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 ...

Celebrating Unemployment

To celebrate the end of both of our jobs, Jason & I met up with our friends Megan & Michael in Washington DC and headed together to the Shenandoah Valley for the weekend before last. They had found a perfect, rustic little cabin for us to stay in and we had a fabulous time visiting with them and sight-seeing!

Our cabin and the view from it's balcony!

Of course, we had to get a picture with the park sign!

Along skyline drive at Shenandoah National Park...sooo beautiful!

Jason on the Appalachian Train!

A waterfall hike...

View from inside our cabin

A beautiful sunset!

A parting shot at our wonderful little cabin!

We had a couple hours before our bus departed from DC, so Megan & Michael took us to the National Art Gallery gardens where we joined the many tourists and soaked our tired feet in the fountain - it was a fantastic ending to our weekend!

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!