Fireworks

We were lucky enough to be on the 28th floor of our hotel that over looked the Hudson River. They moved the fireworks over to the Hudson this year because it's the 400th anniversy of when Hudson showed up to check things out, really I think they realized they could get more people to the show ( New Jersey) if they did it from the Hudson and not the East river.


We were able to see part of the show from our hotel room, which was better then sitting in the crowd of 2 million ( that's what they estimated ). Please enjoy a part of the show!

Take me out to the ball game...

5 years ago one of Matt's long time dreams was realized when he got Yankee's tickets for Christmas, 2 months later we got a call about wee one, and the tickets were given to his boss when we moved back home.

When we were planning out trip we realized that the flights would work better if we had a stop over in New York. As luck would have it the Yankee's were playing at home on the 4Th of July, and really what's more American then spending the 4Th of July at a baseball game?

The "easiest" way to get to the stadium from our hotel was to take the subway, and the subway in NY is accessible as long as you know where to find the hidden elevators. Once we had discovered the one by our hotel ( it was in the bus terminal) we asked one of the attendants the best way to get to the stadium. As she was telling us to go out to Jesery and back some nice gentleman said " Follow us, we are going to the stadium"

Now there are some rules that must be adhered to when you attend a baseball game. You must eat a hot dog, peanuts and smile as you pay $8 for the coke, $10 if you want the cool cup. 2 hot dogs, a sprite and coke ( both in the cool cups) and a bag of peanuts later we watched as the game goes into extra innings. Praying that we would not lose to a Canadian team on the 4Th of July the Yankee's win it in the bottom of the 12Th.

A Wicked good time in New York

Our vacation o' vacations started out in New York City. We were unable to get tickets to Wicked when it came here, but fate smiled upon us,

Fate: " Why see it there when you can see it on Broadway for 1/4 of the price?

US: "Good point, we shall see it on Broadway"

Landing at JFK was a lot of fun , in fact we prayed that it would be the most "fun" we would have on the trip(alas it was not, stay tuned). For some reason JFK thinks it is a good idea to land planes not by a gate, but out on the tarmac and bring people movers to take you to a gate. We were one of the few lucky ones that got a people mover sans stairs.

We got to our hotel with enough time to freshen up and head off to find something to eat before the show. There is a loverly place called Natsumi right across the street from the Gershwin Theater. We ordered the managers special, a plate as big as the table full of sushi, we highly recommend it.

Now we didn't know a lot about Wicked, we just knew it was the story of the Wicked Witch. We laughed so hard at some points that we are going to have to go see it again so we can hear the things we missed.

3 more sleeps.....

And we will be on our big big vacation, as wee one calls it. I'll try to update our blog while we are gone with pictures and such!

10 years ago... In a place not so far away

We said I do.

Over the years we've had a lot of fun, here are some of the highlights.

- Having an APB issued when we were "kidnapped".

- Matt driving to Beaver to pick up Crystal after she killed her first deer... with her car.

- Matt proposing after Crystal ruins it by telling him " Propose all ready"

-Crystal standing in the bride's room freezing while her mom and soon to be mom decide who is going to help her with what.

- Matt not sleeping for the first 2 weeks of being married because Crystal can't hold still when she sleeps.

- Matt shoving Crystal off the bed one night because she can't hold still when she sleeps.

-Crystal learning that Matt always wins while he sprays her with a water gun filled with water from the fridge.

-Mexi feast and poker nights with the Flans.

- Having our garage turned orange from painting signs when Matt ran for student body president.

- Packing the car to the brim with a spot for Lolly the crab, and moving to Virgina with jobs but no place to stay.

- Living in an apartment that everyone must have so they can enjoy the loveliness that is all other apartments.

- Pho. Where we become regulars to the point that they don't even take our order anymore.

-Trips to North Carolina.

-Theme parks, lots and lots of theme parks.

-Rain storms with green skies that freaked Crystal out, and Matt loved.

-Yankee's tickets that we didn't get to use.

-Getting a call one night in February, 5 weeks later calling family about wee one.

-Driving through an ice storm behind a toxic waste truck.

- 2 long days waiting for wee one to be released from the hospital.

- Spending a week with Grandma and Grandpa Hatch.

- Packing everything we own into a truck, shipping the cars and moving back home with no jobs and moving in with Mom and Dad, so wee one can grow up around family.

-Taking wee one to the temple to be sealed in the same room we got married 6 years before, and her screaming the entire time.

- Living close enough to not take potty breaks on the way to family events.

- Moving into our first home and making a list of projects, when we bought a brand new one so we wouldn't have projects.

-Planning a once in a lifetime trip that just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

- Falling in love over and over

What's more american? Apple pie or

Being at a Yankee's game on the 4th of July?











I'm going to say Yankee's game on the 4th of July, but mostly because we're going to be there!!!



After calling and chatting at just about everyone at Yankee's stadium and Ticketmaster trying to get tickets over the phone, I was not thrilled with their options of getting tickets, come on down to the box office or send in a request and hopefully there will be some tickets available when we get to it. Although I did send off a letter and found a couple of people who were willing to head on down to the box office and purchase the tickets for us.



Every morning I go through the ritual of attempting to purchase tickets that may have become available, apparently some tickets are held back and released slowly but had come up empty handed every time until today...



I start the morning off with the above mentioned ritual, but this time instead of the loverly page that says no tickets available the long awaited page with the seating chart appears!!! Hurray I run to grab my wallet, come back and realize that the tickets are $400 a pop. Now I love the Yankee's but I'm not sure I $800 love the Yankee's.



I call Ticketmaster, and chat with the lovely Heather. Heather can see some great tickets ($55) but can't quite select them, so she places me on hold and runs off to find her supervisor to see if he can get the tickets. I'm shaking, not sure if it is from the excitement that I am so close to getting tickets or the post workout I'm starving, and need to pee but can't do anything about it cuz I'm on hold shaking.



10 min later, with some brief interruptions from Heather apologizing that they are really busy but her supervisor is aware of the situation and is coming. A very sad Heather gets back on the line to inform me that the reason she can't grab the tickets is that there is no companion seat for me ( heck I'll stand just get us in the stadium!!) I accept her apology and go to plan b.



Plan b was concocted whilst the 10 min wait was happening: Perusing stub hub ( the place where people with extra tickets sell them to people like me who want tickets, it's endorsed by the Yankee's you can get there from their website... true story) I see what maybe accessible tickets... but wait can my eyes be deceiving me? I press the more info button. The description reads: ada seats, with extra leg room and comfy chairs available to all but can be used by disabled patrons. The tickets are only $10 more then the Ticket master ones I'm waiting for. I use the 3-d seat locater to see what my view will be. Not bad, not close enough to see facial expressions, but close enough to make out the pinstrips.



And so after calling and checking for at least a week I am overjoyed to announce that we will be sitting in Yankee stadium on the 4th of July... and I can finally go potty

Pass it on...

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