New York, New York

Here we are, with those happy vacation smiles on our faces!!!

Mike and I haven't had a real vacation in a long time. Okay, I'd venture to say never. Well, at least not just the two of us. I came up with the idea of us heading to New York when I was trying to decide on the perfect Christmas gift for Mike. He's always wanted to see a taping of "A Prairie Home Companion" and last year I looked into buy him tickets, but just couldn't find a time or a place that would fit into our busy schedules. This year, I noticed there was a taping in NYC the weekend after Christmas. With a little planning and a lot of frequent flier miles, I managed to plan a GREAT getaway for just the two of us to NYC.

My sister helped with watching Shelby and Mike was thrilled with the opportunity to fulfill his Mid-Western fantasy of seeing Garrison Keillor live (it's a little goofy, but he's from Oklahoma, so what do you expect?). As we were APHC, Mike said to me, "This was the best Christmas present ever." How that warms my heart.

We stayed right in Time's Square. Good for convenience, but not so good if you don't like crowds. The view from our hotel was AWESOME, and we were literally in the middle of everything. Seriously, I can't tell you how great it all was. We had a wonderful time. I feel so blessed that we're able to get away and spend some special time together. And it's so great that we were able to make memories together and explore a place that was new to both of us. In the space of just a couple of days, we managed to pack in the following things to our visit (this isn't even a complete list, just highlights) :

• A monstrous porterhouse steak at Peter Luger (a steakhouse that's been around since 1887)
  
• Two Broadway shows ("All My Sons" and "Speed the Plow")
• A cruise around Manhattan, with an awesome view of the Statue of Liberty
• A taping of "A Prairie Home Companion"
• Rockefeller Center and its legendary Christmas tree
• St. Patrick's Cathedral
• The original Saks Fifth Ave and its holiday window display
  
• A visit to the Museum of Modern Art
• Countless yummy meals (lots of Italian and street food ... we love NYC hot dogs)
• Many subway adventures
• Central Park
  
• Mike having a celebrity geek out moment (we met Fred Armisen from "Saturday Night Live")
• A stop at The New York Times building (yes, we're newspaper people, so it was cool to us)

This was the most exhausting, yet exhilarating trip ever. We didn't stop moving at all. We were determined to see as much as we could of New York while we were there and we certainly did. Being six months pregnant and very uncomfortable did make it a little tough. I'm still paying for it now (oh the aches and pains!!!), but it was seriously worth it. Mike was like a kid in a candy shop. It was fun to watch and fun to be a part of. We even talked about how much we'd like to live in NYC one day (Melissa, do you really want to be our nanny?). So here's a slide show of just a few of the pictures we took. We took a ton! And I'll warn you now, there are lots and lots of pictures in the slide show, so we won't be offended if you don't look at them all.