Emily’s NYC Trip- Part 1

Happy Tuesday, friends!

This week I want to share Emily’s birthday trip with you. We had so much fun!

I always knew I wanted to take both my girls on a trip when they turned 13. Just to enjoy special one on one time with them and make wonderful memories together.

Elizabeth’s trip was to San Francisco and you can read about it here.

Emily chose New York City.

To be honest, because of COVID and how dangerous we feel like the cities are anymore, we didn’t know if this trip was going to happen.

Chris and my family were a little scared of me going. But I told them if I made it fine in San Francisco, I can make it just fine in NYC.

We flew out early on Emily’s birthday (May 27). We had actually stayed in St. Louis the night before so we didn’t have to drive the 3 hours to the airport that morning.

Our flight was easy and quick. It was a BEAUTIFUL day landing in the city.

When we got off the plane, we grabbed a bite to eat and then requested an Uber to come and get us to take us to our hotel.

When we got to our hotel this was the sign we saw on the front door:

This is NOT the sign you want to see. LOL

I was so confused! I checked my Expedia again to make sure I gave the right address and hotel name.

I did, so I was slightly starting to freak out at this point. But kept it cool because I’m a mom and the brave one, right?!?

Anyways, a lady sees us staring into the window and comes out and asks us if we needed help.

I said, “Yes, I think I’m supposed to have reservations to stay here.”

She said, “Oh, no, honey. We have been shut down since March 2020 because of COVID….”

I showed her my Expedia account on my phone and my reservation. She said there has been a misunderstanding and that she’d get the hotel manager for me.

The manager comes out and says Expedia dropped the ball with letting me know my reservation should’ve been canceled.

Again, I’m keeping my cool but at this point I realize I have flown halfway across the country with my 13 year old and don’t have a hotel to stay in. YIKES!

I told him I understood and asked him if he could suggest a good hotel close to the area we were currently in.

I didn’t want to Uber again since I had just paid $65 to Uber to that area.

He gave me the name of a few hotels so I called them and they were completely booked.

Then it dawns on me that it is Memorial Day weekend and hotels might be extra busy.

I called Chris at this point and told him what was happening and was trying not to make it a big deal for Emily’s sake.

He told me he didn’t care the price, just find a nice, safe hotel.

Thankfully, we were able to find a Hilton Double Tree that had a room available and was within walking distance of where we were.

It wasn’t the “city view” that I had originally wanted with the other hotel, but it worked!

After we FINALLY got settled into our room, I called Expedia. I was so upset they let this happen. I had booked everything for this trip in January 2020, so I was just “missed” on letting me know that the hotel shut down. Ugh!

After we rested for a minute and let Chris know we found a hotel, we then headed out to explore the Big Apple!

Since it was already 4:00 in the afternoon there, we decided to take a ferry over to Brooklyn and see the Brooklyn Bridge.

This ferry was part of the New York City taxi system and how a lot of people got back and forth to work each day. Tickets were only $2.75 each, so for $11 we were able to go over to Brooklyn and back.

Seeing the Manhattan skyline from the Brooklyn side was so cool! While we were over there, we walked up and down the piers in Brooklyn taking all the sights in.

It was extremely bright and sunny at this point in the day and not best for picture taking, but we made the best of it.

I regret that we didn’t walk the extra mile to go up on top of the Brooklyn Bridge to see the bridge from that way. But at that point we were tired and hungry, so we decided to start walking back to the pier to catch our ferry.

We stopped and ate at a cool pizza place on Pier 6 before catching our ferry back. We loved sitting outside and people watching.

I couldn’t help but think of Emily’s birth that evening as we were walking together.

We almost lost her when she was born and we were told multiple times she probably wouldn’t make it through the night.

But God is so good and gave us our miracle, Emily Grace. He healed her from all her sickness and now she’s a spunky, sassy, beautiful 13 year old!

I was just praising God that night for Emily and allowing me to be her mom.

After we rode the ferry back over we watched the boats coming and going for a while and then headed back to our hotel.

It was starting to get dark and my one rule was to not be out in the city after dark!

We knew we had a busy day the next day, so we showered, FaceTimed Chris and Elizabeth, and then went to bed!

I’ll be back Thursday for another recap of our trip!

Have a great day!