As promised… here’s an overview of my vacation to New York City. It was the first time my kids had ever been and they loved it! The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Wall Street, Broadway…. all amazing. My mother and cousin Lisa (yes, the infamous cousin from the Safari Drive Through Incident of ’07)
I’ll try not to bore you with all the details… but there was one freaky thing… which I’ll tell you about in a second.

First, I’ll quickly tell you a little bit about what we did. We had a great hotel, The New York Palace which was a fantastic location beside Rockefeller Center.
We took a tour that hit all the hot spots….. It’s called OnBoard Tours. We sat in a small air conditioned bus and the tour guide got out with us on each stop and showed us around. It was very kid-friendly and comfortable. I was trying to take a shot of the bus for you.. and this guy walked right in front of me shoving a hot dog in his mouth.

These are the two Broadway shows we saw: Wicked and Hairspray. Both were fantastic. I had to choose shows that were age-appropriate for my 10 and 8 year old… which is harder than you might think. You know, Wicked is coming back to Pittsburgh soon and I highly recommend it. It is one of my all-time favorite musicals … and I’ve seen a ton. Click here to get your tickets. Hairspray is wonderful, too… I’m not sure if it’s coming back here though.

We were in Battery Park looking out at the Statue of Liberty and this dude walks by. YIKES!
I HATE SNAKES! People were actually paying this guy to be able to pose with him. You’ve got to be kidding! I stayed far, far away.

But there was something that happened just before we arrived in Battery Park that was even more scary than the snakes.
First, the back-story: There was a little game my cousin, Lisa, played with my kids the whole time. Zach, as you know, loves taking pictures and videos….. and decided to do a movie starring Lisa called : Terror in NYC. This is a shot of “Terror on the Toys R Us Indoor Ferris Wheel Ride” ……

Cute, huh? She was able to make a wide variety of faces that all said “I’M TERRIFIED”.
They shot a “Terror in the Hotel Elevator”…. ‘Terror on the Tour” ….. “Terror in Times Square”…. you get the idea. It was always Lisa making a scary face and pretending something was going very wrong. Here is “Terror on the Pedi-bike ride”… which Lisa and I took for a few blocks… (this guy actually does look scary, doesn’t he? I’m kind of freaked out looking at him now)

Anyway, the game was fun and had the kids giggling….
But then …… (DUM DUM DUM) something actually happened.
We were in Chinatown having a great time walking around the few blocks that held a whole new world… when we decided to take the subway to the bottom of the island to sit and enjoy the Statue of Liberty. My mother and Lisa were big fans of taxis. But come on, they’re pretty expensive… especially when the subway goes directly where we’re going. So after much debate and proving how much money we’d save…. I finally won the argument and we headed for the subway. Since everybody was tired of walking I found the elevator that went down to the subway and we all crowded inside. We went down one level and the elevator stopped… but…. the… doors …. wouldn’t…. open.
We were actually trapped.
None of the buttons would work. We couldn’t go up or go out.
There was very little air inside the small elevator and two people inside started to freak. One of them was an 8 year old girl…. the other was, well, let’s just say…. there was no acting necessary when Lisa starred in “Terror on the Subway Elevator.”
I pushed the help button.
We waited.
Finally, someone up on the street level pushed the button and we started to go back up…. and managed to escape.
Close call.
I have a feeling I’m going to be reminded of that moment for many many many years to come.
We did make it on the subway train to Battery Park… and I took a shot of Lisa….. I think this one is called “Terror in my Cousin’s Eyes.” (actually I think she had a different name for this title which I won’t write here)

When we did make it outside… and as we walked taking deep breaths and admiring the Statue of Liberty… her historic saying brought a whole new meaning.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I life my lamp beside the golden door.”
Huddled masses yearning to breathe free…. that’s us!
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