NEW YORK! For Bob's 40th, we took a baseball trip to New York and Philly. The first place we went after checking into the hotel and having a little lunch was Times Square. For those of you Project Runway fans, you'll recognize this billboard as the one Gretchen won in the week 2 challenge. I think it was the most exciting thing I saw in New York. It was sort of like my reality show had become reality. Pretty fun stuff.
The day we were in Times Square, there was a kiss in for peace, and they had a statute of that iconic Life magazine cover of the sailor kissing a lady. It was pretty neat, and I made Bob pose in front of it. If I had true skills, I would have done a self portrait while participating in the kiss in for peace, but alas, I lack such self-photographing talent.
One of the things we were most excited about was seeing Greenday's American Idiot play. Bob was nervous that they would "Broadway it up," but the music was rocking, the story line was interesting and easy to follow, and we both loved it. We're not sure if the average person would love the play, but if you like the album, I'd say the play is pretty fantastic. After our night at the theater, I went shopping for toiletries in the Walgreens in Times Square. I forgot my travel kit on the bathroom counter, so I was forced to pay $7 for deodorant, but I figured that avoidance of funk was worth it.
On Sunday, our day game at the Mets turned into a night game. The weather was beautiful all day. Bob and I went to FAO Schwartz & the 24 hour Apple Store then we ate at the Carnegie Deli. It was a fun day, and we were ready for our game at 8 pm.
Citifield was nice, and the home run apple was cute. We got there a little early to ensure we got our promotional lunch boxes (which the boys find lots of fun). Bob checked out the rotunda, we shopped for our first souvenir for the boys (an orange Mr. Met t-shirt for James), and then we headed up to the nose bleed section to our seats.
When we got there, the sky was somewhat ominous. I think I would have really enjoyed the Mets game if it wasn't raining. We luckily had seats right under the overhang of the shade. It was pretty nice for most of the game, but when the wind stopped blowing, we would get wet, and since we weren't sure about the location of our seats, we ate our dinner before we headed to our seats and missed the opening ceremonies that Bob enjoys so much.
We sat next to a family of Mets fans, and the two kids next to us reminded me of Faith and Joseph. They good natured-ly bickered for the entire game. It cracked me up that they referred to themselves as the poor Jews. They said most of the Jews were in the lower level in the good seats. We took the subway to and from the game. Bob, not a huge fan of public transportation, was pretty impressed at how smoothly they got us on and off the train. We hopped off at Grand Central and walked back to our hotel. Unfortunately, we took a similar route to the one we took in the day time, and it was much darker and more bum-ridden at night. Perhaps the highlight of the walk home was the guy puking his guts out into the trash can near Grand Central. We heard him for two blocks. It almost made me toss my cookies, too.
On Monday, we had lunch with a work friend of Bob's, Laurie, she is a huge Mets fan and a fan of the city. She took us to a great pizza place around the corner from the Buffet Showroom. We had a very nice time, and I did some souvenir shopping (for postcards mostly) and stopped by Rockerfeller plaza on our way back to the hotel. We had planned on doing the NBC studio tour, but the reviews were so awful, we decided to save ourselves $40 and spend our cash on drinks instead. After my mid-afternoon drunk, we went to Grand Central to hop the train to the Yankee game. We were on the train when I realized we had forgotten the tickets at the hotel. We made a quick run back to get them and still made it to the game in plenty of time. It did manage to kill my buzz, though. Bob prepared himself to enter the house that George built, but he was a little apprehensive about the whole experience. Apparently he and his dad had a less than wonderul experience when they went to the old stadium.
One of the things Bob really wanted to see was Monument Park. It was pretty neat in a creepy graveyard type of way.
My favorite part of Monument Park was getting my picture made with Babe Ruth. Note that in the picture, there are TWO babes.
It rained at the Yankee game, too. We were under the overhang again, and the seats near us were empty, so we had lots of room. The people next to us were from England, so the guy and Bob talked baseball. That combined with the helmet ice cream and the Yankees losing, made the whole experience acceptable for Bob. The most difficult part of our Yankee experience was finding an appropriate shirt for Michael. We found a shirt that said Yankee Stadium rather than Yankee fan, so Bob was appeased, and Michael got a souvenir.
Tuesday morning, we took the train to Philly. We ended up in the quiet car, but I think we both enjoyed the ride. Once we checked into the hotel, we ate lunch at the Redding Station. I got a cheesesteak (can you eat anything else in Philly?). After our lunch, we headed out to see the historical sites. I was pretty stoked about the history portion of our trip. Bob was a good sport, but I got a little frustrated with myself for forgetting to order tickets to go into Independence Hall. We did enjoy seeing the sights, though.
Bob mugs in front of the Liberty Bell. It was pretty neat to see the crack up close, but it felt a little like seeing the Mona Lisa to me. It wasn't as impressive as I wanted it to be, and there were too many tourists in front of it for me to feel comfortable spending time admiring it. One side effecct of Bob's wardrobe is his innumerable Cowboy shirts. He got booed by a security guard and taunted by a park ranger. It made me realize that not all cities are as accepting of other fans as others. Ironic that the City of Brotherly Love was definitely lacking in love.
Here we are in front of the elusive Independence Hall. I guess my inability to see the interior means that at some point in the future, I can force the kids and Bob to go back and share the historic locale with my nearest and dearest.
Finally, a sunny day for a ball game! Of all the parks, I liked Philly the best - probably because it was most like the Rangers (although it was PACKED with fans and it was Irish Heritage night rather than Hispanic Heritage night). I had trouble finding souvenirs and spent a good portion of the game searching them out. It was the only game we saw where the home team won. I decided to go with the locals and had crabfries (sadly it was only crab boil and not real crabs). They were good, but around midnight, I regretted choosing french fries for dinner as I was pretty hungry. Bob and I had a great time just being together. We missed the kids, and I was definitely ready to see them. Coming home was pretty cool. The boys were very excited to see us, and we were ecstatic to see them. Overall, my first baseball trip was pretty fun, but both Bob and I were wishing we were watching our Rangers at all those games.
I'm not sure why people buy kids expensive toys. Lately, the boys have been obsessed with wooden spoons and boxes. The other day, I'm pretty sure they played with the wooden spoons for six hours.
Strawberry face Michael drops his spoons and attempts to grab Mom's camera. The little monkey is wise to the green focus light and always gives me his best smile when he sees it.
Socks for Michael, spoons for Ryan, and thousands of dollars of toys being neglected.
Ryan puts his spoons in the laundry hamper while James takes time for a strawberry snack break.
I'm pretty sure Ryan will be the drummer in our tween band. I'm still thinking the Newhouse Triplets can replace the Jonas Brothers, we just have to groom them for stardom.
Spoons do go in your mouth, maybe just smaller spoons.
Michael trades in his spoons for a book. That boy loves his books. His hair is getting a little longer in the back, and you can see his two little curls in the back. I think they are pretty cute.
James wonders how Ryan got to play his spoons on the couch. The boys are getting to be much better climbers, but the couch is still just a little too tall for them to boost themselves up on. I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time before they are able to breach the sanctity of the couch and find the remote between the cushions where I hide it. I'm already plotting a new safe location for said remote.
The day we were in Times Square, there was a kiss in for peace, and they had a statute of that iconic Life magazine cover of the sailor kissing a lady. It was pretty neat, and I made Bob pose in front of it. If I had true skills, I would have done a self portrait while participating in the kiss in for peace, but alas, I lack such self-photographing talent.
One of the things we were most excited about was seeing Greenday's American Idiot play. Bob was nervous that they would "Broadway it up," but the music was rocking, the story line was interesting and easy to follow, and we both loved it. We're not sure if the average person would love the play, but if you like the album, I'd say the play is pretty fantastic. After our night at the theater, I went shopping for toiletries in the Walgreens in Times Square. I forgot my travel kit on the bathroom counter, so I was forced to pay $7 for deodorant, but I figured that avoidance of funk was worth it.
On Sunday, our day game at the Mets turned into a night game. The weather was beautiful all day. Bob and I went to FAO Schwartz & the 24 hour Apple Store then we ate at the Carnegie Deli. It was a fun day, and we were ready for our game at 8 pm.
Citifield was nice, and the home run apple was cute. We got there a little early to ensure we got our promotional lunch boxes (which the boys find lots of fun). Bob checked out the rotunda, we shopped for our first souvenir for the boys (an orange Mr. Met t-shirt for James), and then we headed up to the nose bleed section to our seats.
When we got there, the sky was somewhat ominous. I think I would have really enjoyed the Mets game if it wasn't raining. We luckily had seats right under the overhang of the shade. It was pretty nice for most of the game, but when the wind stopped blowing, we would get wet, and since we weren't sure about the location of our seats, we ate our dinner before we headed to our seats and missed the opening ceremonies that Bob enjoys so much. 
We sat next to a family of Mets fans, and the two kids next to us reminded me of Faith and Joseph. They good natured-ly bickered for the entire game. It cracked me up that they referred to themselves as the poor Jews. They said most of the Jews were in the lower level in the good seats. We took the subway to and from the game. Bob, not a huge fan of public transportation, was pretty impressed at how smoothly they got us on and off the train. We hopped off at Grand Central and walked back to our hotel. Unfortunately, we took a similar route to the one we took in the day time, and it was much darker and more bum-ridden at night. Perhaps the highlight of the walk home was the guy puking his guts out into the trash can near Grand Central. We heard him for two blocks. It almost made me toss my cookies, too.
On Monday, we had lunch with a work friend of Bob's, Laurie, she is a huge Mets fan and a fan of the city. She took us to a great pizza place around the corner from the Buffet Showroom. We had a very nice time, and I did some souvenir shopping (for postcards mostly) and stopped by Rockerfeller plaza on our way back to the hotel. We had planned on doing the NBC studio tour, but the reviews were so awful, we decided to save ourselves $40 and spend our cash on drinks instead. After my mid-afternoon drunk, we went to Grand Central to hop the train to the Yankee game. We were on the train when I realized we had forgotten the tickets at the hotel. We made a quick run back to get them and still made it to the game in plenty of time. It did manage to kill my buzz, though. Bob prepared himself to enter the house that George built, but he was a little apprehensive about the whole experience. Apparently he and his dad had a less than wonderul experience when they went to the old stadium.
One of the things Bob really wanted to see was Monument Park. It was pretty neat in a creepy graveyard type of way. 
My favorite part of Monument Park was getting my picture made with Babe Ruth. Note that in the picture, there are TWO babes.
It rained at the Yankee game, too. We were under the overhang again, and the seats near us were empty, so we had lots of room. The people next to us were from England, so the guy and Bob talked baseball. That combined with the helmet ice cream and the Yankees losing, made the whole experience acceptable for Bob. The most difficult part of our Yankee experience was finding an appropriate shirt for Michael. We found a shirt that said Yankee Stadium rather than Yankee fan, so Bob was appeased, and Michael got a souvenir.
Tuesday morning, we took the train to Philly. We ended up in the quiet car, but I think we both enjoyed the ride. Once we checked into the hotel, we ate lunch at the Redding Station. I got a cheesesteak (can you eat anything else in Philly?). After our lunch, we headed out to see the historical sites. I was pretty stoked about the history portion of our trip. Bob was a good sport, but I got a little frustrated with myself for forgetting to order tickets to go into Independence Hall. We did enjoy seeing the sights, though.
Bob mugs in front of the Liberty Bell. It was pretty neat to see the crack up close, but it felt a little like seeing the Mona Lisa to me. It wasn't as impressive as I wanted it to be, and there were too many tourists in front of it for me to feel comfortable spending time admiring it. One side effecct of Bob's wardrobe is his innumerable Cowboy shirts. He got booed by a security guard and taunted by a park ranger. It made me realize that not all cities are as accepting of other fans as others. Ironic that the City of Brotherly Love was definitely lacking in love.
Here we are in front of the elusive Independence Hall. I guess my inability to see the interior means that at some point in the future, I can force the kids and Bob to go back and share the historic locale with my nearest and dearest.
Finally, a sunny day for a ball game! Of all the parks, I liked Philly the best - probably because it was most like the Rangers (although it was PACKED with fans and it was Irish Heritage night rather than Hispanic Heritage night). I had trouble finding souvenirs and spent a good portion of the game searching them out. It was the only game we saw where the home team won. I decided to go with the locals and had crabfries (sadly it was only crab boil and not real crabs). They were good, but around midnight, I regretted choosing french fries for dinner as I was pretty hungry. Bob and I had a great time just being together. We missed the kids, and I was definitely ready to see them. Coming home was pretty cool. The boys were very excited to see us, and we were ecstatic to see them. Overall, my first baseball trip was pretty fun, but both Bob and I were wishing we were watching our Rangers at all those games.
Since the boys love going outside, the whole family hung out in the backyard while Dad grilled his own steaks. The boys played in the pool, chased the sprinkler around, and put the swing set to good use.
James was all over the back yard. I had very little opportunity to get a good picture of him since he spent the whole time running around the back yard and attempting to touch the hot grill when my back was turned. Here, Grandpa Newhouse wrangled him for a couple of seconds, and James was not happy about being restrained from his wild romp around the back yard.
Michael enjoyed the pool but avoided the sprinkler like the plague. He loves the water, but he doesn't really appreciate when the water comes to him rather than the other way around.
Ryan really enjoys the sprinkler. We've got this beach ball sprinkler and a shark sprinkler. The shark is to wild for the kids this summer (and besides they'd rather drag him around the living room and chew on the sprinkler heads). Ryan likes to run up and avoid the spray then slap the ball. Here he miscalculated the trajectory of the water and gets a surprise. He still took a minute to slap the ball before heading off to another part of the yard.
Pool time with Uncle Joseph. There's nothing like a refreshing dip and a surreptious sip of pool water to give a young man his second wind.
Wet pants make the slide a little faster than normal. Between flipping the steaks and defending the hot grill from little hands, Daddy takes a minute to help James slide.
Bob's favorite thing to eat is chocolate cookies, and he has a love for all things Seasame Street, thus when I saw this beauty sitting in the Albertson's bakery, I had to have it. The 40 candles were just for entertainment purposes. I think he had to blow about 7 times before he got all of them out.
Michael makes a temporary escape from his chair, but when he realizes that cake was on the menu, he was happy to return to his seat.
James shows his brothers how to properly consume cake. Blue hands and mouth are just a byproduct of tasty.
Somehow, I'm pretty sure that Grandma and Papa Joe made sure that James got more than his fair share of cake.
Ryan, aka Eagle Eye, can spot food, Diet Coke, and anything else that you have from a mile away. He has no qualms about pointing to said item and saying that he'd like "that." Here, he requests more cake.
Ahh, a meal well done. Steaks and cakes. Uncle Joseph and Michael assume the post-dinner, I'm replete posture - hands linked over your tummy. I think Bob enjoyed his day, and I know the rest of us were happy to have an excuse to eat steak and get together for a visit. I hope that we have at least forty more of these celebrations.
Every once in a while, the boys, Faith, my parents, and I make it out to lunch with Mamaw. She really enjoys seeing the boys, and the boys don't mind hanging out with loving admirers. This time, James had a huge poop blow out, and I realized that I didn't have any extra clothes in the diaper bag. I have since repacked the diaper bag and have the proper replacement items, but it was slightly stinky and traumatic. The boys love the chicken and biscuits at Babe's (as do the rest of us). Lately, the boys have gotten shy with people they don't see often, but by the end of the meal, they had warmed up to Mamaw.
Ryan discovered Mamaw's pearls, and we had a hard time removing him from her lap.
James is by far our friendliest child, and he really enjoyed getting a ride with Mamaw. He definitely knows how to ride in style.
Grandma Kathy came with us to Babe's, and the boys had 3/4 of their grandmas in one place. Let's just say the spoiling was on.
In addition to lunch dates, the boys have discovered outside. This has become a slight problem as any time the boys see the back door open, they rush over and attempt to make a break for it. It has been so hot here, that most of our outdoor excursions happen after Daddy gets off work when it's cooled down. The boys love to swing, and Aunt Faith is happy to oblige.
With three "baby" swings on the swing set, it requires at least two pushers, but three makes it much easier. When you pull the kids out of the swings and head back indoors, it's inevitable that at least one of them throws himself on the floor and attempts to writhe his way back to the promised land.
Michael finds himself drawn to steal food off of Ryan's to distract him from his ultimate goal of pacifier retrieval.
