On the Road

It was time to say good-bye to NYC and head North.  We had to stop and get a real New York bagel before leaving town.  We stopped at Leo's Bagels and enjoyed a Kosher bagel.



We quickly grabbed our bags, checked out of the hotel and hopped on the subway to Penn Station for our train ride to Hartford, Connecticut.

Never got lost on the NYC Subway

I was surprised with the amount of people who were waiting for trains.  Since this was my first time on the train I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the whole process was.

We finally made it to Hartford around 2 and got our rental car, Putter, and found a place to eat, of course that was after driving through the Hartford ghetto.  After a very quick-lunch we headed to the Capital building for a self guided tour.  The building was impressive from the outside and smaller than I expected on the inside.

[caption id="attachment_2260" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Connecticut State Capital Building[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2261" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Visiting with the Governor[/caption]

We relaxed in the park across from the Capital building and then decided to go straight to Boston.

[caption id="attachment_2262" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Downtown Hartford[/caption]

The drive from Hartford to Boston was about an hour and half and we didn't have much traffic until we reached the outskirts of Boston.  Then the rush hour and insane driving started.  I don't think we were ever so happy as to when we finally reached our hotel in Woburn.  Once we settled in our room we walked over to the Joe's American Bar and Grill and decided this place was a one time restaurant - horrible service.

NYC day 2

Our second day in Manhattan was Scott's birthday.  We had a very busy day planned.  We started our day with a subway ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.



This museum was huge and it did not let down.  We spent a few hours here looking at things from mid-evil armor to impressionist paintings.



[caption id="attachment_2236" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Van Gogh[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2237" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The stolen painting from the Thomas Crown Affair[/caption]



After a few hours of art we found a close cafe to have some coffee and deserts.  Cafe Sabarsky is a part of the Neue Gallery and holds German Art.  The apple strudel was amazing and well worth the random find.



We decided that I desperately needed to change my shoes before going out to the Bronx.  We walked up Lexington Ave. to find a subway station back to our hotel and took a quick nap and then it was off to the Bronx.

Our train was packed as we made our way to the Bronx of the final game of the Yankees/Red Sox series.  Yankee Stadium was the cleanest ballpark that I've ever been too.





It was nice to be there but listening to the Code of Conduct before the game made me realize how great fans are in St. Louis.  We stayed till the 7th inning and decided that we should try to catch the train before the crowds get there.  We did stop at the Yankee Museum before leaving.  That was really cool to see autographs from some of the Yankee greats.





[caption id="attachment_2244" align="aligncenter" width="300"] George Steinbrenner's rings[/caption]

New York State of Mind

What a way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, my birthday and Scott's birthday.  It was an amazing trip.  It was packed with lots to stop and see and learn in just 8 days.

We first flew into Newark, New Jersey and had a scary shuttle bus over to the Financial District in Manhattan at 1:30am.  The driver was crazy and it was raining and the van was packed.  But we arrived at the hotel by 2am and quickly went to bed.

We were up by 7am Saturday morning.  It was a rough morning.  We quickly grabbed some breakfast at a diner around the corner from our hotel and then caught a cab to Times Square to check in with our tour bus.  Once we checked in we had to walk about 5 blocks to meet the buses.  All of that was done in the rain.

Once we got on our bus we were good to go.  Our tour guide was informative but a little annoyed with the Turkish people who couldn't stop talking while he was explaining things.  We mostly drove past stops while it was raining out, it was a nice way for us to get used to the City.  Our first stop was The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.   This church caught fire about 2 months after 9/11 and has been slowly restored.  The stain glass windows (all original) were amazing to see.

[caption id="attachment_2217" align="aligncenter" width="225"] St. John Divine[/caption]

Our next stop was Grant's Tomb.  During that stop we learned that Grant is not in fact, buried in his tomb below the ground - he is actually above ground.  So clearly the answer to who is buried in Grant's Tomb is no one.



Our last stop of the morning was a small quiet garden in Central Park called the Conservatory Garden.  It was beautiful to see this garden in the middle of the huge park.  They do not allow biking, skating  in that area so you can really be at peace while sitting in there.



We headed to lunch in Little Italy.  Our tour had it set up so we could just walk up to the restaurant, Grotta Azzurra, get a seat and order off a selected menu.  The food was great!  I had the chicken parm and it was excellent.  After lunch we walked across the street for some espresso and cannoli.  There were so many different choices of cannoli it was hard to pick just one.  Then we walked around Little Italy till it was time to get back on the bus.



[caption id="attachment_2221" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Great Cannoli's[/caption]



The next hour was spent on the bus driving around NYC and seeing different sites.  We then headed to Battery Park area and hopped on a Ferry to get a tour of the City from the water.  Our tour guide on the boat was awesome!  She was knowledgable but most of all funny!  We went under the Brooklyn Bridge and then back down to about Mid Town and over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Overall, that was the most fun we had on the tour.  The bus dropped us off in Rockefeller Center and then we walked back to find the Subway.



[caption id="attachment_2224" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Grandpa's first stop in the USA (Ellis Island)[/caption]



On the way to the Subway we found Times Square.  It was insane.  There were vendors in all over the sidewalks with knock off purses, wallets, sunglasses.  We did stop to get a hotdog from a street vendor and a picture or two of Times Square. It was just too crowded to hang out there for long.



We quickly found a subway station and made it back to our hotel for a much-needed nap.

While I was sleeping, Scott looked up some places to go to dinner that were in walking distance to our hotel.  We went to Adrienne's Pizza bar and it did not disappoint.  Of course we order a pizza that was way too big but it was an excellent introduction to New York pizza.  After dinner we decided to walk around the neighborhood.

We stumbled upon Fraunes Tavern, this is the exact place that George Washington said good-bye to his officers after the Revolutionary War.



And as we kept walking we found Wall Street, which was down the street from Trump Tower.



Up the street from Wall and Broad was the Trinity Church, this is the site of the original Occupy Wall Street protests.  There were a new protesters hanging out along with one lonely cop making sure they don't get out of hand.  While walking by the graveyard next to the church we found Alexander Hamilton and Robert Fulton's gravesite.  This was one of the biggest surprise finds on the trip.



As we continued our walk we ended up right outside Ground Zero.  We visited the fire station that was next door to the World Trade Center and saw the plaque that paid tribute to the firemen from that station that lost their lives as well as a nice copper plaque on the wall to remember the day's events and all the victims names.

[caption id="attachment_2230" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Memorial on the fire station next to Ground Zero[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2231" align="aligncenter" width="225"] 1 World Trade Center[/caption]

After that we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep for the next day.

15 Weeks

I have seen a few people do blog updates with this type of information and I thought it would be fun to document the weekly growth of the baby.  Especially since I'm told I'm starting to look pregnant instead of needing to lose some weight.

Size of Baby: Navel Orange (4.5in, 2 to 3 oz)

Total Weight Gain: Last trip to the doctor I lost 2 lbs from the initial 7 week visit.  I'm not sure if I've gained or stayed the same since the visit.

Continuing Symptoms: slight nose congestion, extremely tired, frequent urination, some nausea

New Symptoms This Week:  Cannot stay asleep at night

Maternity Clothes: We bought some shirts, skirts and a dress on tax-free weekend.  I can still wear a lot of my clothes but that seems to be changing week by week.

Sleep: I'm exhausted by 8PM but I wake up so often to go to the bathroom at night that I cannot get back to sleep.

What I'm Eating: I'm trying to graze on food throughout the day, but food I once could handle doesn't go down so easy.  It varies weekly and as long as I don't cook the food, I can usually eat whatever Scott makes.  Plus, my meal sizes are getting bigger, which is a huge plus.

Cravings: Fruits, bagels, dairy

Movement: not yet, hoping that starts soon

Labor Signs: Nope

Birthday

Another birthday has come and gone.  This year my actual birthday was little more low-key compared to last year.  Last year, we climbed a Mexican ruin and repelled into a sinkhole.  This year I decided dinner and a movie would be nice.  I, also, wanted to keep it small since we are leaving for NYC and Boston on Friday as a birthday/anniversary trip for the two of us.



We had a quick dinner at BlackFinn at the Galleria and then headed to the Chase Park Plaza to watch the new Batman movie.  The movie was great!  Lots of surprises that I wasn't expecting.

Overall it was a great birthday and now I'm counting down till our trip.

1 year

I actually can't believe it's been 1 year since we go married!  It's been a great year with some surprises along the way.  Can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.

We celebrated our anniversary with dinner on Main St., St. Charles at Little Hills and a walk down Main St.  Once we got home we enjoyed 1-year-old wedding cake.  It really wasn't that bad.

Random Sunday Drives

Since Scott and Michelle had breakfast on Saturday morning without me, Scott and I decided to go back to the Picasso's coffee shop so I could try the food there on Sunday.  We drove over the bridge to St. Chuckles for breakfast.  It was a pretty cool little place that I would gladly go back to.

The front of Picasso's.  It was a little too hot to eat outside.  We then walked around Main Street and did a little window shopping while we waited for some of the shops to open.

On a whim I suggested that we drive over to Grafton to walk around and get some candles that I've been wanting to get more of.  So we drove 40 minutes over to Grafton and did a little shopping on their Main St.

[caption id="attachment_2159" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The best ice cream place[/caption]

We walked in a couple of stores that we had never been in before and then exhaustion kicked in for me.  It was hot and I was sleepy.  So we got our candles, ice cream and fudge and headed home.