We have met quite a few new friends that live in our building. For some reason it seems a little bit easier to meet people in NYC than it did in London. I guess one reason is because we live in a huge building with so many residents and we lived in a house in London. Brad and I always joke that we know more dogs in the city than people (this is probably true). Some of the friends we have met are Tomoko and Shin, Sarah and Kristof, and Jill and Jeff.

Tomoko and Shin are from Japan and will be living in New York for about a year – Shin is here on a work assignment. We had a great time playing billiards with them the other night - we played 9-ball and then showed them how to play 8-ball. We also had drinks and dinner with Sarah and Kristof last Sunday night – the Italian restaurant was delicious. Tonight we are meeting our next door neighbor Jill and her boyfriend for dinner at Southwest NY.

I got a great surprise in the mail this past Friday - it was a box from my mom. She sent me three presents. Thank you so much Mama – I love everything! That night Brad and I had a great dinner at Landmarc. We finished off the night with a lovely walk with Levi around Battery Park.

Saturday we wandered around the city. We walked through Tribeca, Soho, and Little Italy, and we did some shopping. We also made our way up to Times Square and over to Fulton street for dinner at Red.

Well, Brad is off this week to Atlanta. This will be the first week that I will be here by myself. I have plenty to do to keep me busy before he returns, and don’t forget that I have Levi to talk to and keep me company.

Go Yankees!

The next three days they were pretty much on their own in the city. My dad had been to NYC a few times before, so he picked up the subway quite fast – not to mention he has a great sense of direction just like me. They toured a few museums (The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim, and The Metropolitan of Art). They saw some great Broadway shows - Mamma Mia and The Lion King. We all had dinner at the famous 21 Club before their show. It was excellent – the best salmon I have ever had. Thanks daddy!

Friday night we all went to a Yankees game. Pettitte pitched for us that night, and he did a great job. We were losing 2-0 in the sixth inning, and then Matsui hit a two-run homer to tie it up. But with two outs in the seventh, the Pirates hit a line into center over Cabrera’s head. It ended up being a two-run inside the park homer. Ouch! Mariano Rivera ("Mo") came in to pitch in the 9th, and we were really happy to see him pitch. He pitched a scoreless inning, but we didn't score either so we go into extra innings - nothing like "free baseball"! Mo pitched another scoreless inning, so we are up to bat in the bottom of the 10th. The bases are loaded and Jeter's at the plate. His hit wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough for the Yanks to pull off a 5-4 win! What a game!

Saturday we walked down Wall Street to South Street Seaport (Pier 17) - the Italian ice was delicious as always. Then we headed to Canal Street in Chinatown (this is always a lot of fun getting into the back rooms) and through Little Italy before ending the night with dinner in Greenwich Village. I can’t forget the dessert from Magnolia’s – the line was worth the banana pudding - that’s for sure!

We walked through Tribeca and Soho on Sunday. There are a lot of awesome shops and street vendors during the weekend. We shopped all day and worked up an appetite for Italian food, so we made our way back to the perfect place - Little Italy. The dinner was unbelievable! When we got back to our place we made martinis and played pool in Club 90W – ladies won!

Monday we all went to the David Letterman show. It was a great show! We saw Denis Leary and Flight of the Conchords. We ended the night on Stone Street at Adrienne’s Pizza Bar. The next day they took the famous Circle Line Cruise and walked around Central Park before meeting me. We met for some shopping at Bloomingdales and on 5th Avenue before heading to Mary Ann’s Mexican in Tribeca.

I had a lot of fun daddy! I am so glad you got home safe and sound after about 24 hours of travel time. Thanks for all my gifts and our dinners. Hurry back! Happy Father’s Day!

Shae and Billy just left after a nice visit - we had a great time with you guys! Shae flew up here several days before Billy, and we (well, mostly Jill) showed her all of the sites. In addition to the main stuff, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge (with Ron and Melissa) to have dinner in Brooklyn Heights (the views from the bridge are great) and we took Levi for a walk through Battery Park.

Shae's favorite place was Canal Street where she figured out the code to get into the "secret rooms" for the real deals. She loaded up on some goods that day! Her favorite restaurant was Adrienne's Pizza on Stone Street, and she really enjoyed the Italian Ice in South Seaport. She also loved going to Levi's dog run and the temperature of our loft- ha ha!

The day before Billy got here, we went to Pinstripes in the Park to watch the Yankees play in Toronto on the big screen. Some of the Yankees greats were there signing autographs, and Roger Clemens made a surprise visit to pump up the crowd. He is working out an injury right now, but he should start playing for the Yankees soon.

Billy and Shae went out on their own on Friday, and then we all spent the weekend together. We went to Central Park and had catfish and hushpuppies at the annual Mississippi Picnic. We walked around the Reservoir and to Strawberry Fields before leaving the park. We went to Coyote Ugly (aka Ugly Coyote) on Saturday night - now this place is very unique and you need to see it for yourself. Other than it being 100 degrees and smelling like an armpit, we had lots of fun watching the crowd. On Sunday, we went to Shea Stadium to watch the Mets play the Diamondbacks - other than Shae planning her exit in the 3rd inning and Jill watching the planes fly over (about one a minute direclty over the stadium from LGA), we all enjoyed the game.

We frequented the Merchant's Cafe for happy hours, tried out some new restaurants, ordered Chinese, and Shae cooked a couple of meals for us (they were very good - thank you Shae). Again, we had lots of fun spending time with you and miss you already! Oh yeah - Shae, the maintenance man says hello.