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Published: July 11th 2008
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Alissa and I
upon Vegas arrival I certainly have been slacking on keeping up my travel journal, which stinks because then I have so much to write about and I probably bore you with the long ones... OH WELL! lol
I was in NY in early June and after a couple weeks I went home to attend the Rotary Convention in LA. It was great to see old friends and catch up on a greater level with the world of Rotary that i love so much. During the last week of June, Alissa and I drove to Vegas to celebrate her birthday. We had an exhausting 5 or so days of dancing, swimming, lounging, shopping and not sleeping. We seriously shopped till we dropped and made out with some great stuff. Alissa was able to reconnect with her childhood best friend who works at Michael Kors and is great with fashion, needless to say he helped us with purchases. 😊 Our favorite night had to have been when we went to Piranha, a gay club/bar and danced and dance and danced with harmless beautiful men! It was a first for both of us and something we look forward to going to again. We met loads of
bday drink
first bday dinner, MARGARITAS!!! fun people to hang with over the few days we were there and had a great heap of laughter. On our drive back to LA, since we had been very sleep deprived and checkout was 11 am, I insisted we stop to rest before I crashed on our way home. We stopped in Baker at "Arnie's Royal Hawaiian," it was seriously ridiculous and hilarious. I payed the guy $20 to let us sleep for 2 hours. I am glad to say that after our nap we got energy drinks and made it home, quite refreshed.
Two days after Vegas I flew back out to New York. I have been here since July 1 with Lisa, Monte and the kids. The weather seems a bit better than my last trip out, however humid as ever. On the 4th, we had been looking forward to it for awhile, we went to the river for the fireworks where we were stuffed behind barricades like cattle on a ranch and then packed like sardines. The kids were getting a little restless right around the time that the rain started. All the cattle threw up their umbrellas with pointy tips and not only was
the space between one another to small for umbrellas but the umbrellas but they also began to cover any view of the sky. When we turned around to see that thousands of people were packed behind us, in the rain, we realized how there was going to be no way of getting a cab to our hotel 30 blocks away and we certainly were not about to walk with the kids so antsy. Before the show began, we maneuvered threw the cloud and hailed a cab. As the cab took off towards 58th street the banging and popping began and small bits of light were seen through our side window.
My birthday being around the corner and Monte offering to watch the kids so we could go out, got my mind going. I posted an event on the couchsurfing website inviting others to share in my birthday with me as I only know a few people in the city. I made plans for us to go to the AVA Lounge at the Dream Hotel, only a few blocks from us in case Lisa needed to rush back. Christine flew in on the 6th and we have been quite busy
bridging it
this is where all the hookers were over the days. On Monday we mostly walked around 5th Avenue and did some shopping. I watched the kids in the evening so that Monte and Lisa could go to dinner with Christine and have a night out. All went well until Aurora awoke from her sleep the second time and demanded some milk that I could not offer. Lisa came right home and got it all under control. Totally unexpectedly they gave me a birthday present which actually brought me to tears. I now am the proud owner of an Itouch, which I am trying to learn, something I would have never allowed myself to buy for myself, however I am extremely grateful and excited about my new gift.
Tuesday, my birthday, we had tickets to go to the Statue of Liberty. We packed everyone up and took a lengthy subway ride to Battery Park where we got in an extremely long line to board the ferry to the island. I was quite worried about the choppy water, but I made it their with no nausea. We got lunch and sat in a grassy area looking out towards Manhattan and where the World Trade Center used to
Mikael and i
a fun Brut we met stand tall over the crowd of buildings that line the coast. We got so involved in taking photos and relaxing in the grass that we managed to space out and miss the last opportunity at 4:30 to go to the top of the monument! By that point both kids had fallen asleep anyhow, so we got over it and got in line to board the ferry back. Completely exhausted and rushed to get ready, we arrived to our hotel just after 7pm. My birthday party started at 9 and I am so glad that I had a decent turn out. Overall there were 15-20 of us. The Ava turned out to be a bit pricy although a great lounge on a rooftop with a view of Times Square on the roof of the Dream. My Couchsurfer guests came, Lisa and Christine and I, Tate (a guy that works the front desk at our hotel and suggested AVA) and also my friend Nick that I have known for years through Rotaract and used to live in LA. One of the couchsurfers invited everyone to his apartment which was one block away. Most of us went there to continue on with appetizers
Min min and I
Min is a CS friend that was in LA for awhile and has since gone hone to Canada and drinks of choice, in his beautiful apartment. It was very kind of him to have us over. I got home around 1:30 but went to sleep after 4.
The following morning we got up and prepared for our day on the big red double decker bus, choosing the Downtown Loop to show us some of the sites we wanted to see most. Because Christine was leaving today we wanted to make the most out of our time. Our major stop was the Empire State Building, where we could see so much it was great, even though it was very overcast. We also made a point to go to SOHO to see some shops and eat rice pudding at Rice to Riches. Time went by so quickly and as once again the skies tried to rain on our parade, we boarded a big red bus back towards home. Arriving home just after 8 last night, the kids did extremely well for another long day and we made an agreement that today would basically consist of nothing. Christine left around 5 am today and we have been relaxing since we got up. I did manage to get out and replenish
Piranha
With Adam and his coworkers at the club our groceries but other than that we are home bound.
We will be home in just over a week and we have a few plans of what else we want to see. We will be coming back near the first of October for some concerts which should be a good time. We also head to New Jersey for 2 days just before we fly home. What will Jersey bring...
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