NEW YORK!!!

We just had a vacation we will remember for years and years! We got to spend a week with the fabulous Uncle Paul and Aunt Bev on Long Island! We stayed at the Baudo Bed and Breakfast, best place in town ;)!

It all began with a 12 hour drive (4am to 4pm) where we had a deer siting, toll booth, lots and lots of Pensylvania farms and the very large Verrazano Bridge with an accident causing a traffic jam (imagine that)! We spotted the Statue of Liberty while on the bridge. Once we got to Long Island and the house, Aunt Bev had a turkey breast nicely roasted and ready to eat! Every meal was a masterpiece with Aunt Bev's cooking and Uncle Paul's special sweet tea. I came home with a load of new meal ideas and recipes!! We will now be having chunky apple sauce as a side with dinner, sliced pepperoncinis on sandwiches and Jewish rye bread every time we can find it, as well as Lasagna rolls, clam dip, and bialys when we can find them.

The day after we got there, the village was having a street festival. We took the kids and walked thru, seeing all the vendors and picking up cotton candy and water from the local cub scouts. The thrill of the event was the hula hoop contest that the kids entered. My boys have practiced hula hooping for over a year to dominate the crowds at church, so to hear that they were having a contest really got them excited! They showed their practice had payed off when Josiah went up against last year's champion and came in second winning 20.00, then went on to compete again and won the world champion title and prize of 30.00! Jonah, in his age group, was top three and went down at the same time as another kid when he had to hula and walk and high five another kid hula hooping! Titus hula hooped his heart out and stayed strong for about half of the competition! We were so proud of them all and had a blast watching and cheering them on! At the festival, we also got a taste of the Pickle Guy's pickles. The line to get pickles was backed up a block long and the supplies were limited, but we got samples of the sour ones and the hot ones. They were great! We also got the chance to spend the afternoon and evening with my cousin Eric and his fiance Fern! That was special and we enjoyed our time with them! The boys even taught Fern and Aunt Bev how to do the Cha Cha slide! They were such good sports! Uncle Paul grilled a sausage ring (amazing!) and made sangria (double amazing!)!

The next day was our first trip to the city: Long Island RR, subways, Penn station, ground zero, St. Pauls, proposed mosque building, South Street Seaport, Haagan Daaz, JP Mustard for lunch, China Town, Brooklyn Bridge, then subway and train home, whew!! Absolutely amazing day and the kids hung in there so well!! We had two strollers and pushed the two little guys pretty much the whole day. They loved the subway and preferred to stand and hold on rather than sit. We called it 'subway surfing'. By the way, regardless of how anyone else feels about this, the building they want to build the mosque in has a direct line of sight to the ground zero area as well as WTC 7, too close!

We spent the next day at Jones beach and kite flying... that is, after Aunt Bev and I went to the local thrift shop that is the size of Walmart and completely organized. I walked away with 5 pairs of boys boots, winter pants, jackets, clothes and star wars costumes and a couple of things for me. Now, back to the beach story, Uncle Paul pulled out his triple decker kite and he and Lance got it all prepared for flight. At the beach... they got it up and what a thrill it was for all of us, Josiah was amazing, he started doing loops (double stringed kite) and pushed the limit to 7 loops, then Jonah got his chance and pushed it to 6 loops! We were in kite heaven! The water was freezing and the kids made some great sandcastles. Aunt Bev was always prepared and brought hot coffee for us! (We got so spoiled by them!)

The next day was another trip to the city! We couldn't fit it all in one day so off we went, the kids a little more prepared with what to expect on the train and subways. It was such a smooth adventure with the kids. They really hung in there for the duration of walking and sprinting! This was the big day they had been waiting for, FAO Schwartz! They had saved their money and couldn't wait to go in and buy something! We all played on the big piano and explored the store, all three levels! We also had cousin Eric to join us and we saw Grand Central station, The Plaza Hotel while all the heads of states were coming in, Central Park, Times Square, Trump tower, and many other buildings that I don't remember, hehe. There were many interesting people through out the city and we were completely amazed at the kindness we encountered. We didn't see the sterotypical rudeness until we went to a grocery store on the island, and it was a mild example. In Times Sqaure there was a lady wearing her Wonder Woman underroos, nothing but stars on her boosom, a guitar, red wig and a big hat. Crazy! It was like a train wreck, you couln't help but stare. Ick! There were also many homeless, pushing carts and digging through the trash. I personally enjoy all the street musicians! Many of them are so talented, we heard Steel Drums, a Chinese violin, and a couple guitars.

On our last day, Aunt Bev and I got to do grocery shopping, which was so much fun! I love to see the different foods available and Aunt Bev loves to cook, so her passion for the food made it even more fun! She knew which store to get what from at the best deals. I think the best was the H Mart, lots of asian food, fresh fish of all kinds including eel (ick) and amazing produce and fruit! But even better than that is the myriad of bakeries and delis. We picked up bagels and bialys that were unbelievable! We were able to bring home a sausage ring (thank you U. P. and A. B.), black and white cookes, italian bread and cannolis! Before we even got home, i was googling for a deli and bakery in charlotte.

The trip home was just as smooth as coming, if not better, although Lance was quite tired. He did let me drive part of the trip. We started out going through Manhattan at 4:30am and saw the beauty of the city with all the lights on, the bakeries opening up and some of the crazy street life. We did make a wrong turn at one point and got an eye full: paramedics working on someone on the sidewalk, a gang of guys one one corner and some 'working' girls on the other corner.

There is so much more and we will be talking about this trip for a while! We missed NY and Aunt Bev and Uncle Paul before we even left! They are a home away from home for us and made us so comfortable and welcome! As we were sneaking down stairs to put the kids in the van at 4am, there they were standing in the kitchen, waiting for us with coffee ready! Like I said, we were so spoiled by their love and hospitality, no wonder our kids are ready to go back already. Even the 12 hour trip isn't enough to deter them! Check this out, they have made the trip back and forth so many times that they knew exactly where we were based on the hours we had been gone, so funny!

Here are the pictures, or some of the hundreds we took! Final quote of the blog: "forget about it!" which is what the signs say as you leave Brooklyn. There's no way we'll be forgeting this trip!