Saw NY temple on Sat. (I just added this at the top because I originally left it out since I can't find my picture of it on my camera. It was beautiful to see in this busy city!
A symbol of peace & love -God.)
NY reminded me of Taiwan, in several ways. First, it's a big city with lots of people! For me driving was easier than I thought it would be, my skills in Taiwan came right back to me. Upon arriving in NY we drove up to where the Abernathy's live near Columbia University where Monica is going to school. Their apartment is nice. Monica and her children took us to the MET through Central Park; we met Mark while walking through there. He had been in line since 3 a.m. to get free tickets to see Shakespeare in the Park! It was a bummer when he didn't get the tickets, but at least they could hang out with us! After the MET we went to check into our hotel. We drove down with the Abernathy's in our van, which brought back more Taiwan flashbacks! Our hotel wasn't so bad, considering the reviews. It's NY, its old, but at least it was clean, was in a great location, and fit all 6 of us in one room! The Manhattan Broadway Hotel was a good choice! Sorry no pics. There were two queen beds and a single bed with a private bath. Next door was a chinese restarant that sold great breakfast food too. I can't remember if they were open for lunch or dinner because we were out at Lambardo's for Pizza Friday night and then Times Square until midnight, so I just bought something there Sat. a.m. Their food was delicious and inexpensive! It was funny that my brain wanted to use my little bit of Mandarin to communicate.
Time Square reminded me of Taiwan night markets without all the stinky food, just smelly, interesting people.
Subway was so old and dangerous looking, like it was going to fall apart. DC is much better! For our family of 6 getting tickets wasn't easy. You couldn't get multiple tickets and pay for them together, but had to do it one by one. The subway was tricky and took longer to get around than I thought it would. So we didn't do as much as I would have liked. (for Sat. I mean) I'm glad we had friends to visit and give us a few pointers.
In front of their apartment.
Time Square: It was so late! The Abernathy's are good sports to be out so late with us!
Monica and India
Central Park
At the MET. Payton was with Yale, India and Monica at an outside park before they came inside to look for us.
Lombardo's pizza was worth the wait, I guess. Sat. we had a frustrating morning. We tried to find a place to eat breakfast, the boys didn't want the chinese breakfast buns eventhough they tried mine. Yes, we should have gone straight to the Empire state building, oops! We saw it Friday as we drove around. Oh, I did an illegal turn in Midtown and a cop came with his accent and head shaking "What you making a u-turn on the busiest street in Manhattan!" He was pretty cool about it and helped me get unstuck. oh- that was Friday.
Back to Sat. a.m. frustrations: Anyway, we tried to get to the 9-11 site and Staten Ferry but the train that should have taken us there was not making that route Sat. so we got kind of lost and went to Brooklyn but too far from the bridge. We found a McDonalds to relax a minute and then got back on the train to return to our hotel and check out. Then, we drove up to park near the Abernathy's and took the train to the Yankee game. We only saw the last 4 innings but hey, it was still awesome! The boys loved it, even on the hottest day every! After returning to our car, we said bye to the Abernathy's and started driving up to New Hampshire to bunk with Greg's oldest brother and his family. (It was like midnight when we finally got there.) With the frustrations of Sat. we were kind of glad to leave the city behind, but we learned what to do better for next time- if there is a next time.
scrimmage time - This is Gray #60. His new jersey # is 43. He has had some night games and I'll get more pictures up later.
He really loves football. He is sprinting in this pic.
Owen is the farthest Raiders player to the left. #59 This season, his jersey # is 57.
We all received tickets and saw the first 2010 preseason Ravens game. It was an amazing show as the players took the field! There was fireworks too! The evening was ominous but it managed not to rain hard until after the boys had their half time event. (Besides Owen's team, there were a few others sharing the field at half time.)
A very happy boy! This was a dream come true! Thanks Owen and Raiders for sharing it with our entire family!
Here we are waiting with Owen's team to go in. This even spawned others, which you will see in my next posting.
