Yes, it's an East Coast thing that children are not always invited to weddings, or to invite them to the ceremony but not the reception. A surprise to Tyson (it's standard operating procedure to invite kids to weddings in Tucson), but not to me. So that left the dilemma, to attend PJ's wedding solo, or bring Tyson and have Tyler stay in Tucson or Phoenix, or bring Tyler and hire a babysitter for the night? When I learned that Tyson's mom hadn't been to New York since she was a child, when she first moved to this country, I decided to see if she'd be interested in going. She was!
We arrived in New York on Friday evening in terrible traffic. We went to dinner in our hotel, and straight to bed. In the morning, we walked to meet my sister, and were suprised to realize we were staying right next to the World Trade Center. We stumbled across the Ground Zero site:
Here's the new tower:
And just a few of the names on the memorial:
It felt so strange, talking to Tyler about what happened here. My heart goes out to everyone who had to explain to their children while it was happening, and especially to those who had to explain why their mother or father wouldn't be coming home anymore after that day. I work with someone who survived the attack. Being here so close to the anniversary was a surreal feeling.
We continued walking and eventually met up with Jonell, Art, Payton, Cole and Shelby. After a fabulous breakfast, we all went to a park together to let Tyler burn off some energy. When they left for hair/makeup for the wedding, we took Jonell's advice and walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. Tyler loved sitting on the bridge, watching the ships and helicopters. Those pictures are on Tyson's phone, which is broken. Hopefully we'll be able to retrieve them soon.
That night, Tyson and I went to the wedding. We headed to the Tribeca Rooftop. We hung out in a very crowded lobby, watching with amazement as more and more people packed in. The wait made the entrance to the rooftop all the more wondrous.
The first people we ran into were some awesome relatives of mine, all glammed up - our niece Shelby (Payton too, but we'll get to her in a minute), and our nephew, Cole.
My super awesome sister, Jonell, looking fabulous:
And here's Payton! Wow is this family good-looking!!!
Art walked PJ down the aisle, such a sweet moment.
Dawn's excitement was infectious.
My favorite thing about this ceremony was how well the officiant knew and described them. He asked them to hold hands, and at one point said, "Dawn, these hands are the hands that will never cook for you. But they will fix you a stiff drink at the end of a hard day." Cracked me up. PJ with her vodka and cheez-its...
Tyson and I spent the first half of the cocktail hour enjoying the sunset.
Here's Tyson and me - 35 weeks pregnant...
After appetizers, we headed in to the reception. I had no clue purple would be the theme! Loved it.
Art delivered a beautiful, hilarious toast. It had some sentimental parts too, as you can see by my sister's face.
The food was amazing, and lots of great dancing. The next day, Dawn and PJ held a post-wedding brunch, on the roof at PJ's (oops, now Dawn and PJ's!) condo on Chambers St.
The next day, we took Tyler on the subway (exciting!) and the ferry, to check out the Statue of Liberty. Tyson surprisingly liked the New York subway better than the DC Metro. I think because the fare stays consistent! I loved the moment when I realized our car was nearly empty, yet a guy in his early 40's chose to sit in the seat right next to Anne Marie. I pointed this out to Tyson, and we had a great time teasing her. Alas, she left without giving the guy her number. Could've been great. :)
No surprise that Tyler loved the ferry. I think this was his first time on a boat.
As we were getting off the ferry to return to land, Tyler stopped to take a last look at the statue.
We also went to Central Park to play at one of the playgrounds there. What a great vacation!
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