3 DAYS!

Why is packing such a daunting task even when you are really excited to go where you're going? I usually somewhat enjoy packing but it takes me forever to get around to unpacking. When I came to New York, I had one medium sized suitcase checked, a mini suitcase and a computer bag/purse to carry on, and 3 decent sized boxes and one box a little smaller shipped to me here. My family was here last week (I'll get to that after I sufficiently do my pack-venting some justice) and they took home A LOT of my crap...my mom says it's almost a large suitcase worth of...what? I don't even know! Stupid things! My dad took home all of my shoes and high heels in his carry-on (I would have DIED laughing if it got searched! But he didn't think it was as funny as I thought...) and he took home some of my sweatshirts in his suitcase (I apparently thought it was going to be way colder than it actually was...) and my sister took home a bunch of shirts and things that I NEVER wore once while I was here...good thing I brought all of this crap with me! The problem was that I figured I'd be getting up and getting ready a lot more than I did...I usually just hung out around the house in yoga pants. Anyway, so back to my packing woes...I sent all of that stuff home with my family and so naturally I could do without one of the decent sized boxes that I shipped to myself...think again. That is where my problem lies! I am desperately trying to squish all of my things into two biggish boxes and one smallish box and my two suitcases...it is NOT working out so well. I'm doing laundry right now so that I can have ALL of my stuff ready to pack and finish tonight...we shall see what comes of it...I might just have to break down and ship the other box too...ugh! Why do I have so much crap?!

Anyway, my family left on Sunday and so I now have one week and then I'm D-O-N-E! (Well, I only have 3 days until I'm done, but at the time they left it was a week.) I think we could comfortably say that we had the best worst vacation. EVERYTHING seemed to go wrong for us! It was horrible and I felt SO bad.

Day 1 - Both flights got in on time and they were able to get all of their luggage and their rental car without problem (except for the fact that we all completely disliked the rental car...Ford Flex, even though you are made to seat 7, you should really only seat 5 because your back-back seat is worthless...) But...as they were driving toward me, Garmin led them straight into East HARLEM. Yeah...imagine people that have never been to New York before guided straight to Harlem. Perfect. They have now seen things only real New Yorkers have, I'm sure. Anyway, my boss spent about 40 minutes trying to guide my mom out of Harlem and back to the real world...and road...they were supposed to be in/on. Needless to say, an hour long journey (add some time on for middle-of-the-day-New-York-traffic) took them approximately 3 hours. We were going to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, but since I didn't know where it was, I only had directions, we decided to go somewhere that GARMIN didn't have to take us and that I knew where it was so we could avoid any confusion. My boss and the family went camping that night and so when my family and I got back we had the house all to ourselves.

Day 2 - We decided to ride the 10am bus in to the city...give my family some time to get a little acclimated before we headed out. We bought tickets for the double decker bus tours...which actually turned out to probably be our best purchase. We then walked to one of the places where the bus picks you up and took it down to Battery Park. We decided to go the Staten Island Ferry route so we didn't have to pay anything and we still got to see the statue. I hadn't done this before, but I probably should have because we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were near the back of the line so when all of the people started piling onto the ferry, there wasn't even room for us outside. Not to mention we were on the complete opposite side of the ferry that the statue was on. This was probably really stupid of me, but I was definitely thinking the ferry would be exactly like the one from "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" which wasn't crowded at all. Wrong. Anyway, we exited the ferry and instead of getting right back into the end of the line, we decided to hang out and wait so we could be in the front of a line. We went to some random "deli" that was more like a gas station grill and ordered something...they really were out of everything. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, they decided to turn off their grill that makes most of the things that any of us wanted. We sat and ate and  then decided to go and ask two rent-a-cops where the ferry was coming in and what side the statue would be on so we were prepared. They told us a door and then said it would be on the right. We were FIRST in line...except for the few people that thought they would just step around and in front of us. Anyway, then comes this announcement saying that the ferry we were standing in front of was out of order. Perfect. So we were now near the end of the line in front of the other doors. We talked to a guy that looked like he was from around there and he told us that the ferry was on the LEFT. Don't worry...he was right...which means the rent-a-cops we talked to were pretty much full of USELESS information. Anyway, we split up to find good seats...which was probably the wrong thing to do because then we didn't have enough seats/railing to fit very many people. My mom and sisters got some good pictures of the statue though. After that fiasco, we decided to ride the double decker bus to a couple other stops. The first stop we took was Rockefeller Plaza. We went to the NBC store and we pretty much went crazy. My sisters and I each got 2 shirts and my brother got 3. Evan and Melissa each got an Office bobblehead, but then when you buy two, you get a Dwight free, so I think Evan ended up with two bobbleheads. Evan got a lanyard, and he, Melissa, and I all got small tote bags. After that, we walked to the NBA store for Evan. He got a Rondo shirt and a pair of Celtics shorts. We walked back to Rockefeller Plaza and were going to take the bus to Central Park, but there was some sort of a traffic jam and since we didn't feel like walking to Central Park, we were out of luck. So we just went back to Times Square and ate dinner at Dave and Buster's. (My mom doesn't want me to tell this story, but I will anyway...) On our way to Dave and Buster's, we are just struggling through crowds of people trying to get through the people handing out pamphlets and the people just walking. I usually keep my face straight forward and don't make eye contact so people don't try to hand me pamphlets. Evan hits my arm as I walk by someone with pamphlets and he starts pointing with his mouth open. (You have to get him to demonstrate his reaction for you...it's priceless...he says he was starstruck haha!) Evan said, "That's the guy from One Tree Hill!" (Which is my favorite TV show, PS...has been since high school...I just can't let it go haha!) I turn to look and the guy kind of smiles at me over his shoulder because I'm SURE he knows what Evan told me...and so I go back a few steps to my mom and tell her and SHE turns around...as does Jessica. We are all staring at this guy and then everyone is trying to get me to go talk to him to see if it's really him. I hesitate for a bit because I hate talking to people I don't know because I usually make a fool of myself, but then I decide that it's worth it. I walk up to him and say, "Excuse me...can I ask you a question?" He said, "Yes...." but he wasn't telling me I could ask him a question, he was already answering my question. But I still said, "Are you on TV?" and he said, "Yes..." and then I said, "Are you on One Tree Hill?" and he said, "Yes..." Hahaha, it was sweet! I asked him if I could have a picture with him and he said yes and so there you have it! I loved it! He is super nice in person and really cute, too! One Tree Hill is the only thing he's been in, but I think he'll be done handing out pamphlets soon! I hope! :) His name is Paul Teal, PS :) We got back to the bus station and got on the bus and everything and then the bus driver came on and told us we couldn't share tickets out of one book (I bought a book of 40 tickets since we would be using 36 of them...) because they are rip-offs at the bus station. After 10 minutes of deliberation and conversations with the bus driver and the manager on duty, they FINALLY started to drive away back toward Tuxedo Park. When we got off, the bus driver acted as if he was doing us a huge favor and we should name a kid after him or something.

Day 3 - We decided to get an earlier jump on the day and took the 8:30am bus into the city. We held our breath as we boarded the bus, but no gripes this time. We hopped onto a double decker bus right away and headed to the Museum of Natural History. We had a way better time than we should have here...especially because my siblings and I all act as if we're 12 year old girls when we see anatomically correct animals, paintings, or statues. I think it may be more Evan's reaction to them that makes us all laugh, but I'm sure it's still the actual artifact on some level. It was quite hysterical, actually. Evan is definitely the comedian of the family! We got back on the bus and rode around to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (If you ever go to New York and to these museums, they always say,"Suggested price is..." and it's way too expensive for just walking around and looking at things, so that's when you say, "I'll pay..." We did this with both and saved about $40 per museum. We still paid most of the outlandish fee, but enough so that we could still say we saved money on them! :) We were going to walk through Central Park to the Met, but after all the time walking around in the museum, we decided we wanted to be lazy. We went to the Met and had Jess pick places she wanted to go...no way were we going to walk all the way through one of the largest museums! Jessica and my mom really liked the Met (I think...) but it wasn't really the rest of our "scene." Evan, my dad, Melissa, and I walked around decided which works of art we could recreate and WHY some of these things are art. Let me tell you...I am a HORRIBLE artist, but there were a few of these things I would definitely be able to do. There was one that looked like it was drawn on notebook paper with Crayola markers. I mean, I'm not knocking it...I just don't understand it...I just don't think I have the "artistic eye." ;) After that museum, were going to go to Central Park (again), but we were too tired (again). So we went back to where we caught the bus...where we saw one of the restaurants Evan really wanted to go to called "Shake Shack." It's probably comparable to In 'N' Out, Dicks, and Five Guys. It was pretty good...I'm not sure which place I prefer though...they're pretty close (except maybe Dicks...too much grease most of the time...and no "special sauce." Don't get me wrong though, I still love it!) We then walked around Times Square for a little while because we were waiting for the night tour on the double deckers to start. We were going to go into Toys 'R' Us, but my dad kiboshed that idea real quickly. (I don't really know how to spell that...) We went into M&M World and the Hershey's store, but both were SO CROWDED it was overwhelming...we waited for my mom to go to the bathroom for about 30 minutes because the line was so long at M&M World. Anyway, besides the bathroom fiasco, we didn't stay there very long. Melissa and Jessica DID get some M&Ms though :) Next we went to Fossil to get Jessica a watch. Jessica really loves my "Sandra Bullock watch" (I got a watch like the white one she always wears on "The Blind Side") and so she wanted to get one. My mom, while we were there, decided she loved my watch too...so Jess got one the same style as mine, only a slightly smaller face and band, and my mom got one the same size as mine, only with a blue face instead of a white one. I like both of them! :) After that was all done, we had to go and buy some souvenirs. We went to a store and tried to haggle with some guy and he was NOT having it...so we went right next door and the guy there gave us a pretty good deal because we were buying so many shirts and things. He even through in a free pen for my mom. Probably because he felt bad for her to have to put up with all of us all the time! Then we caught a night tour double decker bus...this bus takes you all around the city and through Brooklyn. It was so nice! Our tour guide was amazing! There were a lot of things I haven't seen or that I didn't know even though I've been here for 3+ months. We had a little time left before the 10:15pm bus (we figured out that there were more buses after 8:30pm...which I could have sworn there were!) so we went and all got a piece of cake from Junior's. My friend Jane and her dad introduced me to Junior's when they came to town and I spent the day with them and I am so glad they did! My family all LOVED their desserts! (Except Melissa because my boss's husband decided to help himself to her cake...which was kind of weird, but oh well haha!) When we got there, my parents were freaking out about the whole "not getting on the bus thing," so I decided to go and ask the night manager that was on duty (a different one from the day before) if my BF bus driver was driving that night. I knew he drives the 6:15pm on Sunday, but I didn't know if he came back to drive another one that night. After a drawn on explanation ("I'm not sure I'm saying his name right..." "I don't know his last name..." "He's from the Dominican Republic..." "He wears NY Yankees driving gloves...") they finally caught on and gave me a couple looks as if to say, "Oh, you WANT him, do you?!?!" and told me he WAS driving the 10:15pm bus...which was the one we were planning on driving. He let my family and I get on...no questions asked...and we chatted the entire way. When he's not asking me out, he's pretty pleasant to chat with. AND he got a job driving the Jonas Brothers tour bus starting in September (apparently...I'm STILL a tad skeptical...) as a backup driver, AND I have his number, so I'm going to see about getting some backstage passes or something. I mean, I am no JoBros fan, BUT...why wouldn't you want to go backstage and meet them if you had the chance? I just hope their opening act is good!

Day 4 - My family left for Philadelphia and was there overnight, while I just worked...dealing with tired and cranky little boys.

Day 5 - My family got in from Philly around 8pm and we ordered pizzas and hung out with the little boys. :)

Day 6 - My family went to the city on the 10am bus while I stayed behind and worked for a little while. I think the bus company NOW has it out for us, because after that bus driver saw my dad's ticket and then Evan's (the very first tickets) he said it was a no-go and made my family pay for 4 of their tickets. I outlined on a map the places they should go and subway routes they should take...but apparently they didn't follow any of it so that was no help. They went to the Empire State Building and wasted a lot of time waiting and a lot of money, but they got some good pictures, I think. They went to Grand Central Station and the Wall Street Bull. They also went to Canal Street to buy some purses. This story is probably better than mine...maybe not as sketchy because I was out in the open and NOT on Canal Street, but definitely funnier. They're standing there, looking at the shops, not really knowing what to do (even though I told them to go into one and ask for a certain brand and they'd take them into the back room) when an Asian lady spots them and says, "Handbags?" Jessica says, "Yes..." and the lady asks what kind. Jessica says, "Umm...Chanel..?" and the lady tells them to follow her. So they start following her...and following her...and following her...all the while she keeps looking back at them to make sure they're still following. Well, she starts taking them pretty far away and so they start getting restless thinking this lady is taking them into some back alley. Once they know she's not paying attention, they quickly go down a street and start walking away from her. She notices they aren't following and sprints to try and find them and she says, "Come! We're almost there!" They ask her how much further and she says just one block and that she can see the store. Apparently that was a lie, but it wasn't THAT much further than a block. When they get there, the guy tells my family that only two people can go in...yeah right. My dad is NOT letting 2 of his daughters go into that back room all alone. He barely lets us go to the bathroom in a restaurant without someone. (SLIGHT exaggeration...just slightly though!) Anyway, so the guy ends up letting all 6 of them go into the back room. I guess there was already a couple back there and so it was quite the tight squeeze! While my mom and sisters are looking at the purses, my dad talks to the other guy in there and makes a joke and the guy starts laughing and the Asian lady (or someone else, I'm not sure) was like, "STOP LAUGHING! Cops hear!" Hahahaha oh gosh! So my family gets out of there with 2 purses for me, 2 purses for Jessica, 1 purse for Melissa, and 1 purse for our cousin Aleen for $220. Through all the confusion and hysteria, my mom forgot to buy a purse for herself! :/ I met up with them almost immediately following this (they went to Hard Rock for food while I was on the bus and then I grabbed a salad from a place across the street from the theater) and we all went to Mary Poppins on Broadway. We really enjoyed it. It was really good, I thought! After the play, we went back to the bus station and headed out of the city for good (but not before we had to buy 5 tickets for the ride back home!) My boss told me that she would buy all the tickets we couldn't/didn't use off of me because she has until the 30th of this month to use them, so that's perfect! :)

Day 7 - My family hung out around the house with me today to catch up on sleep and do some laundry. My siblings really just wanted to play with the boys. I can see why...they're cute when you're not telling them the can't or have to do something :) We toured the park a little bit and got to see all of the amazing homes...every morning, my dad has been waking up early and so while everyone has been asleep, he's been reading the Tuxedo Park history book...and he was a WAY better tour guide than I was! It was pretty funny! We left that day around 4pm for our road trip to Palmyra, New York and Niagara Falls, Canada. We stopped for dinner in Syracuse at another one of Evan's restaurants called Dinosaur BBQ. It was pretty good...I had delicious soup and mashed potatoes...my sandwich was alright, but I should have gotten the one that didn't have the sauce on it that mine did because the sauce wasn't my favorite. We all ate a ton though...especially Evan! We got in to Palmyra around 11pm because of our 45 minute wait at the BBQ, but it was alright :) We stayed in this ADORABLE house that I recommend anyone who is going to Palmyra to stay at. Our little "cottage" had places for 9 people to sleep (3 twin beds, 1 queen, 1 double, and a hide-a-bed) and had internet, fully stocked kitchen (with utensils and things, not food...), cable, etc. etc. etc.! And I think my mom said it was like $150 a night. We seriously loved it....not to mention Evan, Melissa, and I got the room with the A/C unit! ;)

Day 8 - The next day we went to all the sights in Palmyra (LDS church sights in case anyone is reading this and is wondering what there is to see in Palmyra haha) including the Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith's houses, the temple, the BoM publication site, and Hill Cumorah. I loved it all...I think the publication site was really interesting...it was a really good tour. We went to lunch at Mark's Pizzeria (there was a brochure on the fridge at the "cottage") and it was seriously to die for. I don't know why, but their pizza was DELICIOUS. I loved it. I could only eat one piece at the time (so I would not upset my stomach for the drive to Niagara) but don't worry...once we got to Niagara in the hotel, I ate 2 more pieces :) We left for Niagara around 4:30pm or so and got all checked into our hotel by 7pm. Because my parents bought a tour package for Niagara, we got free tickets to a magic show. Ahahaha...wow. He wasn't the best magician I've seen, but no matter what magician I do see, I never understand how they do it. I rack my brain the entire time they are performing trying to think how to re-create these things. I know it's not real and it's all an illusion, but I am one of those people that NEED TO KNOW HOW! It won't ruin it for me...I promise. I am the type of person that will read the last page of a book because I am DYING to know who ends up with whom or if a person that is struggling to live actually dies. It's horrible and I hate it, but I just can't help it. One day, I will ask a magician to reveal their secrets to me...one day. We got back to our hotel room just in time to see the fireworks over the falls. Amazing! It was super short, but way cool. The view from our hotel room (Embassy Suites, Fallview) is seriously the BEST. It was so nice! After the fireworks, we decided we were starving, so we ordered 2 desserts and an appetizer from T.G.I.Friday's (inside the hotel) and seriously chowed down at 11pm at night. HORRIBLE. UNHEALTHY. It was mainly us four kids, but my parents snuck a few bites in :) When it came time for me to pull the couch sleeper out (there were two double beds and one couch bed), I hear a CRACK and do I stop? Of course not. So I finish pulling the bed out...don't worry, it's broken...I don't think I am the one that broke it...I pulled it out like you're supposed to...I think it's been broken for awhile. Anyway, the bed is at a tilt...my side being higher than Evan's. I actually slept pretty good though...despite the bed malfunction.

Day 9 - For some reason, my mom was up to see the sunrise over the falls. I was sleeping...I missed it by a few minutes...or more...but it was beautiful...or her pictures of it are at least! :) We left our hotel room for breakfast at 8am and then headed off for our tour that started at 9am. We went to the Skylon Tower which looks a lot like the Spaceneedle and I think the guy said the same guy designed both...to look at the view of the falls and the city. After, we got on the bus with our bus driver/tour guide and he took us to a place where we got to kind of experience the "making" of Niagara Falls. It was pretty cool...and our favorite of the events. Except for I got the most wet...but that seems to always be the case! :) We went to a few other stops...Souvenir City and the flower clock...and then went to The Maid of The Mist ferry ride. That was pretty intense! It was almost scary being that close to the falls and knowing like how dangerous it could be if you got sucked under that. It's ridiculous. After that, we were all pretty beat because of our early morning and long, eventful day so we decided it was time to go home. BUT...I really wanted a shirt from Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. There were two really cute ones that I wanted, but they were $35! Yeah right! Like I'm going to pay $35 for a T-SHIRT! Thanks, but no thanks, Jimmy! The bus driver told us that Jimmy Buffet was actually IN Niagara the Tuesday before! Missed him by just a few days! I probably would have bought the shirt for $35 if it had his autograph on it! Then we left the hotel and drove 3 hours to a random city and a random hotel and stayed there for the night.

Day 10 - We woke up early and drove to Tuxedo so that my parents could pack up the ol' Ford Flex with all of their big suitcases and hit the road. I had originally planned to go into the city to do some shopping and maybe stop by Canal Street to get my mama a knockoff, but when we got back to the house, I was EXHAUSTED! I just sat in my room, took a nap, and read a book. I was not in the mood to get ready and ride a bus into the city! Evan and Jess made their flight the SLC just fine, but my parents' and Melissa's flight to Seattle was delayed from 5pm something until after 8pm! They didn't get home until around 2 or 3 in the morning and then my dad and Melissa had to go to work the next morning!

Well, now that I have successfully written too much and been way too informative on my blog AGAIN...and have ditched packing for the last few hours while I have been typing this in between dealing with two grumpy boys (who are now napping, THANK HEAVENS!), I need to return to my boxes and suitcases of crap and save myself from just wanting to throw it all out the window or leave it here for the new nanny to deal with! ;) Ooooo...that's not such a bad idea!