Gia Is Great!!!

This weekend was lots of fun!! We spent Saturday night at the Jazz game in New Jersey with our friends the Hayters and Ben's brother, Nate, and his wonderful girlfriend, Gia. It was a good, exciting game, but as some might know, the Jazz lost by only a few points. We stayed the night at a hotel near the airport and spent the next day with Nate and Gia in NYC. Gia works for MSNBC and was able to give us an exclusive (and free) tour of the NBC studios. This was my favorite part of the trip...or at least in the top few! She took us to Conan O'Brien's studio and we got to pretend...



That is Raleigh and Kellen Hayter with Ben and Luke in Conan's bandstand.

That is Nate and Gia with much more impressive "pretending" faces!

We got to pretend some more on the Today Show set! This was really fun to see. I was amazed at how small the set was. I always assumed the "back stage" area would be twice or triple as big as what you saw on TV. It's not! It's very small.

If you look closely you'll see Caleb sprawled out on the floor there. We all walked away and he tried to come down the steps big-boy style and bit the dust. He didn't even cry; I had forgotten about it until I saw this picture. He's a tough one!

This is Nate pretending to be a grouchy camera man! We also got the see the SNL set, which was super fun to. We were there the day after Mariah Carey performed. I don't have any pictures of this set because Gia took us there first and it didn't don on me to get the camera out until we were walking away...idiot, I know! Gia works right outside Ann Curry's office and she even let us have a peek inside. Down the hall was Tom Brokaw's office which we also got to see and Ben said, "It's just like I would have pictured his office to be."

After the tour we went to the StarLight Diner (I think that's what it was called) on Broadway and paid way to much money for mediocre food! This restaurant is the one where the servers sing. Contrary to the food, all the singers were really good. Sunday night we drove to Philadelphia so that Ben could spend a day at Johnson & Johnson where he will be doing his internship this summer. J&J were so kind in setting us up on the top floor of the Loew's Hotel in downtown. I have to say, I was a little apprehensive about trooping my boys through this fine hotel only to receive pitying looks from busy business men and women, but it was all great! Thankfully both boys saved their most dramatic meltdowns for the elevators and our suite.

The service was great, and I have to wonder if this was because we were "floor 32" clients, or they are simply amazing at customer service. The concierge was particularly wonderful, giving the boys toys and offering up lists of great family-friendly restaurants. The next morning he was all a'shining with his interest in how our night went. It was great! The following night, Ben's dad found us a great deal at the Marriott across the street. A normally $250 room only cost $70 bucks on priceline.com. Funny though, when we got up to our room we thought, "Eh, not so great! A little small and no flat screen." FOR A $250 ROOM! Our standards changed in a night!! Don't worry, they came right back down after getting home!! Here is the only picture I got of the Loew's Hotel room. The view was amazing, with windows stretching the entire length of the room and into the bathroom. I loved it and one night was not enough!

Lastly, (and then I'll end this crazy-long post) a huge thanks to Gia not only for the tour, but for also spoiling my boys. The last couple times we have seen Gia she has left money with Luke and Caleb in order to buy a new toy. Luke and Caleb are now the proud owners of this Little Einsteins Space Ship and crew! Thanks Gia!!!! They love it and I am ready to rip out it's batteries..."We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship, there's so much to see, Little Einsteins..." I suppose it's only natural!