Thanksgiving festivities BEFORE Sam broke his neck

As much as Sam breaking his neck was the "big deal" at Thanksgiving, it was far from the highlight. Our trip prior to that had been great and certainly too much fun to skip over entirely.

Our trip began with a mostly uneventful drive up to New York. It was mostly uneventful getting to New York, but once we got to Manhattan we took a 2 hour tour of the city looking for our hotel. It was so ridiculous that even at the time it was a little funny. We finally climbed into our beds a little  before 3 a.m. which wouldn't have been too terrible except for the the fact that we had to be up at 6:00 a.m.to get a spot for the Macy's Parade. Miraculously we were able to make our early wake up call and get out soon enough to get a decent seat.

Going to the Macy's parade has always been on my list to do while living on the East Coast, but I was a little worried about how cold and long the experience would be. Surprisingly, neither was too much of an issue.  For all the craziness required to make this happen, it was still totally worth it.

To make the experience even more enjoyable we were meeting up with my entire family on the parade route. The kids were so excited to see their cousins they didn't mind the early hour or long wait for the parade to begin.

When the parade did finally start the kids were thrilled.

I thought it was interesting that even Uncle Sam looked a little deflated after the recent election. (check out his hands.)

 

My favorite balloon might have been Sponge Bob---not because I like Sponge Bob,  because I actually despise that cartoon and it is shunned in our home. I have successfully convinced my children of it's value (or lack thereof) and their reaction when they see him on anything is always a little dramatic and makes me laugh. If this picture could speak it would say, "My eyes!!! my eyes!!

The briefcase brigade was also pretty cool. (Whoever they are!?)

We also enjoyed a few "celebrity sightings".

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who to my kids was just a really tall guy)

Carly Rae Jepsen who, sadly, they were much more excited about.

This band was staying in the same hotel we were and were leaving to line up for the parade at the same time we were just arriving for the night.

 

Ruby taking it all in.

Max and the Elf on the Shelf

Towards the end of the parade Ruby was getting a little antsy--and to be honest, so was I. I don't think I've ever been so excited to see Santa.

After the parade we hopped on the subway to Matt and Whitney's apartment. Riding the subway is always a NYC highlight for my kids.

 

Max even found a quarter on the ground that wasn't super glued there.

Whenever I'm in NYC with my kids I always have at least one moment of adventurous longing when I wish for a temporary job assignment in New York for Sam.  Maybe someday...

After a quick lunch break at the Lambert's we were off to PA for a mini family reunion with my family (and some neck breaking of course), but more on that soon.