New York City

On July 25, the kids and I left bright and early to drive to Jersey City, NJ, to visit my brother Dan and his wife Tracy. The last time we had visited was 3 years ago, so it was great to go back when the kids were a little bit older and see some new things. The one thing that wasn't better was the weather. Last time, it had been unseasonable cool--jacket weather in August. It made for good sightseeing. This time, it was hot and humid, especially for us who weren't used to it. But we had a great time anyway. Dan and Tracy were wonderful hosts, and had planned lots of fun activities for us. Here are a few pictures.

After lunch, we went swimming in their pool. A good activity for a hot afternoon!



We went for a walk at Liberty State Park, where the ferries leave for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, both of which are in New Jersey, not New York. Joe has trained the kids to be very familiar with that fact.

This is the view out of Dan and Tracy's dining room window. That is the Statue of Liberty in the background. It actually looks alot closer in person. It is fun to watch the yachts coming in and out of the marina.

Saturday night, we saw the movie "Up" in 3D at the Science Center. Way cool!

Sunday, we went into New York City for the day.

The kids in front of the Fox News building.

We divided up before lunch. Dan and the boys watched a movie being filmed, and visited Saint Patrick's Cathedral. I took Emma to the American Girl store. I wish I had the camera with me. She was over the moon. It was a little overwhelming. She did a great job choosing her purchase carefully. As for me, I was happy to spend as long as possible in the air conditioning. While we were there, Katie and Tracy were across the street at Saks Fifth Avenue, where the shoe department has its own zip code. Katie was in shopping heaven. They did a little photo shoot with some of the expensive clothes there.

The girls in front of the Egyptian temple at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the roof at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was hot, so we only stayed a minute.

I need to point out that I am not in any of these pictures, because unlike Tracy I don't "hide my sweat really well." That was Katie's admiring comment to her-that she hides her sweat well. I was literally mopping myself off with paper towels pretty much the whole time we were outside, or in the subway stations (which are very, very hot in the summer), and for about 2 hours after entering an air conditioned building.

We walked down by the waterfront at dusk and enjoyed the view of Manhatten.


On Monday, while Tracy was at work, we swam in the morning, and then went to see the USS Intrepid in the afternoon. Seeing it with Dan was great because he has so much experience with all things military. He had some neat stories about his time on a ship about the same size, especially when they were in a huge storm.


We had so much fun with Dan and Tracy, but on Tuesday the 28th it was time to start driving again, this time to south Jersey to visit Joe's family.