New York, New York!

(All my lovely family...April, Amy, Aunt Debbie, Mama, Emily, Me, & LaurieAnn

Photo taken outside on the street in front of the Waldorf Astoria hotel where we were staying.)

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Ok, so the weekend before last, I had the opportunity to spend four amazing days in the great city of New York, NY. From April 16th-the 19th, I think we walked the four corners of the city, and probably saw at least a good 80% of what there was to see. Now remember, I am five months pregnant, mind you, and we did A LOT of walking...I don't think my groin and lower abdomen muscles have recovered since=) BUT, I worked really hard at not complaining too much, and truly did thoroughly enjoy the trip 1) since I will most likely not be going back in the near future (not because I didn't like it, just because it's not a real "family vacation" spot=) and 2) since, most importantly, I got to spend it with all the fabulous ladies on my side of the family.

(Just my side...Emily, LaurieAnn, Mama, & Me)
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There are a million, zillion stories that could be told, and to be honest I'm surprised my blogging family hasn't told more of them yet. I think we've all been pretty busy since we hit home. So I hate to blog about only one of the outstanding things we did, but really, seeing Wicked on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre was the highlight of the trip for me, and it almost didn't happen!

(Just the young ones-Haha! Emily, Amy, LaurieAnn, Me, & April

Photo taken inside the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria hotel.)
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So I was in charge of buying these tickets for the 8:00pm showing of Wicked on Saturday night, April 18th. I had carefully and cautiously guarded these pricey tickets with a bit of fear from the moment they left the safety of my bedside table to a safe nitch inside my purse. My worst fear was getting my purse stolen in New York! Not because of the cash I was carrying, but because of these tickets! And with no safe in our hotel room, I was not about to let them leave my person until I handed them out Saturday evening.

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So, Saturday night we get all gussied up for a night on the town, so to speak. This was the one day we all actually dressed up really nice, and the one evening many of us chose to wear heels or fancy shoes with no cushioning for walking whatsoever. All the pictures you are seeing above are the BEFORE pics=) Note my lovely pink heels below! I figured my feet could suffer for the sake of beauty just one evening in NY, plus when you're preggers it's all about the accessories!

Anyway, I began to be a little concerned when we sat down for dinner at 6:00pm and our appetizers arrived 30 minutes later...remember, show time is 8pm and we're about 8 blocks away according to Google Maps. So, 7:30 rolls around, and we are just leaving the restaurant. We decide we can't haul 8 blocks in heels in 30 minutes with time to spare, so we try to hail a cab. Ten minutes later we climb into a cab only to drive around the corner and come to a dead stop in typical Saturday night New York traffic. We watch the clock on the cab screen nervously. At 7:53pm, my mom asks the cabbie if it would be quicker to walk. He says, "Oh, yeah, definitely." (as we've now sat in his cab for about five minutes.)

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He tells us how to get where we say we want to go, and literally start running through the streets of New York City. I'm not lying...we are all running, in heels, and I am five months pregnant. Somewhere in the middle of the run, I decide to look down to watch my step because heaven forbid the heel of pump fall through a subway grate! Only to find, that the pink sweater buttoned at top with one button is securely in place flowing behind me, but the tube top I was wearing underneath, not so much in place as it was around my waste, revealing my lovely nude bra to the entire world we were sprinting past. How long I was running down the street this way before I realized things were a little breezy, I have absolutely no idea, but I did manage to burst out laughing in the middle of my run.

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Eventually, we all stop breathless as the place where we thought the theatre was suppose to be located...no where in site. According to the natives, we are about six blocks south of where we need to be. At this point in time it's 7:58pm, and if I hadn't started running for my life again, I was going to break down into tears, hysterical. So one by one, we all take off once more at a dead sprint to the north. Each of us, following the head of someone in front of us through the sardine packed streets of Times Square. I was precariously trying to follow the top, straight brown hair of my wafer thin cousin April, who was able to squeeze between people holding hands. Yeah, I was doing good to squeeze my belly between anyone. Not to mention that we were definitely NOT following the red stop hands at crosswalk intersections, so I was informed later that apparently my pregnant self dashed out in front of an oncoming bus in my quest to follow April's head.

Needless to say, we arrive at Gershwin Theatre about 3-4 minutes after the show begins. I quickly throw my precious tickets at whomever will take them...I vaguely remember Amy getting their first before everyone else, and I run up the moving escalators, preparing to beg the attendee to escort me to my seat before I go into labor. I was fully prepared for her to tell me that the show had already began, and I would only be able to be seated at intermission. At even the thought of this, I was in tears before a word ever came out of my mouth. Thank God she was a kind old woman, who smiled, told me to calm down, take a deep breath, and that the show had only just begun. Where for I was then escorted to my seat, which was third row of the balcony...DEAD CENTER. So I apologized profusely to each and every person I had to waddle over to get to my seat, trying not to sweat on them or pass out in the row in the process.

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I plopped down in my seat, took a deep breath, and sighed, as I prepared to thoroughly enjoy this part of the trip that I had been looking forward to seeing for so long. No sooner had I settled into my seat and began to catch up on the story line, then my little boy inside of me began kicking with a vengeance. I mean, he kicked and turned and punched and jabbed excitedly the ENTIRE SHOW. Not once did he stop. I can't blame him I suppose. I mean, all the adrenaline that had powered this five month pregnant woman in hot pink three inch heels through the packed streets of Times Square must have had some effect on the kid. Either that, or he REALLY enjoyed the theatre music=) Something tells me it was the latter!

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After the show, which was fabulous! Music-superb! Actors/singers-uber-talented! Costumes-amazing! Storyline--I like it better than the original story of the Wizard of Oz. Anyway, after the show, we discovered that our legs REFUSED to take us up any stairs at all...I almost fell trying. My poor sister Emily had left her inhaler back in the hotel, so she had fought an asthma attack the entire show, and pretty much everyone was dreading the walk back home. But the show was incredible, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world...obviously=) So not only did I get to see a first rate show on Broadway, but I have a fun story to tell to go along with it. The after picture not looking as good as the befores =) Fortunately, I had the forsight to pack a pair of flip flops in my purse for the walk home after the show. As I was changing shoes out by the street, I smiled as some fellow show-goers commented on what a smart idea that was. The rest of my party still had to hike back in their evening foot attire.

So, with Savannah I hiked 13 miles in the Grand Canyon, and with this little one, I RAN approximately 10-12 blocks through the streets of New York. My children will either be excellent athletes some day, or I already wore them out before they were even born=) Haha! The rest of the trip was fantabulous....so many stories to tell, but I will let some of the other ladies tell their favorites. As for me, I'm still catching my breath from recalling this blog=)