Easter Egg Hunt and meeting The Easter Bunny

This weekend our neighborhood did an Easter Egg Hunt. And can you believe it? The Easter Bunny actually showed up to celebrate the party with us. It was fun to search for hidden eggs and prizes and then to snap a photo with The Bunny Himself. The only thing strange about the bunny was how tall he was? I never knew that he was actually 6 feet tall! This bunny was out of his comfort zone for sure. =)

P.S. If you couldn't guess, that was Mike underneath that bunny costume! He was just too funny and did a great job acting the part of the Easter Bunny.

We Love New York City!!!

We Love New York City! This is quite simply one of the greatest cities on the planet. If you haven't been there, then you MUST plan a trip in the future and go.

There are so many amazing things to see and do. It's an eye opening new culture, especially compared to Gilbert. =)

Thank you to Rob and Emily for letting us come and crash at your apartment, again! We had the best time with you guys. And getting to be there with you and hear your Baby Announcement in Person was one of the highlights of our trip! Congratulations! We're so thrilled to welcome the 24th cousin into the family. And "We'll always have Maui..."

And thank you to Janelle and Eric, Chad and Jlynn, Mom and Dad, and Chris for helping to take care of our little ones while we were gone. We knew they were in the best possible hands! We couldn't have enjoyed this experience without you.

Until our next NYC trip (hopefully Spring 2012...) it can't come too soon!

The Met Museum

What do you do on a rainy day in NYC? You head to The Met! I love this art museum. The architecture of the building alone is so impressive. That's even before all of the art that's housed here!

Ashlyn loved the Modern Photography Exhibit. She found this cool picture that reflected purple onto your clothes when you looked at it. So when you look at yourself through the painting, your white clothes turn purple. It was neat.

In front of the Temple of Dendur

Entering the wing that houses the Temple of Dendur. This is my favorite room in the entire museum.

Weather

So did you hear that the East Coast had some weather last weekend???

Well, it was wild and crazy stuff. However, we were very fortunate regarding this storm. We flew into NYC before the storm hit, and we flew out after the storm was over. I have heard some nightmare stories about flights being cancelled, planes having to circle JFK for 2 hours because of wind, etc. We were hit with some serious rain on Saturday and Sunday, but a little rain never hurts anything. It just makes things a bit "soggy." ha ha

Our trip motto was this: "You can't change the weather. You can only change your attitude and reaction about the weather." So when anyone was getting upset about the weather, someone would say that and on we went.

It's still so fabulous in NYC that there is so much to do, rain or shine. We can now say: "We survived the rainstorm of March 2010!" ha ha

The weather report that night was stating where flooding was and over 500,000 people without power. Thankfully we weren't affected by that.

Walking home from the subway to Rob's apartment. They live right on the East River and there is some serious wind going on there. So the wind and rainstorm were turning our umbrellas inside out.

I love this picture! We were having such a fun time despite the weather.

Headed to lunch in Chelsea, braving the crazy rain. It started raining that morning and did not stop at all, all day long. It didn't even let up at all.

Rob and Em huddled under an umbrella on the way to lunch

Greenwich Village-Washington Square Park

We saw the memorial dedicated to George Washington in Washington Square Park. This is a central hub and meeting place for NYU Students and a gathering place for many. In the summer time, they have exhibitions and all sorts of entertainment. It was raining on the day we were there, so there wasn't anyone there besides other die hard tourists going and seeing the sights. It's a really pretty area. And one of the scenes from When Harry Met Sally were filmed there.

The Arch

The Central Fountain: I was told that this was the fountain that was the inspiration for the opening scene of Friends, but I'm not sure how true that is.

Brownstone condo apartments surrounding the park. These are old antique beautiful buildings! The architecture is amazing.

Random scenes

In a cool chair at the restaurant Room Service.

In true pre-teen fashion, Ashlyn couldn't for more than a few days without talking with her friends. Aunt Emily let Ashlyn use her computer to email her friends back at home.

Grand Central Station Terminal

Mike and Ashlyn were wiped out and took a little break while visiting St. Paul's church across the street from the World Trade Center Site

Ashlyn "hopped" in a NYC cab at South Street Seaport

Mike ran into a friend from high school, Sterling Peterson. We were in the subway tunnels of all places. Such a random thing! It was fun seeing Sterling.

Ashlyn posing with Miss Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

We went down to South Street Seaport for fish and chips and to catch these really great views of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was too wet to walk across, so we passed on that experience.

And we ate and ate and ate...

One of our most favorite things to do in NYC is EAT! And you walk everywhere, so you work up an appetite and then you can pig out at lunch and dinner. And the food is so good there, I'm not sure what it is. Everything is awesome!

At Stardust Diner, indulging in this huge dessert.

Rob and Emily taking a stab at this huge banana split.

We met up with Randy and his friend Stacy for dinner at the Stardust Diner in Times Square.

Ashlyn indulging on Nachos

Brett, Mike and Randy at Room Service in Chelsea, which serves Thai Food. This was our first time having it and it was really good.

Me, Mike, Ash, Rob, Emily, Brett and Randy at Room Service

Emily and Rob

Rob and Mike choosing desserts at Ferrara Bakery in Little Italy

How do you even choose???

With Rob and Em and Lomardi's Pizza in Little Italy.

Ashlyn wasn't a fan of fish and chips at South Street Seaport Village, so she opted for Subway.

We love Juniors in Times Square!

Ashlyn is indulging on this huge Juniors hot dog.

Wicked on Broadway

We had the wonderful privilege of seeing Wicked on Broadway. This is the 3rd time I have seen it and Ashlyn's first time. It was so fantastic and the best I have seen it. Our friend, Brett helped us get some great seats. Thanks Brett!!! It was one of the highlights of our trip.

This prop was in the pre-opening of the show in LA, but then they decided to write it out of the script and it was no longer needed. It sits in the lobby of the Gershwin Theater.

In front of the stage after the show

This prop display is in the lobby of the theater.