When Two Strings Come Together...: Fourth of July including Abi's first pizza crust

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Fourth of July including Abi's first pizza crust - we document everything!

To celebrate the Fourth of July, we spent both the 3rd and the 5th of July in NYC. We actually spent most of the 4th of July cleaning the house which wasn't B's happy idea of a holiday but because we had traveled so much in June, we hadn't cleaned at all for weeks and we were drowning in piles of stuff - laundry, mail, dishes, toys, stuff. We cleaned for a couple of hours and then grilled salmon on the barbeque. That was the light at the end of the cleaning tunnel. :)

So, back to our adventures. On the 3rd we went to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. It's an aircraft carrier with probably a hundred (ok maybe fifty) airplanes on board, a submarine attached, and a space shuttle included! We didn't see the Space Shuttle because they charged more for it and we have to stop sight-seeing at some point, right?

James on the deck with the planes

The long line of planes on deck

One of my favorite parts of the Intrepid was a show they put on right in the middle of the museum with lights, audio, and smoke. They told a story from the history of the Intrepid from WW2 I think. I could be wrong but the point is that it was a war story with bravery, deaths, and heroes. It made me cry. I do love our country!

My other favorite part was this awesome Lego display!!!

My favorite part. The Legos have such personality that you actually worry for this guy.

After the Intrepid, we ate pizza at a local joint because NY pizza really is different than any pizza I've ever eaten. It's a MUST experience. Abi got to eat her first pizza crust here and she loved it!

Then on the 5th, we went back to NYC thinking it would be busiest on the 4th. We were wrong. It was apparent that everyone planned to miss the crowds on the 4th by going to the city on the 5th, so we all crowded each other while trying to miss the crowds.

But we did get to see the Statue of Liberty from NJ. We wanted to go closer but the tickets were sold out months in advance. So, if you ever plan to visit NYC, plan early for this Lady.

Here we are with the skyline from NJ

It's crazy how tall the World Trade Center is! All the other buildings are actually huge but when you see the WTC, the rest of the buildings look like regular old buildings.

The tall one is the World Trade Center

We went to NYC via the ferry from NJ. That was a fun adventure!

On the ferry, getting ready to cross the Hudson

The ferry was nice but that left our car in NJ, so we had to walk all over NYC and take the subway which was a fun adventure for us and B. :) A great way to stay in shape!

Still a ten-minute walk away

It's hard to capture the height of this thing. It's like the Tower of Babel - it really seems to reach to heaven.

Empire State Building

So, the Empire State Building was probably my least favorite thing of the whole summer. But I think it's our fault not the building's. First of all, I think we went on the busiest day of the year. Second, we bought tickets from a street guy who sold us a "deal" meaning we could skip some part of the lines and ride some 3D thing while we waited that would tell us about the building. It was a joke! And the lines were ridiculous and the whole building was crowded! It was definitely not stroller friendly. If I do this again, I'll buy a ticket online ahead of time and pay the extra to truly skip the lines.

This is looking toward NJ. Somewhere there is our house!