NYC Trip 2022 - Day 1/Top Of The Rock And Del Frisco's Grille

We freshened up and changed our clothes to head to Rockefeller Center to visit the "Top Of The Rock." We visited the Empire State Building on our first visit - which was amazing. We plan to visit the One World Observatory one day. But this visit, we went to the top of 30 Rock.

And it did not disappoint. The view was amazing.

We were up there while the sun was starting to set and the entire city was glowing.

We walked a few blocks (past Radio City) to get to 30 Rock...

Once we got inside the building, we first visited a small "museum" of 30 Rock's history...

Then we got into an elevator that took us up 70 floors. Once you get up to the top (the observation deck), there are two more levels you can climb up stairs to get to.

First level of the observation deck on the Central Park view/side...

 Empire State Building/World Trade Center view/side...

 

Then we walked up to the second level of the observation deck.

 

Central Park side...

 

 Empire State side...

 

 

Then we walked up to the top/final level.

Central Park side...

Empire State side (the sun was really starting to set)...

A few more sun going down shots as we started to head out...

I wish we could have stayed a bit longer until the sun went completely down, but we had dinner reservations.

The elevator ride down...

It was time to head to Del Frisco's Grille - which is right in Rockefeller Center.

My birthday girl...

The food was really, really good...

Bri had a crab cake appetizer, and Doug and I split deviled eggs and a wedge salad. Bri had the chicken sandwich, Doug had a bone-in rib eye and I went with a filet. Doug and I also split a potato pancake for a side. Bri had a chocolate ganache cake and I went with coconut cream pie (which was more like a tart in my opinion!). It was all so good!

We finished up and were very tired after a long day.

Walking back to the hotel and the night view from our room...

What a full day! 

We had tickets for Beetlejuice the Musical the next evening, so we decided to take things a bit slower during the day on Sunday.

More on that next...

NYC Trip 2022 - Day 1/W Hotel And Times Square

We flew into Newark from Atlanta on Saturday, Sept 17th. We had a morning flight, so that got us into NYC in the early afternoon. 

The flight was really smooth - no issues at all...

This is the Firehouse Subs we decided to grab lunch at in the airport before we took an Uber to NYC. They screwed up our sandwiches pretty nicely, but we just laughed about it. What are you gonna do?

The drive to the hotel from the airport was pretty easy too (we were quite surprised about that being a Saturday afternoon)...

Entrance and lobby to the W Hotel...

Our room wasn't ready yet because we arrived early, so we left our bags at the front desk and went to explore Times Square for a while...

Briana bought a little stuffed bear at the Line Friends (Korean) store in Times Square.

And I don't know who this girl is (below), but she was working it for the camera!

After walking around and soaking in the sights (which was fun but crowded!), we headed back to our hotel where our room still wasn't ready. Because we had a suite reserved (there are so few in the hotel) and we think the people before us checked out late, it was way past the time it should have been ready. 

After waiting for a long while, we finally got to brought to our room. And it was on the 50th floor! That is the highest we've ever been there...

What a view!

So, we had tickets to "Top Of The Rock" and then dinner reservations to celebrate Bri's 16th (belated) birthday. We freshened up and headed out toward Rockefeller Center...

30 Rock is so incredibly tall. We were excited to get to the top of it.

More on that next...

NYC Trip 2022 - Bri's 16th Birthday Wish

Briana told me that she did not want a big party for her 16th birthday. She said she preferred to take a trip to NYC to see a Broadway show and go shopping on 5th Avenue. So, that is what we did. She fell in love with the music from Beetlejuice the Musical, and that is the show we went to see. Overall, the trip was terrific.

Like with any trip, there were hiccups (like our hotel room not being ready for us when it should have been very ready, little squabbles here and there, us feeling quite tired after a long day of shopping, slight altitude sickness, a very loud concert in Times Square that lasted way longer than it should have). It happens. That is life and you have to just get past that annoying stuff and enjoy all the really good stuff. This trip had way more good than bad - much, much more.

So, my next few posts will focus on the good, fun, amazing, beautiful, delicious, entertaining time we had.

Hope you all enjoy...

 

NYC posts - coming soon...

Homecoming Dance 2022

Before I start blogging about our awesome trip to NYC, I want to post first about Briana's homecoming dance. 

It was last Saturday and she had a really nice time. I think she enjoyed the dressing up and going out to dinner even more than the dance itself, but she did have a very nice evening. She went with two friends from school.

She fell in love with her dress immediately (and I did too!). It fit her perfectly!

Some pictures in her dress before her friends arrived...

Pictures with her bestie Meredith...

Then Jackson arrived...

It was off to dinner first...

Then the kids headed to the dance. Bri sent me some pics from the dance...

B said the music was a bit loud and she wished the DJ hadn't played so much techno and rap music (she is more of a pop girl), but she did dance to the music she liked and had a good time.

The fact my girl even wanted to go to a school dance was amazing. She is not really a dance type person. But, she missed her 8th grade dance due to the Covid pandemic. She missed her 9th grade dance due to Covid pandemic. Her school didn't offer a homecoming dance for 10th graders last year. This was the first official school dance she could attend. Then a couple days before the dance, there was a threat that Hurricane Ian was headed our way - which made us quite nervous. Thank goodness that didn't happen. So the fact the dance happened and was relatively smooth was a true blessing!

I'm so proud of my gal for going outside her comfort zone and putting herself out there!

All About September

 

The month of August was mainly about Briana's birthday and school. Actually, September was a lot about Bri's birthday and school too - heh. But, we did do some other things too.

Labor Day weekend was actually a bit busy for us. We spent time with friends and Doug and I did a bit of shopping.

First, Doug and Bri spent some time with friends Khalid and Kira. It was a great dad/daughter Saturday...

That Monday, Doug, Bri and I met the C family for a bowling and video game afternoon...

That Sunday, Doug and I headed toward a part of town where Doug and I used to live before we moved to where we live now. We wanted to go to Pottery Barn to look for new bedroom furniture for our basement guest bedroom. We stopped first to eat lunch at a restaurant that we used to eat at all the time before moving away and Bri entering our lives...

The place looked exactly the same. The food tasted the same (so yummy). It was such a nostalgic feeling - going back to pre-parenthood days.

We did find a bedroom set we liked and it should be delivered sometime in early October.

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Briana got her school picture taken in September and it turned out really well...

Because I purchased a digital image, the photographer sent me all the different backgrounds they offer. I decided to do this fun collage...

It is the last "regular" photo she will have in a yearbook. Next year - senior pictures.

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I took Mei to the vet for a checkup. She got some vaccines which made her feel pretty icky for a few days. She is quite healthy - except she's too fat. Yep, she is a chunky gal...

She is a grazer when it comes to eating - and I have been giving her special dry food for years that is supposed to be good for her tummy (she had bad GI issues when we first brought her home). But, eating that dry food was causing her to gain weight, so the vet suggested switching her to an all wet food diet. And no treats (too many calories). I did feed her wet food as a daily treat, so it wasn't foreign to her. Now - it's all day, every day. But, she is finicky when it comes to wet food. I have been trying different kinds and flavors, trying to find the ones she likes. It's been hit or miss, but I'm finally discovering the ones she likes best. She is definitely confused as to where her normal food and treats are - I'm trying to keep her eating and happy enough (hopefully).

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As I mentioned in my last post, we visited NYC the first half of the week of fall break (separate posts will happen on that soon)...

The week of fall break, we also visited our favorite apple orchard (a separate post coming on that too)...

Doug and I saw Elton John in concert (separate post is coming on that as well)...

And of course, Bri got her driver's license - woot!

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Lastly, we celebrated Autumn Moon Festival in September. We made our traditional moon cookies...

So yummy!

Sadly, I wasn't able to get a full moon photo with Bri this year. It rained for days and there just wasn't an opportunity to snap a photo. I tried to go outside one evening and instead of the moon, I saw lightning lighting up the sky in the distance...

I try to hang on to my traditions as long as I can, but sometimes, they just can't happen anymore.

So overall, September was pretty eventful!

I'm quite excited about October coming. Halloween is my favorite holiday. The weather is starting to change. The feeling of fall is in the air. Looking very forward to it!