Wow - I can't believe the month of July is over (almost). It has flown by! As you all know, we went to New York City from the 19th through the 23rd. It was a great time and very HOT!! We went to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island (which I really don't recommend - kinda boring and not much to see - just ride the Staten Island Ferry for a free look at the statue). We also took a tour of the World Trade Center site given by a retired firefighter - that was really neat, especially the WTC Tribute Center where they have some artifacts that were recovered from the buildings. Very somber. We went to Coney Island which was new for us - we just walked around and went to the Aquarium, but it was a nice beach if we wanted to get in the ocean. We also enjoyed Nathan's Hot Dogs at the ORIGINAL Nathan's. We, of course, took in a Yankees game and they won 12-4 vs. the Minnesota Twins and a Broadway musical, "Passing Strange", which Spike Lee is making into a movie and happened to be there filming the night we were there, so that was kinda cool, although the musical was not one of our favorites! We also enjoyed a horse & buggy ride through part of Central Park which, was a little expensive for no more than you got to see, but I have always wanted to do that, so we did. We stayed at the Algonquin Hotel which is the oldest operating hotel in NYC (and it showed when the A/C didn't work in our first room and the bathroom drain didn't work in our 3rd room - yes, 3rd - another long story). The hotel was nice, overall, though, and had a lot of "charm" and history, including their house cat, "Matilda", who was always there to greet you when you came in.
We also had our first experience in China Town and what an experience it was!! It is a story better told in person, but the long and short of it is that Kelly got so nervous she got diarrhea and had to go to the bathroom at McDonald's. She left me on the sidewalk outside waiting for her for what seemed like FOREVER - but was actually probably 20 minutes. She had a little mishap following her "explosion" and dropped her cell phone in the toilet - her instincts took over and before it flushed down the drain, she grabbed it out - wet toilet paper and all!! UGH!!! Needless to say, it was so waterlogged it didn't work anyway, but they were able to save her Contact information, so it wasn't a total loss.
Anyway - after a long flight delay - and spending 7 hours at the airport, we had a safe flight home and spent the next few days recuperating.
The weekend was spent with Julie & Kim who took us to Carraba's for some Italian dinner (Kim just wanted to hear the cell phone story firsthand!) and on Sunday, a cookout for Kelly's aunt's 60th birthday. Her aunt was recently diagnosed with Liver Cancer and is scheduled for a long and complicated surgery on August 22nd, so all of your prayers for her recovery would be appreciated! They have certainly had their share of bad luck this year!
Well, I am going to go for now. Here are a few of the pics from NYC - Enjoy! Until next time...
Deb
