I wanna be a part of it...New York, New York!!!

 

Today we had the opportunity to spend the day in the city!

 Michael and I LOVE New York - each time we visit there is something new to do and see.  Today's "adventure" (as Gabi called it), was to take the train into NY, then take the subway to South Ferry and then take the Staten Island Ferry over to Staten Island.


The Ferry is free and gives riders a fabulous view of the Statue of Liberty.  Luke did research on New York for a cub scout belt loop earlier this spring and decided that of all the things we could do, the thing he wanted to do most was see "Lady Liberty."














The catch is that she just reopened yesterday after being cleaned up from Hurricane Sandy last fall, so getting to the actual statue was next to impossible.  (Ellis Island is still closed for the time being!)  We decided this was the next best thing - and it involved a boat, so that was great for the kids.

We took the Ferry over to Staten Island, which none of us had ever done before - and then ate NY Pizza at A&S Pizzeria in St. George.  It was fabulous.  The girls each had a bottle of orange Fanta - can you make out the orange mustaches?

We walked around New York a bit, and then headed back to Jersey.   The kids just about collapsed in DC from walking, so we took it easy on them today.

We got a nice picture of the new tower being constructed at the World Trade Center site.  (In the family shot up top, its the tall building on the left side of the skyline.)  I wanted to walk over to see the memorial, but it was super duper hot (almost 100 with WAY too much humidity), so we'll save that for the next time we go.

All in all, for a NYC visit, it was short and sweet - and left the kids wanting to come back again.

Crazy kids on the Staten Island Ferry

We leave for Maine on Monday!  The RV is fixed (just a couple wires were crossed - woo hoo!) and we are a bit more rested, so the vacation will continue.  Chris and Don will be meeting us in Bar Harbor, (we are staying in Acadia National Park which is 6 miles away).   I plan to eat a lot of lobster and we REALLY, REALLY hope that our whale watch will work out this year!! 

A note on Sophie - That crazy dog is still eating bugs, but has generally stayed away from the area where the hornets were.  Grandma Chris has already had pest control out here to completely eradicate that nightmare.   Sophie is doing fine.  The rest of us are neurotic. :)