Thanksgiving in NYC, How much can you do and see in less than 4 days?

[jenseib]

Hi all! I have been slacking and this report is about Thanksgiving 2015. Yep…we are more than half way through 2016 and I am finally writing this one up. But on the positive side, this is probably about the time you are starting to think about your Holiday plans so maybe this will help you!


Let’s get this started!


The Where! New York City!


The when! Obviously, from the title you can figure that one out. It was Thanksgiving 2015. Our official dates were Nov. 24 – 29, but we were driving and with a large group and kids we decided to break up the drive each way so we were in NYC Nov. 25-28.


The Who! This was most of my family.


digitalFile1 by Jenseib, on Flickr



My sister Gail and her family, my sister Amanda, Claire and I, My Aunt Mary and Uncle Geoff and my mom…..and then my dad who decided to come just 2 days before we left. If you have read other reports you know he is now famous for this….deciding last minute to join after swearing up and down he could and/or would not come. On a side note, we are doing a family cruise in Oct. and Dad was given a cut-off date on when to decide if he was coming. He said no. Well that date has been long past and he is already regretting it. However we told him with cruises you just can’t always be added to a room last minute and a last minute add isn’t just adding his name to the hotel. It’s a huge expense that has to be paid for when/if we can add him….but time will tell on that one….anyways….you may recognize 2 extras in my family picture above. That would be my co-worker Brook and her son Henry. Brook lives in NYC so of course I had to meet up with her.


I am not going to go into all the details right now, as they will play out as I write the report, but I will give a little preplanning tidbits.


My mom told me about this trip about a year ago…I think it was in Sept when she sprung it on me. Honestly I wasn’t sure about it. I didn’t have a lot of extra money to play around with. I wasn’t super excited about driving to New York but after checking flights….eeek, yes driving was saving a lot, and I would be leaving Skip home (as I knew he would not want to come). I knew he wouldn’t care, and I was OK with it too, but I had to think it over.


Uncle Geoff had a lot of Marriott points as he goes to NYC all the time for work. He stays at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square usually. So he had booked 3 rooms there and the majority of the stay was on points and I think we just had to pay for 1 or 2 nights for one room (we split the costs). We also rented a BIG van (now known as the party van) that held 12 people. We booked hotel stays for the travel to and from since we were splitting the drive each way into 2 days. We got some of those rooms on points and some at a discounted rate through my work so it made it a little less expensive. Of course, as we started the full on planning process we added a few more things, like dinner at the American Girl store for some of us and we decided we wanted to see the Rockettes. Something Gail and I had seen as teens when we last visited NYC and we wanted to share the experience with our girls. We also ended up booking a cruise on the Circle Line which would take us by boat around NYC so we could see some of the sites and then a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park on our departure day.

The big draw though was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Geoff had been scoping out locations to watch from for months and talked to all his inside people. A few weeks before the trip, Brook contacted me and said she needed an answer ASAP, but her husband could get 3 extra people into the old Amazon building to watch the parade in the comfort of heat, restrooms and chairs. Heck ya! I told her Claire and I would be happy to join them and we had no issues leaving our family in the dust. LOL!


A few weeks before the trip, my mom was hospitalized and she was so worried she would miss out on the trip. Dad, who was not going at that point, was more worried about her not being home and I think secretly hoped she couldn’t go. She was fixed up and ready to go and even though not 100% she was pretty close to being back to normal. And then just a few days before the trip dad decided to go. Now this is hard on mom and on me. Mom now had to re-budget for 2 people to eat and do all the activities that she had budgeted for 1. Mom and I were sharing a room and now Dad was in there. Dad snores! I can’t sleep with snoring at ALL! On the occasional night when Skip snores, I either make him go to the couch or I do. I just can’t sleep with noise like that. Plus it’s another adult taking up space and bathroom time, etc. Let’s just say after this trip I vowed that I would not room with my parents again. It’s just too stressful for me and like I said…..I don’t get much sleep.


Join me as I relive the best Thanksgiving EVER!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Checking in. I can't believe that your dad joined at the last minute again. Your plans sound exciting and I am looking forward to reading along.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Checking in. I can't believe that your dad joined at the last minute again. Your plans sound exciting and I am looking forward to reading along.

Corinna

Well you know my Dad! LOL. It really was a great trip and I wish we could do it every year.

 

[jenseib]

Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015



Today was the day! We were all packed and ready to go. Claire had to miss school today (it was her schools last day before break but Gail’s girls were already on break), and Claire was more than happy to get off one day early. I think Skip dropped Claire and I off at my sister Gail’s house….but I can’t remember for sure now.

Geoff arrived with the party van and we started loading that baby up. There was 11 of us going so it was pretty darn full. I tried to pack as lightly as I could, but we were going to NYC during a cold season so we needed to have sweaters and coats and of course dressy clothing, so I think I did pretty darn good.


Claire and Alexis showcased the full van.


jen18 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Soon it was time to load up. There was some minor arguing about who was sitting where. I wanted to sit in the last row and so did Amanda. And of course all the kids did too. Then Claire wanted to sit by the window and in the end I got a middle seat but there was space between Gail and I for the path to the last row so it did give me a bit of extra room. I just worried as I have anxiety when sitting for long periods.


And we’re off!


jen17 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Well sort of. We had to stop to pick up Gail’s husband Rob from his work, which was sort of on the way. He wanted to get a few last hours of work in. Then we stopped for lunch and not everyone had the same tastes so it was actually 2 stops.


The kids had books and electronics to keep them busy. Abby fell asleep for a while. I edited pictures on my laptop, Gail did some work she needed to finish on hers.


After a few hours, Aunt Mary announced that the adults were going to play Cash Van (based on the show Cash Cab). If we got the answer right then the 3 kids each got $1. Aunt Mary had questions about NYC and we did pretty good between all of us (except Geoff who was not allowed to play as he knew all the answers). The kids made out well with about $25 each for spending. It was such a clever idea. We all learned something, it got us excited for the trip, and of course the kids loved that they got money.


I no longer remember where we stayed that first night, but it was dark when we arrived. I think it was a Fairfield Inn and only a few hours from NYC. We unloaded everything as Mary and Geoff were worried that things would be stolen if we left them in the van. The kids wanted to swim, so Rob took them to the pool while the rest of us went to a restaurant that was just across the parking lot. The food was good, but I don’t remember what I got. I brought back chicken tenders for Claire and Gail brought back food for her girls. Rob then went over by himself for some alone time and a bite to eat. LOL.


Of course it is exciting when you are at a hotel with several family members and the kids were all excited but we finally got them settled down and we all went to sleep.

Day 1 was not the most exciting but we knew in a few short hours tomorrow we would be arriving at the Big Apple.

 

[canyoncam]

Joining in. I went to New York City from Colorado last May in a Dodge Caravan with six people driving straight through in 28 hours. May is warm so less luggage at least. Your trip looks like a breeze .

Looking forward to hearing all the fun it sounds like you had. To me it sounds like you did NYC in a bang up way. Was this Claire's first trip there? I can't recall if you've mentioned that or not.

ETA I hope your mom is doing well now and that was apparently a non serious hospital stay.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Looks like a pretty smooth travel day. I love the idea of the game.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Joining in. I went to New York City from Colorado last May in a Dodge Caravan with six people driving straight through in 28 hours. May is warm so less luggage at least. Your trip looks like a breeze .

Looking forward to hearing all the fun it sounds like you had. To me it sounds like you did NYC in a bang up way. Was this Claire's first trip there? I can't recall if you've mentioned that or not.

ETA I hope your mom is doing well now and that was apparently a non serious hospital stay.

That's a long drive, especially straight through. I have done the drive to FL straight a few times years ago but I can't do it anymore. I get to anxious.
Yes, mom is doing better. It's a problem she has had for many years and surgery took care of the major issue about 10 -15 years ago, but we found out that sometimes things can get blocked still so with the proper medications she was fixed and she was always watching her diet before, but now she is even being more careful.

Looks like a pretty smooth travel day. I love the idea of the game.

Corinna

It did go pretty well. It was boring, but we didn't kill each other.

 

[jenseib]

Day 2, Nov. 25, 2015


I never sleep well on vacation and with Dad snoring half the night I just did not get a good night’s sleep. I was up early and started walking around outside a bit and then stopped in for breakfast.


fair6 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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After a bit the rest of the family emerged and started getting breakfast. Then we started loading the party van back up and we were ready to head into New York.


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Before we knew it we were heading into the city. The was Rob’s first trip I believe and he was driving. He did a fabulous job. Seriously I would have had a heart attack driving that big van in and he did great. Aunt Mary and Geoff lived in NYC many years ago when they were first married and Aunt Mary volunteered to drive but Rob said he could do it.

We passed a few sites as we weaved to our destination and Geoff was pointing out things. We were all excited.


It wasn’t long and we had arrived at the Marriott Marquis and we tried to pull in but were not allowed to because of it being a van and extra security was going on. So we had to pull around the block to the other side and park alongside the road and unload there…and unload we did. LOL. We had so much stuff that it looked like we were moving in.

Geoff had made arrangements with someone to take the van to a parking facility and that person arrived shortly after and took the van.

We walked in and I got a quick shot of Claire.


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The actual lobby is a few floors up. The elevator is kind of neat as you punch in the floor you want on a main control and it will tell you which elevator to get in to.


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We all went to the main lobby and Geoff went to check us in. It was beautiful and decorated for Christmas.


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Abby is all ready with American Girl doll packed.


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I took pictures while we waited.


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After a bit, Geoff came back with our room keys. Our rooms were ready but we were not all in a row but we were all in the sae floor and down the same hall from each other.


Up we went on the mega fast elevators. They seriously moved fast and it plugged my ears. We headed off to our rooms and took a look around. Great view!


marriott11 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Dad already did not like New York. It was out of his comfort zone.


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This little couch turned into a bed and I made Claire sleep on that. She said it was horrible and not comfy at all.


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As we were settling in we saw window washers right out our window and we waved.


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Claire and I claimed one half of the room and Mom and Dad the other half. However, mom also claimed part of our half. She moved my suitcase and opened hers up. Um no…..we need to have some space for our stuff. LOL.


We needed to get lunch as we were all starving now. My sister Amanda has a ton of food allergies so she just can’t eat anywhere and she researched places that would accommodate her prior to coming. Bills Burger was the plan for today.

We all headed down and out to walk that way.


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Times Square has totally changed since the last time I was in NYC. Back then you could drive both ways. Now part of it is a plaza like area.


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We laughed at all the fake characters out.


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I was happy to see all the Holiday décor out. Every time I have come to NYC it was the Holiday Season but it has been 25+ years and there were many new decorations out now.


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It amazed me how many people I saw tugging suitcases around. I saw it every single day.


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We would be seeing the show here tomorrow night!


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[jenseib]

We arrived at Bills and walked inside and it was packed!!! It was going to be quite a wait so some of us went around the corner to Rockefeller Center to explore while we waited.


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The tree was having its lights strung.


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And we stopped to watch the skaters.


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This was a whole new world for our girls and they loved it.


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I told Claire to stand in front of a tree while I took her picture…and this guy ran up just as I was clicking…and I thought…what the heck.


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It was Geoff being silly.


Then I went for one with just Claire.


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We tried to get artsy and take a picture of ourselves in a bulb.


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We walked around the block and saw St. Patricks.


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Then we headed back to Bills to wait out the remainder of the time till our name was called.


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It was hard standing in there because you basically were in the way no matter where you stood.


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After a bit we were called and we got 2 tables near each other.


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Claire was starting to die from starvation.


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Abby and Alexis got some shakes and were happy campers.


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So did Claire and I…after all we are on vacation and we needed our energy for a very busy week.


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The burger was fabulous. I think we also ordered fries, but I can’t remember for sure now. Claire doesn’t do burgers so went with soup. We also didn’t want to eat too much because we all had dinner reservations in a few hours for different places.


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One thing to remember is that NYC is expensive and just a basic lunch cost quite a bit.


We discussed the evening agenda. Mom, Claire and I and Gail and her girls were all going to the American Girl Doll store and having dinner in the café there. The rest were going to a fancy steakhouse for dinner. Dad was already panicking because he wasn’t going to be eating with Mom. We told him he would be in good hands with the rest of them. Aunt Mary informed Dad that this place was pricey and it could easily run 75-100 per person. My Dads jaw dropped and it was so funny. He had never been to New York and just really has no idea the cost of things. I am betting he budgeted $100 for the whole week for himself. When he decided to come along, Mom had told him he better bring money because she had only been budgeting for herself to come. She probably should have told him exactly what he should bring. LOL. So he declared he was only having a salad tonight. Hahahaha.


We decided we should take the girls over to St. Patrick’s. We grew up Catholic and our 3 girls go to Catholic school. And even if you are not Catholic this is a great church to see. I remember going by it many years ago, but I don’t think we ever went in. Geoff told us that it had a major renovation that lasted several years.


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My memory of the church is that it was very grey. It is now more beige after they cleaned it up. It looks very nice.


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Gail’s girls lit candles in honor of our Grandma (their great grandma who died when Claire and Alexis were only 1 and 2). I asked Claire but she said she would rather watch than do it.


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We went further in then. You do have to go through a bit of security to get in and with it being close to Thanksgiving everything had high security. That being said I walked right in and totally missed there was a bag check and no one stopped me. I didn’t even realize it till I looked back and saw my sister going through bag check.


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This church is HUGE and just amazing.


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[jenseib]

Still some reno work going on.


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Claire I wanted a picture taken but Abby insisted she must be in it too. LOL.


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And a picture of the 3 girls.


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It really is a beautiful church. I myself do not attend Mass anymore. Claire does through school and my sister still attends pretty regularly. I think this would be a neat church to attend Mass in, though it is so big if you were in the back I wonder how it is. I am sure they have a sound system but I wonder what it was like back in the older days.


The next thing on the agenda was to go towards Sax 5th Ave and look at the window displays.


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They really are neat…and unique.


We started making up stories about each window and which family member was the mannequin inside. This one was Alexis as she always was wearing a bun on top of her head.


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This one was for Geoff as he makes cookies and cakes (and is going to be featured in Marth Stewarts magazine in the Fall issue.) Abby had to get in that one.


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This is us after our Thanksgiving dinner….because we always lay on the table with our fur on. LOL.


window by Jenseib, on Flickr


Then we walked back towards the tree and Rockefeller Plaza while Geoff played tour guide.


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This next picture shows where they tape the Today show. Geoff said right down there is where they have their concerts. It always looks so much bigger on TV.


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We peeked in the windows and the set is really small. It seems so much bigger as well on TV.


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We moved on and stopped for another picture.


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We went back towards the hotel. Claire and I made a quick stop in the Disney store.


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I found out later that Abby kept going up to the characters in Times Square and asking to get her picture taken and Rob was having a fit as each character wanted $5 or so each. Finally he grabbed her and said STOP IT! LOL. Some looked pretty good, but many are creepy looking.


We freshened up for our evening and Geoff said he would take Claire and I to the club level hospitality room to check it out.


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During certain times of the day they have snacks out (we did go in there another time when they did) and they have drinks. The view is fantastic in there and we just hung out for a bit to look it over and Geoff pointed out things we could see from there.


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We headed back to the room to gather our stuff and I took this beautiful picture of night falling onto NYC.


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It was then time to meet up with Gail and the girls and head to the American Girl store.


I took a picture of the elevator panal for reference but it didn’t come out very well. But it was really neat how it worked.


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Times Square is BEAUTIFUL at night. It’s almost like daylight there too because there are so many lights flashing.


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This way is where the New Year Ball falls.


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A creepy character going into a store.


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For me, everything was pretty much walkable in NYC. I can see how many take taxis or subways to certain areas, especially if you had to do it daily or were on a time restraint, but I had forgotten how close and compact the city is.


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[canyoncam]

Your dad cracks me up! Yes NYC is EXPENSIVE!!!! So cool you got to stay right downtown. It looks like you had a good first day so far. I think I've only walked by Rockefeller square once in all of my 6 or so trips. Times Square is a must because though it is the same its always different. I am like you in thinking it is really walkable most places. But on the same hand it is really spread out if you are including ALL the buroughs.

 

[jenseib]

Your dad cracks me up! Yes NYC is EXPENSIVE!!!! So cool you got to stay right downtown. It looks like you had a good first day so far. I think I've only walked by Rockefeller square once in all of my 6 or so trips. Times Square is a must because though it is the same its always different. I am like you in thinking it is really walkable most places. But on the same hand it is really spread out if you are including ALL the buroughs.

Staying at Times Square was the best. We were so close to so many different things and then there is activity going on all the time.

 

[wiscbugs]

We stayed at the Hyatt Times Square which is on the other side of Times Square from the Marriott Marquis. We loved being near Times Square...it was great! My daughter loved the Disney Store and when we were there in June all of the big screens on Times Square had ads for Finding Dory and BFG on them. We would just walk around Time Square taking in all the Finding Dory ads!!! It was so fun!!!

 

[Woth2982]

Great start so far! I used to go into NYC every year on Black Friday for a few years in a row. Always chaos, always amazing! I love NYC at Christmas time. I am always shocked at the food prices in NYC, although I know I shouldn't be! I feel like one time we went and a plate of chicken fingers at TGIFridays was $25!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the hotel and the views. Now I have something else I want to see. Times Square was already on the list, but St. Patrick looks stunning. I love the decorations. I hope they will already be in place when we visit.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Thank you for this excellent article and the in-depth insight into your journey.

Thanks for joining.

We stayed at the Hyatt Times Square which is on the other side of Times Square from the Marriott Marquis. We loved being near Times Square...it was great! My daughter loved the Disney Store and when we were there in June all of the big screens on Times Square had ads for Finding Dory and BFG on them. We would just walk around Time Square taking in all the Finding Dory ads!!! It was so fun!!!

They had adds for Mocking Jay part 2 out all over. Huge pictures of Katniss on the side of the buildings. It's totally a different world there.

Great start so far! I used to go into NYC every year on Black Friday for a few years in a row. Always chaos, always amazing! I love NYC at Christmas time. I am always shocked at the food prices in NYC, although I know I shouldn't be! I feel like one time we went and a plate of chicken fingers at TGIFridays was $25!

That price sounds about right! LOL. I actually found Black Friday shopping less chaotic than other places I have been, but we did not spend the whole day shopping either.

I love the hotel and the views. Now I have something else I want to see. Times Square was already on the list, but St. Patrick looks stunning. I love the decorations. I hope they will already be in place when we visit.

Corinna

I hope the décor is up for you too. It really is neat. I have only been to NYC during the Holiday seasons. Some day I would like to visit in the summer. My sister Amanda did travel with Mary and Geoff this past May as Geoff make cookies for a Martha Stewart/Kate Spade event and she was so happy to go. She really loved New York and wanted us all to go back again for this Thanksgiving but with us all doing a cruise in late Oct it just won't work.

 

[jenseib]

We headed inside the American Girl store and looked at the directory to guide us to the café. The store is huge and on several levels.


We checked in and they directed us to this mega long line. Wow!


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We later found out that they have seating times and we all enter at the same time. I have only been to one other AG café and that was not run the same way.


I took pictures of the décor while we waited.


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Finally they let us in and were seated. It did not seem to be ran very efficiently in my opinion.


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We had to play musical chairs as it was import to the kids who they sat by. I don’t think Alexis brought her doll as she is way too cool, but Claire and Abby both brought one.


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In fact, Alexis said she would come along for the food only, but don’t make her buy any doll stuff. LOL. I will say once she got there she was in the mood and pointed out a lot of stuff she liked.


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We told our waitress that we needed separate bills and this was evidently something that falls in the rocket science category as she just could not understand it.


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The menu was different here than when we went to the Café in Columbus but Gail has been to the Chicago store before (Several times) and she was familiar with it. It was a set price menu and you picked from a selection of entrees.


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I believe the specialty drinks were extra, but I could be wrong.



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The appetizers arrived.


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Abby doesn’t know the rule that Aunt Bop Bop (me) takes pictures of food before you are allowed to eat it. LOL.


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I don’t know what this is. It doesn’t look like one of the appetizers so maybe it came out before that? I can’t figure out when I took this. LOL.


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Now Gail is much savvier with these meals and she knew that the kids were supposed to receive a place setting for their dolls so the dolls can pretend to eat. She asked several times and Abby was getting mad. The girl kept saying she would get it and never did. We wondered if she was a new server because she seemed to be way behind everyone else and very overwhelmed with basically everything.


Our entrees arrived. I got the spaghetti and meatballs. I think Mom and Gail and possible Alexis did too. It was really good.


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Claire got pizza and I think Abby may have as well.


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And then dessert followed.


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The food was good, but the service was terrible. It took forever for the food to arrive and many people were done and had left by the time we finished. Gail is not a very patient person (nor am I but she is worse) and she was not happy with how it all went. The kids did at the end get some AG cups for their dolls to take home and a few other freebies. Our waitress just couldn’t understand separating the checks though and I think in the end we just had mom be left on mine because doing 2 checks was hard enough and doing 3 probably would have killed her.


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We shopped around the store and Abby had a lot of gift cards to use so she picked out several things. Claire got a doll and I think there was a deal if you spent so much you got a free or discounted outfit for the doll as well, so Claire picked out a Christmas outfit from the selection. It was funny as we liked this redheaded doll with green eyes and kept seeing her on display but couldn’t find her box …and we had several floors to search…Alexis was really into finding this doll. For someone who no longer thinks AG dolls are cool it was funny at all the things she was suggesting Claire to get. We did find the doll later and we left happy with our new purchases.


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We headed back via Sax 5th Ave so we could see the lights on the side of the building.


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nyc12 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Everything was so pretty all lit up now.


nyc66 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc13 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Mom and the girls.


gail11 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We separated as I think Gail wanted to go to the Lego store there so Claire and I walked around taking pictures.


St. Patrick’s is lit up as well.


nyc67 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Store windows.


nyc68 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc69 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc70 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

[jenseib]

Selfie time.


jen4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


selfie1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


selfie2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc71 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc72 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc14 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc73 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc74 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc16 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was just so fun to be in this atmosphere and Claire swore one day she would be moving to New York to live.


nyc75 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc76 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc77 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc78 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc79 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc80 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc81 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc82 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was time to start working our way back to the hotel. The weather was actually beautiful for this time of year. We had bought new coats and gloves for this trip and we were unzipping them most of the day because it was warmer than normal.


nyc83 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc84 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc85 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I was obsessed with this bulb display. Over the course of our trip I took about 5 zillion pictures here.


nyc86 by Jenseib, on Flickr


jen3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc87 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc17 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc18 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc88 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc89 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc90 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Another stop for pictures.


jen2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc19 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It is about 8 PM or so in Nov. in NYC and the temperature is 46 degrees! I’ll take that any day!


nyc91 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc92 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

[jenseib]

We had passed this on the other side earlier in the day. The other side is like a water fall feature. It was neat to see the back side of it.


nyc93 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc94 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Back to Times Square.


nyc95 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc97 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc96 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We headed back to our room and at some point Amanda texted us to come to their room ( Geoff, Mary and Amanda’s) to see the view as they had the best one of all. They could see right into Times Square. Mary, Dad, and Amanda were back via taxi from dinner and Geoff and Rob were walking back as they wanted to go near some other sites.


roomview1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Down there is where Good Morning America is filmed.


roomview2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Claire, Mom and I stayed in there and chatted. Amanda told us how when they ordered at the restaurant dad said he wanted a salad and the waitress just stood there waiting for more. LOL. Amanda said she spoke up and said, no he had a big lunch and only wants a salad and that’s it. Then she proceeded to tell us some funny stories of the evening and we were all giggling. Then we got a text of Geoff next to the Pope and we really started laughing. Geoff and Rob had gone by the wax museum and the Pope was out front. He sure did look real.


After a bit Geoff arrived back and he went off into the bathroom. We didn’t think anything of it but then Aunt Mary started telling some story about Geoff’s head being cold and we didn’t quite get why she was telling us this…and then Geoff came out.


turkeyhead1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We busted up laughing. It was so hilarious and of course we were in a silly mood already.


So then we had to go down to Gail’s room and show her.


turkeyhead2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


She found it hilarious as well.

The girls had to get a picture with their crazy uncle.


turkeyheadfamily by Jenseib, on Flickr


So after visiting in their room a bit we left as Abby was going to bed. We headed back to Geoff’s room and we got to talking about the balloons for the parade. We knew today was the day they blew them up and were in a holding area till tomorrow. We decided we wanted to go see them. Mary and Geoff had an idea of where they were but not exactly. Amanda, Geoff, Claire and I set off in a taxi and got out just a few blocks away. We still weren’t sure and I messaged Brook as I know she has gone and seen them before and she told me where she thought they were and we did find them.

It really was neat. They had 2 roads blocked off with the balloons lined up but anchored to the ground. They were so much smaller than I thought they would be.


nyc98 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc99 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc100 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We laughed because Snoopy’s nose was near the Elf on a Shelf’s rear end. LOL.


balloons2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons6 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We were right by the Museum of Natural History.


balloons5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We walked around the front of the museum and I told Claire this is where the “Night at the Museum” movie is and she knew exactly what it was then. On a future trip I would like to go inside. I did back in my teen years but I don’t remember much about it. That year my other Aunt made us go to all sorts of museums and I do remember this was the only one we liked but we did a lot of complaining that we were being dragged to museums instead of shopping.


balloons7 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons8 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was so dark there that it was impossible to get any good pictures.


balloons9 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then saw a crew moving the traffic lights so that the balloons could make it down the road. That was pretty interesting.


balloons10 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I took a little video of it.


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We found the 2nd road that had more balloons and went down it.


balloons11 by Jenseib, on Flickr


nyc20 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons12 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons13 by Jenseib, on Flickr


A news stations was broadcasting live from there so we stood in the background and waved. Not sure if we actually got on the news or not.


balloons14 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

[jenseib]

The tanks to inflate these babies.


balloons15 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons16 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons17 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons18 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons19 by Jenseib, on Flickr


balloons20 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The plan was to take the subway back after we were done. Well the subway in the area was closed. I guess because of the balloons there they didn’t want people hanging around underground. So we started walking but we now had to go to the bathroom. Geoff looked on his app for a Starbucks and we found one open. He ordered some coffee and we all waited in line for the bathroom…yes there was a line for the bathroom at 11:30 PM. Of course it was a unisex 1 stall bathroom and it was not the cleanest Starbucks I have ever seen.

Claire and I went in and she went and then flushed and went to wash her hands and her brand new mitten went partially into the toilet and she started crying. I retrieved it and rinsed it and told her it was fine as the toilet was fairly clean and had clean water as we just flushed it and I would wash it when we got home. She cried and swore she would never wear that glove again. I wrapped the thing up in paper towels and put it in my bag and gave her my gloves to wear….and luckily I am a smart mom and brought an extra set of gloves for us which was waiting back at the hotel room.

We came out and Claire had to tell Amanda of the tragedy. Amanda agreed it should be thrown away. I told her it was fine and it was in there half a second and I pulled it out then rinsed it and it was CLEAN toilet water. Claire is still sticking to her guns though and refused to wear that mitten even after we got home and I washed it twice. LOL.


We headed back out and eventually found a taxi to get back. Our feet were now hurting and we were very tired from such a long day. It took us a while to figure out how to get a taxi as the area was fenced off in so many places because of the parade but eventually we found an area and we had to duck under some fences to get there.


Back at the hotel we headed off to our rooms and got ready for bed and passed out for the night. We all had to be up early again for our big Thanksgiving Day!