Philly Part 2

You know you're in a historic part of the country when you see this while walking around...

Even Philly has pretty Starbucks!

Greg spent the day exploring Philly while I was in classes. He went to the Franklin Institute (Museum), and found a radar that measures pitching speed. Of course, he tried to beat out all the kids and get the highest speed, and suffered from a sore shoulder for days afterward... but he got a 50!!! (So worth it... You can tell by his face!)

Love Park

Despite the fountain saying "No Swimming", quite a few people cooled off from the 96+ temps by enjoying a dip in the water. I guess walking in the fountain isn't technically swimming...

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is where Rocky ran up the steps during his training. How could we not follow suit? (Despite the fact that we had to walk over an hour to get here.)

The Rocky Statue... which unfortunately is off to the side and at the bottom of the stairs. Sad!

Us before running the stairs.

(It was so funny... everyone was running the stairs. People dressed up, people working out, kids, adults, seniors... everyone!)

Greg being Rocky after beating me... big time. But I took every stair, and he skipped them. Does that count?

View of Philly from the top of the stairs.

Last Day in NYC

After Philly, we spent one last night in NYC. This time, we stayed at the Hilton right across the street from Ground Zero.

This is the view from our room on the 26th floor, showing all of the construction going on at Ground Zero, with the Hudson River in the background.

This is the memorial for WTC Tower 2, built on its original foundation, which will become an inverted fountain.

This is the foundation of WTC Tower 1. Names of those who passed away during the 9/11 attacks will be inscribed around the inverted fountains on both towers.

On a lighter note, this is the Wall Street Bull.

And this is his backside. ;)

This is a statue called The Sphere. It used to be between the WTC Towers, and has been moved to a park close to the Staten Island Ferry as a temporary memorial.

We took the Staten Island Ferry (free!!) to go see Miss Liberty herself.

Walked the Brooklyn Bridge that afternoon.

Rusted, but beautiful.

NYC skyline in the background.

NYC from the bridge.

Standing halfway across the bridge. Greg is on the Brooklyn side...

And I'm on the NY side.

(Any fans of the TV show "The Office" should take notice of our shirts...)

Being silly. Construction here was surrounded by all the different "walk" signals from probably over 50 countries.

One of my favorite parts of NY was finding all of the Starbucks locations. They were on every corner, like the ABC stores are in Hawaii... but so much prettier. Love the architecture in NY, especially when my fav shop resides within.

View from the other side of our hotel.

The Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge.

Went to the Empire State Building that night as our final goodbye to NYC.

Beautiful views...

Last stop on the way to the airport. If anyone watches TLC, this is the bake shop that "Cake Boss" is filmed at. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to wait in the hour-long line. Next time!

Life Doesn't Get Much Better...

Erick came to visit recently. I think during his one week stay, we visited all of his favorite eateries at least once... and that's a lot of food! Also spent a significant amount of time at the beach (my skin is still screaming), something I haven't done since January... and July of 2009 before that. After spoiling my dogs like mad, catching some rays, and causing our clothes to fit just a bit tighter, I think I can say a fun time was had by all.

My favorite picture of the week. Ala Moana Beach

Sunset Beach... a sandy day.

Mom's Turtle Beach

No trip is complete without a stop here...

Tasting the different flavors.

The "after" picture.

Oops!

Spoiling Katsu and Lili

The Three Amigos.

Sugoi's Garlic Chicken. Yum!

We all burped garlic for the rest of the day. Even bought gum at Costco! Ha!

(lots of garlic = lots of gum)

Sharing with our "of age" dog. (Sorry, Lili!)

Happy Hippity Hop

What seems to have Lili waiting so patiently?

Why, the Easter Bunny, of course!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Day at the Beach...

Went to Kahala Beach today with Greg, Betty, Fred, and the dogs. Haven't been to the beach since before the wedding, so figured we'd have Lili's inaugural trip to the sand and water today. Judging by the pictures below, lots of fun was had by all... and everyone in our family, at least, got a good nap after!

Birthday

Had a wonderful 26th birthday. It was very relaxing, and we played it by ear all day, which was wonderful. Greg was really sweet and helpful all day long, and let me choose what to do and when. Came home Friday to these beautiful flowers. Went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and even brought home two pieces of cheesecake to enjoy for the rest of the week.

Stopped by the Moana where we got married so we could snap some birthday pictures.

Did I mention I love this guy?

We Start Potty Training Early

heehee :)