The Vance's: a mid winters vacation to NYC.

There are so many more pictures and so many stories and even better memories from our week away. I chose just a few of my favorites to capture so I can look back later and remember what an incredible week we had.

This vacation was sort of unexpected, really. We had been planning to go to Hawaii for Spring Break but after seeing flights well over $1600/person it just wasn't in the budget (should it be in anyone's budget to pay that?!? Crazy.). Randomly Matt got an email from a hotel he's stayed at in NYC in the past about a promotion they were offering for a reduced fare on rooms until the end of March. Adding in cheap flights, a week off of school and a little excitement from me and the trip was booked!

We crammed in as many sights as possible over 5 days, walked over 31 miles, ate delicious food, saw incredible art exhibits, walked in sunny weather and had the best family time together. Other than missing Simon (because I just couldn't take a toddler to the city for the week) and battling an awful sinus infection (it was miserable) the week was perfect!

We got up SUPER early Monday morning to board our flights and the kids were so excited. It was the simplest plane ride too. 2 older-ish kids, coloring books, books, IPads and snacks and I barely heard a word from them for 5 straight hours. Woohoo!

We checked into our hotel and they gave us a room on the 45th floor with an incredible view of the city. Carter doesn't love elevators so he asked if he could take the stairs. Ha!! Lucky for him this elevator wasn't bad and never made any of our stomachs churn.

We literally dropped our bags, grabbed our coasts and took off! A quick pizza dinner at the Plaza and then off to Times Square!

Lucy's one request was to visit the huge M&M store. She was in heaven with all the chocolate and loved getting to make her own special mix of M&Ms to take home with her.

The lights, the people, the stores - it was all a bit overwhelming but also so fun to see everything at night. The perfect 1st night adventure. Plus, with all of us stuck on PST we stayed up super late to walk around the city.

The next morning we walked to breakfast at Sarabeths and had a delicious meal. Which was great because it was most definitely our splurge meal of the week. I can't remember the last time we paid that much for some pancakes, eggs and french toast but so worth it to have a good breakfast to start our day.

We walked to the Museum of Natural History for a morning of dinosaurs, skeletons and other old artifacts. We all loved it!

Along the way we saw Central Park on our right and tons of city buildings and churches to our left. I really wanted the kids to notice the little details all week so we pointed out different architectural details we saw in various neighborhoods, cultures, languages...everything. It was fun for them to start noticing it on their own as the days went on.

Lucy with...skeleton Lucy!

We had to make a special trip to floor 3 just for Carter to see all the reptiles!

And the dinosaurs. By far my favorite floor. These pictures don't even begin to do it justice. These things were huge!!!!!

It was beautiful when we left so we took a long stroll back to the hotel through Central Park. 70 degrees in the middle of February in New York? Yes please!

That night we headed out to dinner before going to Broadway! The kids chose School of Rock and I'm so glad they did. Some people might think that's a silly show to see but let me tell you, the kids in this production were outstanding. The acting, singing and musical performances left us speechless. Lucy was on the edge of her seat the entire 3 hours. So fun and such a special treat for all of us!