Start Spreading the News. I'm leaving today.

James and I did leave the kids over winter vacation for a 24 hour get away to New York City. James had business there (keynote speaking at a conference). I had nothing but pleasure awaiting me!
There were many pluses to this trip. One was that it was nearly free. James' train fare, hotel, and meals were all paid for by the company. My train fare was free (frequent train miles), my hotel room was free (we stayed on Broadway, close to Times Square) and I only paid a small amount for my food!

Here we are at Rockefeller Plaza. We're big fans of 30 Rock.

I want candy! Isn't this the prettiest candy shop you've ever seen? And how about that Big Hunk in front of it?

I don't remember there being a Hershey's Store in Times Square last time I was here!

I knew my kids would love these giant Hershey products!

The 3 story m&m store was like something out of a chocolate dream!

Surprise of surprises! Who should we run into at the M&M's store but friends from Boston! Jen Thomas and Sara Apke just happened to be "doing NYC" with their families, same time, same place! What are the odds?

James and Mike Thomas at the M&M's store. Mike loaned James this bag of M&M's so it would look like James bought stuff too.

James and I caught this Broadway Show starring Corbin Bleu! We liked it. It was fun, upbeat, and very entertaining.

One of the greatest parts of the trip was meeting my sister Heather who lives outside of NYC and going for breakfast at the City Bakery. We spent hours talking and catching up! Taking subways with her and sipping hot chocolate out of bowls reminded me of our trip to France together! It was fun, fun fun!
Those are homemade marshmellows strung up behind us!

Bowls of the richest, thickest hot chocolate I've ever had. You could eat it with a fork; it was that thick!

Our breakfast location.

I perused the most amazing Toys R Us I have ever seen. Here is a lego structure of the Empire State Building. After going through all of the chocolate stores and candy stores and toy stores I thought, "We've got to bring our kids back here. It's been too long since we've done a NYC trip with them."

When we got home, our kids were all great! They'd done a super job of taking care of each other and fixing meals and running the household.

We brought them these cupcakes from Magnolias Bakery. They were so delicious; I'm still thinking about them!

It was so easy to get away and it was an inexpensive trip. We had so much fun in 24 hours. I left thinking, we should do this more often! And also thinking, "We've done all of the touristy NYC stuff with our older kids, but never with our younger ones. It's time to go back with them!" Maybe April break?

Thanks NYC! We had a great time! We'll be back.