NYC, as promised

It was so long ago that I promised this vacation story. Sorry! Life Happens. Warning: Picture intensive!

After arriving at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, we headed to board our ferry to the Statue of Liberty (as previously pictured.) We enjoyed a views of Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

After checking into our cheap hotel, we drove into the city, parked, and hopped on the subway to Grand Central Terminal.

The lightening wasn't great for inside pictures, but here's the outside view.

Next door to GCT was the Chrysler Building.

After pizza and some really quite good shrimp fajitas, we crashed back at the hotel.

The next morning we drove back into the city, parked for free on the street (we'd paid $20 the day before just to park), and walked to Mass. Along the way we passed the Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center.

We celebrated Mass at the very beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral.

After Mass we eat a delicious bagel at Ess A Bagel. Then walked to Central Park. The weather was really quite nice so the kids we're able to play (around the melting ice, of course.)

After this we were pretty well exhausted, so we headed home. We drove by Times Square and saw Elmo and Spiderman on the street. We also saw Wall Street and its famous bull, Trinity Church where Alexander Hamilton is buried, and Ground Zero.

The kids' favorite parts were 'the ferry, the tunnel, the subway, and maybe Statue of Liberty.' Go figure.

I guess I'll make the above 10+ things to be thatnkful for! So , where have you been recently? Any exciting plans for this weekend? There's a rumor that our prodigal son is to return!!!!

Weekend Fun

Hotel Room: 33.04
Highway Tolls: 58.80
Ferry Tickets for Six: 29.00
The excitement of seeing Lady Liberty for the first time: Priceless



More Pictures to come!

Our Inauguration Celebration

First, we took a drive out of town.

Enjoying sites along the way.

Then went for a nice crisp walk through nature.

But mostly just cozied up in front of the campfire!

This Past Weekend

I had planned on mowing the grass while Thom was working this Saturday, but instead we took a spur of the moment road trip. We drove up to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and checked into our hotel. It was right in the middle of gorgeous rolling hills with farmland; very peaceful and quite the respite from our usual hustle and bustle of city life.

We changed into pants, as it was quite a bit cooler up there and headed to Strasburg to ride the choo choo train. It was a blast! Wyatt wanted to do it again and again!

Our EngineAll Aboard!

Tickets, Please!
No, he's not leaving us. We're turning around.

Then we decided to grab some dinner. Our menu was the following:

Your Starters
Chow Chow
Pepper Cabbage
Bakery-fresh Raisin Bread
Crusty Rolls
Your Entrees
Made-from-Scratch, Golden Fried Chicken
Roast Eye-Round of Beef
Chicken Pot Pie with homemade noodles
Plain & Fancy's Own Baked Sausage
Served With
Real Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
Egg Noodles with Browned Butter
Dried Sweet Corn
Green Beans
Desserts & Complimentary Beverages
Sour Cream Apple Crumb Pie
Wet Bottom Shoo-Fly Pie
Vanilla Ice Cream
Bottomless Lemonade

Although some of the spices were a little funny to me, the food was awesome! I expected a bit more German influence in traditional Amish food, but was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to eat sauerkraut and sausage. Shoo-Fly Pie is incredible! This was all eaten at a table with other families. Dishes were passed around Thanksgiving style. It was a lot of fun!

We went past the horse and carriages, back to the hotel and played on their playground until dark then crashed. The next morning we got up early (the kids woke me at 5 AM!!!), had the complimentary hotel breakfast which included a buffet of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, scrapple and onions, toast, oranges, cereal, oatmeal and grits. We checked out of the hotel, then headed to Philly! We managed to arrive downtown with minimal map help (like I said, spur of the moment) and parked. We got tickets to Independence Hall and got to walk where Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams.... all discussed and signed the Declaration of Independence.

(Side note: at this point our camera died, so we weren't able to get anymore pictures. Grrr!) We saw the original Declaration, Constitution, and Articles of Confederation. We walked by the Second Bank of the US, the Carpenters' Hall, a policeman who told us the best Philly cheesesteak was at Campos' just down the street, got a sandwich and sat down at the Betsy Ross' house to eat. We enjoyed a short skit and a delicious Philly cheesesteak, then headed past the Quaker house to the Christ Church burial ground where Ben Franklin and family are buried. We then walked by Liberty Bell and headed home. After a short break, we watched the sun set on the Lincoln Memorial, then ate chicken wings. What a day! From Lancaster County to Philadelphia, through Delaware and Maryland to DC, to Alexandria and back home!
I would say we're recuperating today, but Isaac got me up early and with 17 days left, it's official: I'm nesting - the yard needs mowing, bathrooms cleaned, laundry, basement finished, guestroom readied.......