This is how we do it!!!

So I had been busy running around AALLLL week(last week) with one of my BF's, trying to get last minute things for Yeti Vaivaka's wedding. So Saturday evening, after the reception, Teki calls me and says he booked us on a red eye to New York....Holy freaken last minute....and this is how we do it.....Don't eeeeeeeeeeeeever get up and pack a backpack of clothes, drop yer kids off like yer dropping off bags of potatos and head to the airport......it takes about 20 minutes for me to pack a diaper bag for my son for church, but tell me I'm going somewhere outta town and I'll be packed and sitting by the door in 5 minutes. LOL...... Teki's uncle who is married to my cousin, live in New Jersey and had a baby blessing the next day, on Sunday. So we get on the plane and here I am looking forward to a nice 3 hour and 40 minute nap on our way to New York, but I guess you can't have it all, cuz that was THEE most uncomfortable ride EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! And to top it off, there were some first class seats open but the stupid bon darts at the counter didnt wanna give it to us!!! hahaha....(That picture up there to the left is of some famous bull....I'm guessing)


This is our first time to New York and I am so excited/scared/excited/nervous/excited and soooooo excited!!! LOL. We got in around 545am. His aunt tells us "when you get here, dont trust the cab drivers cuz they will try to hustle you, ask the person at the courtesy desk to direct you to where you can get a 'cheap' cab." When we get off the plane and come down to outside the airport, THERE IS NO COURTESY DESK!! HA! So we're walking around downstairs, looking hella lost and even worse, looking like some freaken tourist. The taxi cab drivers are staring at us with dollar signs in their eyes, but I guess that's how they always look cuz we asked around and the flat rate between JFK airport and Mahattan is $50. LOL...sidenote, if you ever go to NY and wanna go to Manhattan, a cheaper way to go is JFK airport to the Air Train,$2, and then from the Air Train station, you can catch the Subway, $5, to downtown Manhattan.....that's an FYI. So we catch a cab, cuz we were trying to catch the blessing at 10am. Everyone stayed in downtown Manhattan, but the blessing was in New Jersey, which was about a half hour drive. So we get to the hotel and get dressed. His uncle, Sione, had rented a "Le Bus" type bus for everyone to go, cuz there was quite a few of us. It was a good blessing. We doubled the congragation. They were surprised that so many people had made it out for the blessing. After the blessing we head back to Manhattan and were free to use the day as we wished.(this picture to the right is just of New York...I can't tell, but I think it's just down the street from Times Square...and the streets REALLY ARE just full of taxi's.)








HOOOOOO-LEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-COW, I LOVE NEW YORK!!!!!! It is JUST as it is in movies. We were there for a little over 24 hours but seen and did sooooooooooo much. So we changed for the day and Teki's aunt suggested we take the bus tour, but we wanted to go at it by foot and "experience" everything. Teki's cousin Esu and his wife Sela took us around since they have been there plenty times. Maaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnn, what a freaken blast. Lemme tell you, WE EXPERIENCED it all. We walked down to Time's Square and saw MTV and TRL. Then we hopped in a cab and went further down to where you can shop off the streets, I believe they refer to these "stores" as the black market....hahhahaha.....well, we didnt go down the famous Canal Street but sa'll good cuz we upped it one more. How? Well, I'll tell you how. You know how people slang drugs on the corner of the streets....weeeellll, in New York, they slang everything else on the corner of the street. LOL. So we'll be walking by and like a group of guys are just sitting on the corner, and you think that they are just chillin there talking to eachother, but as soon as you walk by, they all turn around and all you hear is, "hey ma, you want purses, shoes, jeans....I got Coach, Louie, True Religion....what you want ma".....so Esu says, yeah....I swear he did this to just freak us out....cuz we follow this guy, and you think he's taking you to the store, but he goes in an APARTMENT complex, down the hall, up the elevators, down another hall, thru one door and then he turns around and locks it and I'm thinking, 'ok, this is the part where he kills us, RIGHT?!!'...then he opens another door and points us to go in ANOTHER room...and I'm thinking....'grrrreat, another room, further in so NOBODY can hear us scream'. hahaha....then we turn around and were in a room full of purses, shoes and jeans! hahahaha....and that my friends, is what you call STOLEN GOODS!!! hahahahaha.....Uhhh...needless to say, we partook of the "goods" and it was gooooood!!! LOL. (That picture up there to the left is of the Brooklyn Bridge)




This picture is a night shot from the top of the Empire State Building. That was such a rush to be up there and look down. I am sooooooo mad I didn't have my camera. I forgot it in my friends diaper bag and so we had to take pix with his phone....LOL...sorry, that's why all the pictures are such bad quality. Anyways, so yeah....we went up to the top. Sione has a personal driver, Giljen, a nice little Koren guy and he took us on a little tour of NY...it was nice. He took us by the Smithonian Museum, the Manhattan temple, the Brooklyn Bridge, Katz Deli (made famous by the movie "When Harry met Sally") which has the BEST freaken sandwhiches EVER....soooooo goood that I cant even explain it...you just gotta go there and eat one. Where else....ummm...he took us by Wall Street and we saw the NYSE building, which by the way another sidenote...Wall street was named for a wall that was put up on that street to keep the American Indians from going to "their" side of the city. So there used to be a big wall there and when the wall came down they kept that name, and it has been known as wall street since then. We went to ground Zero...it was blocked off and you really can't see anything. They are building just ONE tower in that place of the Twin Towers and it will be called "Liberty Towers". There was soooo much we did and saw in that 24 hours. I can't write it all down cuz this post is long as it is....hell, I don't even know if anyone has even read this far down!!! hahahaha....I just CANNOT stop talking about it. I'm sure everyone around me is soooooooooooo tired of hearing about our trip...geee, imagine if I was there for more then 24 hours....LOL


Weeeelllll, I just cant tell you how much I enjoyed our little get away. We caught the last flight back on Monday and got back around 10pm on Monday. I'm so glad I was able to make it out for Sione and Katie's baby blessing and so glad I had the opportunity to experience New York. I am definitly planning another trip out there. This time I wanna see the "real" New York...you know...the GHETTO!!! LOL...My brother Laisa served there in the ghetto and so were going back with him so he can take us around that part of New York. This last pix is just of the Late Show...I dunno...I dont even watch that show....just took it cuz it was there and it was cool!!! LOL. Hope you were able to understand my blabbling....if not, you just GOTTA GO some day...and when you go, hit me up cuz I will hella drop my bags of potatos off somewhere and join you!!!