NYC back in May

I don't think I ever posted about this amazing trip I had back in MAY!

So, way back in May I went to NYC with a great friend, McKenzi. It was so much fun! We saw so many things and she is such an outgoing person, it made the trip perfectly awesome! The only down side to it all was that just a few days prior to leaving, I discovered that I was pregnant (after feeling nauseous and taking a pregnancy test). I still remember the strange food cravings I had. McKenzi had brought Twix candy bars which I typically LOVE, but every time she offered, I had no desire to eat them. Weird.
So, McKenzi is going to be a famous pro photographer someday for families and babies. She has a great personality for it (actually, she has a great personality for just about any field) and she has a naturally artistic eye. I only wish that she hadn't moved away so that she and I could create the greatest photography studio together.
I've got TONS of pictures from our trip. I'll try to remember and label which ones were taken by McKenzi.

So, the two of us drove to NYC with our bikes squished in the back of McKenzi's car, parked in a garage, and rode our bikes all over town, all the meanwhile, taking pictures.

Here we are just before leaving the garage. I totally miss my smaller figure... (10 more weeks till this baby is due!!!)

 Just before getting going though, we stopped to go to the bathroom (you ladies know how early pregnancy is with peeing all the time). This is the fancy pot we found to relieve ourselves in. Notice the sign above the toilet.

 It was neat riding our bikes through Central Park (that place is huge!).

 

We stopped for a bit here to watch this bubble guy. For a little bit, he was trying to teach this homeless man how he made the bubbles.

 It was nice listening to this band play nice music from just next to the bubble guy.

 I believe it was a Friday afternoon, so there were a few wedding/engagement sessions while we stopped to walk around at the park. I could not believe my eyes with this photographer. I mean, he looks totally ligit and high end professional, but look what he did with his camera! He took the lens off one camera and put it on another while leaving his second camera and lens totally exposed to the bubble juice! Sadly, just moments before he picked up the camera and lens a bubble popped just above the equipment (the photographer did not see this happen) and the photographer picked up the camera and lens, put it together and walked on to his next photo op area. I could hardly believe my eyes. I mean seriously, this guys pictures had to have major spots in them for the rest of the day, not to mention that it is thousands of dollars he put at risk for breaking. Hopefully he took a look at the pictures he was producing from this other camera eventually. How mean am I to not tell him what I saw happen?! I guess I just felt like he thought he owned the park ordering strangers to move from his shot (and I'm sure his army look intimidated me also). It was interesting though to watch many photographers interact with their subjects. I learned that even "high-end" looking photographers have malfunctions with their equipment and that they're not perfect...

 

That night we stopped by a hamburger restaurant that had broadway stars for waiters and waitresses. They sang songs. This guy game and sang part of a song to me. Clearly, I was embarrassed and didn't know how to react.

 Just behind where McKenzi is sitting, some of the performers would walk.

After dinner, we took our bikes back to our car and walked the strip. Here we are on the steps at Times Square.

 We sat on the steps a bit and watched some actors. It was a little strange, honestly as they took clips from lots of different broadway shows and put them together for a 30 minute show. I couldn't follow. I guess I don't know my broadway shows.

 We left a little early from that show and I saw this lady wearing a pink ski suit (in MAY!). Seriously, you can get away with wearing some strange things in NYC, but this one just didn't make a bit of sense to me!

 

The next morning we got up, ate our very good complimentary breakfast from the hotel, and set out on our bikes!

 

 

(McKenzi)

 

 

 Our first stop was China Town. I guess I imagined it differently. I thought China Town would have been a neighborhood of cheap Chinese trinkets, but I was wrong... I honestly felt like I had traveled across the world to China. Very few spoke English and it reeked of seafood.

 These crabs were still climbing around.

An Asian market.

 Dried sea creatures...

 After a couple hours of Chinatown we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge.

 After the bridge, we walked around Brooklyn Heights which is a very cute neighborhood just beyond the bridge and where McKenzi served part of her mission for the church. Actually, she was serving here when the twin towers fell. She told me several miracle stories of members in her ward who were sparred one way or another from the devastation of that day. 

Here we are on the Brooklyn side of things, at sunset facing the city. I love this shot of McKenzi!

 After a bit, McKenzi and I switched lens's so she could try out one of my wider angle lens's. She made me laugh as she modeled her increased bosom size after putting the camera and lens safely down her shirt.

 

The trip was so much fun! We stayed very busy and by the end of it, I was completely exhausted! I remember coming home at 2AM and being so physically drained, but I couldn't fall asleep for a bit because I was so riled up from all our adventures!

I'm so excited to be able to see McKenzi again when we come to visit AZ in the next couple weeks since she'll be coming to visit her sister who lives in Glendale!