Thanksgiving!

I think going to Disneyland when we did was perfect- it may need to be a new tradition. We were able to go do Disneyland, but get back in plenty of time for Thanksgiving. We made our jell-o, pies (4 this year- chocolate, cherry. lemon meringue- Camille's favorite, and pumpkin- Ben's favorite), and rolls. Of course, we watched the Macy's Parade and looked for the Great American Marching Band! Audra saw her friend Jackson on TV, so that was fun!

We went to Mac and Ann's for a wonderful dinner and time with family. It was a great day! Audra didn't get to stay for the weekend as she had to head back to Utah for the football game on Saturday, but it was wonderful to have her home while we had her.

Moana

 The family in Denver went and saw Moana 2 to celebrate Thanksgiving- they all loved it!

New York City Day 6

 It rained for exactly 6 hours the entire trip, with it starting right before the parade, and ending right after the parade. On TV, they kept saying how the rain wasn't an issue and everyone was in great spirits. That's not true. It was very WET, and it just kept coming harder and harder, and we weren't all that cheerful about it. There was a little girl next to use who was screaming, "I WANT TO GO HOME!" the entire parade.

Thankfully, we had golden tickets so we at least didn't have to get there early and saved us some time in the wet. But, we did end up leaving right before the end. We missed Santa but made it almost until he came.

The Macy's Great American Marching Band was the first group- right after the turkey! That was awesome. Plus, they got to be in the pre-show which was really cool!

Joey McIntire from New Kids on the  Block!

We watched the recast on TV in our hotel room:

Then we went over to New Jersey for dinner:

All of my clothes laid out to dry. Everything was completely soaked:

And just like that, the trip was over.

New York Day 7: Going Home

Our hotel was so beautiful. We definitely want to stay here next time we come into town, and we will be back in town!

The Pio Bakery is right outside our hotel and we ended up going here most mornings for breakfasts. They had all kinds of homemade bagels and different kinds of cream cheese- nutella, cinnamon apple (my favorite), scallion, salmon, bacon and cheese, and so much more. We loved it!

I made us get to Laguardia super early, worried that there would be a million people trying to head home and we would miss our flight. It was the opposite- completely empty! Apparently everyone was staying in NYC for the weekend. We made a very smart choice to get to NYC last Saturday, when it was empty, and leave on Friday, when NYC was full. It worked out very well for us!

We finally got our Audra back! Look at how tired she is! She says she was never more exhausted in her life. Unfortunately, her bedmate kicked her all night long every night.

Lagurdia was once called by Joe Biden a "third world country." Those days are gone! It has been completely overhauled and is beautiful.

We got home without any issue- which we were worried about because there was a snowstorm in Denver. We came home to 20 degree temps and snow, but it was fine.

This trip was absolutely perfect. I kept pinching myself! Everything went exactly according to plan- with the exception of getting the Golden Tickets and making our trip even better!

It was everything we ever could have possibly imagined and more! Honestly. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for something awful to happen and it never did.

This is a million times better than Vegas! Claire said, "In Vegas, it smells all the time. In New York, it smells for a second, but then you take a few steps and it smells good again."

Words can't express how much I love this city! We all love it. I'm so grateful we had this opportunity. This was never on my bucket list, but it truly was a dream. I can't wait for Ben and me to go back!

Parade Around The Country

 I asked friends and family to take pictures of their families watching the parade- it was fun to get snapshots into their world as they watched Audra march!

Tad Cammans and Family

Sue Hart

Liese Carberry

Eaton Family

New York Day 6: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

 Audra had a 1 AM wake up call- to be on the bus at 2. They rehearsed at Harod's Square at 3 AM, then they had breakfast at The Hard Rock Cafe at 4:30.

We got to "sleep in" until 5 AM. Ben wasn't happy with me for that- he thought with our Golden Tickets we should sleep in longer, but I was very anxious to get there. I hardly slept at all anyway.

We left our hotel at 5:15. We walked up 5th Ave, which was completely empty, to Central Park. The parade comes down 6th Avenue, so we purposely avoided that. We got to the entrance at 5:50 and we were about 8th in line. We were all confused about where we should be and ended up walking to another area. For being the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it was very unorganized. I was surprised by that. Where the ticket said to be is not where we were supposed to be, for example.

Regardless, we got in and had our pick of any seat we wanted. We could have gotten there at 6:30 and been fine, but we didn't know that.

We sat in the top row of the bleachers- it was glorious, but I also realized if we hadn't gotten the Golden Tickets we would have been fine, too. As long as we left at the same time, 5:15, maybe a little earlier at 5, we would have gotten front row "seats" along the parade route. 

As the sun came up, it actually got colder. There was a biting cold wind that was quite dreadful, but it's far better than snow and rain- at least it was dry.

At around 8:45 we finally saw the front of the parade! It was so cool to watch it in person!

Miss America

We loved this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle floah

Sesame Street!

This is Jimmy Fallon- he was great- he really knows how to work the crowd

They were right after the Baby Shark boat, which had a very famous KPop Band, Enhypen.

They were actually earlier in the parade, but the pictures got screwed up. We thought she would be on our side, but she was actually marching on the far right side. No wonder we couldn't find her! But, they looked and sounded great. They did a Jimmy Buffett song- Cheeseburger in Paradise- but on the route they played Sweet Caroline and got everyone in the crowd singing. They were the most engaging of all the groups- they really sounded awesome! It was fun because everyone around us knew she was in the band and cheered right along with us which was so awesome. It was to get to know those around us.

And then, at the end, Santa Claus came: 

                                          

The Rockettes, Cher, and some others didn't actually march in the parade- they just performed on Harod's Square. It's pretty cool of Cher to march in Audra's parade!

It took us watching the video about 7 times in slow motion before we finally found her, but Audra did make it on TV! She's on the far right in the second row:

Then we had to make our way back to the hotel. We actually ended up back at the hotel before the parade ended and had to show our hotel key to get onto our street because it was blocked off. They stopped all traffic on 5th Ave so it was only foot traffic, and that was brilliant. It was VERY full!

We had been starving and dehydrating ourselves on purpose so we wouldn't need to go to the bathroom (it worked! Though Claire and Camille kept saying "we never go to the bathroom at school because school bathrooms are disgusting so this is nothing"). But we then needed to get food on the walk back.

We took naps while Claire and Camille watched Harry Potter and Star Wars and then we loaded busses to meet up with the band at their hotel in New Jersey for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Was it the same as being home with family? Of course not. But it was wonderful in it's own way. We are grateful.

Audra actually wasn't sitting next to us- they had the band all sitting together. When we saw her, she looked so HAPPY. It's been awhile since she has truly been happy. School has been so stressful for her, and she puts so much pressure on herself. So seeing her let loose and have FUN with people who are as nerdly passionate about band as she is was wonderful.

I had never had pecan pie, but I had it this night and it was delicious! I had to get it since I will never be able to make it at home!

Look at those smiles!

And then we left Audra one last time as we went back to our hotel and she stayed in Jersey.

It was an absolutely wonderful, once in a lifetime day. Except Audra wants to do it again next year, so we will see.