We just had a great 4th of July weekend. My family (mom, dad, Richele and Greg) came out for a visit before they continued on their journey of seeing the East. I think that we thoroughly worn them out, as well as ourselves. We had 2 days full of wandering around the city in hot, hot, hot, humid weather!! Noone was free from the sweat!!
They arrived in the morning of the 4th of July yet we didn't leave the apartment until around 11. It's really hard to wake Mac up!!! Once we got out the door though and got going, it was great. We went downtown and wandered around the Financial District and just enjoyed all the fun happenings associated with the 4th. My family was able to see where we work and like to eat lunch as well as a nice view of the Statue of Liberty. From there we made our way uptown and wandered around there (honestly, I don't remember much of what we did!!!). But around 3 we headed up to Queens for the Yankees/Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium. Now that was an experience. It was really a fun time in spite of the heat and the major whopping that the Yankees got!! We left in the middle of the 7th inning stretch. By the time we got home to Jersey City, we were all so tired and sore and dirty, that a trip to the park seemed silly! We all took our turns in the shower cleaning up and making sandwiches for dinner. We ate our food in the nice cool house and turned on the TV. As soon as Andy heard some fireworks going though we slowly made our way out there. We could stand in the park right near our house and see 2 different sets of fireworks. One from the East River (Macy's Show) and one from near the Statue of Liberty. Both were a lot of fun and very pretty. The nice thing was how close we were to home. Just a walk across the street!! Afterward, we all fell into bed and enjoyed a great nights sleep.
The next day we got going around 10. That's kind of what happens when there are 6 people sharing a bathroom!! But it was fine. We went to Rockefellar Center, Central Park, 5th Ave and the surrounding area. We did a lot of wandering and some window shopping. We were able to get a great picture of mom holding her famous NY hot dog with Radio City Music Hall in the background. She seemed to be loving every minute of it!!! We tried to catch a matinee of a Broadway play, but there were no tickets available for the show we wanted. I guess that just means that my parents will have to come back again!! Oh well! ;-) We had dinner reservations at Times Square at 6.30, so we were able to see that as well. It was such a yummy, fun dinner. Family style Italian food that we knew had to be enjoyable as we watched Sue drinking the gravy!!!! I think she'll want to go back there! It was another fun, tiring day.
Sunday Andy and I decided that we would travel down to Philadelphia with all of them and spend the day there. Philly was cool from what we saw. We tried to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and everything, but Andy and I weren't able to. We did get to go to the brand new (open 2 days) Constitution Museum though. It was very cool! But I must admit the highlight was the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich!! Sooooo yummy with all the Cheese Whiz!! Andy and I left soon after that and made our way to Six Flags Park for a Collective Soul concert. It was one of the best concerts that I have been to. We were front row and I was able to snag a guitar pick from the lead guitarist. Quite enjoyable!!
We just finished recovering from the intense weekend, but I must admit that it was all worth it. I think the family had a really enjoyable time, and mostly it was just fun to see them all again.