New York or Bust

As I type this, I'm sitting in a timeshare condo near Catskill, NY. (Quite far from home in Iowa.) Yesterday morning we flew out of Moline, IL and arrived in New York City at about 4:00 in the afternoon. This was the first time Jesse has flown, and the first time that Meredith is flying and that she is old enough to realize what's going on.

Meredith was practically beside herself with excitement. As we were taking off, she announces very loudly "Mommy, this is SO COOL!" to the amusement of those around us.

Both Jesse and Meredith did so well during both the flights - the short one to Chicago and the longer one to NYC. They really did better than I ever dreamed. Jesse missed both his morning and afternoon naps, and was a bit fussy towards the end, but nothing that a treat couldn't take care of. I discovered the joys (and magical properties) of a sucker for Jesse. For both flights, I gave him a sucker and he kept occupied with that for a good 1/2 - 1 hour! By the end, he would take a wipe and wipe off his hands and mouth so I didn't have to stay so vigilant lest we all become a sticky mess. Traffic in Manhattan and the Bronx was of course awful - which I'm guessing is pretty normal. Except for a few wrong turns when leaving the airport, we followed the GPS and it didn't let us down. Kent was thrilled when we drove right by the whole reason for our vacation to New York - Yankee Stadium.

(He wanted to take his kids to a Yankee's game in the old stadium. Since this is the last season of them playing in the old stadium, it was now or never.) You can see that the new stadium is right by the old.

In case you can't read this, it says, "I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee" by Joe DiMaggio. I think this is a bit much, but Kent assures me that it's normal sentiment for a Yankee (or Yankee fan!)

Jesse finally has his nap - nevermind that it is now 6:00 - only 5 hours later than normal!

This is me pointing the camera behind me and saying "Cheese!" to Meredith. Tomorrow will bring hiking in the morning for all 4 of us and mountain biking in the afternoon for Kent (naps and blogging for the kids and I).