New York at Last! (week 399)

We began crossing the days off the calendar around the end of June.  After 40 excruciating days, and 40 big black 'X's' on the calendar, the day finally arrived--really the night--that we went to the Long Beach Airport, and boarded the plane to New York.  

The plane ride was everything that we thought it would be. Actually, we slept for the first few hours on the plane because we had a red-eye that connected through Phoenix.  Chris and I got to sit together in our own row because Dubby and Grandpa Andy gave us free miles to upgrade our seats to Business Class (and mommy in 1st Class).  There were storms in Arizona so we got off the ground late and had to run through the airport to make our connecting flight.  Ultimately, we landed in New York where a massive, hurricane-related, rain storm--and Grandpa Andy--were waiting for us.

The rain pretty much stopped for us when we arrived, but because of the flooding all over Long Island, it took us forever to get home where Dubby was waiting for us with the swimming pool, waffles, bagels, and of course lots of ice cream.  We spent most of our days in the swimming pool creating whirlpools and shooting each other with water cannons.  Cousins Nathan and Steven came to see us and we ate so much pizza that we all had to go to bed early.  

The weather was really mild after the storm pushed it out, so we spent a lot of time outside on this trip.  On the second day, we went out on the big boat to Fire Island and Davis Park.  We swam at the beach and collected shells. We ate french fries from the grill and played in the cabin of the boat.  That night, Grandpa Andy went to a special store and got us all lobsters.  Christopher had a hard time choking a piece of lobster down, but I ended up trying it and liking it okay.  The adults ate every piece.

We finally made it into the City on Saturday to stay with Uncle Mark, Aunt Leah and baby Nina. Nina is the cutest baby you have ever seen.  She has a little triangle of hair in the front that sticks up to a point like an elf.  I think her Christmas pictures are probably going to be awesome this year.  We spent the day in New York walking around Battery Park, the World Trade Center (1,776 feet high!), Wall Street, and South Street Market.  I think we may have walked about 10 miles by the time we were done with it.  It was the first time that I can remember the whole family walking that far to see the sites since last year when we walked from Time Square up the length of Central Park to East Harlem.  We were exhausted, but had a great time in Manhattan.

Daddy had to leave for Washington, D.C. the next morning because he had a conference for police stuff.  He got to visit my godfather Zak and see Kate, Anna, Jack and Hunter at their new house. We headed back out the Island to spend the next week with Dubby.