go places.

Dead Horse Bay

2014-04-14T11:35:00.000-06:00

On one of the most gorgeous days we have seen this year, Jason and I had a bit of an odd adventure in Brooklyn. We went antiquing in Dead Horse Bay. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the name fits this place perfectly.

During the 1850’s -1930’s there used to be glue factories along the beach where, yes, glue was manufactured mostly from horses and other animals. By the 1930s, all the glue factories had been closed and the marsh was instead used as a landfill and capped in the 1950s. The landfill cap eventually burst and trash spilled onto the beach. As a result, today, not only can you find horse bones littered along the beach, but also there are glass bottles, dishes, shoes, toys, silverware, tires, and lots of other assorted nostalgia, some treasures being over a hundred years old.

Dead Horse Bay is sort of a secret place that many people don’t know about. There are no signs or paved paths to get there and asking people who live in the area for directions will only cause you embarrassment. To get to Dead Horse Bay, we drove to Brooklyn and parked our car at Floyd Bennett Field. We walked for a mile until we came to the last traffic light before the Marine Parkway Bridge and then turned left on a dirt trail that led to the beach.

Jason and I weren’t really sure if this place was going to be a hit or a miss, but we were immediately elated once we reached the beach and saw it covered in glass bottles sparkling in the sun. Jason immediately picked out horse vertebrae lying in the surf like seashells. As we admired all of the interesting things, our creative juices started flowing. Jason decided to collect glass bottles and I started picking up pieces of porcelain from dishes. You wouldn’t believe all of the different colors and designs that I found on the beach. I’m planning to create some sort of collage with all of my pieces, but I’m not totally set on an idea.

Another man's trash is another man's treasure

Dilapidated Doll's Face

Horse bone, he just had to touch it

oh, a homeless woman picking up trash from the beach

Message in a bottle

The handless gentleman and headless wife

Super old Pepsi-cola bottle

When Jason first told me to bring a garbage bag, I thought he was out of his mind to think that we were going to bring anything home from this filthy place. To my surprise, we found so much broken bottle treasure that our bag was coming apart from the weight of all the items. The search for new pieces of dishes brought me farther and father from where we started and I eventually swung the bag over my shoulder. This only resulted in the bag slipping through my fingers and it crashing to the ground in what felt like slow motion. I was so mad that I slammed a glass bottle that I held in my other hand down onto the sand and boy, did it shatter. If I didn’t feel like I was destroying a piece of history, I would have done it again because it felt so great to get my anger out that way. Anyway, I broke two bottles that were inside the bag and while I was digging out the pieces with my bare hands, I suddenly stopped and was like, “Oh shoot, my hand is bleeding.” It was really just a small cut on my finger, but lucky for me I had Band-Aids in my purse. Later, while Jason was helping me find broken dishes, he cut his finger too, but it was really only a matter of time before Jason hurt himself. We really need to a sturdier bag and gloves the next time we decided to dig for glass in the sand.

These bottles were everywhere along the beach

We're definitely going back

We finally decided that we had collected enough junk for one day and decided to pack up and leave. On the way back, we saw a beautiful uprooted tree on the beach with colorful glass bottles hanging from it. So much of Dead Horse Bay is like a modern art museum with art pieces left by people and the best ones made naturally from the tide. Once we got back to the main road, I found a bench to sit on while Jason walked another mile to get the car and pick me up because our bag was totally ripped to pieces. After we figure out what we’re going to do with this junk, we will surely be back for more.

Ice-Skating on Jason's 27th

2014-04-14T11:19:00.000-06:00

After a lot of contemplation and bouts of frustration from rainy weather forecasts, Jason insisted that we must do something for his 27^th birthday. I couldn’t disagree and I think that everyone should be allowed to do something fun on your special day. Since everywhere around us was experiencing the same rain as New York, we just decided to go into the city and check something off of our bucket list: ice-skate the Rink at Rockefeller Center.

We made it to the Rockefeller Rink

Jason has been dying to go ice-skating in the city, especially at the Rock. The last few times we planned on going ice-skating in the city, something has always stopped us from going and Jason expected the same thing to happen on his birthday because of the rainy weather. Much to his chagrin, the Rink at Rockefeller was open with only a handful of people ice-skating. We didn’t have to wait in a long line and immediately strapped on our skates and slowly slipped onto the ice.

Almost falling

Ice-skating in a raincoat is the only way to ice-skate

I can’t even remember the last time I went ice-skating, but I can assure you it was kind of embarrassing needing the supervising ice rink guy to help me on. We held the guardrail a bit before we both got the hang of balancing ourselves and were able to glide around and around the circle with ease. It was fun being in the center of Rockefeller Plaza in an ice rink that we’ve often walked by and watched people ice-skate. I wanted so badly to be like the figure skaters we watched at the Sochi Winter Olympics and try to skate backward to set up a triple axel, but there were too many people around to try. After a while, Jason decided he did what he came to do and that he was ready to rest his aching feet.

We walked around the NBC store inside the Rockefeller and laughed at the television paraphernalia of our favorite shows. Then headed to Potbelly for sandwiches and La Masion du chocolat for some dessert. We ate chocolate éclairs for then and bought macaroons for later.

Some birthday deliciousness

We finally decided to get out of the rain and go home. Later that night, we went to the Cheesecake Factory and ended the night with a cake, decorated by moi, and opening presents. I’m so happy that Jason considers his 27^th to be one of his favorite birthdays because it sets the bar higher for him to make my 23^rd birthday (April 15) extra special.

new croton dam

2014-04-02T11:47:00.000-06:00

When I came home from a long day of work on a Saturday, Jason was just dying to get out of the house and have an adventure. We decided to drive 45 minutes to Cortlandt to visit the New Croton Dam. I didn’t really know what to expect from this place; I mean, it’s just a dam right?

The first sunny day in a longtime

Watching ducks walk on the ice

When we arrived at the beginning of the bridge, you couldn’t see much past it, but you could certainly hear a waterfall. We didn’t realize until we started walking on the bridge that we were actually on the dam. It was a very beautiful scene to look at the waterside of the bridge because most of the water in the reservoir was still frozen from the winter.

Ducks and geese gathering on the edge of the ice

Man-made waterfall from the spillway

Trying not to blink in the sun

Closer to the spillway, ducks and geese gathered on the end of the ice to watch the water fall 297 feet below. We also had fun watching the geese play chicken to see who could float closest to the edge of the spillway before flipping their feet really fast to get out of the water before barreling down the falls. Our eyes popped when we looked straight down the spillway and saw a flipped rowboat on a flat space in the dam. We hoped that it was just a boat that got loose and not a romantic paddle gone wrong.

I don't want to know what's under the rowboat

In a pensive mood

New Croton Dam

Such a beautiful sight

New Croton Reservoir

Going to the New Croton Dam was the perfect trip to get out us of the house and make us feel like spring was on its way.

Jason has a death wish to see what's over the edge

All 297 feet of it

We need more beautiful days like this in New York

monuments & macaroons.

2014-03-11T10:52:00.003-06:00

Jason and I finally took some time to go to Alexandria, Virginia to visit our good friends David and Melissa. One of the days we were there, of course, we couldn’t pass up on visiting Washington DC. In our travels, Jason and I have found that traveling with different friends can bring new perspective to a destination. In the case of our foodie friends, they always know where the best food spots are in the city and Washington DC was no different. This weekend’s obsession was macaroons. I’ve always admired this vividly colorful cookie, but never had the actual pleasure of tasting one.

We took a taxi to Georgetown and for lunch ate delicious pizza at Pizzeria Paradiso. Continuing down M street we unexpectedly ran into a sign for Olivia’s Macaroon and headed down an alleyway to the small, cute shop. Once inside, Jason and I picked three macaroons apiece. David and Melissa, however, chose six apiece—they do not mess around.

This poster outside of Olivia's was enough advertisement for me to come into their shop

Georgetown is a historic neighborhood in Washington DC that is lined with all kinds of boutique shops. We loved looking at the beautiful stone and brick architecture and peeking into some of the unique shops. We wandered into Gorin Bros. Hat Shop and I had fun channeling my inner Downton Abbey character, Jason on the other hand, channeled his prohibition gangster and even tried on the “official” Heisenberg hat from Breaking Bad.

We love the colonial look of some of the buildings around Georgetown

No caption needed

Is this the look of the Heisenberg?

Call me Lady Mary

If a Spainiard see's a Zara...

We continued walking up Wisconsin Ave. admiring the fancy window displays until we found a second macaroon shop: Bee’s Macaroon. After choosing more treats we found a place to sit and finally enjoyed some pastries. I took small bites to savor every bit of macaroon deliciousness and Jason finished them off in one bite. We all agreed that Bee’s had the better macaroon, but Olivia’s had the better display.

We love how each place is seperated by a different color - Bee's is the Yellow one

The official "Jason Approval"

Enjoying our macaroons

My favorite thing about the macaroons may have been the pretty colors

Cool old sign of Georgetown

Before leaving Georgetown, we passed a frozen Chesapeake and Ohio canal and walked along the Potomac River. There was a great ice skating rink just on the edge of the river that looked intriguing, especially with penguin guides to push to help children skate, but it was still too chilly for us to enjoy.

How many penguins can you spot?

The Potomac River

Taking a taxi from K Street, we headed to the Washington Monument. Last summer when we visited Arlington, Virginia the Monument looked like a spaceship from all the scaffolding to repair damages from an earthquake a few years ago. Unfortunately, there is still scaffolding around the bottom of the structure, but lots of progress has been made and we still enjoyed looking at the 555-foot tall obelisk.

The Washington Monument

Best Buddies

We then made our way to the National World War II Memorial. Of course, this memorial is so much more beautiful in the spring and summer when the fountain is running, but we enjoyed having it to ourselves. It was fun finding all of the states we have called home. The states of Michigan, California, Idaho, and New York have been good to us, but who knows where we’ll end up next.

Although I'll probably never go back, I'll always be proud to be a Michigander

It's much prettier with the fountain on

I still forget I live in New York

Aw, come on guys, we have so many fond memories of this place!

We continued down a long path adjacent to the empty Reflecting Pool to one of my favorites: the Lincoln Memorial. It’s always a surprise to walk up the steps to the Greek-like temple and then out of the shadows see the gigantic statue of President Lincoln sitting on a chair. We were grateful that David was able to take many pictures of both of us with one of our favorite US Presidents.

The road to Lincoln

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

He's so big!

The great view from the Lincoln Memorial (I always think of Forrest Gump)

Our final sightseeing stop was the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Jason loves this war memorial and how expressive and lifelike the sculptured soldiers appear. It makes you feel like you are in the actual battlefield with them. A 164-foot long black granite wall stands nearby with photographic engravings depicting images of people and weapons involved in the war. It was very touching to look at the detail of the engravings and reflect on the people who gave up their lives in Korea.

Korean War Memorial

They just get to you

The etchings on this wall are incredible

All and all, we had a fantastic time visiting David and Melissa and we were so happy that they were able to take time away from their busy schedules to show us around Georgetown and DC. Hopefully they can come up to New York soon so we can repay the favor, but until then, we wait anxiously for our next foodie adventure.

It was so great to see David and Melissa!

ain't it a fine life.

2014-02-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

We always seem to celebrate Valentine’s Day the date before or after the actual holiday because of our busy schedules, but it never takes away from the fun that we have together. On Saturday we woke up early and headed into New York City and caught brunch at Pershing Square, located just outside Grand Central Station. This restaurant might be shoved under a bridge, but it’s much larger and more beautiful inside than it lets on outside. Not to be cliché or anything, but it was seriously love at first bite. My three egg omelet and Jason’s steak and eggs were absolutely delicious and perfect in everyway. It was fun to sit comfortably in our seats and enjoy our food while the snow started to fall outside.

Leaving Grand Central

Pershing Square was miraculously outside of Grand Central Station

Best brunch ever

Jason's new favorite spot

The food was so delicious

After licking our plates clean and sipping the last of our hot chocolate, we walked down 42^nd street to the New York Public Library. This is another place we have walked by many times, but never thought to go inside. The New York Public Library is the second largest library in the United States (only behind the Library of Congress) and the third largest in the world. This huge, marble building was like entering Hogwarts. Two marble lions named Patience and Fortitude guard the entrance and walking through the revolving doors you find yourself suddenly standing in the candlelight of Astor Hall. We walked through the quiet rooms of the library and admired the detailed art and architecture. Jason led me to the third floor where we entered the Rose Reading Room with a sky-decorated ceiling. It truly was an amazing sight and pilled high with so many books.

The gorgeous marble facade of the New York Public Library

Jason and Patience the Lion

Astor Hall

Rose Reading Room

The coolest drinking fountain ever

Seroiusly, I don't know how people wouldn't be distracted from such beautiful art and architecture

Rose Reading Room

After our brief visit to the New York Public Library, we continued to walk through Bryant Park admiring the people ice skating in the snowy weather. We walked pass Time Square to the Nederlander Theatre to go see Newsies! Jason had surprised me with tickets the day before and we were both so excited to see our third musical on Broadway. Jason grew up watching the Disney movie and had all the songs memorized. He had been singing the songs the day since he bought tickets to the musical, and even now, I can’t get him to stop. I was just as excited to see a musical that won Best Score and Best Choreography at the 2012 Tony Awards.

Time Square

Nederlander Theatre

Even this billiboard just makesme want to sing and dance

Nederlander Theatre

Newsies did not disappoint. Our seats were seven rows from the stage and I felt at times like they were singing to me. Newsies is a musical with a simple storyline and even simpler set design, which involved three sets of scaffolding. The songs were so fun and catchy that it made us want to get up from our seats and sing and strike with them. I loved the almost full cast of boys, and Jason and I were in awe of the dancing. Seriously, I would spend the money again just to see the choreography.

Sneaking a shot of the stage before the show begins

We left the city just in time to miss a snowstorm. Even though it wasn’t exactly Valentine’s Day, I had the perfect date with my valentine and I’m so happy that he’s mine.

Escaping the snow just in time

chilly in philly.

2014-02-05T13:31:00.001-07:00

It’s been so cold and gloomy around here that we decided to drive to Philadelphia to take advantage of a slightly less freezing day. Last year we visited Philadelphia in a whirlwind and jam packed our day walking to the major sights: Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin’s Grave, Reading Terminal, JFK Plaza, Elfreth’s Alley, and the Rocky Statue. This time around we made a much shorter visit and saw the things we didn’t get around to doing last year, which ended up being perfect.

We spent most of our time at the Eastern State Penitentiary. We arrived just in time to go on an hour tour of the former prison. Eastern State was in operation from 1829 to 1971 and was revolutionary in its emphasis of reform over punishment. Most striking is its radial plan or wagon wheel model of cellblocks that are connected by a single central hub. Eastern State’s design served as an innovative model, at the time, for hundreds of other prisons.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Guard Towers at each corner of the Penitentiary

Each cell was tiny with only a small bed and a toilet

Down cell block 7; a two-story block

Cell Block 7

The penitentiary was really run down which gave it an even more eery feel

The Operating Room; it was even more creepy in person

Medical Wing

On the tour, we walked the length of cellblock one and stayed in the central hub, which was thankfully heated. The cold matched the uneasy feeling of walking down a hallway where so many people served out their sentences and lived in these tiny cells. It was fun listening to the tour guide tell us stories of how inmates had escaped. The most famous account was of Willie Sutton and 11 others escaping by digging a tunnel 15-feet deep and 97-feet over. Jason and I have seen so many movies about breaking out of prison, but it never occurred to me that those instances have actually happened. Just listening to the stories made me want to watch the Shawshank Redemption.

Jason’s favorite part of the tour was seeing Al Capone’s fairly luxurious cell with fine furniture, oriental rugs, and a cabinet radio. In 1929, Capone was arrested traveling back from Atlantic City with a concealed, unlicensed .38 caliber revolver and sentenced to a year at Eastern State. Though he was let out four months early on good behavior, Eastern State was his first visit to prison. Jason and I had an amazing time on our tour of Eastern State and weren’t completely frozen by the weather.

Inside the penitentiary, the only form of security was a guard standing at the center hub and looking down each block

What it is believed Al Capone's cell looked like while he stayed here

Jason outside Al Capone's cell

Trying to climb the 30-foot wall

We drove to Independence Square and rounded out our visit with some more traditional American history at Franklin Court. Franklin Court is the site of Benjamin Franklin’s home, which was torn down in the early 1800s. It has been memorialized by a steel “ghost structure” outlining the place where Franklin’s house once stood. There were also archeological exhibits that showed the original foundations and walls of the house. It was really insightful in giving us an idea of where Benjamin Franklin lived.

Side note: I found a whole 4 dollars on the sidewalk

The original is always best

Part of the "Ghost Structure" of Franklin's House, it's sad that it's not still standing today

We also walked along the bridge to Penn’s Landing. Besides the wind coming off of the Delaware River, the waterfront was absolutely gorgeous. A bit of history: after first landing in New Castle, DE—Penn docked alongside the Delaware River in 1682 and later founded the colony of Pennsylvania.

Where William Penn landed and founded "Penn"sylvania

Before leaving, we stopped at Pat’s King of Steaks, which is supposedly the birthplace of the Philly Cheese Sandwich. We parked our car in a super sketchy neighborhood in South Philadelphia, ordered our sandwiches, and ate them in the car with the heater on. The Philly Cheese Steak is definitely made for a meat eater. I ordered the pizza steak and Jason ordered a traditional cheese steak. Personally, I thought it was good, but it had way too much meat. In the driver’s seat, Jason devoured his because, well, he’s a carnivore.

Visited the King

Their fries were top notch

Jason approves

I’m glad that we challenged the cold and snuck in a trip to Philadelphia early in the new year. I’m so excited for new adventures and for whatever lies in store for 2014.

dreamin' of a bright christmas.

2014-01-23T15:33:00.001-07:00

I have been waiting for these two weeks for so long! While Jason has over a month off from school, I was lucky to get two weeks off from work for the holidays. This year, it was time to go to California to visit Jason’s family. After having a big winter storm in New York, I was even more ready for the warm sun in California.

The real party began on Christmas Eve when we went to, where else, but Disneyland. Jason and I went with Jason’s dad and sister, Jessica and we all had so much fun. We started out with a plan to hit Cars Land first since none of us had ever been to this brand new section of the park. Cars Land was seriously adorable! It looked just like Radiator Springs from the first movie. Unfortunately, we couldn’t waste any time wondering the land because we had to get to the very back to ride Radiator Springs Racers. Even though we got to the park as soon as it opened and we went to Cars Land first, this was still by far the LONGEST line we waited in all day. The ride was really cool – we climbed into one of the cars from the movie and drove through different scenes and finally, raced another car to the end of the track.

So excited for Disney

They look just like the characters in the movie!

The Family at Cars Land

Afterward, we stuck around California Adventure where most of the big rides are located. Personally, I thought it was a little early in the morning for all the thrills, but I managed to make it through. California Screamin’, true to it’s name, always makes me scream from the moment we take off and I always stumble off wiping tears from my eyes, but it’s so fun. From there we rode more rides and hopped over to Disneyland where we journeyed through the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Indiana Jones.

I was so happy to be at Disney again

Happiest Place on Earth

Mary Poppins and Burt!

Giant Christmas tree in Disneyland

Indiana Jones

The Haunted Mansion was decked out in Nightmare Before Christmas stuff

I’ve wanted to get “ears” for so long, but I could never decide which ones I wanted. Finally, during this visit, I made up my mind that I absolutely had to get some. I decided to get some that I would always love, something classic; I got Miss Minnie Mouse – I really liked her polka dots. I even convinced Jason to get some ears! He went classic too and got Donald Duck - they’re really pretty cute.

Me and Sis

New found love for Minnie

Where it all began

Donald! He was so funny. . . and short

Duck season

Christmas was fantastic! Jason and I really enjoyed giving our gifts that we put a lot of effort into picking out (or making). We also really enjoyed spending quality time with Jason’s extended family that we don’t get to see very often. It was nice catching up and seeing everybody.

Sandy had a great Christmas

Sandy loves me

Christmas morning

Mom liked the "C" I made her

Several days later, I was so excited when Jessica asked me if I wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo. Uh, Duh! I haven’t been to a zoo in such a long time and if I have a choice of zoo to go to, of course I’d pick the largest and best zoo in the world. We three kids left in the morning to drive to San Diego and circled the parking lot a couple of times before deciding to be like everyone else and just park down the street.

I couldn't wait to see all the animals

Once we got into the park, we started mapping out our plan around the zoo as we watched the bright pink flamingoes flap their wings, nip at each other, and bawk at the sky. Unfortunately, to get where we wanted to go, we had to go through the monkeys . . . I don’t like monkeys – they scare me. It must be because I used to have a reoccurring dream of monkeys tying my arms up and tickling me. Anyway, the scariest monkey actually was our favorite. Although I’d never want to encounter one in the wild, the Mandrill’s vivid blue face and red nose were amazing.

Their bright pink feathers were gorgeous!

Such interesting birds

This must be what the mean by "devilishly good looks"

This zoo was incredible! I don’t know if the animals are just so happy there or maybe it was the way each of their territories were set up, but none of the animals were hiding! They were just out in the open and so easy to see and enjoy! (Except the tiger, we visited him right at lunchtime so he just paced back and forth by the door) The elephants were fantastic – there were at least five and they were so active. We of course loved the giraffes and there was a little one! Jason still has a weird fascination with the rhinos, which I’ll never understand. Oh! And the Koala’s! They were probably my favorite. The only thing I was a little disappointed we didn’t see were the pandas. I didn’t realize it was such a huge deal that they had pandas, but I should have figured it out when we saw the gigantic line to see them. There was seriously at least an hour wait to get to them and there were just simply too many other furry friends to see. Oh, how I loved that zoo.

Storks are so much larger than I imagined

There were no Red Foxes, but these brother and sister Arctic Foxes were so playful and cute

I have never seen so many elephants!

Jase and Jess

The elephants were so active!

I wanted to hug the koalas

Sleepy Koala

I wonder what a Rhinos skin feels like

This girl was so happy to see the giraffes

Peek!

The other cool thing we did was go to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of time to explore because we had family plans, but the building itself was beautiful and of course the view of LA was phenomenal. We could even see the Hollywood sign from where we were. Inside the observatory, we watched as a giant pendulum swung from the ceiling keeping time. We also saw a demonstration of an electric coil, which was pretty cool.

We had to walk quite a ways to the Observatory

It was so cool to see the Hollywood sign from where we were

Hollywood

One day we'll hike to the sign

Walking up the Observatory

Looking out over LA

Inside the dome is a very large telescope

Griffith Observatory

This large pendulum swings at a constant speed and keeps track of time

The ball of the pendulum weighs 240 pounds!

Many movies were filmed at this observatory; Rebel without a Cause was the most famous

Besides these things, we just spent a lot of time together as a family watching movies, doing puzzles, playing games, eating out, shopping, and getting our nails done (oh wait, that was just me and Jess). It was just such a nice way to empty my brain and leave my worries at home and just chill. . . in the 75 degree weather.

parading around on thanksgiving.

2013-12-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

We checked a HUGE thing off of our bucket list this Thanksgiving: we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! It would be downright ridiculous if we did not take advantage of living in New York and not get to see the parade at least once. What made our experience more fun was having my parents in town for the holiday. I still can't believe we convinced them to wake up early, in the freezing cold to go to the parade.

We were really lucky with the way things turned out. Jason ended up talking to one of his friends from class who had been to the parade before and he offered to take all four of our chairs down early to save our places. We were expecting good seats, but not great seats! Seriously, you couldn't pay for a better spot. We had front row seats to all of the action.

After waking up at 3:30 AM, taking the train to Grand Central and a subway to Columbus Circle, we waited two more hours in the 30 degree weather before all the excitement started. I thought I was going to just sit back in my chair the whole time, but I couldn't help but stand up and cheer as the floats and balloons came by. It also helped to keep us warm.

Waiting for the parade to start

Trying to keep warm

Jason's way of keeping warm

With the seats we had, the balloons were close, but because of the strong winds that day, the balloons were even closer. Some of the balloons took a beating. Poor Spider-man's arm was torn and flopping around and we heard later that Sonic the Hedgehog got stuck in a tree. Sonic was one of our favorites balloons. We also really liked classic Snoopy, Julius the sock monkey, and of course, Spongebob Squarepants. Snoopy and Spongebob were a little different this year, a Santa hat was added to Spongebob and Snoopy wasn't wearing his pilot goggles. What the parade really needed was Perry the Platypus.

Although I'm never really impressed by floats, there were a few that we actually loved. There was a Despicable Me themed float with Gru and his Minions and we also liked the Cirque du Soleil float with acrobats flippin' and bouncin' around. Other than that, we really focused on WHO was on the floats. We saw Jimmy Fallon, Richard Simmons, Ariana Grande (who was freezing her earmuffs off), Florida Georgia Line, Cheryl Lloyd, Kellie Pickler, and Kristen Chenoweth. When the Goo Goo Dolls rolled by, Jason yelled "I love you, Johnny!" And Johnny Rzeznik, the frontman of the band turned and pointed to him! It was pretty great. Since we didn't get to see any performances, I was actually happy to listen to the bands play Christmas and hit songs.

Jason's favorite balloon

Snoopy and Woodstock

Sonic the Hedgehog

Taking a trip to Sesame Street

Jimmy Fallon

Hello Kitty

Richard Simmons on a turtle?

Julius, the Sock Monkey

Sock Monkey sporting a jetpack

Marching Bands a plenty

Ronald McDonald

They had just as much fun as we did

The Sponge

Spiderman, Spiderman does whatever a spider can

The Big Apple

Gotta catch 'em all

My fellow Minions

My whole head would fit in his belly button

Confetti everywhere

This elf left his shelf

Papa Smurf

Santa's coming!

Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I would definitely say it was worth the wait and frostbite. After getting back to Tuckahoe, we took a long nap and ate a traditional turkey dinner at the restaurant An American Bistro. It was the perfect end to a busy day.

Thanksgiving dinner

no tricks, just treats.

2013-11-01T11:07:00.000-06:00

My favorite Fall tradition is finding a local pumpkin patch and picking out a pumpkin to take home to decorate or carve. This year we found a place only 30 minutes away called Harvest Moon. This place was packed with people, food, apple trees, pumpkins and other squash-like vegetables.

We went immediately to the pumpkins to choose the perfect shape, color, and size of the pumpkin that we wanted to carve. After a little while, we finally went with an already painted pumpkin with the hopes of being able to scrub off the paint because it was cheaper and had a perfect front fro carving. This year I went a different way and picked out a small white pumpkin, don’t worry, I had a creative plan.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin

Jason's goofy pumpkin before we destroyed its face

My white pumpkin, Jason didn't understand why I wanted it

After feeling totally satisfied with our picks, we completed the next step of my favorite tradition: drinking hot apple cider and eating cinnamon and sugar donuts. This season, while everyone else gets their pumpkin-spiced lattés or whatever, I will always love my hot cider more.

These donuts were so fresh!

Mmm... warms my insides

We did a little more walking around and went across the street to what we thought was a sister-farm to Harvest Moon, oddly called Outhouse Orchard. The name of the patch wasn’t the only thing that we had a laugh about. This place just wasn’t up to par with the other patch and the most ridiculous part of it all was that there were signs everywhere to warn people that there was poison ivy around the trunks of the apple trees, which was probably the main reason why there were very few people there.

One of Jason’s favorite Fall traditions is dressing up for Halloween. I have never been a huge fan of Halloween in general because I’m never satisfied with a costume or I feel ridiculous, I’m not a big candy person, and I HATE the “thriller” side of Halloween. Anyway, I think Jason found his love of dressing up and becoming another character while acting when he was younger. So each year, he gets all excited about deciding what to be and how to put it all together.

This year we decided we wanted to be something that people would actually recognize. So, we decided to be Gru and his minion Tim from the movie Despicable Me. I just wish we realized sooner that not only would people easily recognize who we were, but a million other people had the same idea. It was still fun to put our outfits together and even more fun to each make a prop to go with the outfits, especially Gru's "dart gun".

Papoi!

No words. . .

We had too much fun

Jason spent hours on that supposed "dart" gun

I had fun creating all of the pieces to my outfit

Skin color is the hardest to match with makeup!

Gru and Minion Tim

Best buddies

On Halloween evening, while everyone else was Trick or Treating, we finally took the time to decorate our pumpkins. Unfortunately, Jason didn't have time this year to get creative with his jack-o-lantern template, so we got one of those books for ideas with all the tools for carving pumpkins. He decided on a design that we hadn't seen before called the invisible man. This one was a bit tricky, but with time and a little detail work from me, I think Jason pulled it off.

Just starting to open the pumpkin

Leave the pumpkin guts to me!

In. The. Zone.

I did something completely different with my pumpkin with a little help from good ol' Pinterest. I'm a girl that likes sparkles, so I decided to cover my pumpkin in them. I covered the bottom half of my white pumpkin in mod podge using a sponge brush, then I sprinkled my gold sparkles all over where I had just put the mod podge. I flipped the entire pumpkin over so I could easily sprinkle it on and I had a large open box to catch all the excess sparkles. After letting it dry for a little while, I spread another thin coat of mod podge on top of the sparkles so they wouldn't get all over the place. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Mod Podging

Don't miss a spot

Oh yes, my favorite part

Drying

Revealing the final product. . .

This Halloween was such a great success compared to last year. I'm so happy that this holiday wasn't ruined by a stupid hurricane so that all the little kids could go out and get candy. Funny thing for us, we didn't get ANY Trick or Treaters because our house is on such a huge hill, but we didn't mind not being bothered to enjoy an evening with our pumpkins and watching Ghostbusters.

Dunking like Kobe

I don't think I can get rid of this beautiful pumpkin

The invisible man

Happy halloween!

meet me tonight in atlantic city.

2013-10-24T10:14:00.002-06:00

Jason and I made a Sunday drive to Eatontown, New Jersey to show our love and support to one of my best friends from college who is leaving to serve an 18-month mission for our church in the Philippines. It had been such a long time, almost two years, since we’d seen each other for the last time at BYU – Idaho. She gave a fantastic farewell talk and it was so much fun to catch up and talk about what’s to come and her fears and what she’s looking forward to in the Philippines. I’m really glad we were able to take the time to see Brooke before she left. I know she will be a great missionary and will be able to touch the hearts of those she teaches in the Philippines.

Love this girl

So proud of Brooke

While we were in New Jersey, Jason and I were both so lucky to have the following day off because of Columbus Day. So naturally, we found something to do to keep us entertained. We drove another hour or so to Atlantic City, which we now refer to as mini-Vegas because of all the lights and huge casinos.

Caesars Atlantic City

Taking a late night stroll on the boardwalk

James' Salt Water Taffy

We definitely went at an odd time of the year because there was seriously no one in the streets, in the casinos, on the boardwalk, and of course, in the ocean. It seemed like there were only old folks and homeless people. It felt strange being there because we couldn’t do the two biggest things people normally do: (1) swim because it was way too cold, and (2) gamble because we don’t do that anyway, but we still had an awesome time.

The next morning, we walked the boardwalk and ate a delicious breakfast at Johnny Buffet’s Margaritaville. Despite the cold weather, the sun came out and made it pleasant to walk on the boardwalk to visit shops. Jason loved the view of the ocean underneath the 1,000 foot Steel Pier, which looked like a long tunnel with a light at the end. I had fun watching him race from one side of the pier to the other, trying to dodge the crashing waves and not get soaked. He’s such a California boy that is unwilling to let the summer go.

Best breakfast ever

Decisions, decisions

Of course, Jason went for the pancakes

Collecting seashells next to the great and spacious buildings

Underneath Steel Pier

Running around like a little boy

Underneath Steel Pier

The rest of the time we pet stray cats, watched The Pier Shops at Caesar’s Water Show, enjoyed soft served ice cream on the boardwalk, and pointing out all the Monopoly streets we crossed, including the coveted Park Place. That’s right; the streets in the board game Monopoly are based on the actual streets in Atlantic City.

Walking along the boardwalk

Jason knocking for "Nucky" Thompson

Trump Taj Mahal

Stray cats living underneath the boardwalk

Petting Mr. Meow

The widest boardwalk I've ever walked on

Who says Summer's over?

The Pier Shops at Caesar's Water show

Amazing view of Atlantic City

Pass Go and Collect $200

Before heading home, we made a stop at Shipbottom (yep, that’s the name of the city) to visit the first Ron Jon Surf Shop. This shop was super cool and we both ended up getting shirts and free stickers with our purchase. Since we were so close to the ocean, Jason dragged me out to the ocean to see the waves. Jersey really does have a beautiful coast and I’m glad we had the time this weekend to explore it.

Sk8er girl, see yah later girl

Looking at skimboards

We both wanted to try this 24.8 foot surfboard

The first Ron Jon Surf Shop

Look at the new friend I made at Long Beach

Goodbye, for now, New Jersey

can you canoe?

2013-10-03T15:07:00.000-06:00

For our last summer adventure and a celebration of the beginning of Fall, Jason and I drove up to Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire to visit our good friend Chase. We arrived late at night and actually spent the night in Dartmouth's dorms. The next morning we tasted our first hot cider of the season and sat on a bench on The Green facing the Baker-Berry Library.

The Baker-Berry Library

That morning, we headed off for a hike on the Fire Tower Trail in Vermont. Hanover is just a 5-minute drive over the Connecticut River to Vermont. The hike was short, but so steep. Jay and I felt like amateurs while we huffed and puffed and took in the gorgeous scenery of the Appalachians. Luckily, we saw a salamander during the trek and used it as an excuse to stop and catch our breath. At the end of the trail, there was a tall stairway in the middle of the forest. We climbed all 96 steps to the top to witness an amazing view of the Appalachian Mountains covered in trees with leaves of green, yellow, orange, and red. Up there, if you remained completly still you could experience absolute silence. Jason and I agreed that the only other time we had ever experienced that kind of silence was when we were in a hot air balloon over Southern California. When you're above the world, all cares and worries below just remain below.

I spy a salamander

Taking a breather

Tower of Babel?

Almost there

96-steps later

The view from Fire Tower was incredible

In the middle of the Appalachians

Next time we'll bring a bike

I thought that was our adventure of the trip, but we then drove to the Connecticut River to rent a canoe. Yes, that's right, Danielle got into a canoe, in the water and in a life jacket, of course. I was freaking out before we got in the boat and the entire trip in the boat. But let me tell you, I rocked the rowing! I didn't like having to switch sides to keep it going straight, but I did like pushing the water with my paddle. Besides having my shoulders kill afterward, I actually had a lot of fun and would do it again.

A Huck Finn-esque island

Somewhere passed the bridge is where we started

Our fearless captain

Shoving off

Jason, clearly, not doing his fair share of the rowing

Before heading back to New York, Chase showed us the Dr. Seuss room in the Baker-Berry Library that has a gorgeous collection of some of his original illustrations. Dr. Seuss graduated from Dartmouth in 1925. Our adventure was short, but it was so worth it to catch up with Chase.

Dr. Seuss Room

More illustrations from Dr. Seuss

Dartmouth's unofficial mascot: Keggy

maine attraction.

2013-08-28T12:07:00.004-06:00

This year Jason and I celebrated our 2-year anniversary. Since Jason and I spent most of the summer apart, we decided to have a longer adventure than usual to relax before Jason goes back to school. We spent 3 days in Bar Harbor and 2 days in Portland soaking up the sun and discovering Maine's beautiful coast.

We woke up very early Sunday morning and drove about 4 hours before making our first stop in York to visit Nubble Point Lighthouse. Although the actual lighthouse was on an inaccessible island, it was so much fun climbing all over the giant rocks to get the best view. It would have been easy to abandon our trip and just stay in York if we hadn't made any hotel reservations—it was that gorgeous.

Nubble Lighthouse

A gorgeous view of the Atlantic Ocean

Are you a buoy or a gull?

We drove another 2 hours to Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde. Can you tell we really like lighthouses? This was Jason’s favorite. I think my movie-buff of a husband was excited to visit the lighthouse that was featured in Forrest Gump—when he runs from one side of the country to the other. Jason also really liked this lighthouse because of the unique bridge that connected it to the mainland.

Marshall Point Lighthouse

Run Forest, run

Ahhh Maine

To finish off our drive, we drove the final 2 hours to get to Bar Harbor. From our entire trip to Maine, I would say Bar Harbor has the best downtown area. Since we had spent most of our day visiting lighthouses, we spent the rest of our evening walking the shoreline of the harbor and checking out the sandbar. The water was absolutely freezing, but that didn't seem to bother Jason following seagulls to watch them find crabs to eat. We lingered to watch the sunset and then walked downtown to find something to eat for dinner.

Looking for shells

Enjoying the sand bar

Already in paradise

Downtown Bar Harbor

In this type of vacationing spot, there aren't many hotels to stay in, so you either have to camp or stay at a bed and breakfast. We obviously chose the latter. We have stayed in a b&b before, but it was nothing near as amazing as this place. We stayed at the Thornhedge Inn and the young man running the place was an incredible host and always gave great advice on what to do and where to go. It was really interesting to get the b&b experience. It was like we became a family with the other people staying there, especially when we sat down for breakfast or for cucumber water and cheese in the evening with them. It was kind of odd for us at first, but once we got into it, we enjoyed listening to their stories and retelling our Maine adventures to them.

For our first morning in Bar Harbor, we were ecstatic for our breakfast. Oh my gosh, the breakfasts were probably the best meals of our trip. The banana waffles with a lavender sauce were so delicious.

After devouring our waffles, we headed to Acadia National Park, which is the must-see place in Maine. Our first adventure of the park was surprisingly my favorite. I don’t know what my deal was that day, but I was loving every second of our hike. We started on the Beehive Trail, which is appropriately named after the shape of the mountain we were climbing. Seriously, this was the most fun hike I have ever been on, and I don’t even really like hiking. As we wound around the mountain, we would come to a really steep climb where we had to grab onto a metal bar with our hands and simultaneously walk up metal rungs in the rock to continue on the path. Besides the jungle gym adventure, this hike had the most incredible view of Sand Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. I would definitely do this hike again.

Beginning marker of the Beehive Trail

Jason trying to catch up

Not even close to the top and there's already fantastic views to enjoy

Monkey bars up a steep mountain

A gorgeous view of Sand Beach

We made it!

Once we finished the 1 mile climb of the Beehive Trail, we continued walking on the Bowl Trail down to Bowl Lake and then followed the mountain ridge on the Gorham Trail. These trails gave another gorgeous view of the Otter Cliffs. After about 4 hours of hiking in the mountains, we came to the end of the trail and walked ajascently to the coast on the Ocean Trail, where we stopped at Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is a naturally cut inlet that can make a thunderous sound and splash when waves roll into its deep underwatern cavern right before high tide. We both had fun watching the water being sucked from the inlet and then come splashing back.

Taking a rest at Bowl Lake

The awesome trail around Bowl Lake

The gorgeous view atop Gorham Mountain of the Otter Cliffs

Thunder Hole

The actual day of our anniversary didn't turn out the way we had hoped because we were under the impression that it was going to rain, but we still made the most of it. We went back to Acadia National Park to check out Jordan Pond. Here, most people come to enjoy lunch at Jordan Pond House, but after looking at the menu and the prices, we decided to skip breakfast and started making our way around the pond. The pond was very still in the morning and offered beautiful reflections of the surrounding trees. Jason had fun jumping from boulder-to-boulder on the edge of the pond and pointing out frogs and fish to me when he saw them.

Walking around Jordan Pond

Jason climbing on the rocks like a kid

The Bubble Mountains

Wondering when we would reach the other side of Jordan Pond

Gorgeous reflections on a stone bridge on our way back

One more look at the Bubbles

We were very happy when the thick fog decided to recede so we could see Bubble Mountain. When we figured out that the pond was more the length of a lake and the trail was going to take a lot longer than we planned, we decided to turn around and go back. We hopped back in our car and stopped again to see Thunder Hole.

A lobster boat is checking its traps

"Hey there, cute boy"

To continue our streak of lighthouses, we drove 30 minutes to Bass Harbor. This lighthouse was smaller compared to the others we'd seen and beautifully tucked away in the trees on the edge of the Atlantic. There was a side path that Jason and I walked down that led us to the ocean. Again, Jason jumped along the giant boulders and marveled at the gorgeous view of the lighthouse from the cliffs below. It was a shame it was so foggy, but it just seemed to add to the mystique of what we were visiting. Towards the end, we realized that we were being eaten alive by ravenous mysquitoes and ran back to the car.

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

My little rock climber is at it again

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

Going back to Bar Harbor

That night, Jason finally met my demands of getting ice cream and going souvenir shopping. From our first night in Bar Harbor, I knew I wanted to explore more of the fun shops. It was a fun night and I even added a new stuffed animal friend to our collection.

It's Manny the Lobstah!

Get it? Santa Claws

Enjoying some exceptional ice cream

Before leaving Bar Harbor, we took a trip to Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the east coast. This peak is well known in Acadia National Park for having the United States' first sunrise—as it is the first place that the sun's rays hit on the entire eastern seaboard. After enjoying the foggy view, we drove back down to Portland.

Cadillac Mountain

"No more pictures Jay!"

We couldn't go to the coast without going to the beach, so we found a more secluded destination near Portland called Crescent Beach. As we expected, the water was absolutely freezing and there weren’t any shells for Jason to collect, but there were actually awesome stones all over the shore. While we couldn't enjoy the water, we enjoyed the sand and rocks by creating a sand castle with a rock wall. I think the unofficial rule of amateur sandcastle building is your castle is only as cool as how many kids stop by to look at it. And by that standard our sandcastle was pretty darn cool—even if the water wouldn't stay in our moat.

Jason's hard at work on an underground tunnel

Digging that moat

For dinner, we were finally ready for some fancy seafood. We went to Portland Lobster Co., which is probably the best-known place in Maine for a lobster dinner. This place was packed and had an odd way of running their restaurant. We put our name in for a table, ordered and paid for our food, waited to be seated for at least 30 minutes, and waited another 45 minutes for our food to come. It kind of became a game to see whose lobster-shaped buzzer would light up and ring first. Anytime someone's order was called, everyone would cheer and applaude for the food finally being ready. It’s always a bummer when your food doesn’t last as long as you waited for it, but it was definitely a fun experience and my salmon was delicious.

Only in Maine would a restaurant have a lobster-shaped buzzer

Jason's always excited to eat lobster

It's PCL time!

Waiting for our dinner

Our last day in Maine was definitely one of our favorites. After breakfast, we headed to the outlet stores in Freeport. Our main purpose of visiting was for the giant boot at L. L. Bean. We don’t particularly like shopping at L.L. Bean, (while we were at the store we walked in and walked right back out) but things that are bigger than they are normally just make me giggle. So of course we needed to get a picture of it.

Told you it was a shoe for a giant

Someone needs to tie that shoe

The outlets didn’t impress us too much, but we stopped into a few stores. My favorite was stepping into the “Maine Made” store where everything in it was, well, made in Maine. Of course, I loved just about everything in it, but unfortunately, specialty shops are always the most expensive.

We spent a good deal of time in the back corner of this store where there was a tank with three live lobsters. We watched as another customer put her hand in the tank and grab a lobster to take a picture. Jason and I looked at each other and knew we had to follow. Jason went first and he’s more skittish than you’d think. Every time the lobster would try to crawl away, Jason would flinch and drop it. I had to step up and go first and even though it was a little crazy and weird picking up a moving lobster with many legs tickling my hand, I had no trouble and it was actually really cool. After a second try, Jason finally picked up the lobster and didn’t drop it!

No problem picking him up

Sure he can eat one, but don't ask him to pick up one that's alive

We left Freeport and headed back to Portland where we went to our long awaited Lucky Catch lobster tour. Jason and I both agree that this is one thing you HAVE to do when visiting Maine. I was kind of nervous at first because of my fear of the ocean, but on the boat we were doing so much that I had completely forgotten where we were. Once we were far enough into the bay, we were suited up with rubber aprons and gloves. We all took turns doing each of the lobstering jobs—we, meaning me and Jason and all of the kids on the boat. We learned how to bait new traps, get rid of old bait, rubber band the pinchers of lobsters, and push the traps back in.

I was so nervous!

Let's do this!

Dexter?

The 2 guys on the boat taught us so much about lobsters. They explained to us that each of the traps is attached to a buoy of their specific color and license number. They showed us how to measure each lobster for the legal size and they even taught us some anatomy of the lobsters. Did you know that if a female lobster is caught and their underbelly is lined with eggs that the lobsterman has to carve a notch in her second tail fin and throw her back? This is because not all female lobsters are breeders and this helps to keep the population from decreasing. Another super interesting thing we learned is that lobsters have 2 different claws: the crusher and the pincher that they use for fighting. When lobsters fight, they spray each other with their own scent so that the next time they encounter each other the loser will know not to mess with the winner. Because of this trip alone, Jason has officially deemed the lobster as his favorite animal.

Rubber banding the claws

Rubbing a crab on its belly makes it go to sleep

Inside a lobster trap

Jason changing the bait on a lobster trap

Pushing the trap back into the ocean

Our last destination was the Portland Head Lighthouse. It was the perfect place to reflect on our entire vacation throughout the state of Maine. Portland Head is another gorgeous example of a Maine lighthouse standing solo on ocean cliffs. We stood there a long time admiring the views of Portland Harbor and not wanting to go home.

Portland Head Lighthouse

Portland Harbor

Jason loves Longfellow and thought this was cool

Let's never go home

what art these?

2013-07-24T13:45:00.004-06:00

This past weekend, Jason came home to New York for a short visit. On one of our days together, we decided to go somewhere different, but close by. We decided to make the journey along the Hudson to New Windsor, NY and check out The Storm King Art Center. Basically, Storm King is a gigantic sculpture park that contains modern art pieces spread over 500 acres of meadow. Jason and I planned on renting bikes to ride throughout the park, but of course the day we decide to go they are rented out for an event. No bother, we had just as much fun walking from art piece to art piece. The giant, open fields made it almost impossible for me not to do a cartwheel between sculptures. I can’t believe I even convinced Jason to do one too. It was also fun to ask each other what we thought some of the art looked like—with modern art, you never know what the artist was thinking.

Butterfly Chair (made of half-dollars)

Mon père, Mon père: Jason thought this one looked like an oil derrick

Beethoven's Quartet: I've still got it

Pyramidian: clearly Jason doesn't have the cartwheel skills I do

We liked some sculptures more than others. We especially liked the ones that we were encouraged to touch like sitting in The Half-Dollar Butterfly Chair made of 1,500 welded half-dollars. Our favorite piece was fittingly named Beethoven’s Quartet, which provided a rubber mallet for the participant to bang on the metal art piece to create music. I’m not really sure about the music part, but we both had fun with our hammertime.

Making "music"

Jason thought he was Thor

Mermaid

One of Jason’s favorite pieces was Andy Goldsworthy’s 5 Men, 17 Days, 15 Boulders, 1 Wall. He had previously watched a documentary that included the making of this wall and didn’t even know it was at Storm King. Jason and I admired the beauty in its snake shape that continuously wound through the tall trees. The shade alone made it worthwhile.

5 Men, 17 Days, 15 Boulders, 1 Wall

We loved how the wall curved around each tree

I look tall on that hill

I loved the layout of the outdoor art center and how all the artwork was randomly placed in the fields and on the hills, but on this hot day, I wished the pieces were closer together. After an amazing visit, we escaped from the hot sun, chugged some cold water, and headed home.

Three Legged Buddha

Just checkin' him out

Three Legged Buddha

Suspended

Endless Column

Jason prefers the name Zigzag

Iliad

seeking seashells by the seashore.

2013-07-16T09:36:00.000-06:00

For the next day of Fourth of July weekend, Jason and I were reunited with the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. It’s been almost a year that’s come and gone without tanning on the sand or walking through the surf. It was good to be back. There was a bizarre, thick fog hanging over the water so we decided to hit the boardwalk first. We walked through the Jolly Roger, a small carnival like area, with games to win stuffed animals and a Ferris wheel. We didn’t really know where to start and wandered in and out of shops as we continued along the boardwalk.

The Pepsi Ferris wheel

Ocean City's pier

We bought soft served ice cream from the Kohr Brothers and ignored a vendor who tried to sell us a hermit crab. Further down the boardwalk we encountered Pastor Hoffman’s sand sculptures of Christ on the cross, Moses and the 10 Commandments, and the Last Supper. We admired the incredible detail along with everyone else and kept on walking.

Jason knows the way to my heart: ice cream

Danie's got the directions

I guess we didn't need to buy a postcard, but we did anyway

Handpainted hermit crab shells

Jason called this The Last Sandper, get it?

In the distance, Jason thought he saw tons of flags waving in the air for a sale. As we got closer, we realized that they were a mass of kites. I’ve never seen so many different kites floating on there own and so high up in the sky. It was definitely worthy of a picture.

Let's go fly a kite

I've never seen so many kites

As Jason and I were walking along the boardwalk, we were looking for a place to lay our beach towels on the sand, but we thought it was odd that even though the beach was swarming with people, nobody was swimming in the ocean. Jason usually would have rolled his eyes at my mention of a ‘shark’, but this time he believed me. We went down to the water to check it out for ourselves and it turned out that the water was just freezing. This certainly did not stop Jason from getting in the water to search for sand crabs and shells. I put my sunglasses on and basked in the sun from a distance. When Jason got too cold, we packed up our things and made our way back to the boardwalk. We actually walked the entire 2.4-mile boardwalk and ended up taking a tram back to where we started and headed back to our hotel in Salisbury.

Even dipping my toes in the water was too much!

Jason's on the search for shells

The next afternoon we met up with one of my good friends, Betsy, her husband, Steve, and their two adorable girls. It was so awesome to see her and catch up over Mexican food at Plaza Tapatia. After enjoying a great lunch, we parted ways and Jason and I headed to Assateague State Park. This state park is supposedly known for having wild horses run along the beach. Total let down. We saw just two horses as we were paying for parking, which honestly made us think wow—the first 2 of many! Unfortunately, these were the only horses we saw and of course, we didn’t take a picture.

It's weird to think horses can be wild

While walking along the beach waiting for the rest of the horses to show up, we went shell hunting—Jason in the freezing water and me on the sandy shore. This beach had handfuls of the most colorful and different seashells that Jason and I have ever seen. Along with seashells, I found a tiny crab's claw that I had fun playing around with.

Assateague Beach was filled with seashells

I found a crab claw

We walked for a couple hours collecting shells and spotting the sideways walking crabs peek in and out of their holes. Jason even found the shell of a horseshoe crab. I told him he would get a disease if he picked it up, but he just had to pick it up. Overall, it was fun walking the secluded beach with Jason and taking a decent haul of seashells

I'd be more creeped out if I saw a live one of these

Our own private beach

Mr. Crab, you can't hide in that hole forever!

Just one of the many seashells we took home with us

Before I left, Jason showed me the University of Maryland campus and where he walks to his internship. We both agree that the Terrapin is the most awesome mascot. Visiting Jason was so much fun, even if it was for a few days. I don’t know how people do this long distance/being alone thing on a regular basis. Even though I’m proud of everything he’s accomplishing in his internship, I can’t wait until Jason comes home for good and my life goes back to normal.

Kermit the frog here

Did you know Jim Henson graduated from UMD in 1960?

Jason told me that it's tradition to rub Testudo's nose for good luck

Saying goodbye to my boy at the McKeldin Mall Fountain

red, white, and boom.

2013-07-11T13:02:00.001-06:00

After what seemed like the loneliest 6 weeks of my life, I was finally able to visit Jason and spend the Fourth of July weekend with him. Since Jason and I have been together we can’t remember celebrating a true Independence Day with the traditional BBQ and fireworks, so we were excited to take the metro into Arlington and change that.

I'm glad Jason knew where we were going

The DC Metro is so clean and cool like a space station

We took a subway through 2 states and 1 province, no big deal

Before the day's festivities, we made a quick stop to Rockland's BBQ and ordered some delicious pulled pork sandwiches with mac and cheese. We both definitely overloaded on amazing barbeque food and were ready to have some fun!

We planned to escape from the crowds of people in Washington DC by staying on the other side of the Potomac and visit Arlington National Cemetery. We may have been able to escape from the crowds, but we could not escape from the heat and humidity. We walked slowly in the shade of the trees, first visiting President Kennedy’s grave and then his brother Robert’s small, white cross.

I'm thankful that it was such a beautiful day walking through Arlington

He was only 46 when he was shot and killed

The Eternal Flame

Robert Kennedy's Grave

We continued up a hill to the Arlington house, which use to be the house of Robert E. Lee. The park ranger explained to us that during the Civil War Robert E. Lee abandoned his house and joined the Confederate Army. During that time, the house was used as a barracks for the Union and later a burial plot for those who had died in the Civil War to spite Lee’s choice of fighting for the South. It was fun taking the tour inside the house and then taking a moment to look at the gorgeous view of Washington DC across the River. Right now, the Washington Monument is covered with scaffolding and looks more like a spaceship than a monument, but it’s still pretty to look at.

Learning about the Lee's house and enjoying the air conditioning

The original knocker of the Lee's house

A Lee Family heirloom

We stopped by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time for the changing of the guard. This is Jason’s favorite thing he’s seen in the DC area. We are both always impressed at the discipline of the soldiers and how they march and handle their gun in unison. It’s a somber scene and the words “Here Rests, In Honored Glory, An American Soldier, Known But To God”, are always very moving.

Stopping in the shade

Guarded 24/7 and 365 days a year

As it became closer to sunset, we made our way to the Marine Corps. Memorial or what I always refer to as the Iwo Jima statue. I was so excited that this was going to be where we were going to watch the fireworks because it is my favorite memorial in the DC area. We laid our blanket out on the grass a few hours before the show and ate the perfect American food: hot dogs! As it got darker, more and more people started to set up their chairs and blankets, but we really had a perfect seat centered on the view of the monument.

Nothing like a Big Gulp to refuel

It's slurpee time

The show was incredible! The fireworks were kind of far away, but it was so gorgeous how they lit up the Memorial of the 5 soldiers raising the American Flag—you forgot that you were watching fireworks instead of witnessing American heroism during World War II. During a big moment of the show, three squiggle fireworks that popped up one right after the other confused the whole crowd. Eventually, someone discovered they were letters and shouted: “Oh, U-S-A!” We all started cheering and chanting: “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” It made both of us proud to be Americans. I only wish I could've heard the music that went along with the fireworks, but that didn't stop me from singing patriotic music in my head.

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free"

"And the rockets' red glare"

"From sea to shinning sea"

an annapolis adventure.

2013-06-17T09:04:00.000-06:00

After many applications for summer internships, Jason was finally accepted with the National Consortium for the Studies on Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism or "START". He is very excited to code and write case studies for chemical and biological terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the program is in Maryland, near Washington DC—so Jason and I will be temporarily separated until August. Luckily, the drive is only 3.5 hours by car or train, so we’ll be visiting each other whenever possible.

I drove down to Maryland with Jason to get him settled into his new apartment, but if you know us well enough, you know that we made an adventure out of it. We went a little out of our way to stay the night in Annapolis. We were there on the most gorgeous day with the sun shining and a refreshing breeze.

If only I loved being IN the water this much

Story of my life

Just driving into the city was like another world. We entered the city from a giant roundabout where the Maryland State House stood in the middle. The busy city streets eventually ran alongside the Chesapeake Bay and we waited 15 minutes for the Spa Creek Drawbridge to go back down. I am crazy for ocean side cities. They seem to say to me, “Come and relax, put your feet up, and enjoy your stay.” We had to park very far away, but we did not mind the walk especially since we could look at the sparkling water and all the names of the different yachts and sailboats. Walking back over the drawbridge, Jason wanted so badly for the drawbridge to lift with us on it.

Gorgeous drive into the city

Walking into Downtown Annapolis

Downtown was hot and busy. The cobblestone sidewalks led to many stores that I instantly wanted to go into to shop. Annapolis is well known for being home to the United States Naval Academy, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go on a 40-minute boat ride of the backside of campus and wander the Chesapeake. I wasn’t really paying attention because I was too busy relaxing and soaking up the sun.

All aboard the Harbor Queen

I'm going to miss that cute boy's smile

After the ride, we walked around and visited some of the cute stores and bought t-shirts and of course, a postcard. We followed the road up to the State House. I seriously fell in love with this beautiful building. So far we've seen the State Houses of Idaho, Utah, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, but this was by far the most amazing. The Maryland State House is the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use in the US. We had fun posing for photos in front of its gigantic columns and enjoying the view from the top of the stairs.

I should have bought that hat for Jason, it's so cute on him

Maryland Statehouse

The other side of the statehouse

We walked around a little more, stopping by the Maryland Inn and headed back downtown for some ice cream. From the moment we had arrived in Annapolis, there was a line out the door of the Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory, so we figured it must be worth the wait. I think what draws people in is that it has been around since 1976. We ate our ice cream near Ego Alley watching yachts come and go in a narrow slit of sea.

Jason loved the look of the Maryland Inn

Even more gorgeous as the sun starts to set

Gotta have my ice cream

To end our fabulous day, Jason’s one wish to see the drawbridge lift came true! We kind of freaked out because we were practically in the middle of the bridge when the alarm started and the barrier gates came down. We weren’t really sure if where we were standing was okay, but it turned out that we had front row seats to see the boats sail passed us. It was so nice to be able to have one last adventure with Jason before I see him again in July.

At the start of our day. . .

By the end of the day

springtime in new york.

2013-05-28T10:04:00.000-06:00

For Jason’s 26^th birthday (back in March), I surprised him with Brooklyn Nets tickets. When Jason finds an interest in something, he seems to know a lot more about the topic than most people. The NBA is one of those things, but I found it kind of sad that Jay had never been to a game. Needless to say, I was pretty excited about this gift (it also relieved a lot of stress to finally be able to give Jay his surprise).

He was so happy!

About a week later, we went to the Brooklyn Nets vs. Chicago Bulls game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. We were so excited to go to the game and we were so happy to have Kim and Ryan come with us (this was also part of the surprise).

The game was so much more fun with these guys!

The Barclays Center is the newest area in the NBA since the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn in 2012. The fans in Brooklyn are very proud of their team. You can certainly tell by the way they chant for their team and bang their “Boom Sticks” together to make a lot of noise. The game was very exciting, especially in the last quarter when the game became very close. Unfortunately, the Nets lost to the Bulls, but we still had a fantastic time.

We were pretty high up in the stands, but they were still great seats

We got pretty into it

In April, our friends David and Melissa came from Virginia for a short visit to the Big City. We were very excited to meet up with them because we had not seen them since I graduated from BYU-I about a year ago! We mostly just did a lot of walking around the city and eating. One fun thing we did that I haven’t had too many chances of doing was passing through a street market. It was so much fun to look at all of the different treats and flowers being sold. We were even able to taste test some apples and duck (I passed on the duck, while Jay passed on the apples. . .) I loved seeing all of the beautiful flowers because it reminded me that Spring was definitely here.

David and Melissa

Sampling at the Street Market

In front of the Flat Iron Building

When it got close to lunchtime, we had to introduce David and Melissa to “Shake Shack”, which is mostly known for their delicious burgers (and of course their shakes, but we had to hold back this time). We tried not to fill up too much so we could find the place that David was dying to go to for dessert. After a long trek to East Village, we finally found the “Big Gay Ice Cream Shop”. Seems pretty odd, right? It was actually surprisingly fantastic!! David, Melissa, and Jay all got what the shop is most known for which is called the “Salty Pimp”. I went for the more subtle, “Monday Sundae” in which the ice cream is inside a Nutella-lined waffle cone. I think what makes their ice cream so fabulous is the sea salt! Jay and I can’t wait to go back!

Who wouldn't want to enter a place like this?

Yes, this was on the wall inside the shop

Seriously, you need to experience this ice cream

No words needed

From there, we walked around Times Square a little bit, stopping inside the Rockefeller Center and checking out the merchandise from some of our favorite shows. Before we knew it, we were hungry again and settled for hot dogs and pretzels in Central Park where we sat in the sun and watched the always-interesting people walk by. This was another one of those times that I was so grateful that winter was officially over. But wait, we can’t go without dessert! We stopped by “Sprinkles”, the first cupcakery in the world, of which David informed us. In my personal opinion, it was not nearly as good as Magnolia’s cupcakes.

Some of our favorite comedies

MORE SUGAR!

By the end of the day, when we parted ways toward our homes, we were all ready for bed after a sugar-rush day.

follow the red brick road.

2013-04-04T12:34:00.000-06:00

After working 7 days a week since starting my new job as a tutor, I finally asked for a couple of days off for Spring Break. Jason and I decided to spend one of those days visiting Boston. Because we were mainly excited to see Boston's history, we thought the best way to visit this city would be to follow the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile walk of 16 different historical sites that highlight the American Revolution in Boston. Just like in Philadelphia, I loved learning about the history of country by actually standing where significants events took place.

Starting the Freedom Trail at Massachusetts State House

We started at Boston Commons and proceeded to the Massachusetts State House where we fell into the routine of Jason taking most of the pictures while I would read an excerpt from the Freedom Trail Guide we bought at the visitor's center. By the time we got to site no. 3 (Park Street Church) we realized that the Freedom Trail was was literally marked by a line of red bricks which it made it easier to follow.

Following the red brick road

We definitely had our favorite sites along the trail. One of our traditional destinations in our adventures has been to visit cemeteries and the graves of famous people. The Granary Burying Grounds contained the famous bodies of Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and the parents of Benjamin Franklin. Jason took a long time studying the encryptions and carvings of dancing skeletons and flying skulls on the tombstones in the cemetery. This was definitely one of the spookier cemeteries we've visited.

Who wouldn't want a flying skull on their tombstone?

Samuel Adams and Paul Revere

Although nothing of the actual building remains, one of my favorite sites was where the oldest public school once stood. Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine all attended the Boston Latin School. Today, there is a beautiful mosaic plaque on School Street marking exactly where the school stood as well as a statue of Benjamin Franklin in the adjacent garden.

Boston Latin School

Jason and I Uncle Ben

Another missing piece on the trail was the Old Corner Bookstore. We probably spent a good 15 minutes searching for the building and on closer inspection of the map we realized that the Old Corner Bookstore is now a Chipotle Mexican Grille! We were quite disappointed, but we both thought it ironic that a historic building could be replaced by something as common as a fast food restaurant.

When did delicious burritos become more important than history?

Turning the corner, it was beautiful running into the Old State House, which is Boston's oldest public building. It stands at a stark contrast to the modern skyscrapers around it at the crossroads of Boston's two major streets. The figures of the gold lion and silver unicorn above the balcony were gorgeous. They're supposed to symbolize royalty, but Jason believes it's clear evidence that unicorns existed in 1700s Boston. In front of the building, a circular monument of stones commemorates the site of the Boston Massacre. Again, it's definitely surreal to stand in the places where so many historic events took place that I read about in high school.

The Old State House

Site of the Boston Massacre

Following the redbrick trail, we passed Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church where two lanterns were hung (one if by land, two if by sea) to signal Paul Revere how the British Troops were advancing so he could warn the minutemen in Lexington that the "the British are coming!" Jason has been to Boston before and his favorite memory was touring the Old North Church because Paul Revere's midnight ride is one of his favorite stories of American history. He always talked about seeing it together one day, so it was fun being with him and getting our picture in front of the Paul Revere statue and steeple.

In front of Paul Revere's house

Paul Revere statue

The Freedom Trail led us over the Charles River for the last two sites: the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Memorial. The USS Constitutions is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world and fought in the War of 1812 garnering the nickname Old Ironsides. Unfortunately, the entrance to the ship was closed, but we were still allowed to view it at a distance.

The USS Constitution

The Bunker Hill Memorial is a 221-foot granite obelisk that commemorates one of the earliest battles in the American revolution where the British suffered massive casualties to overtake a hill that ended up having little importance in the war. I guess it was appropriate that the last site of the Freedom Trail was up a steep hill. I think Jason and I could sympathize with the British soldiers, as we too had to dig deep to find the energy to finish. The memorial was actually in the middle of a neighborhood with a gorgeous view of the Charles River. As we were resting, I, of course, picked the homes that I would like to live in. At this point we were both historied out and we didn't linger long before we headed back to Boston Commons and stopping along the way to shop at Quincy Market.

Climbing the hill to the Bunker Hill Memorial

Bunker Hill Memorial

We made it to the end of the red brick road!

Our trip to Boston was centered on its history and we both had so much fun discovering it together. Jason was a little disappointed that we didn't meet any stereotypical Bostonians wearing Red Sox jerseys and advising us to "pahk ah cah in Hahvahd Yahd", but he was happy to get some snide looks for wearing an NYU sweatshirt. There's always next time.

an nyc visit from the cowles.

2013-02-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Jason had spent weeks (probably months) planning his family’s trip to New York City. He loves making in depth itineraries and he was just as anxious as me to see his family’s reaction to their first real visit to the East Coast. Their adventure began in taking the Crestwood train to Grand Central and then crowding in the subway to head to downtown Manhattan. On this sunny day, we showed the Cowles around NYU campus, including Washington Square where we sat and listened to a student playing contemporary and classical music on an actual piano. I’ve seen NYU before, but it’s still so weird to me that the campus isn’t separate from New York City. It looks like any other parts of the city and you wouldn’t even know it was a university without the purple NYU flags hanging from its buildings. It was fun going into the university store and Mom buying NYU memorabilia and a sweatshirt for Jason. His parents are just as proud of him as me!

NYU Campus at Washington Square with Jessica

Underneath the George Washington Arch

We then headed further downtown to show off the Woolworth Building, where Jason actually attends his classes. Nearby, we visited the 9/11 Memorial Site. Jason and I had been saving the memorial for such a visit from family and were excited to finally check it off our list. After we made it through security checks, we were able to take in the incredible reality of that day in September. In place of each of the north and south towers, are two-tiered waterfalls that are the largest manmade waterfalls in North America. All of us shuffled through our stories of where we were and what we were doing when the towers fell. It was a surreal reminder of how tragic the event was and in walking the grounds I didn’t expect to get so emotional. In contrast, the nearby One World Trade Center or “Freedom Tower” is under construction, but will show America’s rebuilt strength as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and 3^rd largest in the world.

Reflecting at the 9/11 Memorial

I love this picture of all of us

Dad's dream motorcycle

Later that evening, we took the Staten Island Ferry to take pictures of the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Island is currently closed from Hurricane Sandy, but Jason planned a great way to sneak a view of Lady Liberty and did I mention it was free? We looked like kids running onto the ferry when the doors opened—immediately looking for the best seats just ahead of a massive crowd taking the ride home. We were on the ferry at the perfect time because the sun was just starting to set and the view of the skyline was absolutely gorgeous. Jason and I have yet to visit the statue, so it was very exciting to be as close to it as we were. Jason says that New Yorkers view Staten Island as their redheaded stepsister, which use to claim the world’s largest landfill. Needless to say, we got right back on the ferry and started the journey home.

Bowling Green

Federal Hall

Viewing the skyline from the Staten Island Ferry

Jess is so adorable

Statue of Liberty at sunset

Saturday we went to Times Square. We decided to walk from Grand Central instead of taking the subway because it’s always incredible turning the corner on Broadway and being hit with the lights and billboards all at once. It was definitely satisfying to see the surprised facial expression Jason’s family was wearing. We made our way to Duffy Square where Mom waited in line for discounted tickets and Dad sat down for a Diet Coke. After standing in line for another hour we finally got our tickets for an eight o’clock show.

Walking in Time Square

Can you spot Dad sipping on his Diet Coke?

We visited some of our favorite nearby stores we thought the family would enjoy. At the Disney Store, Jason and I bought our latest addition to our stuffed animal collection—“Bruce”, the shark from Finding Nemo. We also had fun at M&M World filling up our 1-pound bags of whatever assorted M&Ms we wanted. We also went into souvenir shops to find a spoon for Mom’s collection. On this 4 day weekend, Time Square was packed with tourists and finding a place to sit down for dinner looked impossible. Somehow Jason magically skipped the long wait at Red Lobster and we were seated immediately.

M&M World

Getting our M&Ms

Mom choosing her spoon

After a great dinner, we headed to our show—we saw Chicago! It’s the longest running Broadway Musical. Jess and I have both seen the movie, so we were pretty excited to see it. Chicago had some really fun and catchy songs that were difficult not to sing along to like “Cell Block Tango” and “Mister Cellophane”. It’s definitely a girly musical, but Dad and Jason seemed to enjoy it as well.

It's always fun seeing a musical on Broadway

Waiting for Chicago to start

The next day we went to the Upper East Side to eat lunch at Shake Shack or the east coast’s equivalent of In-N-Out. After devouring a delicious burger, fries, and shake, we went across the street to the American Museum of Natural History. This museum is huge! It has an enormous collection of taxidermy and probably contains every single animal you could ever think of, including Jason’s new favorite animal— the Elephant Seal. One of my favorite rooms had a giant replica of a Blue Whale. I especially loved the ocean animals, which is ironic since I’m terrified of just about every single one. Jess, of course, loved the giraffes. Jason really liked the Easter Island Moai that was featured in Night at the Museum. It’s his dream to travel to Chilean Polynesia to see them in real life. The collection of dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History was also huge and amazing. After a lot of walking, it was nice to rest our legs and look at the souvenirs in the gift shop.

I know where Jason gets his good looks

A few of our favorite things in the American Museum of Natural History

Gift shop fun

We took a short stroll through Central Park. We stopped by the “Imagine” mosaic, which is a memorial to John Lennon. Adjacent to the memorial is the Dakota Building where John and Yoko lived and ultimately where John was shot and killed. We stopped at Bethesda Terrace to take pictures near the fountain and walked Central Park until we hit 5^th Avenue. Sunday was freezing and overcast, but Central Park is always beautiful to see no matter what time of year it is.

A cold Central Park stroll

The "Imagine" memorial

Bethesda Terrace

Walking The Mall in Central Park

Before Jason’s family headed home, Mom and Dad spoiled us and took us to Costco to go grocery shopping. It’s so exciting to have our freezer, fridge, and cupboards filled! We were so sad to watch Mom, Dad, and Jess go and we hope they will come back soon. We had such a fabulous time with them, but of course, I was very jealous that they were going home to warm, sunny California.

a special valentine's eve.

2013-02-20T11:46:00.001-07:00

It has become somewhat of a tradition for Jason and I to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 13^thof February. Somehow our schedules just never work for that special day and we always end up celebrating it the day before. Last year, we discovered that our halfway mark of our wedding anniversary is actually on the 13^th (this year being the 1.5 year mark) and gives us a special incentive to ignore the world and do our own thing. This year we were glad that we weren’t planning anything for the 14^th because Jason’s family was coming for their first visit to New York City! But I’ll get to that later.

The few days leading up to our Valentine’s Day were crazy. Jason was still getting back into school mode at the start of his second semester at NYU, I had just started my second job as a tutor at Huntington Learning Center (I’m already a substitute teacher at Bronxville Elementary), and on top of that I had to clean my house and make sure everything was perfect for the Cowles.

What's this?

On the 13^th, I had just come home from my first day of working both jobs and I was still not sure what Jay and I were going to do to celebrate. I walked up the stairs to our home and noticed “Clue No. 1” sealed in a hot pink envelope and taped to the door. Jason wrote a short poem which led me to other hot pink envelopes hidden throughout the house with the last one finally disclosing our plans for Valentine’s Day. Jason is so good at surprises, even when we don’t have time for big ones and I had so much fun reading the clues to find the next one. He had me looking through our DVD collection, freezer, and even the toilet. After finding all ten, I had to follow the last clue up to the creepy attic where I was pleasantly surprised with Ghirardelli chocolate and a lovely card. In my lack of time over the week, I had only come up with a home-made card and some of Jay’s favorite candy. To finish the day, Jason arranged for us to eat at Frankie and Fanucci’s, an Italian Restaurant that is one of Westchester’s finest.

Some hiding places were cute and simple. . .

While others were a little more messy. . .

Comin down from the cold attic with my surprise

I think he was happy with his candy

After staying up until 2:30 in the morning to clean, I finally went to bed. Jason woke up only 30 minutes later to pick up his family from JFK airport. Since they had taken a red-eye flight, everyone was exhausted, so we just kind of hung out around the house and went to dinner and a movie. Warm Bodies wasn’t the typical chick flick, but Jessica, Jason, and I loved it! Dad fell asleep and snored.

Stay tuned for the upcoming post about our visit from the Cowles. . .

What a good lookin bunch

the legend of sleepy hollow.

2013-01-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

When Jason told me that we lived only 20 minutes away from the village of Sleepy Hollow, my first thought was a sarcastic, “grrreat.” I wasn’t thrilled knowing that one day I would be convinced by Jason to go there, where I’d be totally freaked out. I’ll be honest, I haven’t even heard the full story of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, but I know there’s a headless horseman in it and going to the village that it was based on was sure to be a scary visit.

We went on a semi-gloomy, freezing day. Driving through Sleepy Hollow, the town really cherishes the history of the story, for example, there was a high school named after the author Washington Irving and their mascot is the Headless Horseman.

We parked at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where certain parts of the story take place and Washington Irving is actually buried. The cemetery was huge and we had no idea which way was Washington Irving’s grave. The cemetery wasn’t very organized since it had been around since the 1600s, but we eventually found the gravesite from a map at the front entrance. Jason printed out a copy of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” beforehand that I started reading at the gravesite.

Thank goodness for this map

You can tell this cemetery has been around for a long time

Reading Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

We continued to read the story, and eventually moved to the car to keep warm. Once we were finished reading, we found the Headless Horseman Bridge, where Ichabod Crane is supposedly chased by the Headless Horseman. After reading the story and seeing the landmarks that the story was based on, I actually really enjoyed the story. It kind of made it real. I can see how it would excite kids and make the story come to life.

Headless Horseman Bridge

The Old Dutch Church also has it's place in the story

Of course, we know the Headless Horseman only comes out at night looking for his head, which must be why the cemetery closes at 4:30 PM to avoid any confrontation with him. By the way, I can guarantee, I will not be visiting the cemetery on Halloween.

jason's first white christmas.

2013-01-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

Jason was very excited for his first White Christmas this year. I was getting a little nervous that he wasn’t going to get it because there was no sign of snow here in Michigan until finally it came just in time on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, my grandparents and two great-aunts came over for dinner. It’s always so nice to see them, especially when I haven’t seen them in so long. The most fun part of the day was exchanging gifts in the morning with Jason. Of course, it’s the most relieving part of the day as well since I am on edge about whether Jason will like what I got him or not. By the way, he LOVED his New Wayfarer Ray-bans. And I loved my new iPhone although it wasn't as big of a surprise.

Mom was smart to hide Jason's present in an odd container to throw him off

Getting annoyed with Jason staking his gifts (please ignore my Christmas morning look)

After that first snowfall, it seemed like it would never stop. We got a total of about 7-8 inches of snow over a few days. One of those days, we just had to go sledding. Luckily, a bunch of my friends wanted to go too, which is always more fun. I had such a fun time catching up with some of my best friends from high school. I loved hearing about what they were up to and what their goals were. I have such a great group of smart, beautiful friends!

Jason couldn't wait for my friends so he went on the baby hill in my backyard

He didn't last very long

Alyssa, Jamie, Buddy (he belongs to Jamie), Kelsey, Nicole, Me, Jase

A few days after Christmas, our family of four drove to Stow, Ohio to visit my mom's side of the family. Jason and I were so excited to catch up with the Pinkerton Family and to finally meet little Aiden (I always knew Dave and Sara would have the cutest kids). It was a little odd this year to not have Grandma and Grandpa there to celebrate with us. It wasn’t the same without them, but we still had a fabulous time.

So cute

Aiden and his Mommy

Having fun at the Pinkerton's

Me? I became best friends with the dogs; this is Tucker

holiday spirit, the michigan way.

2013-01-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

To get into the holiday spirit, Mom and I planned some activities for the four of us to do as a family. On Friday December 21st, we headed to Greenfield Village in Dearborn. On this freezing night, we walked around the village and took a peek inside the 19th Century as we entered historic shops and homes.

Greenfield Village contains many transplanted buildings like Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory, Noah Webster’s home, and a courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. The workers were so good at staying in character and when asked a question, they would always answer as if we were in the 1800s. We hurriedly walked from building to building to get out of the cold.

Staying cozy inside

One of our favorite shops we explored was a hat shop where there were original hats from that period and some that were more recently made. Jason and I each chose a hat we liked and tried them on. Another shop we enjoyed was an Emporium which had some toys and candy that sparked our inner child. We also had fun taking a brief ride in an authentic Model-T.

In our 1800s hats

Kids in a toy store

Our dinner was at Eagle Tavern, just inside the village. Here we were served a 5-course meal as if we were guests at the taverns owner’s home. The experience was really the best part of our visit with the singing, candle light, and of course, the food. For dessert, we were split into groups to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas and we all had fun singing our part as the four colly birds.

Our dinner at Eagle Tavern

The following day, the four of us took a short visit to the German town of Frankenmuth. In all of my years of living only an hour away from Frankenmuth, I have never been. We started with a German meal at the Bavarian Inn where the waitress dressed as milkmaids and the waiters dressed in lederhosen. Everyone in the family got an actual German meal but me. I know, I know Jason is usually the picky one, but I didn’t have to try schnitzel and sauerkraut to figure out if I liked or not. Jason told me as long as I ate his fries with Heinz ketchup that it counted.

Eating at the Bavarian Inn

It was fun walking on Main Street and popping our heads into a few shops. Jason and Mom had their way in the Frankenmuth Fudge Shop collecting a bag of Salt Water Taffy. We also went inside the Frankenmuth Cheese Haus and tasted chocolate cheese samples. Jason and I took pictures next to a gorgeous holz brucke or wooden bridge covered with snow.

Walking around Frankenmuth

After hitting a few more stores, we made our way to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland which is the world’s Largest Christmas Store. The store was seriously huge and had every Christmas bulb you could imagine or decoration you could imagine. After looking hard, Jay and I bought a Christmas ornament of New York, our first ornament in hopefully a large collection of places we’ve been.

Our Christmas Ornament

Jason wanted this one

taking a pit stop in pittsburgh.

2012-12-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh

On our road trip to Michigan, Jason and I stopped in Pittsburgh. It's always fun traveling on the road, especially this trip as we've been cooped up in New York with Jason finishing his Finals and me finishing my student teaching. Jason did so good in his first semester at NYU— receiving mostly A's!

Going up the funicular

After 6 hours on the road, we arrived in Pittsburgh. We took a funicular up the Duquesne Lift to see the city from Mount Washington. Just a little bit of history— Mount Washington was named after George Washington who was sent by the British in the French and Indian War to survey the land at this specific viewpoint. Washington determined that the land, which would later become Pittsburgh, was valuable and would become the centerpiece of the French and Indian War.

Mount Washington viewpoint

Pittsburgh is also known as the city of bridges as its 446 bridges beat out Venice for the city with the most bridges in the world. The weather had been fairly rainy and overcast, but the skyline gradually lit up and became a gorgeous view. It was nice to stretch our legs after our long road trip. We walked along Grandview Avenue where there were fancy restaurants and houses overlooking the city below. It was fun walking along the streets decorated with Christmas lights and Steelers flags.

Point of View

After one last look of the amazing view, we headed down the funicular and eventually found our hotel on Neville Island. Pittsburgh was definitely a fun stop and in less than 5 hours of driving later, we finally arrived at my home in White Lake, Michigan.

A gorgeous view of Pittsburgh

My house was made up in Christmas decorations with 3 Christmas trees including a special one in our room. Mom decorated our tree with ornaments from mine and Jason’s childhoods. You could tell she put a lot of time into our visit home. We are so excited to spend the holidays with our family!

Our personal Christmas tree

22 hugs goodbye.

2012-12-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

Bronxville Elementary

December 13^th was my very last day of student teaching and what a bittersweet day it was with having to say goodbye. Of course, I’m excited to be officially done with school, but I will miss those kids tremendously.

I'm going to miss my kids

As the day began, some of my students handed me gift bags and flowers. I received hug after hug, group squeeze after group squeeze. At one point in the day, the students all gathered around me while they said their goodbyes with gifts and their sweet words. They started out by saying “We’ll miss you” and “Don’t go!” and then trickled into things such as, “You make the world a brighter place.” This is when I started to get teary-eyed.

Friendship Bracelets

I received cute homemade gifts from some of my girls, along with Starbucks cards, lotion, and flowers. I also received a fabulous gift from Ms. Williams, my cooperating teacher, she gave me a bag with my name embroidered on it, filled with a few picture books, teaching strategies books, and pens. I about died. For my final gift, my kids put together a scrapbook of letters they each wrote me— I saved these for reading when I got home so I wouldn’t bust out crying.

My big yellow bag

We then had a nice goodbye Breakfast with muffins and juice. All of my girls wanted me to sit by them. We played the game of Guess Who, where someone covers your eyes and you have to guess who it is. I loved this simple game because after a while, the majority of the students were joining in and covering my eyes.

When school was over, I was bombarded with another round of hugs. I had never felt so loved in my entire life. I now understand, more than ever, why teaching is the most rewarding job. I love each of those kids and I will never forget a single one of them. I will cherish my book of letters forever and read them over and over again, no matter how much it makes me cry. I plan on visiting the kids at school when I can; I simply cannot stay away from them for too long.

All my gifts

The next day, Jason and I decided to celebrate by going into the city to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree and see all the Christmas windows by the department stores. It was a busy day of walking and lots of people, but we had a lot of fun.

Macy's

We started at Macy’s, which is apparently the world’s largest department store and managed to make our way up the 10 floors. Jason loved riding on the wooden escalators and we both had fun writing letters to Santa.

Legos and American Girls

We continued to the Rockefeller Plaza and had fun watching people skate. Jason went into the Lego store and revisited his childhood. His favorite toys as a kid were Legos and for one Christmas his Dad even made him a Lego table. They had a mini Lego replica of the Rockefeller Center that was pretty impresive. I also had a chance to relieve my childhood going to an American Girls Store.

Rockefeller Plaza

It was fun walking on 5^th Ave and getting in the Christmas spirit with all the beautiful window displays from the department store's. Below are some of our favorite window displays from Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale's and Jason and I are very excited to leave for Michigan this weekend to spend Christmas with my parents!

Jason's favorite display from Bergdorf Goodman

My favorite display: another Bergdorf Goodman

Cirque du Soleil window from Bloomingdale's