NYC Part 1

We stayed and John and Audrey's (cousins) apartment on Roosevelt Island while they were in CA/UT for the Christmas break. They have a cute new baby, Weston. We're glad we were able to see them for at least an hour or so before they flew out.

On Christmas Eve we decided to wander around the Rockefeller Center area.
We saw the public library where they had a Gutenberg bible on display along with many other artifacts - including the original stuffed animals of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Rabbit.
The architecture is incredible. It's worth going to see the reading rooms. It almost seems wrong to have computers in rooms like that :)

We also stopped and walked through St. Patrick's Cathedral.

When we passed by Radio City Music Hall we decided to see if they still had tickets to the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular show. They did! After picking up our tickets, we went to dinner at Via Brasil. The food was wonderful, and it was neat to be surrounded with people speaking Portuguese.
The Rockettes show was AMAZING! If you're ever in NY around Christmas you should try to see it. After each scene we thought we'd seen the best, and the next would just amaze us more.

Finally, we walked around the tree at Rockefeller Center. It is so big!

Our final stop that night was to see the Christmas decorations at Macy's. They were incredible. Since it was Christmas Eve, the store was especially busy. I don't know how anyone could actually shop in crowds like that.

Nick took this video and we had to laugh because by the time he was done, about 10 more people had gathered to take pictures/video as well. He's such a trend-setter ;)

Christmas day was a little strange this year. We had already opened most of our presents, but we did have stockings full of candy. After church we opened a few small presents and spent the afternoon on Skype.
We were both more homesick for our families than any other year we've been away for Christmas, and we also missed having Daphne around.

We spent our anniversary braving the rain to check out some fun stores. We stopped at the FAO Schwartz toy store. It was really fun. We especially liked the gems/minerals section. It is so exciting to watch them break open a geode and see what's inside!
We also ran into the real Lego Indiana Jones and had to take a picture with him for Dallan and Ryan!

They have a "make your own muppet" section, and sell incredibly high-priced Etch-a-Sketches. Yes, the price tag says $1,499.99. It was next to the Barbie Foosball table priced at $24,999.99!
They are, of course, famous for the piano featured in the movie BIG.
Here's a demonstration of the piano for you:

A sampling of the shop windows on 5th Ave. decked out in festive themes.

We liked these pretty pigeons camped out at the subway.