Fagedabowdit!

$15 may not seem like much money, but when that is the fee for using the same internet I can get for free at my local, Texan McDonald's...no thank you! Fagedabowdit! (for you New Yorkers out there!) I had every intention of posting daily from our trip until we got to the hotel and learned that we would be paying $15 per day for internet usage. I decided to wait and post from home! We had a great trip on the whole. I have bragged about how non-pregnant I have felt for the last 6 months...it caught up to me this week! There is nothing like New York City with 50 teenagers to remind you just how pregnant you are! I did fine, but by the end of every day I was swollen and tired with a capital T-I-R-E-D! So, needless to say, I am so glad to be home and blogging from bed while watching March Madness games! Life couldn't be better! This was mine and Jared's third trip to New York, and we got to do some things that we had never done before, so I have lots of fun stories! I'll spread them out over a couple of days, though!

We left on Monday morning and had hassle-free travel for the most part! Other other flight group can't say the same, bless their hearts. No matter how many times we go, one of my favorite parts is now watching our students' faces for the first time when they step off of the bus in Times Square. There is nothing like it really. Their heads all go straight up and their necks look as if they're going to snap because they are back so far! It was the most quiet we had all week at that moment! Monday night, we had dinner at Planet Hollywood and spent a little bit of time shopping the vendors on Times Square.

Jared battling Freddy at Planet Hollywood. We had to tip this guy...what a city.

Jared and me on Times Square Monday night in front of the new musical 9 to 5, adapted by Dolly Parton!

Funny story...if you know my sweet Jared, you know that he knows everyone. As we were waiting for our hotel to get us taken care of, Jared and I were waiting with our kids on the sidewalk. We stayed at the Hilton, Times Square which is across the street from the Ziegfeld Theater. We noticed a crowd formed with cameras (paparazzi) and such and started asking the right question, "Who are you waiting for?" We learned that the NY premier of Duplicity, the new Julia Roberts/Clive Owen film, had just finished in the theater, and they were about to leave! WooHoo!!! So, we are all waiting, and three of our not-so-bright freshman girls run across the street to "get a better picture." They just didn't understand that a cab wouldn't stop for them! So, Jared yells, I mean really yells, for them to get themselves back across the street via the appropriate crosswalk. All of a sudden, we hear this voice hollering back saying, "Sir, please stop yelling at these kids!" My heart stopped until we saw one of our professors from Wayland with her husband come through the crowd! It was hilarious! She said she knew it couldn't be anyone but Jared once they heard that big 'ole voice! Even on Times Square, Jared's voice is recognizable!

So, that was Monday. Tuesday, was St. Patrick's Day...the most crowded I have ever seen NYC. It was unnerving trying to keep up with that many kids in the midst of flowing green beer! We took a tour of the city, had lunch in Little Italy, rode the Subway for the first time, shopped in Chinatown, and saw South Pacific at the Lincoln Center Theater. It was a great day! Enjoy some pictures!

Lucky Lily couldn't go unrepresented on St. Patty's Day! I made this little tribute shirt at like 11 pm the night before we left! Nothing like pre-planning!

Jared, on the other had, bought a shirt off of a vendor the night before so as not to be pinched (or shot) or whatever on Tuesday! The beads turned his neck green!

Here we are at the Statue of Liberty on the tour. More tour pictures to come later!