New Jersey Trip/ NY

I went to a research meeting in North Jersey while the boys had some fun and hung out with Grandma Gail and Grandpa Bob in South Jersey. They went to Seashore Heights one day and just hung out the rest of the time. They have 3 Golden Retrievers so Aiden was well entertained by them!

Friday Robert and I went into NY. 2 hour bus ride there. Aiden stayed with the grandparents while we got away for the day.

Robert really wanted to see a show, but on Fridays there are only 8:00pm showings. If we saw a late show we wouldn't have gotten back home until about 2:00am. That would have been ok, but we really didn't want to be out in a strange city that late, and we didn't want to leave Aiden that long, we might have come home to the grandparents curled up in balls crying. Not really, he would have been good. So, Robert decided we would do things that Sarah would like. YAY!!

Neither of us had ever been to Central Park, we walked about 1/4 of it. It is enormous and there is always so much going on there. It was amazingly beautiful, peaceful and quiet. So quiet, which is just astonishing because there is so much noise from the city. We walked through the park to find the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We heard lots of great music from many street performers in the park, contemplated a horse drawn carriage ride (then decided that the animals were probably overworked and underpaid and I didn't want to contribute to animal cruelty), and just walked. It was just so beautiful. (We also so some pretty strange things, like an older man kissing the roots of trees, I decided he was a tree kisser instead of a tree hugger :), and some guys that looked like they were going to dance, but all they did was clap their hands for a really long time)

Here are some pictures that Robert took while we were in The Park.

Me sitting in Central Park, trying to figure out where we are going.

We got to the Met and walked through spending a little time in each section, but not reading every detail, like I normally would have. Robert isn't much of a museum person, I could spend days reading and learning. So, I tried to walk through at a good pace to not totally bore him. He was so great through the entire museum. I had to make sure that we went to the Modern Art section. I have seen so many replicas of the real paintings that I got to see in the Met. It was just amazing to actually get to see the real things. Pollock, Warhol, Hopper, and so many more that I love.

Then, there was this sculpture that was made of welded wheels and belts and so many pieces of "Junk". I got big eyed and said to Robert, "How cool, I want to build one of these in our garage." He just rolled his eyes at me. I walked over to it and then I saw there was a pedal. I pushed the pedal and all the parts started moving. I was overwhelmed with a great joy, and a huge smile came across my face. Once, it stopped I looked at Robert and he was just shaking his head. Then, we started to walk away and I noticed that a Met worker was standing right there watching me the whole time. I just smiled and walked away! Too funny.

I absolutely loved it.

The garden on top of the Met.Sculpture Garden in Met. I was listening to the little girls in front of the sculpture explaining what it was to each other. It was too cute.

We walked back towards the Port Authority, traveling down Madison and 5th to see all of the stores. We went into the Coach store (because I sent back my purse to get it fixed and they couldn't fix it so they gave me a credit for it) I didn't find a purse that I loved, which disappointed me, but oh well. Then we ate dinner and walked down to Times Square to see that before we headed back home.

Our plans also included Chinatown, Ground Zero and other places on South Manhattan. We didn't get there, but next time we will!

We ate pizza 2 times and walked about 150 blocks altogether. I can't even tell you in words how great of a day we had together, the sounds, smells and sights of the places that we went were just overwhelming at times. I wanted to soak in every little things and place it in the back of my memory so that I could bring it all back up any time I wanted. I think I could spend 4 weeks in NY and still not want to leave. I am so grateful for the time that we got to spend together.

The last couple of nights I have dreamed about walking with Robert down the Literary Walk/The Mall in Central Park, hand in hand, and so peaceful. What a wonderful place. I have now been to NY twice and plan to return 10,000 more times.