Talkin' bout MY GUYS!

Most of you know that the Royal Family took a trip to New York City. Of course with this family nothing can be simple. Just 3 days before we were scheduled to fly to the Big Apple the King had to have a heart cath......and in San Antonio at that. He flew to San Antonio for an Air Force follow up for the stent he had put in a year ago. Once he met with the doctors he was told he would have to have the cath. I didn't want him to be there alone in case more invasive procedures needed to be done....so I flew to San Antonio to be with him.

Praise the Lord that all was normal and the stent is working perfectly. He had fabulous care while there and we are thrilled that he is doing so well. God has been so good to us throughout the whole process and we give Him the glory!

We were able to leave as planned for NYC and had to be at the airport at 4:15 on the 17th of December. WOW we had a GREAT time! The above photo was from the ride on the Staten Island Ferry....which offered a perfect view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I will publish a few more photos from the trip following this written entry.

We started the week taking a tour on the New York City Party Shuttle. Not a large double decker bus out in the cold weather, but a more intimate 30 passenger van that navigated the traffice much easier. We saw Wall Street, The Empire State Building, Ground Zero (which was just across the street from the hotel where we stayed), St. Paul's Chapel....where George Washington prayed following his first inaguration in NYC....Interesting story about this chapel....it is located on the block around the Ground Zero site. Every single building around the site was damaged...and that was many, with the exception of St. Pauls....which received no structural damage. The cemetery in the front lawn had 4 feet of debris in it, but when removed they found NO damage. Amazing to me! We saw Broadway, Times Square, Rockefeller Center and so much more.

Scott and I were able to go be in the audience of David Letterman that night. It was an interesting process and we enjoyed the experience. If you saw the episode where Dave threw out Christmas gifts into the audience before and after commercials.....we didn't get one. But, we can tell you that the gentleman behind us did...and opened it after the show....and it was EMPTY!!!!! While we were at the show Prince 1 and Prince 2 went to Central Park....and toured some other sites. They found the NINTENDO World Store in Rockefeller Center. After searching for a Nintendo Wii for weeks before we left.....Prince 1 wanted to check and see if they had one at this store. He was told that they would 'release' 100 of them at 7am the next morning.....Tuesday. Of course the line had already formed at this time (7pm at night Monday) and Prince 1 and Prince 2 decided to join the others and hang out in the line in front of the store all night long. They met some wonderful guys in line behind them....Gavin and Anthony and all had tickets....being just 22nd and 23rd in line. These guys took turns going for something to eat and visiting the rest rooms. I decided to take the subway up at 6 Tuesday morning to see and take photos of the 'sales'. I'll post that photo as well. Prince 1 finally had his Wii and will cherish the memories of how he got it.

Both Princes slept in for a while on Tuesday. That evening we had tickets to Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. That is what it was....spectacular! They incorporated lots of high tech equipment and made the experience awesome! The final scene was a live nativity which was beautiful. It sure put us into the proper Christmas mood for the rest of the season. We left the Hall, walked around the corner and Prince 1 said.....Hey, isn't that Aunt Ellen? Sure enough, we ran into Scott's step-sister Ellen who was in NYC on business. We solicited her help in taking a family photo in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree....Thanks Ellen!

On Thursday night we saw the most popular play on Broadway....Wicked. It was beyond wonderful. If you ever have the chance to see it...on or off Broadway....GO! It is a delightful production about the Wizard of Oz witches before the movie. The soundtrack is great too!

The King and Prince 2 took a ride out to the Statue of Liberty and saw Liberty Island. They enjoyed that and took lots of good photos there too. We visited the M & M store in Time Square....3 stories tall and full of every kind of M & M stuff you could ever want.

The Princes went off by themselves another morning and visited China Town and Little Italy. They saw some fun handball games going on in a city park and enjoyed watching them. We shopped at the Toys R US store in Times Square....where we bought Prince 2's XBox. It was a mad house with tons and tons of people. We enjoyed the experience though. We also met several Texas A&M Aggies during our trip. The Empire State Building was beautiful at night. The elevators are remote controlled by security.....interesting!

I'll post photos now.....enjoy...and if anyone decides to go to NYC anytime soon.....I WANT TO GO!!!!!!!!!