New York Day 4: Rockefeller Center and Central Park

 I went back and forth on whether or not we should ice skate at Rockefeller Center. It was expensive, and we aren't huge into ice skating- once a year is enough for us. And how cool could it be?

VERY cool, it turns out! In the end, I took the advice of a friend who said "You'll never be in NYC at Christmas time again. Do all the Christmas things!"

I'm so glad we did! It wasn't just cool- it was absolutely magical. Even though the scaffolding was up in order to decorate the tree, it was still incredible. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we skated around for an hour.

Inside 30 Rock

This is just outside the rink, looking toward Saks

That's the tree, buried under the scaffolding

We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral- so gorgeous- and lit some candles for friends who lost their husbands this year. Claire and Camille did not appreciate the beauty, so we do not need to take them to Europe ;)

Claire really wanted to go inside Saks so we did, but she quickly said, "mom, we don't belong here." Truth.

This was in their window display, so it was cool to see a life size version, too.

This may have been the girls (and Ben's) favorite: The Nintendo Store

They have a massive gaming screen

Pizza #2. We all agreed this wasn't good. The crust was super thick.

The New York Public Library!

This is the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals!!!! I was SOOOOO excited to see them and I was not disappointed! What an awesome thing to be able to see!

Charles Dickens' writing desk

This is George Washington's farewell address written in his own hand.

An original Gutenberg Bible

Look at that mural! I'm not quite sure what the New York Public Library is because there's not really any books. I asked a library worker and she said it's now more of a National Historical Monument. It's so beautiful! Definitely reminds me of Europe.

Claire liked this side of Manhattan

But not this side

We headed over to Central Park, but by this time it started to rain. We decided to take a pedi cab with an electric bike. This was a GREAT decision! We all LOVED it! He had a nice warm blanket for us, and he drove us all around Central Park showing us all the sights. It was wonderful! Bonus: We stayed dry!

The Friends fountain:

This is where John Lennon lived. He was shot right outside these doors.

This is a memorial to him:

Camille was very excited to buy this hat:

Dinner at Potbelly's

And we got these super cute mini muffins because this is a pretty famous place. They were delicious!

The wooden stairs at Macy's- I went back to get an ornament Audra wanted

And then we got the best news we could imagine: WE WON THE RAFFLE! We got grand stand seating for the parade!!! We were jumping up and down with joy (OK, Ben and I were). I still can't believe we won- I started singing "I've got a golden ticket!" everywhere we went!

But, it did throw off our plans for Wednesday. We had plans for Claire and I to go to the temple, but had to switch it up because we now needed to be at Audra's rehearsal in New Jersey to pick up the tickets. We didn't want to split up, and since Camille can't quite yet go to the temple, it was always a weird thing for us to plan, so going to the temple sadly had to be dropped from our plans. I was bummed, maybe it was Satan who won the tickets for us, I don't know. We will try again next time when Camille can go, too.

At any rate, Ben and I were up until 11 PM trying to decide what to do- should I take a taxi with some other ladies who were going? Should Ben and Camille go so Claire and I could still go to the temple? Should Ben and Claire go to the temple? It was a tough decision, and in the end we had to trust our gut and we decided to all go. And it was definitely the right decision!