Summer Adventure 2011, a set on Flickr.
Spot The Hidden Mickey
9 hours ago
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Our Summer Adventure 2011
States visited - Massachusetts (which I realized I cannot pronounce!), Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. We were going to try to make it to New Hampshire and Maine too but ran out of time and energy.
Where we stayed - 2 nights in Beacon Hill area of Boston, 4 nights on Long Island, 2 nights in New London, CT, 1 night in Peabody, MA and 1 night at a Boston airport hotel.
Things we did and saw - Boston Commons, Cheers, New England Aquarium, Harvard, Jones Beach, Penn Station, Empire State Building, Long Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center site, the Charging Bull, Central Park, Times Square, Mystic (CT-home of movie Mystic Pizza), Tanger Outlet Mall, Ocean Beach Park (CT), Salem (MA), and Fenway Park.
Beaches - Jones Beach on Long Island and Ocean Beach in Connecticut. It was really hot the day we went to Jones Beach but the water was frigid. The boys still got in but not for very long. Sitting on the beach was nice. There was a nice cool breeze blowing off the cold water. Ocean Beach was near our hotel in New London, CT. It was nice. The day we went was a gorgeous day. The water was bit cold there too but not near as cold as Jones Beach. I even got in this time. I really enjoyed just relaxing on the beach. The boys were actually ready to go before Brad and I were. That does not happen very often at the beach.
Modes of Transportation we took - Plane, Shuttle bus, Long Island Railroad train, NY subway, Ferry boat, Boston subway and our feet (lots of this one!).
Weather - Record breaking temperatures in Boston and New York for the first part of the trip. The Saturday we spent in NYC was crazy hot. By Monday in Mystic though - the temp was a wonderful 71 at 2:30 in the afternoon. Only rained once and only a little bit. Temp at the start of the Red Sox game (1:35pm) was 79 lovely degrees.
Some of the places we ate - Dunkin Donuts in Boston (they were everywhere!) Whole Foods Market in Boston, Legal Seafood on Long Island, Five Guys Burgers and Fries somewhere in CT, The Fat Cactus in Lynnfield, MA
Funny memories - An older Asian lady sitting behind us on the Statue of Liberty ferry started stroking Alec's hair. She just had a big smile on her face and thought his hair was nice, I guess. It was a bit creepy but also funny. He did not even know it had happened until I told him. He thought it was me.
Brad picked up a New England map at one of the hotels. I picked it up to look at later and started laughing uncontrollably. It was a map to the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) friendly sites in New England. I asked him if he needed to share something with us?
I spoke with a nice man from Long Island one night while we were at the pool. Alec swears he was hitting on me. I said "oh he is not - he's just nice." Alec says " did he act frustrated when he found out you had a husband? - if he did - he was hitting on you". That kid cracks me up.
Timing - We got pretty lucky with timing on the trip. We made it to the Statue of Liberty ferry just minutes before the last ferry for the day. We made it back to Penn Station just minutes before our train - otherwise we would have had to wait another hour. The Royals just happened to be in Boston while we were there. We were able to get tickets and see the Royals beat the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Walking and more walking - Our first stop in NYC was the Empire State Building. They have 8 elevators to take everyone to the 80th floor - but only 2 elevators to take everyone the last 6 floors to 86. They give you the option to walk the last 6 floors - so of course Brad wanted to. It wasn't too bad - walking that 6 flights - however if I had known what the rest of the day would bring - we should have conserved our energy. We walked a LOT the rest of the day and got lost a few times. By the end of the day we had walked several miles in the record breaking heat. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We were gone about 11 hours in all that day. Alec and I also developed a heat/walking rash on our legs. Alec's wasn't bad but mine was ugly looking and hurt. It lasted a few days but then just went away. Were gone so long and used my phone GPS so much that my phone died as did my camera battery.
Getting Lost - GPS was a blessing and a curse. We walked much more than necessary due to going the wrong way several times. We also made many wrong turns while driving - but the GPS also helped us tremendously in finding our way around.
Things I learned -
People in Boston pay very little attention to the walk/don't walk signals.
It is illegal to turn right on red in NYC.
People in the Boston and NY areas don't seem very happy.
Camera and video cameras are illegal at toll booths. That one still has me baffled - so if you know WHY - please tell me.
The Staten Island Ferry is free
The Staten Island Ferry does not go to the Statue of Liberty. It goes to Staten Island! Go figure!
Where we stayed - 2 nights in Beacon Hill area of Boston, 4 nights on Long Island, 2 nights in New London, CT, 1 night in Peabody, MA and 1 night at a Boston airport hotel.
Things we did and saw - Boston Commons, Cheers, New England Aquarium, Harvard, Jones Beach, Penn Station, Empire State Building, Long Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center site, the Charging Bull, Central Park, Times Square, Mystic (CT-home of movie Mystic Pizza), Tanger Outlet Mall, Ocean Beach Park (CT), Salem (MA), and Fenway Park.
Beaches - Jones Beach on Long Island and Ocean Beach in Connecticut. It was really hot the day we went to Jones Beach but the water was frigid. The boys still got in but not for very long. Sitting on the beach was nice. There was a nice cool breeze blowing off the cold water. Ocean Beach was near our hotel in New London, CT. It was nice. The day we went was a gorgeous day. The water was bit cold there too but not near as cold as Jones Beach. I even got in this time. I really enjoyed just relaxing on the beach. The boys were actually ready to go before Brad and I were. That does not happen very often at the beach.
Modes of Transportation we took - Plane, Shuttle bus, Long Island Railroad train, NY subway, Ferry boat, Boston subway and our feet (lots of this one!).
Weather - Record breaking temperatures in Boston and New York for the first part of the trip. The Saturday we spent in NYC was crazy hot. By Monday in Mystic though - the temp was a wonderful 71 at 2:30 in the afternoon. Only rained once and only a little bit. Temp at the start of the Red Sox game (1:35pm) was 79 lovely degrees.
Some of the places we ate - Dunkin Donuts in Boston (they were everywhere!) Whole Foods Market in Boston, Legal Seafood on Long Island, Five Guys Burgers and Fries somewhere in CT, The Fat Cactus in Lynnfield, MA
Funny memories - An older Asian lady sitting behind us on the Statue of Liberty ferry started stroking Alec's hair. She just had a big smile on her face and thought his hair was nice, I guess. It was a bit creepy but also funny. He did not even know it had happened until I told him. He thought it was me.
Brad picked up a New England map at one of the hotels. I picked it up to look at later and started laughing uncontrollably. It was a map to the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) friendly sites in New England. I asked him if he needed to share something with us?
I spoke with a nice man from Long Island one night while we were at the pool. Alec swears he was hitting on me. I said "oh he is not - he's just nice." Alec says " did he act frustrated when he found out you had a husband? - if he did - he was hitting on you". That kid cracks me up.
Timing - We got pretty lucky with timing on the trip. We made it to the Statue of Liberty ferry just minutes before the last ferry for the day. We made it back to Penn Station just minutes before our train - otherwise we would have had to wait another hour. The Royals just happened to be in Boston while we were there. We were able to get tickets and see the Royals beat the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Walking and more walking - Our first stop in NYC was the Empire State Building. They have 8 elevators to take everyone to the 80th floor - but only 2 elevators to take everyone the last 6 floors to 86. They give you the option to walk the last 6 floors - so of course Brad wanted to. It wasn't too bad - walking that 6 flights - however if I had known what the rest of the day would bring - we should have conserved our energy. We walked a LOT the rest of the day and got lost a few times. By the end of the day we had walked several miles in the record breaking heat. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We were gone about 11 hours in all that day. Alec and I also developed a heat/walking rash on our legs. Alec's wasn't bad but mine was ugly looking and hurt. It lasted a few days but then just went away. Were gone so long and used my phone GPS so much that my phone died as did my camera battery.
Getting Lost - GPS was a blessing and a curse. We walked much more than necessary due to going the wrong way several times. We also made many wrong turns while driving - but the GPS also helped us tremendously in finding our way around.
Things I learned -
People in Boston pay very little attention to the walk/don't walk signals.
It is illegal to turn right on red in NYC.
People in the Boston and NY areas don't seem very happy.
Camera and video cameras are illegal at toll booths. That one still has me baffled - so if you know WHY - please tell me.
The Staten Island Ferry is free
The Staten Island Ferry does not go to the Statue of Liberty. It goes to Staten Island! Go figure!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Our summer so far...
So, I guess I've been a bit lazy about writing anything lately. I've been posting lots of Flickr pictures sets though!
The last day of school for the kiddos was 6/2 and the summer seems to have flown by since then.
The boys have kept busy playing WOW, staying up late and sleeping late. Sometimes very late on both counts!
Alec did attend a 4 day band camp the week of 6/13. He will be playing the trumpet in 6th grade. It was only 2 hours each day - but I think he got some good out of it. I had an issue with how to get him there and back each day so I decided to just take the week off work. That was my first full week off since I started back in December. I kind of enjoyed it.
I did work my other 'job' that week though and took some senior pics for my niece. Jill, Michelle and I went down to the River Market to take them.
Trent & Michelle and neighbors John & Lucia each celebrated their 20th wedding anniversaries on 6/15. So nice to see people staying married in this day and age of so many divorces.
Father's Day was June 19. We went out to dinner with my dad on Friday night and stayed home the rest of the weekend.
My 30th high school reunion was on 6/25. I was a little leery about going but glad I did. Jennifer was going to go with me but something came up - so Brad went instead. That is a pretty big sacrifice for Mr. anti-social :) Out of our class of 398 - there were probably 80 there. Some I recognized right away and many I didn't. It was good thing everyone had name tags with their senior pics on them. I realized how little I really hung out with anyone in my class - except for Jennifer - and I was not in any sports or clubs - so it wasn't a big 'reunion' for me - but still enjoyed it. I guess for most of my high school career I was too wrapped up with Tony and then only went to school 1/2 days my senior year. I keep encouraging my kids to get involved and join clubs but I guess I am not a very good example.
On July we headed for South Dakota. It took us longer than usual to get there due to lots of flooding in Iowa. I-29 was closed in several places and will be most of the summer. We finally got there Friday night about 8:30. and I finally got to hold little Rowan! We had a good weekend. The kids spent a lot of it in the pool - which was great except for a few sunburns - especially Alec. He always seems to burn bad his first day out. He put on sunscreen - but I guess not often enough. Michael and Bekah dropped Autumn off on Saturday and she stayed the night. They both had to work on Saturday but came back on Sunday and spent the evening. We shot off fireworks on Sunday night and had a big fire in the fire pit. I loved that it was not icky hot up there like it was in KC. I was a great weekend. On Monday we headed back home and made it the cul-de-sac around 7:45pm - just in time for another night of fireworks with the neighbors. By 11:00 I was so ready to climb into my own bed. I was very glad I did not have to work on Tuesday.
I did however work the rest of the week - including Saturday. There were a couple of big projects going on at work and I figured I needed to make up some hours I missed taking the week off. It gave me a little taste of going back full time. Not sure I want to or not.
On Sunday 7/10 we celebrated Aunt Faye's 90th birthday. Her kids had a party for her at the Bethany Community Center. There were probably close to 150 friends and family there. Good times!
That has us about caught up on the summer. One last event was not a good one. Brad was diagnosed with Diabetes. His blood sugars having been running pretty high - so the doctor put him on medicine and he really needs to watch his carbs. He and I went to a diabetes education class on Thursday. It was very informative and helpful. We both know now what and how much he should be eating. He goes back 3 more times over the next few months to get even more info and to check his progress. I know he is not happy about having to watch everything he eats - but I will do what I can to help to keep him healthy. I want him to be around for a long time!
As you may be able to see - I am writing this pretty early in the morning. I have been waking up a lot around 4:30 and can't get back to sleep. I decided to go ahead and get up today instead of laying there tossing and turning. Updating this gave me something to do!
Probably part of the reason I couldn't go back to sleep this morning was thinking about vacation. That is next on our summer agenda. Tuesday we leave for Boston, New York and where ever else we decide to venture to in the Northeast USA. I am really looking forward to it and hope Brad, Jason, Alec and I all enjoy our 10 days of family togetherness! Next update will probably be from there.
The last day of school for the kiddos was 6/2 and the summer seems to have flown by since then.
The boys have kept busy playing WOW, staying up late and sleeping late. Sometimes very late on both counts!
Alec did attend a 4 day band camp the week of 6/13. He will be playing the trumpet in 6th grade. It was only 2 hours each day - but I think he got some good out of it. I had an issue with how to get him there and back each day so I decided to just take the week off work. That was my first full week off since I started back in December. I kind of enjoyed it.
I did work my other 'job' that week though and took some senior pics for my niece. Jill, Michelle and I went down to the River Market to take them.
Trent & Michelle and neighbors John & Lucia each celebrated their 20th wedding anniversaries on 6/15. So nice to see people staying married in this day and age of so many divorces.
Father's Day was June 19. We went out to dinner with my dad on Friday night and stayed home the rest of the weekend.
My 30th high school reunion was on 6/25. I was a little leery about going but glad I did. Jennifer was going to go with me but something came up - so Brad went instead. That is a pretty big sacrifice for Mr. anti-social :) Out of our class of 398 - there were probably 80 there. Some I recognized right away and many I didn't. It was good thing everyone had name tags with their senior pics on them. I realized how little I really hung out with anyone in my class - except for Jennifer - and I was not in any sports or clubs - so it wasn't a big 'reunion' for me - but still enjoyed it. I guess for most of my high school career I was too wrapped up with Tony and then only went to school 1/2 days my senior year. I keep encouraging my kids to get involved and join clubs but I guess I am not a very good example.
On July we headed for South Dakota. It took us longer than usual to get there due to lots of flooding in Iowa. I-29 was closed in several places and will be most of the summer. We finally got there Friday night about 8:30. and I finally got to hold little Rowan! We had a good weekend. The kids spent a lot of it in the pool - which was great except for a few sunburns - especially Alec. He always seems to burn bad his first day out. He put on sunscreen - but I guess not often enough. Michael and Bekah dropped Autumn off on Saturday and she stayed the night. They both had to work on Saturday but came back on Sunday and spent the evening. We shot off fireworks on Sunday night and had a big fire in the fire pit. I loved that it was not icky hot up there like it was in KC. I was a great weekend. On Monday we headed back home and made it the cul-de-sac around 7:45pm - just in time for another night of fireworks with the neighbors. By 11:00 I was so ready to climb into my own bed. I was very glad I did not have to work on Tuesday.
I did however work the rest of the week - including Saturday. There were a couple of big projects going on at work and I figured I needed to make up some hours I missed taking the week off. It gave me a little taste of going back full time. Not sure I want to or not.
On Sunday 7/10 we celebrated Aunt Faye's 90th birthday. Her kids had a party for her at the Bethany Community Center. There were probably close to 150 friends and family there. Good times!
That has us about caught up on the summer. One last event was not a good one. Brad was diagnosed with Diabetes. His blood sugars having been running pretty high - so the doctor put him on medicine and he really needs to watch his carbs. He and I went to a diabetes education class on Thursday. It was very informative and helpful. We both know now what and how much he should be eating. He goes back 3 more times over the next few months to get even more info and to check his progress. I know he is not happy about having to watch everything he eats - but I will do what I can to help to keep him healthy. I want him to be around for a long time!
As you may be able to see - I am writing this pretty early in the morning. I have been waking up a lot around 4:30 and can't get back to sleep. I decided to go ahead and get up today instead of laying there tossing and turning. Updating this gave me something to do!
Probably part of the reason I couldn't go back to sleep this morning was thinking about vacation. That is next on our summer agenda. Tuesday we leave for Boston, New York and where ever else we decide to venture to in the Northeast USA. I am really looking forward to it and hope Brad, Jason, Alec and I all enjoy our 10 days of family togetherness! Next update will probably be from there.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
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