You’re probably all wondering what the hey happened to me, aren’t ya?!! I had a crazy weekend like I said I would but it was a wonderful crazy. The kid’s enjoyed their certificates and the picnic on Sunday afternoon at the farm was so much fun. Unfortunately on Saturday night our computer decided to go on strike. It didn’t want to work on Sunday either.

This is why I couldn’t tell you that I left on Monday morning with my sis-in-law and her daughter for an impromptu trip to the good ‘ole US of A. Yup, I called her up at 10:30pm on Sunday night and told her that JZ and I would be joining them. I left the other 3 kids with my hubby and South we headed.

We arrived in Pennsylvania to stay with my hubby’s niece for two nights, we got to see the newlyweds new apartment in their new town. We also got to see Manhattan!!!! Yup, on Tuesday morning we got up and drove 2 1/2 hours to the Big Apple. We parked in Jersey State Park, by Liberty and took a water taxi over to the Island and proceeded to walk what seemed like 100 miles!! All the while pushing a little man in a stroller. Lots of people in Manhattan…. Note to self…. Don’t take stroller kid next time!

The first place we walked to after getting off the water taxi was Ground Zero – we were there on September 12th, the day after the 5th anniversary. It is still quite surreal. We then decided to catch a city tour bus and “hop on hop off” our day away. We toured towards the Brooklyn Bridge and through areas like Little Italy and Chinatown before deciding to get off the red double decker at Rockerfeller Centre. We took pictures of Radio City Music Hall and walked our way to the south entrance of Central Park, the children’s section – by the zoo. What an incredible moment when you step off of Park Avenue where the hussle and bussel meets with horse and carriage and nature. Beautiful, serene, peaceful nature! It was wonderful!

We couldn’t spend too much time in each place – NYC is a big place and we didn’t have much time to cover it all. We were all too aware that if we missed the last water taxi of the day… it would either be a long swim to the car or a very expensive “ground” taxi ride!

We hopped on the city tour bus once again and rode into the theatre district around Times Square. Oh if only I had a few days and a few thousand dollars – I would have seen every single Broadway show!! I love theatre!! I think from here we walked down to Macy ‘s, the world’s largest department store. I wasn’t in awe of the clothes as much as I was the architecture and the history of the place. That’s where I would love to spend my days, looking at the past through the building – what incredible stories they tell!! On the tour when everyone was laughing at the NY humour and the people down below… I was looking up – what great design came out of the earlier part of the last century. Amazing. Simply amazing.

We wrapped up our day in Soho, looking through the shops and wishing we had just one more hour. We thought it wasn’t too far to the dock so we decided to bypass the remainder of the tour and walk the streets. The sun was setting and the shops were starting to close… soon we weren’t in the nicest of areas. We quickly and I mean Q.U.I.C.K.L.Y. walked through Tribeca and back to the waterfront.

We didn’t have to worry about missing our ferry… it never came! It broke down and they didn’t tell us. Thankfully a Newyorker took pity on us and helped us catch a different ferry to Colgate, New Jersey where he called for a car to take us back to the marina where we left our vehicle 9 hours earlier. I don’t think we would have made it out of there without his help. The ferry guy gave us directions and he kept saying… if you turn left and see basketball courts, turn around and get – out – of – there!! If made us feel real good. 3 ladies and a baby. So Mr., whoever you were, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

And that was only Monday and Tuesday!!

We’re in West Virginia now with my other sis-in-law. We arrived here late last night and are leaving for home early in the morning. We’ve been SHOPPING!!! Oh the sales – the deals! I think we’ll have to buy a rooftop carrier in order to get all of our stuff home…. (I’m not kidding!)

I’ll fill you in on the rest when I get home late tomorrow night. Thankfully my niece has a laptop and JZ’s asleep so I could update you on my whereabouts. I know you’ve been concerned. I was thinking about you all this time though, I haven’t forgotten you.

It will be a long drive for us – JZ’s not too impressed. His car seat is not his best friend. I’ll try to post on Saturday but I may be busy…. it’s my birthday! It’s also my little Liam’s b-day too. Hint hint to my hubby in case you needed a little nudge to remember or time to plan something…. Here’s to wishful thinking! 😉