NYC/BOS 2017 - Reese's 10th Birthday

Reese and I woke up bright and early on her birthday to head down to GMA. It was a block from our hotel and she was so excited to go. When we walked outside around 6:20 it was already so bright. We ran in to Starbucks for some coffee and breakfast before setting ourselves up at the window.

Robin Roberts was the first one to sit at the desk around 6:30.

Right at 7:00 when they were going to start recording, Reese put her sign she had made up on the fence.

This tall handsome guy to Reese's left (below) came up to me and asked if it was really her birthday. I said yes and he said "follow me". He immediately starts talking in to his wrist and telling some one on the other side that he was bringing two special guests in. We went through security and then waited until a commercial break.

We were standing next to Dan Abrams the whole time we waited for a break!

The next security lady walked us over to the window and we got to sit in the window while they filmed the 7:00 part of the show.

The people over my shoulder were some ladies we had been talking to outside before being brought in.

Robin was heading outside to talk to people out there and she stopped by to talk to us at the window. The ladies that had been next to us outside ended up being brought inside too. There were about 12 of us sitting in this window area.

After Robin came back inside, they brought all 12 of us to this little small room and she took pictures with each of us.

After the pictures with Robin, they put us in an elevator that was the size of a small bus and took us upstairs to watch the 8:00 hour being filmed.

We were sitting right next to the teleprompter. Most of the people that were already in this room had tickets to get in. We had looked at tickets but it said you had to be 16 so we ended up not doing it. It was definitely more fun this way!

They were very strict about phones and you could only take pictures during commercial breaks.

Queen Latifah was one of the guests and she was just as cute and fun as I would expect.

We had SO much fun that morning!!

After GMA, we met the boys at breakfast and then we all headed to the Air and Space Museum.

This was a space craft landing simulator. Hayes and Reese both crashed their space craft. Sam had his almost on the runway and then crashed at the very last second. I was so impressed with his landing skills.

 The kids bought some astronaut ice cream and we all tried it. It was interesting but not bad.

Reese and I were able to explore the Aircraft Carrier and the Space Shuttle but had to leave before going in to the submarine.

Reese and I left because we had tickets to go see Aladdin. We were so excited about this experience.

The theater was so pretty! We chose to have front row seats in the balcony so that no one was sitting in front of us. It was a great show! We both raved about it on the way back to the hotel.

After the show we met the boys back in the room and then headed out. We walked to Rockefeller Center and walked through the Lego store.

Then we were off to find some dinner. We found a burger place but once we sat down we all decided we weren't really hungry so we decided on dessert for dinner. We celebrated Reese's birthday with milkshakes to end our night.

I hope Reese never forgets this birthday! It was such a fun day and I had a blast hanging out with my girl.

NYC/BOS 2017 - Part 1

This summer we did vacation a little different. I have never been to the north east and really wanted to go. Years ago we promised Reese we would take her to NY for her 10th birthday...so that is what we did. We flew in to New York on July 16th.

And the four of us had our first experience in a New York taxi (Lance has been to NYC before).

We checked in to our hotel in Times Square and then headed out to explore for a little bit. I spent a lot of time researching all that we did but if I could do one thing different it would be to plan our meals a little better. That was always the most frustrating part: looking for a place to eat that would make everyone happy.

We ended up just eating at Hard Rock that first night because we were close by and then we headed to M&M World. Hayes had been most excited about this but he soon realized it wasn't what he was hoping for!

We definitely saw things we had never seen before walking through Times Square. The kids got the biggest kick out of the girls who were literally walking around naked with body paint on!!

We headed to bed that first night and then were up early to head to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We rode the ferry over to Liberty Island first and it was so neat to see her getting closer and closer.

A look back at Manhattan

And looking ahead to Lady Liberty

We got a city pass and it included an audio tour. They had a kids version and an adult version. It slowly walked you around the island and talked about all of the history.

Next we headed over to Ellis Island but apparently didn't get any pictures other than this shot. I enjoyed the history there but the kids were kind of over it at this point. We ate lunch, watched a quick video, and then head back to the city. It did make me want to know so much more about my family's history though so maybe I will check in to that information soon!

Once we were back in Manhattan, we grab some ice cream from the ice cream truck (so good!) and then set out on our walk north.

 We walked to the 9/11 Memorial and it was so moving! I didn't expect the emotions that I felt there.

The new Freedom Tower

Reese and Sam have learned some about this in school each year but Hayes had so many questions. It was really hard and emotional to explain things to him.

We didn't know what these flowers meant at first and then later saw a sign that said the flowers represented that is was this person's birthday...and that made me cry all over again.

Taking this picture was interesting because it is such a somber place. When we told the kids we wanted to take their picture they all just smiled and it felt wrong. But then I remember that life still goes on and we have so much hope in that!

We went in to the museum and it was really moving too. There was so much information and it was all really interesting but our kids were over it all. We were getting so frustrated with them because we wanted to experience it all but couldn't expect them to feel the same way.

We headed in to Chinatown and Little Italy after the museum and ate dinner at Lombardi's. The pizza was delicious! Another surprise was how expensive every single meal was. Even when we tried to save money on meals we still spent at least $50.

The next day we got to sleep in just a bit and then headed to breakfast at Chick-fil-a for a little bit of home!

Then we were off to the American Museum of Natural History (aka Night at the Museum movie). We got there a little bit before it opened and had to wait outside for a little bit. It was already so hot. I think we took the Atlanta weather with us.

We saw a lot of this with Reese this week. #selfie

We watched an IMAX movie on Humpback Whales when we first got there and then decided to do the self-guided Night at the Museum tour. Honestly, the kids were pretty disappointed in this museum. It was pretty boring for them so we left right before lunch time.

We grabbed some lunch at Shake Shack (packed full of people) and then carried it over to Central Park to eat.

The kids rode the carousel after we walked around.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We headed back to the hotel for a little bit and then out for dinner again. We ate at Heartland Brewery on the same square as the Empire State Building. After dinner we headed up to the top of the Empire State Building for a view of the city.

The elevator had a video screen on the ceiling as you headed up and down in the building.

These pictures are a little out of order but you get the idea.

And then Reese had some work to do for the next day!