A Mother-Daughter & God-Mother Day in NYC!

 

Our family loves New York city!  And it is so close to us - we can jump on a bus and be there in less than 2 hours!

Katie, Anne, and I decided that we needed a day out just for the girls - for mothers, daughters, and God-Mothers.  We planned and schemed to make a wonderful day for all of us (all ages . . .LOL!)  to enjoy!!!

Anne has heard us talk about going to NYC and visiting the American Girl Place when Katie was 9 years old, and she wanted to go in the worst way.  Our "girls day out" was the perfect opportunity to make reservations for brunch at the American Girl Cafe!  (If you want more information, you can visit to the American Girl Place on-line!)  When I went on-line to make our reservations, I was surprised to see that there are American Girl stores across the United States of America: in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and Seattle.  Wow! We made our brunch reservation for 9:30 AM - early, but we were able to enjoy "the city that never sleeps" during one of it's sleepiest times of the morning:

It was overcast, which was a blessing in disguise,because it was so hot and humid yesterday.  As you can see, even at 8:30 AM, the streets were beginning to fill up with cars, buses, and people!

Anne, Katie, and Aunt Karen ready to take on New York!

The American Girl Place is on 5th Avenue and 49th Street - just a short walk from Port Authority.  Can you just feel the excitement of all of the girls walking into this place???  I heard one little girl tell her mom; "I am SOOOOOOO happy!"

Anne has never liked to walk, even short distances, so she is not looking terribly excited when we first arrived there.  LOL! But she cheered up soon afterwards after seeing all of the amazing things at this store, made just for girls.

Bitty Baby's place was magical.

All of the pets were dressed in cute little outfits made just for New York city.

What great lessons!  This place is such a good example for our girls!

There are so many wonderful things to do here with your daughters.

After much anticipation, we were taken to our seats at the American Girl Cafe!

They had "Conversation Starters" at the table, so of course, Anne started us off!!

Here's Katie, Anne, Ivy, and aunt Karen waiting for Brunch!

Ivy got her own seat and tea set!

Anne absolutely loved it!

 . . . and so did big sister, Katie . . .

 . . . and Aunt Karen and mom.

 The breakfast and our dessert were delicious!

 The girls at the table next to us were celebrating a birthday . . .woohoo!

The American Girl Place thinks of everything: they even had extra dolls, if you forgot to bring yours along!

I just loved these mirrors, too!

We didn't leave the store before purchasing a book about Anne's doll, Ivy. So cool!

Here are some of the sights of NYC that we enjoyed afterwards:

 St. Patrick's Cathedral

 Atlas

 5th Avenue shops

 a flee market

 The Hard Rock Cafe

 Times Square

and more Times Square

Cool shops and places to eat!  Anne was struck by how tall everything is in NYC.

Finally we arrived at the Nederlander Theatre on W. 41st Street for the "Piece de Resistance" of our entire day:  NEWSIES!

(I took this photo of the stage before I realized that we couldn't take photos, even before the play.  Uh-oh!!)

I have to admit, I was skeptical about seeing this play.  But BOY, OH BOY, was I ever wrong!  I loved every single minute of it, and so did Karen, Katie, and Anne. The emotional songs, the energy of the actors/actresses, the beauty of the choreography, the amazing singing and dancing were beyond amazing.  And to top it off, the audience was REALLY into the show. Their reactions were every bit as good as the play itself.  It was pure joy!

Aunt Karen took this photo during intermission!

Afterwards, we waited for autographs.  Again, being the skeptic, I thought that Katie didn't have a chance of getting an autograph.  But BOY, OH BOY, was I wrong, again!  Many of performers came out to talk to the crowd, pose for pictures, and give autographs.  I was amazed by how young they all looked, and how friendly they were.  I also have to mention that we stood behind the nicest family from Pittsburgh, who made sure that Katie got a photo or autograph when needed. That was awesome!

Check out "Newsies" at You Tube:

I still get chills (and tears in my eyes) watching this video!

It POURED while we waited for autographs, but we didn't even care.  When we walked up Broadway for our dinner, we ended up at an Irish Restaurant that we just came across (Aunt Karen spotted it!) that was fabulous.

As we walked back to Port Authority, we took one last photo of the Nederlander Theatre:

And saying good-bye to the beautiful NYC skyline:

Good Bye NYC, for now . . .  Until we visit again . . .

I always find it extremely beautiful, even seen through a bus window on a cloudy, rainy day!

Here is Katie's souvenir:

Thanks for stopping on this cloudy and rainy Sunday.  I can't tell you how much I that you took time out of your day to visit my blog!