Janet’s daughter Ellie is working on a fun project at school, and I was honored to be asked to help. Flat Stanley is a character in a series of children’s books, and the assignment was to send a flat version of themselves on a journey to a faraway place. Ellie wanted to send her flat self somewhere really far away, so she sent Flat Ellie to visit me! One day, we went ice skating at Rockefeller Center, went to see a show at Radio City Music Hall, and visited the Empire State Building. Another day, we took a boat out to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Here are the photos of Flat Ellie’s adventures out and about in the Big Apple.

Flat Ellie ice skating at Rockefeller Center Ice Rink

Flat Ellie getting ready to see Madagascar Live! at Radio City Music Hall

Flat Ellie and Auntie Jen down the street from the Empire State Building

Flat Ellie on a boat on the East River, with Manhattan in the background

Flat Ellie on the boat, with the Brooklyn Bridge behind her

Flat Ellie with Auntie Jen and her friends, in front of Liberty Island

Flat Ellie in front of the Statue of Liberty

Flat Ellie really enjoyed NYC, and I’m hoping she will convince real Ellie and her family to come visit me soon!

One of my friends has a connection to some of the law enforcement agencies in NYC, so we got a special police escorted tour of the East River, Hudson River, and the Statue of Liberty. After experiencing this very important New York monument without having to battle the tourist lines and crowded ferries, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do it the “normal” way!

Jessica and I on our private police escorted boat - with two police officers and a special agent on board, I’ve never felt safer in my life!

Brooklyn Bridge

Nicki and Jeff

Inside the boat

Flying down the East River

USS Intrepid on the Hudson River

The Concorde

Submarine

Statue of Liberty

The whole gang (including Flat Ellie!)

Disembarking at Liberty Island. The tourists standing in line for the ferry to Ellis Island were taking pics of us as we docked. Not sure if they thought we were bad guys or special visitors.

The original torch

Looking up towards the crown from inside, at the base of the Statue

View of Ellis Island from the top of the pedestal

Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge

Lady Liberty’s shadow

We had to join the civilians on the regular ferry back to Manhattan.

Thanks to Angela for an amazing experience and an informative tour of the Statue of Liberty!

Corin called to hear all about my awesome ski trip to Park City. He can’t wait til he’s big enough to go skiing someday!

Heather and I were in job limbo last year, so we couldn’t get our ski trip together, but we were determined to resume the girls ski trip in 2011. This year, we chose Park City, UT. We were joined by our friends Angela and Lori, as well as Heather’s college roommate, Jessica, and Angela’s friend from VA, Jen. Yes, there were two Jen’s in the house. It was an amazing trip, and we’re already talking about next year!

Our cute little townhouse had five levels, with each room on its own floor. We were just up the hill from Main St., where most of the restaurants, bars and shops are. We were also just a 10 minute walk to the Town Lift, where we caught the lift up to Park City Mountain.

Our first day of skiing started off very snowy, but once it cleared, we were left with fresh snow and sunny skies!

Jessica and Heather

Lori and me

(We did not walk up this hill to check out this run, but it looked pretty hardcore)

A snowboarder’s nightmare

Heather and I later discovered that this marker lead to a really beautiful but winding run.

Our snowboarders - Angela, Jen and Lori

Me and Jessica

Angela’s walk of shame - to retrieve her runaway board. Luckily it did not injure anyone. Also lucky, it was the end of our day on the slopes.

Aprés ski at No Name Saloon - me, Heather and Jen. That first beer never tasted so good! On a separate note, I ran into an ex-coworker from NYC at this bar!

Jessica, Lori and Heather

The whole gang

Our second day of skiing looked like this - gorgeous and sunny!

Park City Mountain has amazing, long runs. My favorite kind of ski resort! And check out all the fresh snow from the day before.

Heather and me

We were more confident and adventurous on the slopes on our second day, which lead us to check out a run called Vista. After a short distance through some trees, we came upon this wide-open area.

There was no one else back there, few tracks on the fresh powder, and views like this.

Jessica, Heather, Jen and Lori

And me

After about five minutes of this…

We realized why no one was back here. Because the second half of the run dropped off to moguls with trees on top! This pic doesn’t quite give you the perspective of how scary this was, but suffice it to say my first thought as I peered down the mountain was “oh crap.”

But here’s the view from below!

We all took our time getting down.

But everyone made it down without hitting a tree!

Woohoo! We did it! And we definitely earned our lunch.

Me and Jessica

The whole gang

Lori, me and Angela

Some post-lunch photos of the girls as we made our way down to the bottom of the resort

Friday night was our big night out - aprés ski beers at No Name, followed by drinks at Bistro 12 (while we waited for our terribly delayed dinner reservation), and an amazing dinner at Chimayo. Margaritas for everyone!

The new friends we made at Bistro 412 sent us a bottle of champagne. Cheers!

We skied on Saturday as well, but our third consecutive day on the slopes was tough. We’d all had a little too much fun the night before, plus we were physically exhausted. All in all, it was an amazing ski trip with a great group of girls. Can’t wait for next year!