Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Megan and I went to see this tonight in 3D. It was great! Not quite like the book, but they had to make a full-length film out of it. I might have to buy this one.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jason and Sarah! A beautiful wedding with some of the prettiest and most unique centerpieces I've ever seen...

What happens...

What happens when you have no groceries in the house, then you go on vacation for a week, then you come home and STILL don't buy groceries for five days??? You end up with a trip to the grocery store that has your counters looking like this! Literally every inch of space was taken up when I was putting these away...

21, 23, 25, & 27 weeks pregnant

Look at me grow! No laughing at the ugly, blue shorts - they are my absolute favorite!

Heading back home...

Here is Andrew's favorite saying (in a NY accent) from the trip. We had such a fun time! Dad and Maurene, thank you so much for everything! It was great seeing all of you! We really had a blast on what I'm calling our last true vacation before we become parents!

Day Six

For our last day of vacation we decided to hit up one more beach. We headed to Fire Island to check out Ocean Beach. We took a ferry to get there, which was fun by itself, but the beach was TOTALLY worth the traveling. There are lots of little cabin-type beach homes there, no cars allowed and "wild" deer that had no fear of humans (Andrew - third picture). I bet they just see humans as the suppliers of all the delicious garbage they enjoy. Anyway, we shopped a bit and ate crab legs and ribs for lunch at a bar where the locals were taking shots at 11:00 a.m. - celebrating the end of another tourist season! The beach was beautiful, and almost totally deserted, a perfect day to go. We did get a couple brownies from Rachel's bakery, which is supposed to have some award-winners. Photo above is a brownie with caramel, toasted marshmallows, chocolate chips and crushed Heath bars. Can you tell food was the central theme of this vacation for me???

The afternoon of Day Five

After our All-American lunch, Maurene, Jessica, Andrew and I hit up a mall a few towns away. It had a maternity outlet I wanted to shop at (Thank you again Dad and Maurene for some new clothes!), but for the non-preggos it also had a Nordstrom Rack, Gap, Nine West, and Saks - all outlets! Plus lots of other stores and shops. Note for future trips to Long Island - this mall could be dangerous! Dad joined us for dinner, Andrew and I wanted to take him to Dave and Busters as an early birthday present. It was so much fun! I have never been to one, but have been dying to go for at least a few years. The food was good. The boxing, skee-ball, basketball and jump rope (Jessica - third picture) was even better! I attached the hunting game photo of Dad and I so you can see our matching Garner double chins. We laugh about it, but there is now undeniable proof. There was a dancing game too, and some guys on it that were sweating so hard that they had thought to bring their own towels from home! Wow, seriously hardcore gamers... Fun night and Happy (early) Birthday Dad!!!

The morning of Day Five - Labor Day, no laboring involved

Our plan on Labor Day was to hit one of the beaches, but to try and avoid the crowds. A tough task, but we were up early enough to do it. We went to Robert Moses beach, not the very closest beach to Dad's house, I think the second closest though. The weather and waves were great, the crowds started moving in around noon, but by then we were ready to go. We stopped by the All-American Drive In for lunch. It is this tiny hamburger place. The way dad talked about it I assumed it was all over, but no, there is only one location. When we pulled up we had to park two blocks away, it was really crowded and there were people spilling out of restaurant, waiting to order. Here is the menu, $1.25 cheeseburgers, $.85 grilled cheese, and $1.65 milkshakes? The burgers reminded me a bit of McDonalds, I think they were voted Burgers to Try Before you Die by a Long Island newspaper, (you can interpret that any way you want....)

Day Four - Lazy Sunday

I think I'll call today "Catch up". After all, we were on vacation and and it can't all be go-go-go. Anyway, today we got up and went to church with dad. We ate brunch at an awesome restaurant called Hemmingways afterward. Back at home we relaxed, watched sports and dozed. Later that evening we went back to the fish market by dad's church and purchased fresh salmon, swordfish, shrimp and clams. The clams were so fresh they were still moving! Not Andrew's favorite, but I loved them! I could easily make an entire meal out of them. I tried to look up the actual species of clam, I think THIS was it, but not positive. The only bad part of the day was that Jessica got delayed in going to the airport with a friend and missed the awesome dinner. (She did get some leftovers though...) Picture above is Jonsey with her hood on due to a broken leg. Sorry, I suppose we could have taken it off for a cuter picture.

Day Three

Well today we headed off to Citi Field to watch the Cubs take on the Mets. Our seats were great, there really didn't appear to be many bad seats in the place. I was happy when we arrived that we were seated in the shade, but after about 30 minutes into the game we were in full sun. I had put on sunblock prior to the game so I didn't get burnt, but the heat was definitely intense. Around the six inning I had to take off my t-shirt to cover my head (I had a tank top on!) and I kept cool by downing Sprite and Gatorade, served in collectible Mets cups - for Dad, not me. The Cubs won the night we were there 5 - 3, but lost the next night. When we left the game we could hear the cheers coming from Arhur Ashe Stadium (Third picture), as the U.S. Open was well underway. That evening we went to work with Dad so Andrew and I could log on to his computers for our fantasy football draft. Oh, and Dad got to feel Cletus kick tonight for the first time! On our way back home after the draft we picked up fresh clam chowder for dinner - it was excellent!

The afternoon of Day Two

Since the Coney Island boardwalk is immediately adjacent to the NY Aquarium, we decided to walk over there next to see the sites and grab some lunch. First of all - Wow! Is Coney Island old! I had no idea that the first attractions at Coney Island opened in the 1870s (and truthfully some of them looked like they had been around that long!) The people visiting seemed like quite the eclectic bunch, but what type of crowd do you think you'll attract with activities such as "Shoot the Freak" and entertainment provided by Donny Vomit and Bambi the mermaid? We all agreed on lunch from Nathan's, (the original Nathan's nonetheless) and I must say that the chili dogs were fabulous! As we walked back to the subway we got a quick glance at some women and girls carving mangoes and pineapples, which they would then spear with wooden sticks and offer for sale. It was only a quick glance though because one shout of "Policia!" and the vendors (at least the non-registered ones) would scatter.

Since we were not too exhausted at this point, we then got back on the subway and went from Brooklyn to Manhattan to see Battery Park. We got off the subway right at 5:00 p.m. and Manhattan was ALIVE! People everywhere...Dad did his best to give us a brief description of where we actually were ("Look to your left - that way is Chinatown and Times Square and over that way is the Meatpacking District.") Battery park was cool, from the street performers, bike tours, vendors selling artwork and food, there was so much to look at and see. We mainly wanted to see Ellis Island and Liberty Island (you can see the Statue of Liberty in the third photo), but thought a ferry ride over might be too tiring this late in the day, maybe next trip. As we were leaving Battery Park I couldn't help but eye up some of the "Rolex" watches that were being shopped to people out of briefcases. After being shown a few, I walked away telling the man no thanks as I thought the watches looked scratched. Well, he stayed right on my heels and dropped the price telling me indignantly "It's not scratched!" I couldn't resist and after another minute or so of haggling he agreed on $15 (down from $40). Andrew put the watch on and we all laughed the entire way to the subway to head home. Maurene and Jessica think I would do well bartering in Chinatown for designer handbags and sunglasses!

The morning of Day Two

Today we woke up and headed to the New York Aquarium. It was another beautiful day and we thought we should go see the aquarium today versus Saturday or the actual Labor Day holiday to best avoid the crowds. The highlight of the aquarium had to be the Sea Lion show starring Duke and Osborn. We also got tickets to see Planet Earth: Shallow Seas which is a 4D movie from the BBC/Discovery Channel. 3D glasses are provided, and we also got to experience water being sprayed on you, fish swimming around your feet, and bubbles from the whales - it was cool! (Picture two shows a photo of a Wyoming Toad at the bottom of the graphic panel!)

Vacation! Day One...

We flew out of town early on Thursday morning and got to New York around noon. Within a couple hours of our arrival we were sitting on the beach in the sun! The ocean was too cold for most people to swim in, but there were a few brave people enjoying the waves. This is Jones Beach, the closest to Dad's house...

Happy Second Anniversary!

Year Two = the gift of cotton. A cotton hammock for Andy, cotton sleepshirts from Victoria's Secret for me!

Fresh from the garden

Our cucumbers and yellow squash flourished this year. Green peppers and strawberries not so much. Too cool with not enough sun. Here is Cash enjoying a cucumber