Early July Trip NYC 1 leg of 3

For the month of July, we had our exchange student from Spain back with us, Mireia. Since she was here simply for a relaxing visit,and not taking classes, we decided to show her more of the country than WNY. We decided to head east to visit Andy and his girlfriend, Molly! Luckily Molly's parents were able to host us at their gorgeous home a walk from the Connecticut shore, and a 2 hour train ride to Grand Central Station. So we met up with Molly on a Friday morning and hit the train station from New Haven to Grand Central! Sofia stared out of the window until she dozed off. She was thrilled to be riding a train! The adults discussed Spain and the differences between schools in the U.S. and there. Molly is taking a Spanish class this summer and had a chance to try out some of her new skills on German and Mireia. We arrived in NYC and were taken with he ceiling in the train station, so we took some pictures before heading out to the streets. Make sure to look up the next time you happen to be in Grand Central! We needed to go to Madame Trausaud's to pick up our double decker tour bus tickets that we ordered on line. We had some glimpses of Times Square and saw lots of taxis along the way. We hopped on the next bus and saw all the sights from 42nd street to Battery Park where we got off for a hot dog and to get in line for a boat ride in the Harbor. It was a hot summer day, perfect for taking pictures and seeing EVERYTHING, but quite warm in the sun when it wasn't breezy! I thought we'd be working on our tans on the beach later in the trip, not on the bus! We opted to avoid the long wait for the security check and not take a boat to Liberty Island, but rather cruise the harbor and see the city from there. It was a great choice! We had wonderful views of Ellis Island, Lady Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Man-hat-tan Bridge (as our very specific tour guide prnounced it!) and a more somber view of where the twin towers should have been. At different locations around the harbor, we saw an art installation of waterfalls under and around the Brooklyn Bridge, they were very cool! We were dropped off back in Battery Park where we were able to relax and people watch a bit. Sofia found a fountain to cool off in and got soaked as well as refreshed! We decided to walk around the construction area at ground zero and were happy to see a Starbucks sign on a Marriott Hotel on the way. Our guide on the bus told us that Starbucks was the public bathroom for NYC so we walked our sweaty, sunburned bodies through a very pretty marbled hotel lobby and spent some time getting our selves washed up in a very clean marbled restroom. Sofia put on her back-up pants at this point, since it was really no fun to wear a damp skirt that was just making her hotter! (And I thought we'd need to change for a potty accident, not a fountain encounter!) We wandered the area where the construction is going on for the Trade Centers and then headed back to where we could catch the bus again for more sight-seeing. Along the way, Mireia stopped and bought her souvenir "I 'heart' NY" T-shirt, as every good tourist should. The man selling them was so taken with Sofia's cute-ness in her search for an orange version of the shirt, that he gave her a choice of three different pink NYC shirts to take for free, she chose one and promptly put it on. Molly took their picture and we thanked the man and headed out! Who said New Yorkers weren't nice?! We toured around the city for another hour or two and Sof fell asleep on the bus then we walked and walked back to the train station for our trip back to Connecticut to meet up with Uncle Andy who rode the train from Boston after work. We really had a great time despite the heat and my embarrassing fall on a city street corner as we were heading to he train. So my souvenir was bloody knees and a cranky attitude. The knees were patched quite nicely by my husband on the train with some band aids bought from the drug store just outside the station and an iced coffee from Molly helped the attitude!!! We were quite exhausted by the time we reached the New Haven Train station! We were also happy to see Andy to head into our next leg of the trip, relaxing in a beautiful house by the beach!

The Shed Move!

When we moved in to our house (about 3 years ago) we were lucky enough to have a shed on the property. German started talking about moving it from its spot about 10 feet in from the back and side corner of our lot, not a bad spot, but one that could be improved upon.(I was pretty sure that it was impossible, or going to happen years and years from now, silly me!) This spring we started to notice that the floor was rotting and German decided to replace the floor. Well the can of worms was overturned! The joists were rotten, the foundation nonexistent, critters enjoyed digging under it and therefore, a move inevitable. The logical and most perfect spot was a quarter turn and slide to the end of our driveway, which extends into the back yard. The move and repair really began in earnest about 2 weeks ago when school let out. the whole project involved a roll away dumpster, a few strong cables and some PVC pipe, our mini van and a plan and lots of hope! The dumpster was here for a week and was loaded up with not only the yucky old floor, but many other items and leftovers from earlier projects. I even took some fixtures to a local store that sells salvaged items from house demos, where I found a door perfect for the double door entrance that is now much more visible as it faces the house! Today the satisfying (almost) end to the project happened. German had painted the floor and walls, gotten the doors installed and the trim painted, so all the junk we can't apart with needed to go back in, off the back patio! We reconfigured the inside to make more space for my potting area and garden tools and there is lots more room for lawn mowers and wood scraps. Now we just have to paint the doors and level the area where the shed used to be to plant grass. It is all very exciting!! Enjoy the picture of the move which I took when I arrived home one afternoon, super surprised to see that it had gotten started without me! If you are interested in seeing more silly people move sheds, look on You Tube, we did and were surprised to see that many people have tried this before!

It's Summer time!

I have officially survived the school year and it is summer!!! We have had some time to relax and enjoy things already and get some projects done too! Our exchange student. Mireia, is back staying with us this month from Spain. For the 4th, we went to Genesee Country Museum for the day and had fun playing some colonial games, and puzzles. We were there for their parade and witnessed part of a naturalization ceremony, very cool. We went to a baseball game in Rochester in the evening and got to see two sets of fireworks. The city's display and the one from the baseball field. Here are some pictures! I will also throw in a dancing picture!