New York, New York

If there were a crowning prize for our trek across the country, it was the thrill of New York City. I wished that I didn't have to sleep, that I could just walk through the streets taking in the grandeur of Broadway alongside the charm of street vendors (selling roasted chestnuts, no less!).

   

The kids relax at the Empire Hotel, which sits within an apple's throw of Lincoln Center. The shower door there, in all its artsiness, only had glass on one half of the shower's length. While I try to appreciate modern art, that was just going a little too far (or not far enough?). 

This is the highest point that you can climb up the Statue of Liberty now--we're at the top of the pedestal. Eight years ago, when you could climb to the crown, you would have been able to see far enough to appreciate that the Earth is curved. You would have also been able to see the World Trade Center in the area just behind Eric, in lower Manhattan.

Eric and I went out for sushi with my BYU roommate Leah and her brand-new husband, Yancy. Leah works in PR, serves in the LDS Manhattan temple, and rides the subway anywhere she wants without a map. She's basically coolness, defined. Oh, and also, she used to blast Cats from her dorm room and jump on furniture with clawed hands.  

I have never attracted so much attention as I did when walking with my three boys in Central Park. Inevitably, strangers would approach me, count the children, ask if they were all mine. "So much work, so much work," one woman told me. "They're so much joy!" I responded. Stone-faced, she walked away muttering, "so much work, so much work." I wonder what she would have made of my mother?

Here we are at this year's beauty of a Norway Spruce at Rockefeller Center. We also enjoyed the amazing Rockettes at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, where we could not keep our eyes from the stage. Even baby Michael clapped enthusiastically along with the audience. After a trip to FAO Schwarz, the trip was a wrap. Not bad for 36 hours in the city. And what a city!  In Jacob's words, "I love New York. It's close to the Arctic and has millions of taxis."