The Aftermath

As I predicted Al wasn't up for much the day after his Ironman.  He looked like he had the flu so Shelly and I went to lunch and took Alex to FAO Schwartz and the park.

We had lunch at Shake Shack.  I've still only ate at the one in Times Square and need to venture out because I hear the food is way better at the other locations.

Alex had a grilled cheese and I had the Portobello burger, thanks for the recommendation Mel.   My fries weren't very fresh which is always a bummer.  I think that happened the first time I ate here too.  

Alex didn't seem to mind that they were cold.

The soldier in front of FAO Schwartz

We watched Alex run around like a crazy person.   He played trains

and got to run on the big piano, so funny.

They had these cool crayons called Alex that you could stack.  He's all about stacking everything these days.

Best little stacker I know.

We made a mistake and went in the Apple store.  I've never seen so many people, craziness.

Afterwards we walked around a corner of Central Park.

Alex climbed on the rocks.

That afternoon Christy and I went to Mary Poppins

Al found us amazing seats.  I think we were on the 9th row.

I can't decide if I like Wicked or Mary Poppins better.  It's that amazing.

We got to meet up with Al's uncle Richard for a little bit.  

We found the infamous LOVE sign.

We had dinner at the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel.  It's this tiny little hole in the wall burger joint that is hidden in the hotel and they have amazing burgers.  

I even had a Sharpie so we could write on the tables and walls.

Al promised me a night time family picture in Times Square, so on our way back we walked through the chaos.  It looks like Al lost 10lbs from his Ironman in this picture.  Too bad I can't give him some of my extra weight.  

LAX to JFK

We flew with Alex on a red eye from Hawaii when he was 9 months old and it wasn't bad.  Our flight to NYC left from LAX at 1am.  I put Alex to bed and let him sleep until 10:30pm which is when we left for the airport.  He ran around the airport until we boarded the plane so I was convinced he would fall asleep right away.

We were those people with the crying baby.  Everyone around us was trying to sleep and here we are walking him up and down the aisle, letting him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and anything else to get him to sleep.  It took him a least 2 hours into the flight to fall asleep and when he did he was out.  Luckily the seat next to us was empty so he could sleep there.  Being pregnant on a red eye was the worst.    There was no comfortable way to sleep.

We landed safely in NYC at 9am.  Can you tell we are all running on 2 hours of sleep.

Alex enjoying his first cab ride into the city.  We got in trouble for him putting his foot on the TV screen by his feet.  Our cab driver wasn't very kid friendly.

We stayed at the Hilton Times Square.  The first room they tried to put us in smelled like an ash tray so they moved us to one of the top floors with a great view.

Alex and I were on our own once we got to NY since Al had so much race stuff going on.  We enjoyed our first slice of many pieces of pizza.

I tried to get Alex to take a nap with me for over an hour in the hotel, but it was hopeless.  We went to meet my friend Melanie in Central Park.  I don't know if it was the heat while waiting for the Subway, but he passed out in my arms.  When we found Mel he wasn't moving an inch.

Melanie's little girl Alexis is 1 month younger than Alex, so it was perfect.  They were the cutest.

I haven't seen Mel since I lived in Utah, so it was great to catch up.  We went to Zara Kids and scored some cute clothes on sale, we got some amazing cookies at Levain Bakery, and then we got sushi.

Alex and Alexis were hilarious at dinner.  They were playing in their waters and eating each others rice.

We had a great time Mel.  It was almost as fun as when we worked for the Jazz together :)

That night I walked Alex around Time Square.  We went to the Disney Store and he was mesmerized by all the Mickey's.  It was a pretty eventful first day.

When we first got to NY we found out that 3.4 million gallons of raw sewage had been dumped into the Hudson the Ironman swim might be cancelled.  Al had said something to the hotel manager that put us into a different room.  That night we had this card and lots of extra soaps and shampoos :)