Hey Everyone!

     Wow.  So much to tell you all.  Still working on pics and videos, almost have it figured out!!!
     Ok, so Tuesday.  Tuesday we slept in which was AWESOME!  We had an appointment at 1 p.m. to go and visit the 9/11 memorial.  It was such an amazing experience.  First, make sure you have a ticket.  You don't have to pay for it, but you cannot get in if you don't have one.  Second, you have to have your ticket checked and scanned in every line you go through and you go through a lot of lines.  The first one is to make sure you actually have a ticket, then you go through another one, then another one to go through security (which is just like airport security), then another line, and then one last line right before you enter the memorial.  Waiting in those lines was totally worth it.  There are the two actual memorials where the previous towers were standing with the fountains.  Everyone who died on September 11, 2001 in the twin towers, pentagon, all the different flights, the first responders, and those who died in the world trade center bombing in 1994 has their name inscribed on the memorials.  They are also building a museum, and several more buildings on the site.  They are spectacular and reading all the names and just being there was such a touching experience.
     After we went through the memorial, we went into the 9/11 visitors center.  They had many recovered remains from the fallen world trade center that were in display cases.  They all had great stories and captions to go along with them.  There was so much there and the feeling of respect that everyone had was very moving.
     Right after we left the visitors center, it started raining and did not stop until after we went to bed last night.  So for everything else we did on Tuesday, we did it in the rain.  No, walking all over the city in the rain is not fun.  We walked over to Wall St. and the Trinity church which was very beautiful.  Then we got giant pretzels and New York hotdogs and they were honestly pretty good.  Then we pretty much walked for 1,000 miles to find this store we were told to go to and we didn't even buy anything there.  We went to a bunch of other stores and got a couple things and then we went to dinner at the Shake Shack.  It was so good!!!!!!  If anybody ever comes to New York, go and eat at the Shake Shack.  There are a couple of them and it is super amazingly yummy!
     Wednesday!  Today was a lot of trying to figure out when to do what.  We decided to go and visit the American Museum of Natural History.  It was so cool and so huge.  There was no way we could see everything, but the things we did see were very interesting.  Personally I love going to museums and things like that.  I could do that they whole time we are here.  It was very neat to go through the museum and I cannot wait to go through more before we leave.  After we left the museum, we went to try and find somewhere to eat.  Everywhere we went had waiting times of over an hour or they were all booked out for the night.  So, we decided to do the city lights tour early.  This tour took us on a double decker bus with an open top to all the big attractions in the city.  It was a lot of fun, but it was SUPER cold.  I recommend taking the tour, but make sure you wear many layers and warm shoes.  The tour was about 2 hours and once we were dropped off, we were so cold we went into the closest place to eat and just ate there for dinner.  It was very warm and the Italian food was good.
     After we ate dinner, we all pretty much got a second wind and decided to walk down to Rockefeller Center.  We watched the ice skating (which had a four hour wait), saw the huge tree, walked around a little more, and then came back to the apartment.  It was a great day AND it didn't rain!!  This week is going by so quickly.
     I am so sorry that I don't have pictures and videos up yet.  I really am going to try and get them all up tomorrow.  I am 99% sure it is going to happen.
     It's after midnight again. We are off to bed now. I have a feeling we are going to sleep well tonight.