Happy Birthday Rich!

Rich had two requests for New York:

1.) Eat a hot dog on the street....
We all did this except Autumn, who wisely went for kebabs instead.
Autumn was the only one happy with their lunch decision!
2.) Eat NY style pizza! Great idea!

Breakfast of Champions!

Us with Rich's mom and uncle in Baltimore on the way home

NYC at Night

View from the top of the Empire State Building

ESB all lit up in red, white and blue for Memorial Day

Midnight in Times Square

Proof that only cabs drive in NY

Rich's first cab hail in NYC...
...and that cab actually stopped!

New York

Sunday morning we had breakfast "on the way" out of town which turned out to be way out of the way once we finally got the right address in the GPS. Anyway, after countless hours in traffic, we finally got through the tunnel, out of New Jersey and into Manhattan. It was mom and Rich's first time in New York, so we headed straight for Times Square. Next, we rode the subway down to Battery Park, where Rich hoped to find some dead bodies like they always have on Law and Order. Sadly, we didn't discover any criminal activity there, so we boarded the Staten Island Ferry for a sunny cruise past the Statue of Liberty and back. Wall Street, Chinatown and finally Little Italy were our next stops. We now highly recommend the deep fried calzone from Sal's Pizza if anyone is planning a cheese-cation any time soon. We taxied back up to the hotel and then stood in the hellishly long two hour+ line at the Empire State Building, but the views of the city at night were worth the wait. Autumn had to go to bed early again in prep for the big test, but Mom, Rich and I went back to Times Square to see the lights. Again another night of too much fun, and staying up way to late!

How cute!
Us in Times Square


According to TV, it's the crappiest place in NY!

NYC!

Lady Liberty!

I think they liked it

Me and Mom

The source of all evil! muhuhuhuwahhahaah!

Inviso-building!

Little Italy was packed!

Tiny cupcakes!

Although the sign would lead you to believe otherwise, this store did not, in fact, sell cigarettes. Also, the candy selection was rather poor.

An incredible sunset!

Atlantic City, Here we come!

After lunch, we drove out to Atlantic City for a night of gambling and strolling the boardwalk. Autumn had to go to bed early because of her impending Spanish test (which she passed~!) We of course had way too much fun, and Rich was the only one with any money left the next day!

View from our hotel.

All of us at the marina after dinner.

Shoe shopping at Caesars!

It was pretty stormy.

Autumn being crabby! HAHA just kidding!

Mom & Rich Visit: Philadelphia

Mom & Rich flew out for a long weekend to visit. On Saturday morning we headed out to Philadelphia on our way to Atlantic City for some delicious cheese steaks. We tried both Geno's and Pat's, and it was close, but I liked Pat's better. Rich felt like he was living TV since he had just seen a special on the long time rivalry between the two sandwich kings!


In my book, Pat is the King of Steaks!


Rich & Mom at Geno's

Minneapolis-St. Paul: Visit with Jacquelyn & Jude

For my birthday weekend, we flew out to the sin-cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul to visit with Jacquelyn and Jude. It was a quick trip, but we had a ton of fun! The Mall of America was the central attraction where we shopped, played mini-golf and rode a roller coaster. The visit was too short, and I can't wait to see the two of them again soon!

Thar she blows!

Jacqs attempting to get this bird's Corona! It's giant!

Mini-golf was taken seriously by all!

Jacq about to go ape@#%$ on us when she missed her shot! Haha! Just kidding it's not a real axe!

Just before heading home...

The world's giantest mushroom from Jacquelyn's yard...

...Lupe was planning on moving in to get some space of his own away from his crazy ladies, Penny & Luna.

OBX with the Borderopoli

This weekend we headed south for the Outer Banks of North Carolina with some friends. It was so nice the get out of the city, and it worked wonders on Autumn's spanish on Monday. We started the day in Duck drove south toward Nag's Head to check out the lighthouse and beaches. It was back to Kitty Hawk for mini-golf, lunch and the largest sand dune on the East Coast. Finally, we wound up the night back in Duck for a little swimming and dinner. It was pouring down rain on Sunday, but we stuck around and drove up to the northernmost accessible end of the Outer Banks. We visited another lighthouse and grabbed some North Carolina Bar-Be-Que before heading back to DC.

Fresh doughnuts dunked and topped to order....genius! Duck Doughnuts!

Lighthouse visit #!...FAIL! It was being renovated.

We did get to see an underwater crab battle, so the trip down to Bodie Island wasn't a complete loss.

Aww...so cute and dressed up in red and green! I guess we're ready for Christmas!

Now that's what I'm talkin about!

Autumn and her true love.....the iPhone!

Eagle-eye Sterling and her hole-in-one victory pose!

Sand-boarding was much slower and more dangerous than we initially thought! We determined it was pretty much a conspiracy between the Jockey Park people and the Super Wings people to sell more boogie boards!

Kite flying was a much bigger hit!

Sahara Desert or North Carolina? .....Water!...gasp...Water!

No water here, but I guess the drive-through liquor store will do!

Aut-tiki

Currituck Lighthouse on a rainy Sunday.

Embassy Tours!

This weekend we visited embassies in DC with some friends including Peter from Colville! We also toured the capitol.

European Embassies! Yeah!

Autumn & Peter at the Italian Embassy. This one's for you Auntie E!

The Capitol. At long last Autumn finally gets a tour!

G. Washington's "Crypt"...

...he wouldn't agree to be buried here, so its empty!

Oooh...aaah...the capitol dome!

Autumn with Washingtonian statue #1 of Whitman (looks more like Daniel Boone to me!)

Autumn with Washingtonian statue #2....Mother Joseph. Que interesante!