The Mulloy's: Christmas in New York

Michael and I went to New York a couple weekends ago and had the best time! I had always wanted to go to New York at Christmas time so I was so happy we were able to make it happen! The trip didn't start out as we had hoped, but ended up working out!

We had planned to fly to New York on Thursday morning and then come back on Saturday morning. We planned it that way so that the boys would be in school on Thursday and Friday and the grandparents wouldn't have to change their schedules very much to keep them.

Michael and I had stayed up until 2am Wednesday night getting everything ready for the boys and packing most of our stuff. Fortunately, we had packed the night before because our alarm didn't go off and we woke up 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave for the airport! My parents came over to get the boys ready for school and Michael's dad took us to the airport. Everything went very smoothly until we were about to take off. The pilot came on and said that we were going to sit on the tarmac for at least 30 minutes and he would let us know an update soon. We ended up sitting on the tarmac for 2 and a half hours! Apparently there was a lot of fog in New York and no planes were able to land. They let us off the plane and told us they would update us in another hour. By this time I was in a lot of pain (I am still nursing Peyton) so was frantically looking for a place I could pump. Apparently the airport does not support nursing women, because I had to look everywhere to find somewhere besides the bathroom (which doesn't have plugs in the stalls)! One nice airline employee that is a mother recommended the chapel. Sort of awkward, but it worked!

Michael and I grabbed a drink to wait to hear how long we would be delayed. After an hour of waiting, they cancelled our flight. Unfortunately another airline cancelled their flight to New York earlier and all of their passengers got all of the remaining flights that afternoon. Michael and I were pretty bummed! The only flight we were able to get was a non-direct flight the next morning that switched planes in Chicago and landed in Newark, New Jersey (our original flight was direct to Laguardia). We also had tickets to Wicked that night that were non-refundable so we were really upset about missing out on those tickets too! Michael's parents were really nice and rearranged their plans so they could keep the boys over the weekend and we could go!

After waking up at 4am, we finally arrived in Newark around 1pm on Friday. Michael surprised me and had booked a limo to take us into the city. We sipped champagne while driving into the city. It was perfect! We were staying at the Renaissance in Times Square and it was the perfect location! Our room wasn't ready yet so we walked a couple places while waiting on our room.

Patrick is obsessed with M&M's so we took a picture at the M&M store next to our hotel.

We also headed to the Disney store down the street.

After checking into our hotel, we headed off to an early dinner at Del Frisco's. It's a steakhouse and was so yummy! It had a great view as well!

On the way there, we decided we really wanted to see Wicked. The last minute tickets ended up on the fourth row (and double the price) and were fantastic seats. It was worth every penny! We loved it and it was definitely one of my favorite parts about New York!

It was rainy and cold in New York on Friday night so instead of wandering around the city, we headed back to the hotel to bed! The next day we ended up sleeping in which was so nice! We were exhausted from getting up at 4am the day before.

We headed to Bouchon bakery for breakfast to get some coffee, pastries and yummy macarons!

Then we walked around 5th Avenue. It was so packed on the streets, but it was fun to walk around and see all of the Christmas decorations!

FAO Schwarz for some presents for the boys!

We also went to Tiffany's, the Plaza, and walked around Central Park.

Then we headed to the 9/11 Memorial. It was beautiful to see, but was also very depressing!

This is the only (original) remaining tree that was in between the buildings and managed to survive!

After our visit to the 9/11 memorial, we went to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. Maybe another time we will make it to Ellis Island!

Then we got terribly lost for over an hour and could not get a cab to pick us up. It was terrible! After finally getting a cab, we met a couple friends for a drink. Then headed to dinner at an adorable little Italian place. Then headed to see Christmas Spectacular at 10pm. We were on the first row and the show really put us in the Christmas Spirit.

After the show, we headed to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. We had seen the tree in the daylight, but we were excited about seeing it all lit up. Unfortunately, they decided to turn the tree off at 11:30 pm this year. We got there at 11:33pm and just missed it! We were really bummed, but it was still fun to watch the skaters at Rockefeller center.