NYC Trip-Part One

I don't know exactly when Rion started planning our trip to New York City, but I know that he worked on it for months. He did an amazing job keeping it a secret. We went to a concert for our anniversary in March and on our way there, I had to pull over so Rion could take a call. He ended up missing the call and having to leave a message. We were eating dinner several minutes later when he got a call back. He went outside to take the call. He told me that I would find out later what that call was all about. Turns out that he was talking to Paul from the Tonight Show with David Letterman. Apparently you request tickets and then your name gets selected out of all the thousands of other names of people who requested tickets. So, we just happened to be one of the lucky ones selected. Rion had to answer a question in order for Paul to deem him worthy of receiving the tickets. The question was "what color hair does our announcer have"? Rion answered "red" and got it right (I would have had no idea). He told Paul that this was a surprise trip for his wife, so Paul put us on a special list (we didn't find out how special that list was until we got to the show ). So fast forward several weeks and its the day before we leave. Rion brings home a backpack and tells me that I have to pack everything in that bag for our trip (even my camera and purse). He tells me to bring bug spray and sunscreen (trying to throw me off). He did end up telling me that we were flying, because I had to adjust my toiletries accordingly. He said that the weather would be like it is here. So I freak out and tell him that I can't pack for a trip in which I have no idea where we are going in a backpack! But somehow I managed (turns out the weather was really cold and we froze our butts off, but we didn't care). So Wednesday after Rion worked for a few hours, we drop the kids off at Nana and Grandpa's house and are on our way. We drove to Madison for dinner and beer at our favorite micro brewery, Great Dane. We have a great dinner and then drive the rest of the way to Chicago. I had only found out the day before that we were driving to Chicago to fly out. It was all part of the plan to fool me and keep me guessing. We stayed right near the airport. We tried to get some sleep, but we were both too excited and had to get up at 3am to catch the shuttle to the airport. I still had no idea where we were going. Day One: Our wake up call goes off at 3am, so we drag ourselves out of bed. I go to the bathroom and when I come out Rion is playing Frank Sinatra "New York, New York" on his phone. It plays for a minute or so and I just stand there in disbelief. Rion thinks that I'm crazy and might not know the song and I tell him that I just can't believe what I'm hearing. He hands me an "I Love New York" t-shirt that he bought for me to wear that day and a New York City guide book. He also had me a copy of the itinerary with some things left blank because they were surprises. He had everything planned out-where we were staying, all of our meals and what we were going to do. It felt like a dream. I have wanted to go to New York City for a long time and I had no idea I would be able to go so soon.