Thursday, September 3, 2015

Summer 2015 continued...


...guys, I told you we did a lot this summer!

One random day, our bishops wife invited us to go camping! My new friend Jen Dean and I decided it would be fun to go with just moms and our kids...and so we did! I just did it 1 night, because john got home the next day. It was quite fun! We went up to mirror lake in the Unitas.











Sophie started 1st grade! She is loving it so far. She is my little social butterfly. She loves recess and eating lunch at school. 




Jonny turned 3! On the day of his birthday, we cleaned The church in the morning, then john took the kids to a Chinese food buffed while I went to the gym. When they got back, Jonny napped for forever! It was so nice of him to do that :). It worked out well because we had family photos to do at 6! My friend Jen took them for us at the park. Once we were done, we ordered pizza to be delivered there, and had a little party! 









That's all folks! 

New York!

Next up...New York!
John sent this picture to me when he first arrived in NY

John had an install for his job on Staten Island in New York in July. A long, long time ago, I was a nanny in Virginia. John and I were semi-dating and he decided on a whim to come visit me out there with a couple of his friends. We took a trip out to New York (it was a couple hour bus ride from where I was living) and we hung out in NY for 24 hours. We went on the Staten Island ferry and took this lovely picture. We were excited to re-live the memories! (note, we never actually went on the Staten Island ferry a second time. We went on a different one that went closer to the Statue of Liberty and all around the island)
We were babies!

John flew out there Monday, and I flew out Thursday evening. He had to work Thursday and Friday, so we went to dinner Thursday night with his coworkers then I hung out at the hotel and read while he worked Friday. He got off at noon, and we got our vacation started! We went into downtown New York via train, and bus and then another train. It took forever! By the end of the trip we had a system down and we ended up using uber a bunch of times. It ended up being cheaper!
I love airplane photos! Being so up high is terrifying, but also gorgeous
Washington Bridge. I was amazed by all of the bridges there. I think I got a photo of each one
Our first day driving into downtown NY. We stayed in Newark because it was cheaper for our hotel, so we had to drive in


Time Square! It was insanely busy. By the end of the trip I was so sick of crowds!
We ate at the StarDust Diner. The waiters and waitresses are all people who want to be on Broadway. They all  are freakishly talented and hope to be discovered in NY. They all performed songs while we ate, even stopping to re-fill our cups!
The lady behind me is singing 
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I was SO hungry that I decided to get a pretzel from the street vendors. I wish I saved myself for NY style pizza! Instead, I bought a homeless man a slice who asked for one when we went into the pizza shop. He was a kind fella!
John had already gotten NY style pizza, so he decided on a yummy Chicago style.  It was actually super good. 
Empire State Building

Status of Liberty!
The 9/11 Memorial building, or as its called The Freedom Tower. We walked past it on Sunday it was amazingly tall. 
We bought a bus pass for the weekend and we went on numerous tours around town! I actually learned a ton each time. 
Typical crazy taxis
Remember how I said I had a pretzel? Well, that is all I had eaten that day. It was 9:00 by the time we finally stopped to have dinner. Needless to say, I was HANGRY. We had to wait another HOUR before we were seated. John and I's relationship was severely tested that evening.
The name of this restaurant escapes me...but its family style italian. We got a Porter house and it was gooooood. Also a LOT of food. We ended up giving our leftovers to a homeless man
SO tired on our way back to the hotel at 1:00 am

The next day was more adventures!
I wanted to go to China Town and Little Italy SO bad. We shopped around China Town for souvenirs, then stopped for some yummy  Italian food! 
At lunch. I got the Lasagna and John got the fettucini Alfredo
When we drove by here, all I could hear was the 30 Rock theme song
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We took a stroll through Central Park! We stopped to people watch and take a few selfies. One day I want to go to NY and just spend the whole time there!
There were a lot of people and their dogs. This puppy decided that it loved me. 
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My fake Kate Spade purse I found in China Town! 

The last  2 days we decided to shake things up a bit. We found a good deal and headed down to Atlantic city!
On the Boardwalk
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Ok, don't judge, but I wanted 1 dress up night to feel glamorous! We got tickets to a comedy show and got all gussied up!  
Another evening where I was starving, so John bought me a pina colada to satiate me! Also, my had was being ridiculous with all of the humidity
The only restaurant that was open when we were done was Hooters! Stay classy :)
All John wanted while we were there was a Lobster Roll. So he found a cute restaurant and got what he wanted! This is the day we left, so we filled up on yummy food
Said Lobster roll
At the airport. SO sad to leave our vacation!
Sunset as we entered the SL valley. I loved NY, but it made me appreciate our clean, quiet state!