10th Anniversary!

Friday the 22 of August was our 10 wedding anniversary! Brian had some wonderfully romantic ideas for it, I won't tell you any of them except what we really did! We decided it would be the most fun to check out things we haven't seen in NYC. We have this thing were we love to make the most out of the places we live by seeing it all before we move. So that is what we tried to do. Rebekah agreed to take the kids for us Wednesday night through Friday so we could celebrate alone. Once the kids were asleep Wednesday night we left Rebekah's for home. We watched movies until we were tired then retired so we could get up and start our day.

Thursday morning at about 9:00 we woke up (the latest we have slept in since Hannah was born!!!) Got showered, ate ginger pancakes (thank you Mindy!!! I will never go back to plain old pancakes again!) with lemon syrup and eggs. We caught our bus at about 11 and got into the city and to Central Park around noon.

Brian had done some research and found a cute place for lunch called the "Lexington Candy Shop". It has been in a few movies so Brian thought it would be fun to dine there. We walked about 1/2 a mile to Lexington just to eat there. When we got there we found Pete, he was standing at the door turning everyone away because HBO was....shooting a movie! NO KIDDING! So we got to talking to Pete, told him it was our 10th and how sad we were that we were missing out on such cool experience, we mentioned to him that this seems to happen to us often on our anniversary! (Side note: on a previous anniversary we planned to float the Snake River and were unable to because Vice President Cheney was fishing and floating the same stretch of the river we were going to!) He laughed and offered us a couple of pieces of Anniversary Cake.

We left and walked a few blocks and found a hole-in-the-wall burger joint and ate there instead. It was called "One". Those boys make a mean burger! After lunch we walked back to Central Park, saw the Belvedier Castle then walked to THE LOEB BOATHOUSE to take a row boat through The Lake. We got there and found they only accept cash, something we instinctively do not like to carry when in the city, so we had to walk back to Lexington to an ATM, get cash out then go back to the boathouse. Whew! We finally secured our boat and got on the lake at 2:30. We had an hour on the lake, it was so much fun. The water is so green with algae and other plants that it looks like you are rowing through a meadow. We found a bunch of turtles and a crazy looking bird. It was really quite romantic and peaceful.

After The Lake, we walked to the East River on 2nd and 56ish to catch the Roosevelt Island Sky Tram. That was an amazing ride. It takes you over the traffic, over the East River and onto the Island. The Island is only a few miles long, one end is mostly deserted with the ruins of a beautiful old hospital and the other end is populated with a park at the end housing a lighthouse. We were told by the tram driver that they were closing the tram down at midnight because they were shooting a movie. He also mentioned it must be some big movie to get permission to shut down the tram. (I wonder if the two closures are the same movie.)

We had just enough time to take the subway to Battery Park to catch the Staten Island Ferry at sunset. WHAT A SIGHT! If you haven't done that...may I recommend it! It was wonderful finally seeing the face of Lady Liberty. We had seen her a couple of times from Liberty Park on the Jersey side, but never her face. We got to Staten Island and turned right around on the next ferry so we could eat dinner at Time Square before everything closed for the night. I have been on ferries at night going back to Seattle, that was quite a sight, but coming back into NYC at night...Brooklyn Bridge to the right, the Statue of Liberty on the left with a huge skyline full of lights, that was incredible!

We took the Subway to Grand Central Station giving Brian the chance to walk me past his office on 300 Madison. He had a wonderful restaurant in mind for dinner but, it was closed, so we had to settle for seafood at Red Lobster. LOL. Being an optimist I decided I really couldn't be allergic to something so yummy as crab and ordered some for dinner. To my utter dismay I really and truly am allergic and will NEVER attempt that ridiculous feat again! I have not been well until today (Sunday). We got to Port Authority just in time to catch our bus at 11. A kind man directing us to that bus.

Brian had an enjoyable chat with a gentleman and his son who were visiting from Cincinnati, while I fell asleep. I woke up when I heard Brian questioning if this was indeed the correct bus. Brian asked the driver if he made our stop, he did not! He had to drop us at a stop 3.5 miles from our house. It was midnight and we had no one to call to save us so we cheerfully walked those wonderful 3.5 miles home. It was a nice brisk walk. The night was beautiful and we made it home at 1 am.
That was a trip!

On Friday we woke at 10 (another new record!) and decided to change our plans to canoe a lake near the Del Water Gap, and go pick up the kids from Rebekah early so we could be with them. We actually and truly missed them. So we left our house at 10:45 to be at Rebekah's at 11:30 to get caught in a traffic jam. We got to Rebekah's at around 3. It was good to have the kids home. I love the times in my life when I realize how important those little people are to me. It was a very memorable weekend!