Manhattan again!

We got up bright and early again this morning to get on the Long Island Railroad to Penn station in Manhattan.  The LIRR was great!  Very clean and nice and it only took about 35 minutes to get into the city. 

 

We got some Starbucks.  It is funny how much Anna and Katie love Starbucks.  Then got on a double decker bus for a tour today.

 

We got off the bus at the World Trade Center to view the 9/11 memorial.  It was very nice and they are still working on construction of the new towers.  Anna and Katie asked a lot of questions.  Anna was just 6 months old when it happened, so they don't really realize how much 9/11 changed us as a nation.  We need to talk and learn about this more when we get home.

 

Next we went to Battery Park and looked at the Statue of Liberty.  Too crowded to go, so we did the free Staten Island Ferry instead and got some good views of the Statue from the boat.

 

We got back on the bus and went around the lower East side, up to the bottom of Central Park and back to Times Square, where we got off and walked to Rockefeller Center.  Katie had seen a sign for a new store for the Cake Boss.  She loves to watch those baking challenges on T.V.  So we walked over there and got a few cookies.

 

At this point it was almost 6.  We didn't really eat lunch, we had some hot pretzels from a cart and an apple we brought from breakfast.  We were getting tired and hungry.  Even with the bus, we walked a lot.  We went to a bar and grill and got some soup and an appetizer sampler, close to Penn station and got back on the train home at almost 8.

 

We are worn out and ready for bed!  The day was great and we had such nice weather!  No rain and about 79 degrees.  Such a difference from that sweltering first weekend.

 

 

 

 

The Hamptons

We got up early (at least for me and the girls) at 6:30 this morning.  We wanted to make sure there wasn't a lot of traffic and that we could get parking at the beach in the Hamptons we were going to.  Turns out that really wasn't a problem as it was sprinkling all morning and rather cool.  We went to Cupsogue Beach in West Hampton.  It was a very pretty beach. 

After a few hours it started to rain a little harder and we were cold so we decided to drive to the next Hampton.  We explored all of the Hamptons today starting with West Hampton, then Southampton, Bridgehampton and finally East Hampton.

 

We are staying in the middle of the Green part of this map.  So it is quite a trek.  Probably almost 2 hours to East Hampton.  After the beach in West Hampton, we went to Southampton.  It was very ritzy.  We wanted to eat lunch and all of the restaurants seemed so nice.  We ended up at 75 main.  We had brunch type foods and was very good.  About $15 per menu item.  We saw lots of fancy cars and handbags.  We went on to East Hampton.  Traffic was really bad in between the towns.  Only a two lane road and lots of summer traffic.

 

I couldn't get any pictures of super fancy houses.  All of those had really high hedges all around them.  Had to get a picture in front of Polo as Gregg thought that every man he saw had a polo shirt on.  We saw all kinds of high end stores.  Tiffany, several Ralph Lauren stores.  Lots of home décor and decorator stores.  I don't think I have ever seen so many Mercedes.  It was fun to see this area of Long Island.  I would have liked to drive all the way to Montauk (the end of the island), but after we ran into so much traffic thought we better not go another 15 to 20 miles east.  We came back to our neck of the woods and ate at a Japanese restaurant and had some ice cream.

 

Tomorrow it is off to the city.

 

 

 

Long Island continued

Well our routine is pretty set by now.  We get up at almost 9 (even after three weeks we can't seem to get up earlier and Gregg gets up at 6:30), we go eat breakfast.  I usually go to the gym after breakfast and after that we go to the pool.  Then lunch and Emi's nap.  Pretty boring huh?  I am such a homebody and I have made my kids that way too.  So we are fine to sew and read, play games, watch t.v. etc.  When we travel and are sight seeing, I am the exact opposite, much to the dismay of the girls.  I like to do as much as possible, even when they are begging to go back to the hotel.  This trip has been interesting as we have had both.  Plenty of down time during the week while Gregg is working and trying to pack in a lot on the weekends.  The girls have been working on an American Girl sewing project of two owls.  Even Emi has been sewing.

This afternoon we went to a market that was different than home.  Kind of a farmer's market.  It was packed inside, you had to pay to get a cart.  Gregg bought a lobster and I bought some little cheesecakes from a bakery.  You have to pay at every department.  We also bought steaks and potatoes.  This was the first dinner we've cooked since being here.  Gregg grilled the steaks.

 

Tomorrow we are slumming in the Hamptons!

Long Island: Week 3

Well, we have been away from home 15 days so far.  We have 8 more days to go.  The food at the hotel is starting to get a little boring.  The kids are getting homesick.  We went to a little Outlet mall today and went to an Izod of all places.  I can't resist going into any Izod I ever see.  After dinner tonight we walked to a little park so the kids can play.  The weather has been great.  Low 80's and not too much humidity.  We ate at a great Italian place the other night, very close to our hotel in Long Island.  The food was really good and we got to have the leftovers for lunch.

I should have put something in the frame of this Crème Brulee.  It was as big as a plate.  I have never seen a ramekin that big.  It was delicious and the whole family got to really enjoy it.

 

Living in such close quarters, I have really been noticing what the kids do, what they enjoy doing what they like eating for breakfast etc.  Katie eats a hot breakfast every day.  She likes the eggs, biscuits and gravy etc.  I should make her a hot breakfast more often.  Anna almost always has had a bagel and cream cheese.  Emi usually has cereal.  Can't seem to get her to eat much else.

I did laundry today and the kids put their laundry away.  We each have a drawer.

 

The top one belongs to Anna and the bottom to Katie.  Pretty funny!

 

 

Philadelphia 2

This morning we went to the Liberty Bell first.

We went to the first post office.  We wanted to mail a few postcards from there but forgot it was Sunday.  Unfortunately they didn't have a drop box.  They cancel the mail from that post office with a stamp that says Be Free Franklin.

Then we went to the Betsy Ross house.

We took a tour of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the Constitution was written.

We had cheesesteaks for lunch.

We started home from New York and decided to stop at Coney Island on the way home.  It took a long time to find a place to park.  But we went to Nathan's to have a hot dog and rode some rides.  It was pretty dirty there, I guess things never look like they do on T.V.

 

When we left it was starting to get dark and was raining.  So we got our cotton candy and went home.  I have never been to Philadelphia, it was really cool to see the birthplace of our country.  I love history. The older I get, the more I enjoy reading about early American history.  I hope the girls got something out of the trip.