What I did during my summer vacation

I was just talking to the kids this morning about the inevitable question that teachers ask upon returning to school in the fall and the various things that they could respond with when I realized that I have some great pictures to share and haven't gotten around to doing so for a very long time.

We spent a long weekend with some good friends down at Long Beach Island and of course I did everything in my power to remember to take my camera. I even argued with Bill at one point about where he had moved it to because, "GAH! I know EXACTLY where I put it and if he moves it to another location (even if it was better) I will no longer remember, blah blah blah". And guess what? No, I DID remember to take the camera. But I never unpacked it the entire time we were down there. But rest assured, we had a wonderful time with perfect weather and good company the entire vacation.

After that we were lucky enough to have some family come for a visit. We started them out with a trip down to New York City. It was the first time that Megan and Matt had been on a train and a first for both them, Zach, Jocelyn and Taylor to see the city.

As soon as we arrived we jumped on the subway and headed down to Fulton Street to see the WTC site. Bill and I have seen it before and although there's really not much left to see but new construction, I'm still struck hard with memories of that fateful day.

We then hiked down to Battery Park so that everyone could get a view of the Statue of Liberty, albeit it a long view across the water, but they saw it none-the-less. Here are Megan and Matt taking a break as we all enjoyed the view.

From there we jumped back on the subway and headed back up to Times Square. After grabbing lunch at ESPN Zone and playing hard in the arcade, we walked up the street to the center of Times Square where we caught up with The Naked Cowboy. There was no way that I was paying $2.00 just for a picture of an ugly guy with a smoking hot body so I quickly snapped these pictures of random strangers posing with him before we headed off.




We walked up to Rockefeller Center and then to the ultimate Megan spot, American Girl Place, where she was treated to a doll and the rest of the group took the nauseating tour (the beer back at The ESPN Zone was not enough to ward off the sweetness) of the entire building and the genius marketing that is American Girl. Before we knew it it was time to head back down to Grand Central for the train ride back to CT.

The next day was spent in the pool and then I took the older kids to Lake Compounce for the evening. We had a good time and we three girls enjoyed the look of fear on Zach's face as we persuaded him to get on various coasters with us. He was a good sport on all but one, Down Time, but we'll get him on there some day!

Tuesday was a lazy day although we did hit the mall for Tam to do some school shopping for the girls. And then Wednesday rolled around and they were off for the 5 hour drive back to PA.

Taylor stayed behind for the remainder of the week and she, Megan and Matt were pretty much water logged due to the amount of time spent in the pool and the hot tub.


Megan finally learned how to swim that week too... And the kids all enjoyed continuously jumping into the pool...






On Saturday morning I packed everyone up and we headed back for my week long visit with family in PA. I'll save those pictures and stories for a later post. Also to come next week...Megan goes to 1st grade and Matt hits pre-k!!