January 2008

	Other NYC Updates	London Updates

January 27, 2008 - Ashley's second visit
Ashley loved her visit to the Big Apple she just had to come back for more - but this time she left the kids at home. She arrived on her birthday and we surprised her with come cupcakes and presents. Then we took her out to dinner at Jill's favorite Mexican restaurant, El Paso Taqueria. We went to Sapphire to celebrate her birthday, and she just leaned back at that place and took it all in. Although Ashley and Jill went shopping every single day, she didn't end up with any boots with the fur or Apple Bottom jeans. Although she did see a very nice chain wallet! Legally Blonde was a great Broadway play that we all went and saw together - the best parts were the scenes with the UPS guy. We went to the Bronx Zoo one afternoon - lucky for us, it was free to get in. Unlucky for us, it was because they were closing and no animals were out. Ashley, we had a great time and we're glad you were able to come back. We hope you come visit us more often after we move!

January 16, 2008 - New York Rangers
We went to our first NHL hockey game tonight to watch the New York Rangers take on the Buffalo Sabres. The game was held in Madison Square Garden. We had a lot of fun - it was very fast-paced, but we kept up just fine. There weren't any fights, but there were plenty of power play opportunities. The Rangers were very impressive when outnumbered during these times, especially when it was 5-on-3! Dubinsky and Prucha scored goals, and that along with Lundqvist's spectacular save with 9.5 seconds left was enough to claim a 2-1 victory. Go Rangers!

January 1, 2008 - Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! You know what we did on New Year's, right? Of course we went to Times Square to watch the ball drop. We had been hearing all kinds of stories about what a pain it was to go watch the ball drop - you have to get there early and there's nowhere to use the bathroom. I guess living here made it easy for us. We took the subway up around 10:30, found a nice spot, watched the ball drop, and got back home by 1am. Not bad! New York sure does know how to handle large crowds. Each block was barricaded and when enough people filled it up, they closed it off and opened one up for the next block. We were about 15 blocks back, but we could still see the ball. And we'd rather do it this way than get there at 4am and stand there all day like some people did! We expected this to be a neat experience, but we both got a lot more than that. I can't describe the feeling of counting down the New Year with hundreds of thousands of people in New York City. It was such a rush to be yelling the countdown from 60 seconds, and during the last 10 seconds, our bodies just got this special feeling - absolutely amazing!