Chicago Day 2

This morning we had room service, Alexia wanted breakfast in bed. She explained to us how on Mother's & Father's Day we get breakfast in bed & she doesn't. So we gave in and spoiled her a little. It was so nice, they brought the little table with the food and drinks on it. You should have seen her face. She had her little robe (the thick terry cloth ones) on from the hotel and sat there and ate her omelet & strawberry smoothie.

After breakfast we headed to Buckingham Fountain but got sidetracked when we saw signs for the Art Institute. Alexia enjoys looking at artwork even as an 8 yr old. We have her teacher Mrs. Siedel-Slango to thank for that. We walked around and saw paintings from Monet and more(can't remember all their names). Unfortunately the wing of the building we really wanted to see, was under construction. That included Van Gogh and Michelangelo. We spent a couple of hours in here walking around, Alexia and I were getting bored and wanted to leave but Erick insisted on looking around more so I took Alexia downstairs to the kids area where there is hands on stuff. They had a new exhibition from ancient China. They had sculptures from the Ming and Tang dynasties as far back as 600 AD. It was really something to see.

After leaving the Art Institute we headed back towards the fountain. It was enormous and so pretty. The spray from the water felt refreshing. We admired that for a bit then began our trek to the Navy Pier. On that city map, it looks so close, we could even see the ferris wheel from where we were standing at the fountain. So we walked and we walked and we walked. Ok, we had been walking around this city for over 4 hrs now and both Alexia and I were tired of walking. Even though we were close to the pier, we didn't feel we'd enjoy walking around on the pier so we decided to head back to the hotel to swim and take a break. It was just what we needed. The pool area at this hotel is like a spa. It is really well done. Very classy. We had some really fresh sandwiches around the pool area with a caesar salad. The spa was serving tangerine and mint smoothie. Wow, I didn't think that would be good, but it was.

After that, we had dinner at one of Chicago's other famous deep dish pizza places. We walked to Ginos East. We gave our name and we told it would be about 40 minute wait. When they came by the line to see if anyone with 4 people or less wanted to be seated, Erick spoke up and got us a nice table outside. You should have seen the evil stares we got from the people ahead of us, but they didn't speak up so we were seated before them. One lady up front complained and the waitress just smiled and said "you didn't speak up". Once we sat & our waitress took our order, it was another 45-50 minutes before we got our pizza (remember, they take that long to cook). It was a great table outside and the weather was just perfect. It was pleasant, we were people watching, which is always fun in any city. Our waitress was so so nice and fun and we just loved her. Erick said the local brew ("131" which is the area code) was really good. After a 22 oz, Erick was feeling good.

On our walk home we stopped over a bridge near the hotel and checked out the boats along the river. It looked like some were rented out for entertainment. It looked like everyone was a having a great time. The city is so pretty lit up at night, very
full of life. Once we got back to the hotel we checked out the 2nd floor where the Grand Ballroom was and Alexia stepped inside and was so impressed, she told us she wants to have her wedding there.....let's not rush things.

We went back to the room and got in our comfy hotel robes and watched some TV and relaxed. The bed in the room is soooo comfy.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Minnesota to see family:)

A long ride

Today we traveled from Baltimore to Chicago. We were up at 6:00 and out of the hotel by 7:15 to hit the road.

Here's the summary of our car trip:
Ohio: corn fields and large trucks
Indiana: more corn and more large trucks
Illinois: even more corn and more large trucks

We ended up at the Renaissance Hotel along the river in Chicago about 6:30 central time. It's a gorgeous hotel, marble everywhere, grand staircase and as soon as you walk in the door it smells like you're entering a spa. The aroma is soft yet floral and clean all at the same time.

Erick parked the car. The people in Chicago cross the street anywhere at any time; at cross walks or not; with the lights or not. They are crazy. They would be killed in Manhattan.

We checked in & of course asked where the best place for deep dish pizza was. We headed to Giordanos around 7:45, not far from the hotel. There was quite a line even though it was only a Thursday night and it was 8 o'clock. It was an hour wait and then I was told to get back in the same long line in 20 minutes to place my order (the deep dishes take about 45-50 minutes to cook). Ya, that makes sense to me. What was he talking about come back and get back in line. While we were waiting we went to Millenium Park which was really beautiful. Oprah has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the park. Chicago is this very busy city with lots of large buildings yet beautiful parks and large fountains all over.

By the way, the wait for the pizza was well worth it. It was unbelievable. I'm honestly not a big fan of the deep dish but it was just sooooo good even though it was $21 for a 10 inch pizza! The cheese is amazing. So fresh.

We had to walk off some of the big meal we just stuffed ourselves with and headed back for a good nights sleep in our luscious cozy bed.

Minnesota or Bust!

Today is Saturday, July 26th.

We got an early start and headed to the Sears Tower. It was walking distance from the hotel. We waited on line in the lobby for about 20 mins which wasn't so bad. Then we got shuffled upstairs and found out it was another 1 hr wait. NO WAY. We left, got a Dunkin coffee and blueberry muffin, and went across the street and marveled at this enormous building.

We checked out of our hotel and we were off and on the road to see our family in MN. It's a 7hr drive. Erick drove us out of the city, took about 1 hr just to get out of Chicago:( Alexia and I sat in the backseat while Erick chauffered us. We ate snacks, watched movies like Transformers and Enchanted.

All along the way we saw so many cornfields it was almost comical. Illinois: corn and trucks. Wisconsin: corn and trucks. We made our usual stop at Mickey D's for lunch...only on the road have we eaten there. I have no desire to eat at another McDonalds for a long, long time. We switched off driving, Erick was doing a great job on the 2 lane highway with plenty of semi trucks to contend with. I have more of a lead foot then he does though, I plowed through at 80 mph in a 65, whereas Erick does 70ish. After about 8 hrs of driving I just wanted to get there.

Finally we arrived at about 8:00 pm to welcoming arms by Jay(my cousin, like a second brother to me) Toni (his wife), Alec (their 6 1/2 yr old son) & Aunt Nancy. What a great feeling that was. There home is like being in our own home, they are awesome hosts. They had just purchased a blow up water slide that day and Alexia and Alec couldn't wait to break it in. We hung outside and watched them go up & down endlessly. They had ice cold beer waiting. Yessss!

Aahhhh a good night sleep at the Chateau Hastings. (Lynn totally hogs the bed, not fun for me)

Another day in Baltimore

Once again it's a hot & humid day here today, in the 90's. We slept in and ate breakfast in the room (not room service, unless you call a box of raisen bran, yogurt and bananas, room service). We decided to check out the Baltimore Aquarium today, it was pretty interesting. We saw a 4-D show about ocean life. The 4th D is for "feeling". So when a giant croc comes out of the screen like in 3D it also pokes your chair and you freak out. Also when the snakes are on the screen, the air blows on your feet and everyone squirms and screams. It was fun. The whole theatre was laughing and jumping. Alexia didn't really enjoy it much she pulled her feet up. Wimp.

We went to the tropical rain forest at the top. In there we saw a small orange lion monkey, a sloth, snakes, a tarantula and lots of colorful poisonous frogs. They are so vibrant colors, blue, orange, red and yellow (they look fake like they were carved out of stone). Of course the sharks were the most fascinating, they don't look very happy in there. I wondered if they become less aggressive in captivity? All they do is go around and around the circle. And they are fed from caretaker only.

There was a fun splashing dolphin show that was cool. It's always neat to see animals from the wild perform tricks. Luckily we didn't sit in the "splash" zone. It was a hot day again here but I wasn't in the mood to walk around soaked. We also learned that not all dolphins are nice. In the wild, they will bite.

We went to a yummy mexican restaurant for lunch, they had homemade flour tortillas and hard shell taco shells. It was fantastic. Off to the pool for the afternoon to cool down, Erick and Alexia that is. I laid down and took a nice snooze. I didn't realize how all this walking can tire you out.

We decided to go to the Cheasecake Factory for dinner. While we were waiting Alexia got a tiger tatoo like Erick's, on her leg. It looks cute, thank goodness it only lasts a week though. I know they are everywhere but they are sooooo good there. Even Alexia loved the chicken blasts for an appetizer. Erick and I split and entree and Alexia had chicken pot stickers for dinner. Erick makes those at home but even he admitted their's are better. We had dinner right on the water. The Inner Harbor is such a pretty place to be. Towards the end of dinner, we were listening to the thunder roll in and the black clouds as we sat outside for dinner. Since we were so stuffed we headed back to the hotel and luckily just in time. The thunder is so loud here. And the lightening flashes constantly. This storm lasted well over an hour with heavy, heavy downpours. It was fun to watch...from inside our room:)

Tomorrow we're off to Chicago, an 11 hour drive. Pray for a safe trip!

We're in Baltimore

We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Arndt and headed for Baltimore around 10:00, it's only a 4 hr drive. Along the way Alexia made a homemade tent in the backseat to watch her movies. It's beautiful here. Erick and I haven't been here in about 10 yrs and there have been lots of wonderful changes. The area has been newly revitalized with cobblestone streets, a beautiful roundabout near our hotel and lots of upscale shops. Our hotel is about a block from the water.

Once we checked in we decided to go for a swim, only to find out that the pool here was closed because the filter wasn't working properly. We were sent over to the new Marriott right on the water, just a block away. It was so exquisite in there, marble everywhere (guess I should have booked that hotel) We went swimming there for about an hour then came back to the room to get ready for dinner (we were starving) We wanted to have the crab since that's what they are so infamous for here. But we wanted something casual, not too formal. We went to Mo's (Rachel Ray claims they have the best crab cakes). Our waiter had to show us how to crack open the shells because we obviously knew nothing about what we were doing.

It was stinky and messy. Even Alexia enjoyed herself and liked the crab meat. Since she loves lobster we thought she'd like it. This girl has expensive taste.

We walked around the inner harbor after dinner. The harbor was so pretty at night, all lit up. Lots of retaurants and shopping, different shops than your typical mall stores. Alexia got ice cream with gummy bears for dessert. There were lots of little boats in the harbor, paddle boat types.

On our walk back to the hotel, we came across a couple of spots that were lit up with security around. Apparantly they were shooting a scene from the show "Ace of Cakes". One cake was tiered pinkish with red but the other looked just like a green parrot. We're hoping to go by their shop tomorrow & check them out. My friend Sue would love it.

Yankees

Well, today was a relaxing day. We slept in and did laundry, how exciting, right? I took a walk with Joan to get a pedicure. My aching feet were in need of one. We were waiting for Keith, Nicole and Madison to come by after their errands but unfortunately they never made it by to see us:(

Erick got Yankees tickets from our brother-in-law Rich (bigtime Yankee fan) for the 7:05 game. Alexia was dressed in her Jeter T-shirt, fitting right in with every other person at the stadium. Seriously, more than half the adults at the game wore game shirts, it was unbelievable. We got to the stadium about 4:45 because we wanted to head over to Monument Park to see all the historic Yankee Greats like Mantle, DiMaggio, Babe Ruth and Gehrig. At 4:45 there were hundreds of people waiting to get in more than two hours before the game on a Monday nite. Wow!

They let us into the park at 5:05 and by 5:14 they were no longer letting people in line to go to the park, bummer. So we walked around the stadium, watched batting practice and took some pictures. We decided to get something to eat before we took our seats, way, way up in the top of the bleachers. No lie, it was the 2nd to last row from the very top...nose bleed section, literally (more on that later).

Alexia was asking about a section in the outfield, if they hit the ball over that wall if it would be a homerun, sure enough A-Rod was up and hit a homerun right where she mentioned. She looked at me and said, we need to talk about that more often so they get more homeruns.

Around the 6th inning Alexia's nose started bleeding and it wouldn't stop. We headed to the ladies room to try to get control of it and decided not to trek all the way back to our seats afterwards and left about 10:00. The Yankees were already up 11-3 anyways so we knew they would win.

We're so glad that we went to the game, it was a great time. Since it will be the last time we're able to go to a game in this historic 85 yr old park because they are tearing it down after this season. We could see the beautiful new park right next door, it had these white columns and gold lettering, stunning and it should be with a price tag of $1 Billion.

On the way home we followed traffic out of the stadium. We had to drive north since there was no way to drive south. So we got off the highway and drove a couple of back roads in the Bronx. Yikes. Then we saw the sign to go south. We take the road and the road goes around and down to a dead end next to the water. What the heck! We got a little nervous wondering where the heck we were. A guy comes from out of the darkness towards our car. Hearts begin to race. He approaches the car. He tells us that this happens all the time and to go back up and make the next right. I think my heart went 30 seconds without beating. We left and found our way home amongst the very aggressive NY drivers. That was fun.

The Big Apple

We (Erick, Alexia, me and his mom Joan) headed to NYC on the train from Valley stream, catching the 1:25. We got into the city a little after 2:00. It was so busy, so much hustle and bustle going on. And the smell, especially on a hot steamy day, whew...nasty! So many people speaking a foreign language as we passed by them on the streets. We checked out some of the street vendors. I was looking for a knock-off handbag and some sunglasses (don't tell my brother-in-law, he's a NYC cop) We had to get a pretzel since we missed lunch and we were hungry but didn't want to ruin our appetites for dinner. We were going to "Dallas BBQ".



We made a few stops but found nothing I was interested in. We went into Toys R Us, which has about 3 floors and a huge ferris wheel inside. It's really something to see. After much pleading by Alexia for a toy, we made our way down to the M&M store. It was amazing, all these canisters with just about every color imaginable. Of course we had to get some :)



It was now closer to dinnertime and we headed to the infamous Dallas BBQ for some outhwatering ribs, chicken, cornbread and homemade french fries (my favorite, just like my mom used to make) Besides great food the prices are amazingly cheap for being in the city. What a mess we were afterwards, lots of clean wipes for wiping off that BBQ sauce! If you go to NYC, this is a great spot.

After dinner we still had a bit of time to kill before the show started so we walked through a fair of more street vendors. Alexia had $10 to spend for the day and wanted everything she could see. But, then she saw a sign, it said...WEBKINZ! Oh boy, there she went. They were selling them for $12 and Alexia offered him $10 because of course that's all she had & he took it. Behaving like a true New Yorker she bargained the price down. Erick's so proud! Like she NEEDED another webkin, urgh..


Now it was time to head to the Cirque Dreams show on Broadway & 53rd. It was simply amazing, the acrobats, the contortionists, the strength these people have it was just mind-blowing. We were in the second row. We highly recommend the show to all you guys. We were in such awe half the time, our mouths dropped opened. Just watching Alexia's face, made it all worth it. Thank you Grandma Arndt for treating us to the show!

Back home on the 10:02 train, what a great day!

First Day of our 12 day journey

Today is Saturday the 19th, it's a very hot, steamy day today. We woke up about 9:30(I was expecting us to sleep until noon) feeling refreshed believe it or not. Joan (Erick's mom) had already walked to the bagel store to get us fresh, hot bagels for breakfast. They were delicious. Richard (Erick's dad) made coffee, it's just not Dunkin' Donuts...boy was it strong! After being up for a couple of hours and trying to plan out the day, I felt the need for more sleep and took an hour nap.
For lunch we got to have our pizza from the night before.

Erick got a chance to chat with his mom and dad. Alexia was playing with the dogs, Dana and Jodi.

This afternoon we went over to Erick sister Celeste's house to swim with Alexia's cousins, aunts and uncles. Celeste showed Alexia her neighbors' horse (yes she loved it) and other animals like a peacock and chickens (and they say NH is cow country). This is in the middle of $600,000 homes. It's like a petting zoo. The next door neighbor is a Polish priest that speaks some english. They have chickens and fresh farm eggs. Then it was over to Erick's other sister Mariette's house for yummy NY pizza, dessert, drinks and fun family time. Yes, Erick comes from a large family of 6 kids. It is like carb-heaven in Long Island. It was so great to see everyone. Erick got the pleasure of going for a ride in his brother Chris' mini-cooper, his pride & joy. And another 15 mins away is the former house of Erick's grandmother. It was really strange to see the house after all these years. All that time as a kid seeing grandma and her house is right there. The funny thing is that grandma used to live in a modest country kind of setting with lots of space. Now the area is all million dollar homes in an exclusive neighborhood. Funny how things change.

(Erick is writing) At the end of the night we all watched the tape of the TV show that I was on in 1988. The show (Fast Forward) was filmed at my high school for one episode. It ran on Thursday nights before the Cosby show (remember that?). It ran for 6 episodes. All the kids were laughing at the styles that we had in clothing and hair. What is so funny about that, right?

Moving Day

This is it, the day we had been planning on for years, as you all know. And it was really happening, kinda strange to see a long time plan come alive.

Today was moving day, July 18th. Seemed to go smoothly when the College Bound guys arrived at 8:30 to move all our belongings. Erick and I were a bit skeptical that everything was going to fit into the 16 ft POD we rented. The movers did a quick evaluation and thought it was possible. But guess what, about 1:00 and 3/4 of the way full it was obvious not everything was going to fit. By the way, does anyone really realize how much "stuff" we all have. We gave so much away, sold many items and threw alot away & we STILL have so much "stuff". Talk about a reality check. So by now you can only imagine the frustration and disappointment about our dilemma now. We're hot, sweaty and irritated.

Throughout the day we had so many of our great friends pop over to say their good-byes, :( We saw the Geringers, Shelley & Rachel, Maureen, Sue & Garrett.

What to do? We sat on the basement floor and regrouped. We called about another POD but that was going to cost an absolutely ridiculous amount of money so we decided to go with ABF U-Pack moving truck. It was about 1:30 so we were grateful when they said they could have a truck here by 5:00. So when 5:00, then 5:30 then 6:00 went by & we still had no truck we were a little ticked off. Our patience had just about run out when, low and behold, here comes the truck down the hill. The driver must have just gotten his commercial license because he didn't have a clue what he was doing trying to back that trailer up. He attempted this for about 20 minutes and almost taking out my mailbox, finally just left it where he wanted, had me sign the paperwork, unhitched the trailer and left. Yes, I said left. Here we are staring at this giant trailer in the street wondering what to do next. We had questions for him and he just bailed on us. Needless to say they got an earful from us. Now this is a trailer remember so Ashley, Alexia, Erick and I are lifting the rest of the stuff 4 ft into the 28 ft trailer and then packing it, because we're professionals ya know. It's a 28 ft trailer and all we need is about 6 ft. Our concerned neighbor, Maureen, seeing the distress and hunger on our faces was so kind to go get us a pizza for dinner, thank you so much Maureen! We completed the packing by 8:30ish and ate our pizza. Every time we turned around, we had MORE stuff to pack. Yikes.

Saying goodbye to Ashley was the toughest thing we had to go through that whole messy day. There were many tears shed by all of us. Even after we left Kinsman Ln. we all continued to cry off and on for a while. The reality of it all was hitting us, hard.

We were on the road to Long Island by 9:15 and arrived about 1:00 a.m. Alexia fell asleep about 3 hours into the ride finally. It was a long day and we all crashed at the Arndt house. Just glad the day is over. We were physically and emotionally drained. Grandma Arndt had DaVinci Pizza (the best pizza!) and cold heinekens waiting for us. But we just went straight to bed. We crashed.

17 days but who's counting

Hey there everyone. Glad you checked in today.

32 years of history here, it's awful strange saying goodbye. I knew it wouldn't be easy but man my emotions are draining rapidly. I went to see my "second parents" as I call them. John & Judy, they've been in my life since I was 15 and have always been so sweet and made me feel like a daughter to them. They've enjoyed watching Ashley & Amanda grow into young women and also seeing Alexia grow up. We have fun picking blueberries at their home, peaches and even some apples. Today Alexia got to ride in John's air conditioned tractor, it was a thrill for her. But what she likes even more is driving their golf cart around their property to get to the blueberries. I'm going to miss that fresh mint in my mohitos this summer.

Alexia seems to be doing well so far, just trying to get in as much playtime with her friends as possible. I am so grateful for technology today, being able to stay in touch with everyone via the internet is awesome. We're going to have a web camera set up once we get to CA, for any of you who have one....we can still see each other:)

Been going through old files and when I say old, I mean back to 1991. Crazy how much we save, it's cute looking back on some of the little notes Erick used to write me, I say "used to" because it just doesn't happen as often now. But I have to say he's still a romantic, brings me flowers and cards once in a while. Anyways enough about him, it feels good to go through this "cleansing" process.

We're looking forward to spending time with Callie, Emily & Gretchen tomorrow before they head to their family vacation in Ohio. They won't be back before we leave, this is gonna be a tough one:(