The Hammer Family: November 2010

While We Were Away...

OH MY GOODNESS, did I miss this handsome little man last week!!! Longest I've been away from him! He had a ball staying with Grana & Pops part of the week, and DeeDee & Pete the other half of the week.

What Grady learned to do while we were gone....

NYC!

Last week Josh and I took a trip that I have wanted to take for a very long time! We spent the week of Thanksgiving in New York! This was my 5th trip to the Big Apple, but it was Josh's first. I had been trying to talk him into going for the past 5 years. Finally he consented and off we went. We had a blast! Josh loved it as much as I did. Though I've been before, it was a whole new experience for me to see New York at Christmas time. The tree at Rockefeller, the lights and the store windows, and of course, the PARADE!

Probably the highlight of the trip for me was getting to see the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular show at Radio City. OH MY GOSH! It was so incredible! We also went to see The Lion King...and it was magnificent! Best show I've ever seen period! I cried as soon as the first song started... (OK, so if you can't tell, we had a ball!)

Here are some pictures...

Times Square

view of the skyline from Fulton Landing
(hmmm...one of my favorite views...appropriate name maybe????)

and of course we had to have ice cream at the best ice cream place in the world... it's just something about eating that icecream under the Brooklyn Bridge!

My first time to visit the Top of the Rock... I'd always gone to the Empire State Building. In my opinion, Top of the Rock was 10 times better! It was also my first time to go at night. Completely amazing to see all of this around you. It makes me feel so small.

Something Josh and I hoped to do was walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather at the beginning of the week was AWESOME! Completely unusual for late November in NY. So we were able to do it. SO NEAT!

Central Park...
this view always reminds me of Home Alone 2... It has come on tv twice since I've been home and I've watched it twice. ha!

And the tree at Rockefeller Center. I just had chills! Yes, it wasn't lit yet, but just seeing it in person was so great to me! I am such a kid at Christmas time!

The Parade!!!

I decided that this event deserved a post all of its own. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been something that I have wanted to see in person for my entire LIFE. We grew up watching the whole thing every Thanksgiving morning at my house when I was a kid... well, not just a kid... every year since birth! I guess this was kind of the big "finale" of our trip. Josh and I were both like little kids, just in awe of it all. It was truly amazing and larger than life! We took over 100 pictures...but don't worry...I didn't include them all in this post. Just a few to show you a glimpse of what we enjoyed on Thanksgiving morning.

Though the weather had been really nice at the beginning of the week, it was rather CHILLY on Thanksgiving morning! We left our hotel at around 6:00. We had gotten advice to try to see the parade near the point that it begins...closer to Central Park than Macy's. We ended up having an AWESOME spot to see it all...right at the corner of 7th Ave. and Central Park South. We were right on a corner, so we could see all the balloons as they turned the corner. We arrived at our "great spot" along with the other 3 million people 2 hours prior to the parade. So by the time it began, we were pretty cold! But when it started finally, the excitement made us forget the chill!

Okay, enough rambling...here are some pictures!