New York City 2023

Travis and I had an opportunity to attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm thrilled we were able to spend our Thanksgiving in New York. I know this was back in November, but I want it to have a permeant home here.

We flew out of the Boise Airport on Tuesday night. We had a short layover in Seattle and then flew all night to New York City!

We landed, dropped our bags at the hotel and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Our view was amazing from the hotel restaurant. We were so tired but I couldn't wait to explore the city.

We couldn't get into our room for a few hours since we landed in New York at eight in the morning. After dropping our bags, we headed to explore. Travis's first subway right and he was not impressed.

We went to see ground zero. If we would have had more time, we would have loved to go into the museum but our time was so limited. The sight was a strange feeling. It was beautiful and sad. The last time I was in New York, we went to ground zero and there was a fence around it. I believe I was there in 2007, the memorial is a must see.

We walked into the Oculus building. Inside was a large shopping mall. You'd never guess it from the outside. 

When I came to New York with my mom several years ago, we went into this church so I wanted to go back. This church was untouched during the attacks. So many people searched for their loved ones that were missing. There were thousands of posters and memorials set up. This time, the church was empty.

The graveyard at the back was closed off to the public but this trip, we walked through it.

We left ground zero and headed to explore more of the city. I love these brownstones. That cream one looks perfect to me!

Our goal was to eat New York pizza everyday....it was an easy goal.

I knew that I wanted to check all things Christmas off my bucket list for this trip. Visiting the Macy's store was at the top of that list. The iconic turkey greeting everyone!

I couldn't get over all the windows decorated for Christmas.

Once inside, we walked all over the store until we found the wooden escalators. Travis was thrilled!

The inside of the store was decorated just as good as the outside!

Next up, visit Time Square!

I don't think this picture gives it any justice. It was so full of people and overstimulating. 

We walked by The Plaza Hotel. They only allow guests staying there to enter. But it was fun to see.

Finally back to the hotel and I'm not complaining about the view.

Dinner on Wednesday night was at Carmine's. If you like Italian food, it was so good!

It was in Time Square and Time Square at night was crazy!!!

Being from a small town, it was a lot to take in. 

We headed to bed early since we had to get up super early and go to......... The Macy's Day Parade!!!!

We headed to the parade at 7 am. I hardly slept the night before because I was so excited! There are millions of people on the streets of New York watching the parade.

I'll only bore you with a few pictures of balloons. I have so many!

We had incredible seats and got to see it up close and personal!

The reason we were able to experience all of this...

Sinclair!

Once the parade was over, we headed to eat. We were starving and wanted to warm up. We couldn't ask for better weather. It only got cold towards the end of the parade. Nothing a bloody mary couldn't fix!

All of the restaurants were decorated for Christmas. It was all so charming.

We spent the rest of the day in the hotel room, watching football and napping.

Sinclair hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at Manhatta. We got all dressed up...

and enjoyed this view for dinner.

So thankful to be on this trip but really missing our kids.

This was the view from the opposite side of the restaurant. A beautiful sight of the city.

Since we didn't have to get up as early, we explored more of the city.

We made our way to the financial district to see the charging bull.

And took the best subway ride of the trip...an empty car. Only for a short amount of time!

New York at Christmas is just magical.

My Grandma and I were watching Fox News and they were showing this tree, it was fun to see it in person! Thankful for kind people that offered to take our picture.

If only I had the time, money, and room in my suitcase to go inside...Anthropology is my favorite and this store was huge! I'm sure it was full of amazing things but I only window shopped.

We didn't see the Rockefeller Tree lighting but it was so big! We did go see it.

And they were cleaning the ice when we walked by but we had to check out the skating.

The best Christmas display was Saks 5th Ave. It was a light show with music.

All of the windows were beautiful.

Friday morning we went for coffee at Ralph's!

And walked to The Empire State Building. This was from 89 floors up. I felt like we were so high in the sky....

Until we went up to the 102nd floor!

I struggled to look over the edge but it was worth it! If you go, buy the fast pass to skip the lines and go to the 102nd floor!

The Empire State Building made of candy...Christmas was everywhere. 

A quick bite to eat from Nathan's hotdog cart.

Before catching the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was so windy and chilly.

A look back at the city.

We opted to stay on the ferry instead of getting off. The lines to catch the next ferry were so long and we didn't have a ton of time.

The same with Ellis Island. We stayed on the ferry. Someday, I'd love to spend more time at Ellis Island. I ordered some books that I'm excited to read. This fascinates me. 

There is a free ferry that I wish we would have taken. It goes by the Statue of Liberty but you don't have the option to get off. That would have been great for us. This cost and the security to get on it was like going to the airport. The lines were also extremely long.

My husband deserves an award, he took me to see the Friends apartment building.

It was located in the cutest area of the city. It seemed much quieter than the other areas we visited.

We also waited in line to eat at John's Pizzeria. It was worth the wait! 

This guy loves pizza and this was the best pizza he's ever had.

More Christmas decorations...

We went to see The Lion King on Broadway. It was amazing! I wasn't sure if Travis would like it but he said he enjoyed it. I can't believe how closely it followed the movie.

A friend of mine grew up in New York and she told me to eat some nuts on the street so that's just what we did on the walk back to the hotel!

We also walked past a Magnolia Bakery that I heard had the best banana pudding. We grabbed several things to try and enjoyed them all back in our hotel room.

It was amazing to see the city transform in one day to Christmas.

We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental and it was in a great location. 

Saturday we flew home but not before seeing The Radio City Rockettes. I enjoyed the show but Travis said he fell asleep seven times...I think it's worth seeing if you're in New York while they perform. 

Walking back to the hotel to get our bags before heading to the airport, we saw some more shops all decorated for Christmas.

And more pizza!

And finally headed home to see our babies! 

I've always wanted to experience the parade in person. I also love New York and wanted to experience it during Christmas. Travis was such a great sport walking around a city and seeing all the sights that I was looking forward to. We had the best four days but being away from our kids on Thanksgiving was hard.