New York Birthday Trip 2015

This is Stella, Audrey and Chloe waiting for our rescheduled flight in Memphis...the beginning of a LONG 24 hours

Everyone HAD to get a neck pillow because of the fact we were supposed to arrive in NYC at midnight.  They're smiling here....:)

The High Line in Chelsea...Audrey and Chloe's first stop in NYC this
is about 9 am Friday after leaving the Atlanta hotel at 4 am....yes that's
not a typo

Charlie Bird in SoHo for lunch.  What an OUTSTANDING place, thanks to Ryan Lawson's recommendation!
Left is Stella and Emmy Burton, Audrey and Chloe...Tara Burton in the background

The Statue of Liberty was a real treat

On our way to dinner Friday

Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge should be a mandatory thing when in NYC!

I love Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show. It's quite my thing now since
he took over in Feb. 2014.  He wasn't filming this week but we stopped
by for a photo :)

Top of the Rockefeller Center, that's the Empire State Building behind them

Audrey is so talented...she payed attention the the streets in NYC, counted how many times we hit up a Starbucks and did
Stella and Chloe's hair several times.  Here she is doing Chloe's bun before Matilda.  Our most favorite play EVER.  If you
get the chance to see it you MUST!!!

After Matilda...what a great show!!!

Times Square

Stella's birthday cake before the play

Monday, June 1, 2015

Last year I talked to mom about helping with a trip to New York for Chloe's 14th birthday and luckily it was also cousin Stella's birthday June 3 and cousin Audrey's birthday June 25, so we made it a fun time for all.  We had several glitches on the trip, the first being our Thursday 1 pm flight was cancelled due to weather in NYC and we were re-booked on the 6 pm flight through Atlanta.  We were delayed two hours getting to Atlanta and missed our La Guardia connection.  They told us in Memphis that we would miss the connection but wouldn't get vouchers for our hotel in Atlanta.  Dang it.  Then when we got to our hotel at midnight, Kara printed out our boarding passes while I was getting the girls in and out of the shower, and Delta spit out 5 vouchers for a Hilton Hotel.  Well we were at a Marriott.  Dang it number 4.  To top it all off, we left our hotel at 4:20 a.m. and stood in a SINGLE DELTA line from 4:30-5:30 to simply print out Audrey's boarding pass then had to stand in security and had 5 minutes to board our flight, on an empty stomach no less.  Dang it number 5 and 6.  We arrived in NYC at 8:00 am to start our day on 4 hours sleep (if that, Kara and I really didn't rest much).

Friday was a great but exhausting day.  We hydrated with water and tea throughout the day and had a great time walking the High Line in Chelsea.  The High Line is an abandoned railroad that was going to be torn down but residents raised money to save it and make it into a park.  We had a great lunch at Charlie Bird in SoHo,  What a great time it was sitting outside.  Our next stop was the Statue of Liberty several blocks south to Battery Park.  The blocks are long and slow in NYC so I asked everyone with us who had a handful of luck and if they did to use it so we'd make our 2 pm ferry over to the statue.  Hailing a cab isn't easy in the big city.  The handful of luck worked when I walked up to a hotel bellman and asked him to hail two cabs for our party of 7.  He said, "Just a minute, wait here".  So we did and he said, "Vladimir will take you anywhere you want to go in our hotel car.  Don't tip him, it's part of our service".  For the record, we didn't come out of the hotel as guests, I walked up to him off the corner of Varick and Spring Street.  Well Vlad was, I'd say, 70 years old, dressed in a full Italian suit and Prada sunglasses.  He escorted us to a 2015 Black Cadillac Escalade.  It was a thrill riding the 6 blocks to Battery Park with Vlad.  We did tip and thanked him a ton.  The Trump SoHo rooms go for $625 per night.  WOW.

The Statue of Liberty was great.  It was a beautiful day.  We had tickets to see the 9/11 Museum at 6 pm and we timed it about right to see the wonderful memorial then the museum. Dinner at Mercer Kitchen was a thrill, as always.  Audrey tried sushi, I was so proud of her.

Saturday we slept in until 8 am, what a thrill that was.  By the way, Kara found our hotel the Affinia Manhattan was outstanding.  Saturday we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and had lunch at a Peruvian restaurant called Pio Pio in Hell's Kitchen that my high school youth minister met Jackie and I at a few years ago.  It was really good and I was proud of Chloe, Audrey, Stella and Emmy for all trying food outside their comfort zone.

Matilda, Matilda.  Thank you to Mary Margaret Meyer, who originally was to come with us, said it was the play to see and boy, was she right.  It was in the quaint Schubert Theater on Broadway.  I've never been in a theater that small but it was a real treat.  We loved the actors and music.  It really was the best play I've ever seen.  We walked to Times Square and Toys R Us then headed for bed.

It was a great birthday trip with Kara and Tara, two humans I'd travel with anywhere, anytime.  It's nice when people you travel with are on the same page.  The girls all did great too.