some pics from our short trip to the big apple

we took a little mini-vacation last week into new york city for two days and one night.  we spent the first day at the bronx zoo (pictures forthcoming), spent the night outside the city in a hotel, and then took the train in for the second day.  above you can see shannon and the boys on the train, which was of great interest to jackson.  he couldn't wait until it went underwater, although i think he was disappointed in the end that you couldn't see that you were underwater. 

we got into penn station and did the walk north through times square.  we found these payphones along the way (who knew there were still payphones?), and used them for a photo op. 

 for those who don't know, shannon is a bit of an m&m fanatic, so this was a must-have photo. 

one of the main purposes of our trip was to go to the lego store in rockefeller center.  it was well worth it. while maybe not as large as they expected, it was still awesome, and i could have easily killed an hour in there looking at the various models that had been built.  very cool place.  this logo that caedmon is staring at is composed entirely of lego minifigures.  caedmon ended up going home with a star wars lego set, and jackson got a little statue of libery set and a lego minifigure ice cube tray.  they loved it. 

next stop was the top of the rock.  this was definitely a highlight for us, because the views were truly stunning.  part of the fascination isn't just the size and scope of the buildings and the city itself, but the diversity therein.  on our elevator to the top, we were the only americans!  we were riding with folks from france, india, australia, and more.  it is just an amazing place to stop and look around, which i tried to with my camera, as much as possible.  here is one looking south towards downtown, with the ESB prominently featured. 

 the boys were just as fascinated by the viewing devices as the city itself. 

i took about 200 pictures up there.  sometimes i just can't help myself.  it was gorgeous. 

it was windy.  and lovely.  and oh so romantic with our three children trying to climb the walls, throwing boogers off the side, and asking where we were going next.  just keeping it real. 

here is a picture from 5th avenue showing rockefeller center in the background after we had come back down. the boys were pretty amazed that we had just been to the top of that building. 

we had a great time in the city.  we had some other destinations in manhattan, and of course i need to show you pictures of the bronx zoo, but this is all i have time for today.