NYC: Entertainment

I know, you're sick of hearing about my trip to New York, but I don't have time to scrapbook so I have to include it all, here.

* Toys R 'unbelievably huge' Us.

Yes, that is a full size Ferris Wheel IN the 3-story store. They say everything is bigger in Texas, but after this, I beg to differ.

* This place is a kids' paradise. Though the pictures are small, these are all life-size depictions of the characters.

* The Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building are on a much smaller scale, but still big. See that Barbie house? Yeah, you can go in it, and it's a 2-story building. It's completely full of Barbie stuff. I probably should have gone in it, but there was so much more to see. The escalator is the one in the store, there's not one in the Barbie house.

* They had a little corner with Wonka treats, across from the Ferris Wheel line was the ice cream shop, and on the top floor was a big 'ole Candy Land.

* The M&M store was 3-stories, too. It was pretty creative. They even had a spot where you could stand and a computer would tell you what color M&M you are. The line was way too long for us to wait.
* In my attempt to take a picture of the escalator in the M&M store, I dropped a plastic package of M&M's and they went EVERYWHERE. The floors are concrete. I was a little embarrassed and felt a little foolish. Especially after I saw the completely disgusted looks from the workers. Which, by the way, I didn't understand because all they did was call for maintenance to come clean it up. And I don't even remember why I thought that escalator was cool.

* See the people dancing behind me? We went to a tasty restaurant whose waiters/waitresses are aspiring Broadway actors/actresses. They are working here while waiting to get their "big break" and keeping up on their talent by singing and dancing for us. It was fun, and really good food.
* The Hershey's store was disappointingly small. One level and tiny. But cool, nonetheless.
* We also ate at Hard Rock Cafe at Times Square. That is a picture of my LA Lasagna I ate half of. It was really good, though.
* Of course we went to a few shows on Broadway. Mary Poppins and The Lion King. Mary Poppins was fun, especially because of my LOVE for the movie. But, The Lion King...that was AWESOME! The costumes make the show amazing.
* At the intermission of The Lion King, I decided to take a potty break. And, just like we've all experienced before, the line for the women's restroom was long. There was no line for the men's restroom. They had attendants at the restrooms who were asking if anybody couldn't hold it, or were disabled or pregnant! They must not get many pregnant women in NY because I've NEVER been offered to go first here at home because of my "condition". Which, apparently is close to being disabled. I was asked like 3 different times and practically forced to go ahead of all these women and kids. I turned them down every time because I didn't have to go that badly. Even when I finally got to the restroom, the lady in the restroom asked me why I didn't go first. I've never reassured so many strangers that I really could wait!
* Also, did you know that you can eat food in a Broadway show? They even sell snacks. I don't recommend eating dinner during the show, which I swear the people in front of us did during Mary Poppins. There's a difference between snacking and eating snacks for dinner.

* This is the 168th street stop. It was creepy. Mainly because we had to go down in the subway two flights of stairs, then the only option was to take an elevator down more to get to this stop. I didn't enjoy being that far underground. It was dark and dirty, yet full of history and character. It was cool to see such an old subway but I'm glad we only went down there twice.
* Notice the "heavy" tag on my luggage? Funny thing about that is, on the way back I had more stuff and it wasn't marked "heavy". Guess I'm a better packer than Jaron!
* Nancy and a coach waiting for our bus when we arrived, which drove right past us.

* The two top pictures are of the 168th street stop. The lights look original to the subway stop, just like the tile sign. Notice the "Up Town Trains" sign? It's made of tile work, too. Look in the top right corner and you'll see a glimpse of the new signs. They've left the old signs, but have added new signs in more noticeable places.
* How did I get a picture of an empty subway car? First, it was a Sunday. The trains run less, and there are less people out over all. And second, we were on our way to the Statue of Liberty. You ride the subway all the way to the end. Yep, for all the ins, outs, ups, and downs, there is a point where it ends. We weren't the only ones on the train until the end, there was another mother/daughter couple headed to the Statue of Liberty, too.

* The Armory Track is where the meet was held. The building was very old and, as you can see, had some interesting architecture.
* That's me running the New York Marathon while six months pregnant! You step on it and you hear people cheering for you. I'm awesome!

* Ground Zero. The first picture is the new building under construction. The second picture is what the building will look like when finished. In the corner is the whole site under construction. It was very hard to get this picture because there is only about a 2ft. x 2ft. opening to take a picture. There will be two square water falls, falling into the ground, where the twin towers stood. The building stands at the top of these two water falls.
* The red truck was parked right at the corner of the site. And the poor pigeons. All they have to eat is cigarette butts. That was to show you how dirty it is.

* I found this on a booth next to the site. Click on it for a bigger picture. It's the timeline of events that life-altering day. It felt very surreal to actually be there. Looking at the pictures, and remembering was... an experience, an opportunity.