NYC Day 3

Tuesday, July 17th

We started the day with a (subway ride and then) stroll to Central Park. We made our way to the great lawn and just plopped down to bask in the sun, eat a pretzel and read the New York Times. We laughed about how there were so many episodes of Law & Order made here. When we got back home, the first L & O I watched had a place that we walked through in it. Here is a self-portrait of us... somehow the date on my camera got 1 day & 1 year off...The new Yankee stadium taken from a window in the old stadium. We rode the 4 train to the Bronx so Brad's dad could get tickets for a game while we are a at show. We were able to get tickets to tour the stadium, too. Pictures at Monument Park Brad's dad with Mickey MantleBrad's dad with "the Babe"

A gorgeous Japanese Maple at Monument Park.

The view of the stadium (toward home plate) from Monument Park.

Us in the Yankees dugout...Derek Jeter sits here!

Next we were off to see the American Museum of Natural History. We only had a short time to stop but here are a few of my favorite pictures. We started our journey with this interesting creature. This info was in an exhibit about reef.

Next was the special exhibit about one of my favorites...Frogs!

We ended Tuesday at Les Miserables. It was so great...it may seem weird, but another dream come true. I have always wanted to see this on Broadway. I have seen the show locally and seen the movie and this was full circle.

Where O Where...

Have I gone?

To compensate for my peer working for me while on vacation, I had to work Tues-Fri night..Saturday was my only day off, so I spent it with Bradley (saw The Simpsons, of course----p.s., they show most of the funny stuff in the commercials) and then we went to a friends to hang out....Very low key Saturday.

Today, I am back to my regular schedule...Sun, Mon, Thurs, Fri...so on Tuesday when I get up, I will be able to resume the NYC trip and finish it out.

Happy Monday!
Love,
A

NYC Day 2

Monday, July 16th

There are a lot of pictures on this day -- I trimmed it down from what I actually took, but I know so many of my family & friends have never been to NYC, and since we all live so far away from each other, we can't sit down and go through pictures...I also didn't want to just dump them all on a photo site....Happy browsing!

Our first stop was Good Morning America. We just stopped to see what might be going on and Robin Roberts was outside with the crowd!
Next stop, Today Show. Here is Meredith Veira coming outside. She stopped 2 people from me and had to go because they were coming back live. Queen Latifah was also outside, but Brad's dad got the good pics of her!

Matt Lauer is in the middle with the blue tie. Some girls in front of us kept screaming WE LOVE YOU MATT and so the cameraman swept past them. When he did, he got all 3 of us and my dad saw us on TV!

Around the corner from the Today show is the studio entrance. Next to the studio entrance is where the "soup nazi" from Seinfeld is. NO SOUP FOR YOU! While I was getting out of some security guards way, Queen Latifah went buzzing by right behind me into a waiting limo. If I'd only turned around!

After hitting the morning shows, we took a train to Wall Street and then to Chinatown. We just walked all over the different neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Above is Federal Hall on Wall Street. On the site of this statue of George Washington, is where he took the oath of office to be the President of the United States.

Across the street is the New York Stock Exchange. Cha-ching! Can you hear the money flying?

This is the cemetary at Trinity Church near Wall Street. It's a beautiful place with flowers everywhere around the gravestones. Some of the stones were so weathered from all the years - Some of them dated back to 1790. Back then people wrote wonderful inscriptions describing their loved ones..they were so touching. We found out later in the week, it's the church in the movie National Treasure.

Flowers at Trinity Church

Trinity Church

World Trade Center site...They are starting on the new memorial....It was so humbling to be there. For probably an hour, I kept thinking about how people went running up the same streets we were walking on. And we walked past buildings that people dove into. Occassionally, you would see big chunks missing out of the bricks in a building and couldn't help but think what must have hit it. It was almost unimaginable to look up and think that they were 102 stories tall, and that a plane hit right above where we were standing, and then those huge skyscrapers came down right where we were.

Ladder co. 10 -- right across the street. They got called out right when we were standing there..It was so sad to think about where they might be going. The fire trucks were always humbling to see. Each ladder company has their truck decorated to reflect the neighborhood they serve...for example, a chinatown truck had the name of the company written in bamboo type letters and had a big dragon on the door. Most trucks and ambluances have the names of those they lost on 9/11 on the side.

Ladder co. 10

This is the entrance to a train station right next to the WTC site. Below the name of it are the names of everyone that died that day.

The Brooklyn Bridge view from our walk.

Chinatown. And in the distance you can see some decorations hanging between the bulidings. This street also is home to what is left of Little Italy. Of course I shopped in Chinatown...a great purse and some perfume.

Cafe Cafe in SoHo where we ate lunch - Great place if you ever go by there.

NYU - Business School

Washington Square Park - At the start of 5th Avenue - more cha-ching! We found out later that this was also used as a mass grave site during colonial times.

Some stranger's garden in Greenwich Village

Grand Central Station - Brad's dad got some better pics I'll post some other time - This place was HUGE. It seemed that every train, plane, and automobile converged here. It is sooooooooo beautiful.

Hey, it's the New York Times!

Brad and I ended our night seeing Rent on Broadway -- It was sooo great - I absolutely LOVED it! It totally meet my expectations. I would see it over and over again!

NYC Day 1 (Sunday July 15th)

We returned last night from NYC...what a wonderful trip! We took the amtrak train there and back since we haven't ever traveled by train before. It was fun, too. It took about 7.5 hours. Brad and his dad took some pictures, too....but there are busy tiling bathrooms today so they haven't downloaded any pictures yet. We started our trip at the ESPN zone, saw several celebrities, and ended the week with Harry Potter and Rupert at his deli. I won't bombard you with a week's worth of pictures, so I'll upload them a few at a time!

Sunday night- July 15th

Our train left Williamsburg about 930am. We arrived at Penn Station (at Madison Square Garden) after 500pm. It was a dream come true to see the city while walking toward the front doors...then to walk out the door and into a city like no other. It was truly sensory overload. The first thing I saw when I looked up was a Motorola advertisement with Danica Patrick (Indy car driver) and the advertisement took up the entire side of a skyscraper..amazing!

After dropping of our luggage at the Marriott Marquis (smack in the middle of Times Square) we jetted off 2 blocks to the ESPN zone. It was really neat to see and the food was good, too. We indulged in their arcade, Brad almost won, but his dad edged him out by a point! (Kate will be glad to hear that Brad doesn't win EVERY single time!)

Brad and the building advertisement for the new Simpson's movie. It takes up 3 sides of a building and we had to stand across the street to get it all in.
Me in front of ABC studios. Under the scrolling news is the studio where they do Good Morning America. So when you watch that show and see all of the silly tourists smashed up against the fence...that's where they are!

Brad and his dad at Times Square...Even the NYPD sign flashes!

Some pics of Hunter, remodeling, and NYC

Here are some more pictures from when we were in Iowa in June..Hunter is getting so big! Brad and his dad are working on measurements for re-tiling all of our bathrooms while he is here and the final planning for the trip to NYC are underway!Smooshing Hunter
Cheesin for the camera.

Arresting me like Papa, since Papa is hurt...Thanks, Gramma!

Aunt & Uncle x 4

We are an aunt & uncle for the 4th time!

Hunter & Ian

Jessica, Hunter, Ian, MomChad & Ian