Spring Break 2019--NYC

With my unexpected puppy troubles, I was sooo grateful to my husband and son, Ethan, to keep watch on my ringworm pups while I traveled with Max, Tatum, and the AYT gang back to NYC for 6 days.  It was a fast and furious 6 days for sure and we crammed in everything we could!

We saw 5 shows, the AYT kids attended dance classes, Broadway workshops, AND pulled off two great performances.  And we definitely hit the perfect weather jackpot!  Seriously NEVER expected the weather to be as good as it was for NYC in March!  It was AWESOME!!!

Day 1/2:  Red-eye flight from Phoenix to NYC.  I took a Benadryl so I actually slept!!! We arrived into JFK airport at 8 am eastern time and jumped in a bus to head into the city.

Ryley, Sarah, Max, & Bruce

On the bus!

We got into the city and dropped our bags off at our hotel and since we couldn't get into our hotel rooms for several hours, we hit the streets!  We headed over to Rockefeller Center.

9/11 Memorial:

Ghostbusters Firehouse!!!

And then when everyone else was exhausted at the end of the day, Tatum and I headed out for a night on the town!  Pretzel and cokes from a street vendor and then rush tickets for "A Play That Goes Wrong."  HOLY COW!  I cannot even express how much I LOVE THIS DANG SHOW!  I laughed all my make-up off and my face hurt!  SOOO FUNNY!  

Gelato at Midnight...ALWAYS a good idea:)

Day #3:  Dance classes for the AYT kiddos/Performance at Trump Tower/Central Park, Frozen on Broadway/and Top of the Rock!!!

On the Subway!

DANCE CLASS!

Max starring in "Kinky Boots"
Haha!  Funny kid:)

Trump Tower Performance:

Central Park:

DON'T EAT THE SNOW MAX!!!

The "Friends" pose:)

The Moms are cool too!!!

Night at the Museum!!!
(no time to go in)

Frozen on Broadway:  INCREDIBLE show!  Unbelievable talent!  Most amazing quick change I have ever seen!  The part when Else is sining "Let it Go" her dress literally gets sucked into the stage in an instant!  MAGIC!  It's what we were all talking about at intermission!

Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center:

Day #4:  Performance at the Intrepid/Greenwich Village/King Kong on Broadway!

Tatum and I had a little time to ourselves today so we had to hit TGIFridays for lunch!  We used to eat at this restaurant all the time when they were still in AZ.  Tatum was super excited to get her favorite chicken fingers while in NYC!

Intrepid Museum:

Tatum and I headed over to the museum early to make sure the venue would be all set up for the AYT performance later.  Seriously the most PERFECT weather day for an outside performance!  The sun was shining and it was unseasonably warm.  It was actually very pleasant to be outside.  But Tatum and I took advantage of the alone time and toured the museum before everyone else arrived.  We even did the flight simulator--which we STUNK at!!!  We literally died like 6 times in 4 minutes.  We were upside down for the entire first minute of our flight--we will NOT be pursuing pilot licenses:)

Performance at the Intrepid:

Greenwich Village:

Tatum and I took another opportunity to sneak away from the group to go and visit Greenwich Village.  We ate at a super fun/trendy restaurant, got a pastry from Roccos, and a smoothie before heading back to watch our show for the night.  Tatum was a subway master!  She seriously got us off the wrong subway and onto the correct one to get us back to Times Square:) .  Nice going mom!

We found the street Dr. Strange lives on!!!

King Kong on Broadway:  I'll admit that I was initially NOT thrilled to be seeing this show.  I definitely questioned my husband's plans on us seeing this show but I was WRONG!!!  HOLY MOLY INCREDIBLE!!!  Talk about broadway magic happening before our very eyes.  This puppet was AMAZING and how they operated it was pure genius.  

Day #5:  Mean Girls Broadway Workshop/Mean Girls/Shopping in Times Square/Dinner at Buca di Beppos /Anastatia on Broadway

Mean Girls Workshop:  The AYT kids had the incredible opportunity to work with a real broadway performer from Mean Girls.  His name was Iain Young and he was FABULOUS!  They first worked with an accompanist to learn the music and then learned the actual dance from Iain.  What was even better was that Iain is a "Swing" in the play.  He has to be ready to play any 1 of 8 different characters for any given show.  And the kids were then able to watch Iain perform as one of the "Mathletes" in the matinee show of Mean Girls.  Knowing this, these kids really paid attention to the ensemble performers--everyone usually just watches the leads.  But these guys were now looking for Iain and realizing what an incredibly HARD job this guy has.  Such a valuable learning experience for sure!

Mean Girls on Broadway:  LOVED this show too!

Shopping in Times Square:

Dress made out of Twizzlers!

Dinner at Buca di Beppos/Planet Hollywood:

Anastasia on Broadway:  Each show we saw was so incredibly different from each other--from very modern to very classic.  Anastasia was definitely more classical.  Incredible show with the most amazing costumes.  LOVED IT!

Day #6:  Battery Park/Staten Island Ferry/Lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner

We packed in as much as we could and spent our last day taking the Staten Island Ferry and enjoying a super fun lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner.

So we headed home thoroughly exhausted but totally happy with this amazing trip.  I was so glad to have been a part of it.  Such a great group of people to spend the week with.  HAD A BLAST and hope to do it again!

Funny story:  I was the only non-drinker on this trip so if I wanted to hang out with the "grown-ups" I would have to join them at the bars.  So here I am with my Jamba Juice hanging out with the other moms:)