VT --> MA --> CT --> NY = NYC !!!

Four states down ... many more to go!

Had a BLAST in NYC - hanging with an awesome Peace Corps friend and enjoying the stomping grounds from our first year of marriage.

Food on sticks -- ahh, we have missed street food sooooo much!

 

Amazing soup dumplings! 

And, like we should be eating still more  -- doughnuts from doughnut planet!

Ferry out to Govenors Island with William and his girlfriend.  Heading to a funky art show in the park -- Figment -- where you get to be part of the art.  So fun!

 

Saying goodbye to our first home

This was our home for our first year of marriage ... we felt blessed every single day we lived here as it was far beyond anything we expected to be living in. It was really difficult to say goodbye to it last week, but we will always have wonderful memories of our time here to keep.

Last NYC cupcake run

Our last Sunday in New York was the 6th ... and we visited our final cupcake shop. A darling place with delicious cupcakes ... but a very odd rule about not allowing customers to take photos inside or outside! I got scolded for taking these. Very odd. But, of course we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless!

Our final days in NYC

For our last few days in our home of NYC, we decided to do a few touristy things that we had yet to do. Of course, we didn't have enough time to do them all...but we tried :)






Here we are, ready for an evening cruise around Manhattan!

Since nothing declares the independence of our country better than eating, Jason & I could not resist heading out to Coney Island to watch the Nathan's Famous international hot dog eating contest. ESPN was even there to broadcast the "sporting" event. Happy 4th of July!

Joey Chestnut & Kobayashi tied at 59 dogs eaten in 10 minutes and the contest went into eating overtime!! It was quite the thrill - the one to eat five hot dogs the fastest would be the champion of 2008! Joey out-ate Kobayashi by 7 seconds and retained his title!!!

Coney Island beach ...

June Visitors

Last week we had a few visitors come through town which was great!

Our friend, Soraya, rode the train in from Connecticut on Wednesday to have dinner with us. We first met Soraya in Tonga, she was a 3rd year Peace Corps volunteer. She returned to the US in February, so it was great to chat about our experiences overseas and our readjustment back into the US.



















On Friday, we met up with Kim & Daren. They were here on a trip sponsored by Daren's work, in recognition of his great work for them this past year. We took them on a quick tour through mid-town, then headed to Magnolia bakery for a cupcake! Yummy.

A Visit from an Egyptian!

My friend Christy came for a visit two weekends ago from California ... we spent a little time trying to figure what year we actually met in our small group through Lake Ave Church - we think it was 2002 or 2003. She'd been to NYC before, so we got to do more non-touristy activities with her and had a great time!

Since this was Christy's first time in Harlem...we walked down to the Apollo theater - 'where stars are born and legends are made.' We got an informal tour from the lobby security guard which was very fun!

We took a trip out to Yankee Stadium to see it one last time before it's torn down and the Yankees move to their new home, about 100 feet away...
The traditional Sunday cupcake run - we went to Two Little Red Hens and they had delicious cupcakes!

Since Christy had spent a year in Heidelberg, she had to grab a picture in front of it's namesake restaurant!

We got caught in a BIG thunder shower as we walked through Central Park - gotta love summer in New York!

Watching Yael Naim (sings the Apple, airmac song) at the Central Park Summer Stage! Awesome way to end the weekend!