New York and Thanksgiving and Family (Part 3 of 3)

I am behind yet again on the blog and really need to put in this last post (of 3) from our New York trip!  This last post is the whole reason we went to New York in the first place.  As I mentioned in the first post my Mom's cousin's wife who I just call cousin Leah is a sweet sweet friend.  Someone I "talk" to often...mostly on facebook.  :)  I always love our visits.  All of my mom's family live back east and we just don't see them often enough!  Last summer Leah kept telling me, one person at a time, that so and so was going to be with them in New York for Thanksgiving!  This kept happening until I realized that most of my mom's family was going to be there and somehow I just had to get there!   

I could not wait to get off that train and see my family!  I just cried when I saw them!  It had been way too long!  It was over 5 years ago that we had all been together for an amazing reunion in Estes Park:  

http://www.gardnerkids.blogspot.com/2008/07/m-reunion-at-estes-park.html  

http://www.gardnerkids.blogspot.com/2008/07/daily-log-of-estes-park.html

The kids have grown up so much since that reunion!  It was fun to see my cousins again and get to know them so much more!  We laughed a lot!  We had tons of fun just sitting and visiting!

We spent most of our time at Doug and Leah's home or at the hotel where the rest of us stayed.  The first night in their home was so relaxing and fun!

I sure loved visiting with the Michigan Masons!  Look at those cute smiles!  They went to NYC after this reunion...and we should've taken tips from them.  They did pretty good in their 1 day there!  :)

Molly and I had to show the cousins how cool we are to have known the cup song...formally just known as the cup game...long before it became famous!  

Doing the cousin's hair is a must!  :)  I might have been missing my kids a little at this point!  I do wish my kids could've come to get to know everyone!

Ha ha!  Even little ads in the elevator reminded me of my kids...I had to take a picture of this one:

And Matt still got some work hours in!  I love this picture of him with my Grandma!

So many people cooked and helped and did so much to make Thanksgiving dinner so yummy and enjoyable.  Leah and Doug are the perfect hosts.  We even had the best gift basket waiting for us in our room!  The meal just seemed to go off without a hitch!  There was a bowl game on in the corner...tons of laughter...maybe some bets...some game playing!  It was wonderful!

My Grandma is so beautiful inside and out!  I LOVED getting to visit with her.  I needed that.  I needed to hear some of her stories and just be with her!

There were tons of pictures to be taken!  :)  Everyone seemed to be pretty good sports about it all!

First we have my mom's aunt and her cousins!  We LOVE the Mason family!  We had a blast with these guys!

My mom's family!  Proud to be a Montesi!

:)  I'm tearing up as I look through these pictures again.  I think this is why I haven't been able to blog this yet.  There are just no words to describe how incredible it was to be with my family!  We were missing Grandpa and another cousin as well as the 30 Hoopes'.  Actually 28...Matt and I were there to represent!  :) 

I absolutely loved getting to know my own cousins more and doing the rubber band looms or listening to some fiddle!  They are the best kids ever! 

My Aunt Sue and Leah!  I love these two ladies sooooo much!!  I sure wish we all lived closer!  It was way too hard to say good-bye to these two. 

The sisters!  :)

The whole crew on Thanksgiving Day!

Friday was another relaxing day at the hotel.  Some went shopping.  Matt and I shopped online a little bit to try to catch some Black Friday deals.   We all went out to dinner and sang happy birthday to Justin! 

Uncle Dennis stopped by to see his boys and everyone else!  It was fun to see him!

 

I can't quite remember when these pictures were taken!  I was thinking it was saying good-bye the night before we left, but the sun is still shining! Either way...I'm glad I got these pictures with my Aunt and Uncle and cousin!  :)  They have the most amazing families!   

We left early early Saturday morning to get home!  Leaving New York was hard.  I do hope we will get to see the Montesi's and Mason's sooner than later!   Luckily they are big skiers so hopefully they'll be out to ski the "greatest snow on earth" sometime!  As I type this I realize I haven't talked to some of them since that weekend.  I need to make some phone calls and write more letters!  I miss my Grandma!  I miss everyone...but especially the girls!  It was a perfect vacation!  And now it was coming to an end!

The flight home and drive from Denver to Cheyenne was pretty normal.  It was fun to be with Matt for a few more hours before all of the kids were back in our lives again!  :)

It was fun to see them!  They had the best time!  I was so grateful to my Mom and Matt's sister for making this trip possible for us.  And not only possible, but worry free!  We always knew the kids were in the best hands and having a blast!

The second we got back we took Kierra for the birthday present she so patiently waited for.  Her birthday was right before we left and we just couldn't get her ears pierced and then make Grandma and Aunt Danette take care of them...so we promised her that as soon as we got back we'd do it!  We went straight to the mall in Cheyenne! 

Then later we drove to stay one more night in Laramie where we took in a Cowboys game and then church with Grandma and Grandpa the next day!  It was great to be back together as a family!  It was the trip of a lifetime...but our next big vacation will definitely be with these little ones that we loved and missed so much!

Part 2 of 3 in NYC

I talk too much...and took too many pictures...thus the reason this week had to be broken up into three different posts!  But really....it was the trip of a lifetime...it has to be well-documented!  I LOVED our second day in New York.  We woke up and went straight to our uptown bus tour.  We started at Central Park and just rode around the city finding out where all the celebrities/famous people live(d).  We listened to the history.  We saw people.  My thoughts were always on the children in this city, and their way of life.  We saw many school groups walking around Central Park or at the Met and I just couldn't stop thinking about how different their upbringing was from my own or from my children.  There were no backyards or kids on bikes...however...the kids were confident and knew their way around the city...and bought hotdogs from the vendors.  They were still kids, with friends and cell phones and silly stories and laughs and giggles.  I really LOVED watching the kids!  Wish I had taken pictures...but that might have been creepy.  :)  Also wish I had taken a picture of the County 3 Wyoming license plate right in front of us once.  I was on the phone with someone and couldn't get Matt to pull his phone out in time.  But someone from Sheridan County was there in the city with us! 

The city was busy putting up bleachers for the Macy's Day parade.  And again...back to the way of life...It was crazy to me to see all of the trucks unloading into the fronts of the buildings and I could not get over all the trash...these millions of people have to have trash and it all has to be put somewhere.  I did feel like the city was a clean city, but every day there is trash pick up somewhere...thus the smell of the city.  Which wasn't a horribly gross smell...just the smell of cars and trash and millions of people.  I could never live there, but wow it was all fascinating!

 

Harlem!  Again...I loved people watching.

Our bus tour also stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral.  Beautiful building!  A couple of school groups were here as well.  We only had a few minutes here but it was pretty amazing!

We got off the tour bus at the MET where Matt probably would've liked to have spent more time, but I'm not a huge museum fan.  It was all right.  We walked around a little bit and saw the instrument exhibit that a friend recommended going to.  It was pretty cool.  Central park was beautiful!  This is one place I really wish we could've spent more time riding bikes or seeing the strawberry fields.  I bet it is so stunning in the spring or not so hot part of summer.  I guess we were just a few hours late for seeing One Direction and all of their teenage fans!  Oh well.  :)  Anyway, it had started raining a little bit as we walked through it, plus we were also on a schedule to be at the temple at a certain time so we really didn't spend a ton of time there.  Also, below is a picture of Julliard right across the street from the temple.   Probably should've walked through Julliard.  So much to have seen!

The temple was definitely one of the highlights of the trip...which is kinda funny because we could go to one of 5 temples on any given weekend and sit through a session back at home, but it is always fun to visit the temples...and this one was especially amazing....in the world, but not of the world...in fact...once inside you couldn't even hear the rest of the world!  We were in street clothes and needed to change into our Sunday clothes.  They sent us up to the third floor where the church is...and it was like walking into any building out west.  We stepped out of the elevator and could hear the guys playing ball in the gym and knew right where the bathrooms would be.  Pretty funny!  Then we went up to the 4th floor where the temple is.  It was wonderful to be in a smaller session and visit with the missionaries there.  They let us walk around a little bit and look at the baptistry and the artwork.  It was a perfect break from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

We stayed dressed up and went to one of the many places my friend Catherine (who used to live and perform in NYC) recommended.  We were so happy to have talked with so many people about what to do and where to eat.  One friend said they ONLY ate from the vendors off the streets.  We tried this outside of the MET and I was not impressed.  My hotdog tasted like cigarette smoke and car exhaust!  BLEH!  I prefer a nice restaurant and the fancier the better!

The picture on the right was actually from the first day when we ate at Carmines.  The pictures on the left are from the best restaurant I've ever been too.  Ocean's Grill!  It was a bit of a splurge but we got there during lunch prices which was a bonus...and we knew we wanted to eat somewhere extra special on this day between being in the temple and being on Broadway!

I have never taken a picture of my food before...but this stuff really was so amazing!  No exaggerating
!  The best flavors!  So yummy!  No words!

And now anyone reading this can become VERY jealous!  Wicked on Broadway, in the Gershwin Theater is about as perfect as it gets!  We made sure to book these tickets right when we found out we were making this trip.  We had hoped to see another show, but there just wasn't the time.  I knew all of the music to Wicked, but had never seen the show before so I was pleasantly surprised with the whole story.  The set and the acting and the singing (even though we saw the 2nd Glinda) was incredible!  There are just no words!  It was the perfect ending to our 2nd day in NYC!  :)

The next day we had a little bit of time before we had to hop on a train to Albany.  We left our room and checked our bags with the hotel so we could walk around a little more!  The Today Show is something I've always REALLY wanted to do...but on a trip when we didn't really have to wake up early and where we were just on our own time frame, I wasn't too excited about getting up at 4am to stand in the rain for a few hours.  By the time we woke up and walked to Rockefeller Plaza, the rain was just a drizzle and we were still able to see NBC and the set of the Today Show! 

AND THEN!!  We made it on the show!  Yes!  That is us in the top left corner; my blue and green arm waving and Matt's little face in his black hood popping up in the back!  Don't blink...you might miss it!  And why did no one else know or care that they were on camera!  I'm such a tourist I guess!  That's all I needed to make my NYC trip complete!  It may sound silly, but it was fun! 

I really enjoyed walking around the plaza!  Matt LOVED the lego store and took tons of pictures which I'm sure he even sent to his brothers!  It was a relaxing morning and good to just take in all that NY is one last time!

Before heading back to our hotel we walked through Grand Central Station!  People walking fast everywhere!  Pretty fun place to be.  Penn Station was the same!  It was fun to walk down to Penn Station where we needed to catch our train and not have really realize that there is a huge city underneath the city as well! The place was insane! 

I was sad to say good-bye to NYC.  It was something I had dreamed about doing for such a long time.  I loved the energy of the big city!  We got to do everything I wanted...hopefully Matt felt the same way.  It was all perfect!  Day three in NYC ended with a beautiful train ride up the Hudson River!