Thanksgiving Eve

Good morning, New York!

This is Lizzie's first time here so we're excited to share the New York experience with her.

We're staying at the Palace Towers on 51st & Madison in some awesome Inspirato suites with large living rooms with plenty of space to hang out all together. We got in around 1:30 am last night and expected to go right to sleep, but sat on the couches for a little while happy to be here together.

Subway up to meet Courtney on the Upper West Side for breakfast then got in line to walk around the Natural History Museum to see the Macy's Parade balloons inflating.

Met up with Bob and Rhonda there as well as JD's fiance, Mary Ellen at 1:00. An organized line had already formed and we were required to wind up and down CPW before we actually got to the balloons, but it moved very fast and we agreed it was worth it to see so many balloons up close.

Glad we went when we did. The line didn't take long and many of the balloons had taken shape.

Next stop, ice skating in Central Park. Courtney had purchased tickets ahead of time so we had an arrival window scheduled between 3:00 and 4:00 and walked through the park to get there.

I skipped ice skating, not wanting to risk tweaking my back again.

But I had a seat right next to the rink and was a great picture taker.

We learned that Lizzie took skating lessons when she was younger and was even in competitions.

Michael played hockey from age 5 through college

We've just added some talented skaters to the family!

After skating, walked back to our hotel while the New Yorkers rode bikes to pick up pizzas for dinner.

Times Square and Come From Away up next. I cried through the whole show, as usual.

After dinner we wanted to DO something and eating dessert seemed like the natural next step.

Juniors for cheesecake had a 45 minute wait.

Took the subway to Koreatown for churros instead. Unfortunately they were closed.

We were right by the Empire State Building so thought we'd go to the top for something to do.

They'd just closed as well.

Serendipity is always a quintessential New York option so we took taxis to the Upper East Side.

Only to find we needed to get online to make a reservation.

It was 10:00 by then and the only reservations available were 11:00.

Considered just going home when the hostess whispered to get my attention.

Had I made a reservation? I told her the only availability was an hour later.

She said just book it and she'd adjust it on her computer and get us seated! 

Within 10 minutes we were at a table all together ordering sundaes and french fries.

The kids had a pistol squat challenge while we waited. Honestly, it's so imnpressive!

Lizzie hailed her first cab to get us home. Dan and I stopped off at CVS for snacks for tomorrow. 

Such a wonderful day!