

New York was incredible and it was so fun to see it at Christmastime and to be able to share the experience with my two sisters. After three days though, we were definitely ready to escape the huge throngs of people that accompanied us wherever we were. I love visiting New York (it is one of my favorite big cities!!) but I prefer to take it in small quantities!!