New York

Hello from New York City!

I guess I'll give the play by play of the day. So last night, SNOD slept over at Corey's parents house. Corey, WALP and I all came back home. I woke up dark and early to take Wes to early morning seminary, and then we all got ready to go to the airport. We went back to Corey's parents to drop off Peter with them and then Wayne took us (CTAL) to the airport. Corey planned for us to take a little trip to NYC mostly just for fun. He said we're taking Abi and Lily "cause we don't know which one of them is going to go to Julliard..." ha. And cause they are the kids next in line for experiences. True, Wes is next in line for graduation and launching off into life, but he's had enough travelling fun (Guatemala, lots of traveling with LBB back pre-covid, plus right now he's using up all his kid expenses allowance from us on hockey equipment, fees, and skate sharpening. So this trip was for Abi and Lily. 

We had a direct flight on Delta. Left SLC at 9:25 am.

After a four and a half hour flight, we were cutting it close to get to the temple for our 6 o'clock appointment. Corey got a Lyft to pick us up, and we met a nice driver from Shanghai, China. He and Corey enjoyed talking via a translation app. We went straight to the Manhattan Temple. I had called them on our way to let them know we might be a bit late to participate in baptisms. It was great to be in the temple together! I can't remember if I've gone to do baptisms with the kids before. 

It really was so quiet in there! You don't really notice in on the way in, but when we came out, all of a sudden we noticed all the honking and sirens that we hadn't heard at all around the corner in the dressing rooms and baptismal font. 

Coming out of the temple. 

When I called the temple to tell them we were running late, I also told them that we were coming straight from the airport and hadn't had time to change into nice clothes, and they said it was no problem, they'd take care of us. They had us put our luggage in a closet outside of the temple doors and told us not to worry about changing, it was ok to come in with the clothes we were wearing. So Abi and Lily changed into white jump suits for baptisms, and Corey did, too, to baptize them, but for me as a witness and when we all did the confirmations, we were just in our street clothes. "It's no problem at all! We're just so glad that you're here!" Next time we'll change in the bathroom at the airport before we get an Uber/Lyft, but for this time, we were glad that it was ok. After the temple, we went for a walk along the streets of Manhattan. 

I felt like we were back in Santiago! Heading to the subway - 

I brought along enough snacks to keep us alive. 

Up from the subway and a short walk and we were at our hotel on 54th street - the Hilton Garden Inn. After dropping off our stuff in our room (10th floor, room 1005) we went on a little walk to find food. We ended up stopping at a little restaurant called Angelo Bellini. The bread rolls were very good, and we ordered an appetizer of calamari. Abi and Lily toasting each other and saying "To Thanksgiving!" in an English accent, trying to sound like they're dining at Hogwarts or something. "A toast, to Thanksgiving!" was something Lily said years ago at Thanksgiving dinner and I really thought I had a video of it on that link, but I guess I never uploaded it, I'll have to try and find it. Anyway, it has become sort of a family joke and is really funny.

When the calamari came, we told them they had to try it before we told them what it was. Then we told them they had to guess. Eventually they got it, and they were a little grossed out, but they ate it all. Good job girls. For dinner we enjoyed a marinara  pizza with pepperoni and olives, and a Greek Salad. Good stuff. 

Our nice waitress was from Turkey and she took our picture, but I'll have to get that from Corey later. After dinner, we went on a walk down to Times Square. Lots of bright lights! Lily was tired of walking, and Abi was too, so we took a bike ride back. Corey asked how much it was, but didn't hear what he said, but also thought "Well, how much could it be? Let's help this young entrepreneur out..." and he said ok. 

Our rider took a photo for us and then off we went. It was a fun little ride, and he had a speaker playing fun New York songs. He would do little swoops across the street and fast twists and turns, and Corey was like "This guy really likes biking!" After a nice little ride, we got off, and that was when I saw the price in front of our shins... "$6.99 a minute" ...ooooh no. Darn it, that was atleast a 10 minute ride... Turns out it was actually 15. I'll let you do the math. Corey said "What?! Really?!" And then he paid him. Coming into the hotel... "Turns out he doesn't like biking, he was just glad he finally got a couple of suckers to take him up on a ride!" Abi and Lily felt bad, and we told them that there will be no more sympathy for tired legs from here on out, and that they better buckle up for walking tomorrow. And now it will be nice to go to bed.