New York City - Day 1 (4/2/08)

Well, we flew out of Portland at midnight on Monday, March 31st - or I guess it was technically Tuesday morning, April 1. We were hoping we could sleep on the plane, but no such luck for either of us. We got into NYC - JFK airport about 9am. By the time we got our luggage and found the air tram and got on the subway (the local -- since we had no idea about travel time difference between that and the express), we got to Dana & Ryan's about 11:00 - 11:30ish. We stopped and looked at the World Trade Center Memorial on the way to their apartment. They live on the 14th floor of a beautiful hotel a block or so a way from Ground Zero. We stayed and chatted with Dana for a while, ate some yummy tuna & onion sandwiches (we never had onions with tuna before, but it was quite delicious) and then off to the temple. We were going to do a regular session, but when we "checked in", they asked us if we would help with sealings since there was a group of missionaries there that were doing them, but they needed someone to be the parents. Everyone in the temple was so nice telling us all about NYC, since they knew we were visitors. We did sealings, but we kind of cut them short a little - thanks to me getting dizzy. I don't know if it was lack of sleep or what, but I almost blacked out as we were doing them. Luckily, by then we had finished with all the missionaries and they had left the room - so I didn't embarrass myself in front of everyone. Anyways, after the temple we walked around New York City for the first time. This is what we saw that afternoon: Central Park, Times Square, Lincoln Center, Little Italy, and China Town. We ate dinner at a delicious Italian Restaurant in Little Italy - called Amici II. It was very authentic & delicious, we highly recommend it to all who travel to New York if you want good Italian food. Then we walked home from Little Italy to Ryan & Dana's place. The weather was nice - in the 60's so we really didn't even need jackets that day. That night we visited with Ryan & Dana and then hit the hay. A Big Thanks to Ryan & Dana for letting us stay at their home - "Hotel Broderick". We appreciate their hospitality. Thanks to Audrey & Mia for giving up their bedroom and comfortable bed :) & A big Thanks to Mom for flying up and watching our kids so we could even make this trip. Thank you, Thank you!!