New York with the in-laws minus my husband February 2011

I was sitting at my in-law's one day and listening to them discuss their trip to New York for Shelly's birthday. My father-in-law (Stan), mother-in-law (Eileen), sister-in-law (Shelly) and her boyfriend (Patrick) were going for her birthday. Stan told me & Karl how much the plane tickets were and we both were amazed how cheap it was. Eileen suggested that I go since it wouldn't be that bad of a price. Karl couldn't go because of the tax season but he insisted that I go...so I said yes. I was so excited. I was going to go to New York for 6 whole days!! Right after I just went to Chicago. We decided to not tell Shelly so that it would be a surprise. She was so happy when she found out. I have the best sister-in-law in the world. I have the best in-laws!

What an amazing trip we had. We did everything a true tourist would do. I loved it. We woke up at a reasonable hour and didn't get back to the hotel until it was night time. I lost weight on the trip from all of the walking haha. Also, in New York the restaurants have labels with calories listed on them so you can make a better choice if you want :). The first day we were there I didn't make any "healthy" choices. Oh another awesome thing. Patrick is a huge Starbucks fan so we got Starbucks every morning. I LOVED it. We stayed at the Belvedere. Shelly, Eileen and I squeezed into a full size bed. That was fun lol. It was a tight squeeze.

Check out these photos if you have a Facebook account :)

Day 1 - The Belvedere, walking around Grand Central Station, stopping by Mood, and walking around the Rockefeller Center.

Day 2 - Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Time Square.

Day 3 & 4 - The Bronx Zoo, Skating at the Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, and Museum of Natural History (one of my favorites).

Day 5 & 6 - China Town, Little Italy, F A O Schwarz (I LOVED playing on the Big Piano) and Central Park.