Rachel & Alex

Loaded up the kids and went with some friends to pick fruit in Brentwood. Alex was extremely excited since Cherries are his absolute favorite! I was excited because I grew up with a cherry tree and hadn't picked cherries for years. It brought back memories of me and Kayla climbing the tree, picking cherries, throwing them into the swimming pool below, and then sitting in the pool while eating them (so sanitary I know..). Cherry picking was the BEST! They let us sample the cherries and the branches were the perfect height! The strawberry farmers wouldn't let us sample the delicious strawberries, which is probably a good thing because once we paid for them and actually tried one... They were SO unbelievably good... I would have eaten the whole field if I could!
I ended up making a chocolate cherry pie, and a strawberry cheese pie, but the fruit was divine just eating straight from the box! The fruits of our labors didn't last long (har har)

April 2nd-8th I was able to fly to NYC and stay with my BFFs Brett and Bradley!! Yes, it was AWESOME and, yes I had SO much fun!!! I've never been to NY when the weather was nice (always in the winter), my week there was PERFECT!!! I was able to do everything that I planned for my trip! This is a very long, extensive recap, with lots and lots of pictures!

I got in late on Friday night, took a cab from Laguardia and got the apartment around 11 PM. We decided to go out for dinner (I hadn't eaten anything substantial all day!). After walking around we ended up at the restaurant from Seinfeld... I didn't take a pic!!! The inside was completely different (obviously since the one on the show was a set) and the food was.. Meh.. They get their business from their famous sign!

Saturday morning.. This is where it all began! On the stoop of the apartment, we're off to spend the day in Central Park

Such gorgeous weather!

The fountain on Enchanted, I wish it was turned on!

Black Wolf the wizard, he makes a guest appearance on this hilarious clip,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugk37TvIR8E

After laying out and enjoying an afternoon picnic we headed down to Soho for dinner. We ate at this AMAZING Cuban restaurant, the corn on the cob was to die for! It got really cold really fast so we cut our walking around the city short and jumped on the subway for the house. We ended up buying a lot of junk food an vegging out while watching Lord of the Rings...

Easter Sunday was another beautiful day! We had an Easter morning brunch then headed to Brooklyn

We walked around the pier, enjoying the weather. We could see the statue of liberty, but it was so small and so far away

Finally on the bridge, YEAH Brooklyn!

I love this picture of Bradley!

After we walked the bridge we went and hung out in a park.. There are a lot of parks to hang out in!

Walking down wall street toward the pier

Pier 17

Back in Manhattan, that's the bridge and Brooklyn behind us

I spent a lot of time waiting for the subway.. The B train takes forever!

Some awesome guy in Central Park, there are SO many characters in NY!!

I love this picture! It's so appropriate for Spring!

LDS temple, that's where Brett and Brad attend church!

Monday the twins had to work so I was able to go explore the city on my own! I wanted to go hang out in a museum and check out a few other sites. I walked to the subway feeling very assured of where I was going.. The only problem is coming up after being underground! I get so flipped around! I don't know which direction I am facing, so I don't know where to go! I ended up parking my butt at a Starbucks (and succumbing to their delicious pumpkin bread) so I could call my navigator! Luckily he's always available and I figured out that I was only a block away from the museum! I had just turned the wrong way!

30 Rock.. I love you Tina Fey!!!

MoMa! I wanted to see the Tim Burton exhibited, but it was sold out..

This was AWESOME! I had no idea it was on display here and when I saw it.. I literally lost my breath! It is even more beautiful in person. I could have stared at it all day

Picasso... It's cool to see, but I prefer the Van Gogh and Monet

Yes, that's me taking a picture of myself, taking a picture in a museum.. Got that??

I had a mishap and ended up in a VERY scary part of the museum..
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/965
It was frightening on so many levels and I would NEVER call any of what she's doing ART! For me it was just an excuse to be pornographic and crude.. NEVER go to the top floor of the MoMa! NEVER!
After I ran out of the top floor screaming, I found the Monets.. They are indescribable too.. I love when art evokes emotion, and Monet can definitely do that. I had a wonderful conversation with 2 ladies from Long Island. I told them I went to the top floor and they told me that they felt bad for me! Then we discussed how amazing Monet is.

I had to make a special trip to the apple store, and I didn't even get to buy an ipad!

Walking down Park Ave

I met Brett at his internship and we headed to Grand Central

We met Brad in times square

And found a quaint little Thai restaurant where we could eat outside and enjoy the evening. Pad thai is my favorite!

Tuesday I woke up and took a train down to Penn station, from there I boarded a train for Hoboken NJ. I LOVE the Cake Boss! Once I realized the bakery was only about an hour away, I knew I HAD to go! While on the train I met 2 other families who were headed to Carlo's! We decided to go together. It was so great to not have to wait in line alone (we had to wait about an hour to get into the shop). One of the families was ordering a cake for their daughter's 21st birthday, the other family was a mom and 2 teenager daughters visiting from CA!! Finally we got to go into the bakery and it was SO small! There were SO many things I wanted to try!! I ended up getting chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate chip cookies, a cannelloni, and the famous coffee cake. The strawberries and the cannelloni were absolutely AMAZING! It was a lot of fun watching the teenage girls go crazy over everyone they recognized from the store, I was just excited to see the pastries!

I met Brett in times square, there are a bunch of chairs set up to just sit around in. I am a people watcher so I could have sat there all day! A couple came up and asked Brett to take their picture (I think they were Indian). He took a few for them and they weren't smiling in ANY of them! Then they said they wanted a picture with me! So now they're going to have a bunch of pictures of themselves in NY, not smiling, and one picture with a white girl who has a big smile on her face!

In Bryant park. They had the most amazing toilets I've ever seen! There is a machine on the back of the toilet that changes the toilet seat cover after each use! Is it a waste of money and plastic?? Uh ya, but pretty awesome nonetheless!

Brett had Wednesday off so we headed to battery park to take the statue of liberty tour. We actually did this tour together about 3 and a half yrs ago, in the freezing cold winter! The day we went it was almost 80 degrees!!! NY was breaking records with the warm temperature!
On the ferry heading to the island

The first time we did this tour, we fell asleep on the boat and didn't get off at Ellis island. I LOVE history so I insisted that we stay awake and go check it out this time... I should have stayed asleep on the boat! The museum is probably fascinating if you have a tour guide, but.. It's pretty bland and boring when you're wandering around by yourself! I was looking for the book with all the signatures of the people who came to the island, I asked someone working there and he told me it didn't exist (hello! Am I the only one who's seen Hitch????)!! He said all the information was online now.. Well boo! I wanted to see the actual book!!!

Manhattan from Ellis Island

After our tour we walked around Greenwich Village and stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. We ate outside and it was SO HOT!

I wanted to hit up every bakery we passed! This one had AMAZING red velvet cupcakes, and coconut macaroons! I guess they were also featured on Sex and the City, we saw a tour group (sex and the city tour group!) going in for their free cupcakes.

So pretty.. I've got to figure out how to make these!

The naked cowboy! I didn't know he was still around!

Waiting to see if we could get tickets for our show. Some plays have a lottery where you go 2 hrs before, put your name on a list, and if they draw you, you get front row tickets for $26!!!!

There were SO many people in TS! I kept wondering where they were going..

Hanging out in Times Square

This is the show we saw, the kid from High School musical was the star. So naturally there were hundreds of teenage girls in the audience screaming!
I never saw High School musical, but I could not get over how OLD this guy looked!
How does a 30 year old (I don't know how old he is) pass as a teenager??
The play was pretty good and they had some great songs