New York Photo Album
New York Trip for Becky's Birthday
For Becky's first birthday after our wedding, Matt pulled off the biggest surprise of our relationship so far -- he scheduled Becky to have time off from work and planned an entire trip to New York City. We'd both had a few long weeks and Becky was really wanting to get out of town (perhaps the Quilt Shop Hop in the Hill Country), but wasn't holding out much hope since Matt was in a real crunch time at work. Somehow, though, Matt pulled off a series of great surprises instead of being at work that weekend.
He showed up at Becky's office on Friday morning with a wrapped gift -- a guidebook to New York. Shocked and surprised, Becky ran around the office telling everybody (most knew already) then went home to pack. Within a few hours, we were on a non-stop flight from Austin to JFK on Jet Blue. We got into the city and checked into the W hotel.
That might have been enough of a surprise, but not for that weekend. Becky's parents live in Connecticut -- a short train ride from the city. We'd all visited New York before on several occasions, actually. So, when we arrived in New York, it was all Matt could do to stop Becky from calling her parents, not necessarily with the idea they could visit, but at least to let them know. Somehow, Matt held Becky off until Saturday morning.
Saturday morning, we got up, ate some great bagels, then made our way to Grand Central Station. Under the guise of calling our friend Lisa, Matt makes a call to Becky's dad to set up the next act. He then turns the phone over to Becky, who dials her parents' cell phone number -- fully expecting them to be at the quilt show they were scheduled to attend. Becky says "We're in Grand Central Station!" and her mom responds something like "What? We are too!"
You see... Matt wasn't the only one who pulled off a world-class surprise. Becky's dad (Bruce) managed to surprise Becky's mom (Connie) in a big way. They had planned to go to a quilt show, but Bruce even arranged with Connie's friends that she wouldn't be able to be there, and got Connie to the train station, then into New York City. Who knows what she was expecting -- probably just a nice spring day in New York City -- not that she'd get to see Becky & Matt.
So, anyhow, it was a great surprise. We spent the day walking around New York -- saw a Broadway show, ate some great food, and just enjoyed being together.
Strangely enough, we didn't get any pictures that day, so onto the photos already!
Brooklyn Bridge
On our past New York trips (either together or separately, considering Matt did live in New York & Connecticut in his younger years), we'd done most of the typical NY sites, so we chose a few new things for this trip, including the Brooklyn Bridge.
In some other world, Becky is a bridge designer, not a church staffer. I just have this strange fascination with the engineering behind bridges, and that's probably why the Brooklyn Bridge fascinates me -- it's construction was a monumental feat. So, we took the subway under the river, and walked back over the Bridge, the Manhattan skyline greeting us.
The tiny spec below is the Statue of Liberty:
Here's Matt (after our walk)
And just a few pictures from our room at the W -- Matt bought Becky the tulips for her birthday.
