Benj and Sarah Visit

Thursday, July 5, Benj and Sarah drove down from Boston.  Friday morning Mary rode her bike to accompany Sarah on a 6 mile triathlon training run.  John grilled chicken burgers, vegetables, and potatoes for lunch while Benj kept him company.  Sarah and Benj drove Mary to a Kohl's and helped her pick out some new clothes, as she had suddenly grown VERY tired of everything she brought on the trip.  We then picked John up and drove back to the mall to have a quick dinner at the food court and see "Brave" at the theater there.  It was sold out!  The kids used their smart phones to locate another theater close enough we could make the next show.  Almost everyone there was of Indian descent, which hardly registered until the advertisements began playing and were not in English. Uh, oh.  We were trying not to giggle out loud and were relieved when a couple of ads and then the previews came on in English.  We all enjoyed the movie.

Saturday morning Sarah and Benj set out for a run:

Then we cleaned up and headed for the city to see "The Best Man".

New York's bravest:

Looks a little dangerous!  They were taking pictures of the race we showed earlier.

Benj and Sarah are in the store window, picking out a New York snow globe for her collection:

We stopped at the Lego store:

Gore Vidals's The Best Man is a play about politics.  This rendition stars James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette, and Eric McCormack.  They were all here for this performance.  Wow.

On our way back to Jersey:

This is the Irish Hunger Memorial.  We walked past it each time we went into the city.  There is an authentic Irish cottage from the time of the potato famine built into it.  Thought-provoking and makes us appreciate all we have.

Sunday we took our babies on their own private harbor tour aboard Mary Frances:

The fortification on Governor's Island:

The Brooklyn Bridge:

Two restored sailing ships at South Seaport:

There was lots of traffic and many wakes:

Empire State Building:

What a difference a day makes....Actually a couple of weeks.  When Mary and John passed through on Passport, the space shuttle Enterprise was sitting here on the deck of the Intrepid in the open.  Julaine and Fred passed by a few days later on Boreas and a tarp had been draped over it, but it was still clearly a space shuttle.  Now you just have to accept our word that it is here under the cover:

The George Washington Bridge.  It has two decks, one of which is affectionately named after Martha Washington:

Goodbye, we sure enjoyed your visit.