HELLO NEW YORK!

Drew and I have been watching the TV series 'Heroes' and in it there is a Japanese man who can teleport. He finally gets himself to go to New York and raises his hands and yells "HEELLOO New York" in the middle of Times Square. So Drew acted it out and we were joking about it all week. :)

We were so blessed to have connections with a couple in Jersey to stay with two of the nights we were in the city. The have a townhouse on the Hudson, and our bedroom window looked out across the river to the city. Breathtaking.

We had such a blast this week and had many memorable occasions. :) There are tons of people trying to sell you stuff, tell you about discounts and get you to help feed the homeless. One guy was talking behind a 'herd' of us on a crosswalk saying "Excuse me, what are you doing on this wonderful afternoon. . . . besides . . ignoring the black guy?" I admit, I did feel bad ignoring them, so I would politely shake my head or say no thanks. I know I know, I would never survive there long term. I'm such a small town girl, but I loved it!

We definitely screamed tourists. I thought it was written on our foreheads because ever store we would enter they would ask us where we were from... After a couple hours walking around I realized it could be that I was wearing the ONLY white coat in Manhattan. Seriously, it's all black for the new yorkers. Which makes sense, it's dirty there. :)

I learned that you don't look at people on the buses, they are too busy looking at their phones to notice, but light conversation is not on any one's to do list. Except the lady with the little boy. I think the only reason that start was because the kid was kicking us.

Nothing says cheap tourist like going in to a 'diner' taking off our coats, getting menus, looking at prices, and then heading quickly to the door before our waiter got time for us. ;) whoops.

On Tuesday we went to the Empire State Building, the zoo/Central Park, Rockefeller Center, all through Times Square, AE, FAO Schwartz, Apple, NBA store, bought the most expensive m&ms ever, and ate at Bubba Gump. We walked who knows how many blocks. It was a fantastic day!

We headed 'home' around 730 because NYC was calling for up to 10 inches of snow and we did not want to get stuck in the city with the buses closed down! We enjoyed watching the snow over the Hudson while watching some NYC movies.

Drew and I have this thing where we try to ask each other what our favorite and least favorite part of our day. We got the idea from a friend, and while we are not daily consistent with it, we try to ask randomly. This trip we ended almost every night with it. It's a fun game, you should try it. Another question is what God taught you today.

DREW:
Favorite - Empire State Building. He has not been up that high before. Looking out over the city was magnificent. 
Least - His feet HURT by the end of the day... solution? wearing 2 pairs of socks a day!

KARI:
Favorite - people watching! I kept hoping to see someone famous but it never happened. I also loved walking the streets of New York happily being married and exploring together. 
Least - worrying about snow. By the time we got 'home' we couldn't see the city because of the fog/snow. It worried me that we wouldn't we able to do some things because of it!