New Jersey/New York

We arrived in New Jersey, to stay with Elyse and Lowell at her condo there. She had arranged 2 parking spaces for us: 1 for the trailer and 1 for the car! Not too shabby for big city life! Elyse's place is in Upper Mont Clair in a nice little neighborhood with all the shopping, parks and public transportation to New York nearby. Her place is small, but very nice. They were so kind, they even gave us the bedroom!

Elyse has very nice Golden Retriever named Micah, who is a service dog. He is trained to work with Autistic kids and he is a dear. Colin had decided a while back that when we got home, he wanted a dog. This was his opportunity to prove he was dog worthy! Any time Micah needed anything, Colin was there! He even volunteered to pick up the poop on walks! He was VERY convincing! We still haven't made any decisions about a dog joining our family, but we're giving it some thought.

Also near the condo, is a pet store that has several cats that they are trying to help find homes for. We walked by the store many times when it was closed and then Elyse took Derek one day while it was open, and that boy spent several hours at the place petting and playing with all the cats. He got his cat fix! He misses his cat, Jill tons, so this was nice for him and the cats.

It was time for haircuts for all of us again, and we were even in a neighborhood where we could walk to get it done! We all headed over and had a guy named Mike cut all of our hairs! It was a family affair.

Now that our hairs were cut, we were ready for some serious sight seeing! We headed by ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty! We had to pass through the most rigorous security screening I think I have ever been through! They made us remove watches, and even belts (not shoes?!) Lowell thought that was a bit overboard, and argued with the TSA folks. They were pretty insistent. Lowell decided to express his displeasure with the system by encouraging his shorts to fall down. They DID make him remove his belt, and how were his shorts supposed to stay up without a belt?! The security folks were not so impressed, but we were allowed to continue onto the ferry, so I guess that's something! The views of New York's skyline were pretty incredible on that ride! At Ellis Island, Colin and I took an audio tour, while Derek and Marcus watched a long film, and Lowell and Elyse took a self guided tour. It was pretty amazing to see how huge the building is and to imagine it full of people all with luggage, speaking a variety of languages, all needing to be processed. And the processing!! They had to pass a long list of criteria in order to be allowed to enter the USA. All of this brought back memories of my own immigration to the States from Canada. While I didn't enter through Ellis Island, it was still a big deal. I was only 5, but I remember parts of it.

As we took the next ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty, we enjoyed the view that must have greeted many immigrants over the years. There was the statue herself in the mouth of the bay, facing Europe, and symbolizing freedom and liberty to all who live here. Colin and I took another audio tour. Colin learned a lot! He is a good listener to those things! Derek and Marcus met a ranger and started a ranger led tour. It was just the two of them at first, so they got quite the chance to ask questions and interact with the ranger. That was great for Derek because he was in history overload, and not fully engaged until the ranger tour. Elyse and Lowell ended up joining them. We were not able to go up into the statue because that sells out months in advance, but just seeing it up close and personal, was a powerful experience!

The next day we took the train and then the subway into New York to see if we could get tickets to any good plays on Broadway. The boys and I really wanted to see Wicked! We stood in a long line for last minute tickets to plays available for the next day's matinee. There was a list of what shows were available, and Wicked wasn't on the list. We were trying to figure out what shows we would want to see, when a scalper walked by offering tickets for Wicked for the next night! They cost more than we would have liked, but we were going to get to see Wicked on Broadway!! The guy wanted cash, and who carries that kind of money with them? Marcus and the guy headed to a nearby ATM, where Marcus took out scads of cash (we were kind of surprised the machine would give us that much at one time!) We were also worried that the tickets might not be legit! Despite all of that... we bought them!

While in The City, we also went to Ground Zero to see where the Twin Towers used to stand. Then we met Elyse's son, Mark for lunch. I had a lovely buffalo burger! I am so adventurous, don't you think?! The boys were on their best behavior! It was all good! We walked around town a bit and showed the boys Times Square. On our way back to Elyse's place, we decided it would be more efficient to take a bus. Trains, subways and buses oh my!

We headed by car into the city the next day. Now we were on our way to see The Empire State Building, Central Park, Wicked and Times Square at night with all the lights! Lowell and Elyse dropped us off to park(they didn't feel a pressing urge to go up into The Empire State Building) while we joined the throngs of folks in line to go up. It seemed like the lines just kept going!! There were lines to buy tickets, lines for security, lines for elevators... Eventually, we did summit the building. The views of the city were incredible-when you were lucky enough to push through the plethora of tourists to get to the edge! It was very high up there! This was one of Colin's must sees! After reading the Percy Jackson series, in which Percy goes to The Empire State Building, Colin was intrigued. If I haven't made it clear, it was crowded, but in hindsight, I'm glad we did it! Thanks, Colin!

We met Lowell and Elyse in Central Park. On our way, we saw another Statue of Liberty. That was kinda fun, we didn't realize there were two (see above photo). We didn't have much time to spend in the park, but it was nice to get the idea. There were several wedding parties trouping through the park with photographers leading the way and stopping for ideal photo stops.

I need to put in a little aside here. For those of you who know Marcus, you may have noticed, he has a bit of a unique walk. It is more of a bounce if you ask me. One that seems to launch him forward. This gate seems to run in the family. His father and Derek have the very same stride, making it quite amusing as you watch the three of them launching their way through the city. It seems to make them fast walkers (or I am a slow walker, or a combination thereof). As we walked about the city, bobbing and weaving our way through the crowds, I felt I was almost running to keep up. I felt like I was missing photo ops and various sights as I was concentrating on not losing them. Ah well, I'm not sure who was more annoyed, the slow walkers or the fast walkers, but surely there is a compromise to be had somehow?!

Our next destination? Broadway and the musical Wicked!! Wow did we enjoy the show!! The music was great, the sets were great, the experience was great, and the story puts quite a fun twist on The Wizard of Oz making for great conversations with Colin! What a fun time! I am so glad we did it, expense and all!

As we walked back to the car, we went through Times Square. This time the kids got to see it in all its glory: lit up like a Christmas Tree! It always amazes me when we go to places like that, when there are SO many people walking the streets that late at night! We are not city folks. The crowds bother us, transportation gets complicated and somewhat expensive, and we are not much into nightlife, but we were glad to have had our little time in New York!