When Your Feet Don't Touch the Ground

Today was a fabulous day in the city.  I'm so grateful that we were able to take this trip together!  We decided at the end of last year that we were going to take a year off from New York, which is really hard for us.  When I found out I had to work here, we were so excited that we booked our trip immediately!  Unfortunately, my work plans changed and we were very nervous that we weren't going to be able to take the trip and we were going to have to walk away from the money we had already invested in the trip.  We said a lot of prayers and here we are!  We had the best day today.

We woke up this morning and got omelets for breakfast.  We love breakfast in New York - it's our favorite meal, besides pizza of course.  We came out of the deli and there was a very light rain so we went into a convenience store and purchased 2 umbrellas for $10.  That was easily the best $10 we spent on this entire trip.  Within 5 minutes there was a torrential thunderstorm.  It was crazy!  We walked through the rain to go to the One World Observatory where we had tickets for 9:00.

The observatory was amazing.  I feel like it is the pinnacle of rebuilding the World Trade Center.  My family visited New York in December 2001 and went to Ground Zero.  There were still flowers surrounding the rubble and the best way to describe the site was that there was a lot of rubble.  I still remember there was the bottom portion of one of the towers still standing.  It was devastating.  As I've visited throughout the years there was a giant pit, and then a construction zone for a very, very long time.  After 10 years, Eric and I watched the 9/11 Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.  I remember thinking the memorial fountains were beautiful.  There were family members of the victims reading names and I was overwhelmed with sadness.

We first visited the memorial in 2012 and I thought it was amazing.  Last year the museum opened and we visited that as well.  Both the memorial and the museum are fitting remembrances of the victims of the attack, and they are understandably very sad.  The One World Observatory tells a story of rebuilding and resilience.  There are videos of the architects and construction workers who helped build the Tower and they talked about how exciting and fun it was to build it.  The elevators were so cool.  They go super fast and they show Manhattan from when it was first settled through current times.  It was awesome to see the city being built. The elevators were worth the price of admission. At the top, they show a video with sites of the city.  In the end, the video panels open and you can see the city beneath.  I had chills.  I love New York City so much.

We walked all around the observatory to see the 360-degree views of the city.  We found most of our favorite buildings.  At one point we asked a European girl to take a photo for us.  She took the photo and then asked Eric "Would you like to kiss her?"  Turns out he did.  I didn't mind. The observatory truly exceeded expectations.  I'm sure we will visit again someday soon.

After the observatory, we headed to the game.  It was Military appreciation day so we wanted to make sure we got to our seats with plenty of time to watch the festivities.  Also, we didn't want to end up waiting in long security lines after last night, so we decided to just get to the stadium early.  It was a good choice.  We got to the stadium and went to the Team Store.  I wanted Eric to get a new hat, but he's really hard to shop for.  When we walked into the store, one of the workers asked what my name was.  I told him I was Alison and he told me that he hoped me and my family had a wonderful time at the stadium today.  I love little things like that.

Military Appreciation day was really cool.  They had Army Golden Knights parachute into the stadium to the tune of "I'm proud to be an American."  It was very patriotic, especially after spending the morning around the 9/11 Memorial and Observatory.

The game was soon underway and it was a lot of fun.  Robinson Cano got confused and thought he still played for New York and hit two home runs during the game.  I'm sure his performance will diminish back to his current capacity once he's back in Seattle and realized he made the biggest mistake of his professional career.  Brian McCann also hit a two-run home run in the middle of the game, but we went into the 9th behind 4-2.  The Yankees battled in the 9th and scored one more run, but they weren't able to pull off the win.  Regardless, we had a great afternoon at the stadium.  I kept score, which made me really happy.  Because we were late getting into the stadium yesterday, I didn't keep score, so I was thrilled to be doing it today.

After the game, we took the Subway to Times Square and got tickets for Finding Neverland.  We had a few hours before showtime so we headed over to 5th Avenue.  We walked through the Apple Store, St. Patricks Cathedral, and the American Girl Doll Store.  St. Pat's still was under construction on the inside, but the outside didn't have scaffolding!  This was the first time Eric had seen the cathedral without scaffolding.  It was very exciting.  I always love the American Girl Doll store - it takes me back to my childhood.

We got Halal Food for dinner and then headed to the theater.  Finding Neverland exceeded our expectations.  It's honestly my second favorite show I've ever seen on Broadway.  Matthew Morrison starred in the show and he was phenomenal.  The entire first act deals with finding your inner child.  I was enamored.  The show was funny and it made me want to have more fun and put the important things first in my life.  The second half discusses more complex issues and handles them beautifully and gracefully.  At one point they are talking about Tinkerbell and everyone has to start clapping to save her - everyone in the audience was clapping very loudly.  Fortunately, Tinkerbell pulled through. Unfortunately, the main character was not so lucky, and she does die. As strange as it sounds, it was beautiful.  Peter pan blows glitter on her and everything lights up, the wind picks up and she goes to the window with Peter Pan.  It was truly beautiful.  I cannot say enough good things about this show.  I was completely captivated.

We headed back to our hotel and we are ready to enjoy our last day in the city tomorrow.  We love this city!

The universe has loads of space
And the gift that it gave to the whole human race
Is that
We're all made of stars
We're all made of dreams
No matter who you are
You can do what you want
Go where you like
Be who you wanna be

- Finding Neverland