Couples Trip Day 5

Our final full day here on the trip. We're starting to think and talk about home more and more. We miss those kiddies! But, we tried to make our time here count. Here's is how the day went.

Jennifer poses in front of the big Macy's store window to be glamorous. You can't see very well, but everything inside is decorated with different kinds of live flowers.


Needless to say, the girls thought it was pretty fabulous




My favorite picture of the day. Jared played the part of the picture prankster with perfect timing...




We then left for a NYC movie and tv tour. On the tour a guide took us around to all the famous movie spots around New York, of which there are too many to count. We looked like total tourists on the large charter bus, but then again, I guess we are. Here we stopped in front of the Huxtable's (?) house from the Cosby show. Jennifer said that she wishes Thomas was there with us, he would of been in heaven

This was no famous movie set, I just thought it was funny to see a Home Depot in the heart of Manhattan. That is the nicest Home Depot I have ever seen, can you imagine some dude walking out of here with a big 2 by 4 and getting into a cab?

NYC version of a parking garage...


This place was in Hitch. We stopped for some of the most delicious rice pudding (rocky road style) I have ever had. Though to be honest I really haven't had much



After the tour we took some time to walk around the Guggenheim Museum (no pictures allowed) and Central Park. We were feeling very metropolitan...



At times you could really see the New York skyline




We then headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up before taking in a show. Momma Mia!




Jennifer was in Heaven...




Once out of the theater we took the opportunity to walk down Times Square



There is so much to look at, you really have to take some time to soak it all in



Maybe the best place on the planet to people watch...



We then caught the Subway uptown to go to Serendipity. The girls really wanted to try the frozen hot chocolate as seen in the movie. It was pretty good...



When I asked Jennifer to comment on this picture, she said, "It was cold, sooo cold". One of my favorite pictures

Day 4- The Big Apple

y 4 took us to New York City, the granddaddy of em all. Jennifer and I have been to New York once before, but with so much to see and do here, once was not enough. An early wake-up call in Boston allowed us to arrive in New York, via the subway fairly early.

Speaking of the subway. We got lotsa good riding time in this week. The subway is amazing to me, such a vast underground system.


Here's what it was like




Once we checked into the hotel, we got back on the subway and did some of the New York things like, stopping off at Madison Square Garden for a tour. They call it the "greatest arena on earth". I told the guide that obviously he had never been to the Save Mart Center.




Here Matt weighs himself on the same scale used by the professional boxers before a match. Notice the scale topping out on weight...



touring Rockefeller Center...



Eating a New York hot dog from a cart (man look at her go)...



Catching the St. Patrick's Day Parade (really just a people marching around with green on, don't let anyone tell you different)


And taking a tour of NBC studios at 30 Rock. Here we walked on the nightly news set, saw the Saturday Night Live set and Jared and I even got to do a fake news cast from one of their prop sets.



Along the way, Jennifer and Aimee had to give there man, Michael Scott, a big 5...




For dinner, our group went to a place we have always wanted to go, Ruth's Chris. This is a southern place that was once just called Chris's Steak House. Chris sold to Ruth and thus it became Ruth's Chris.




It was awesome. Not our cheapest meal on the trip, but we did up spending less then we planned, made us pleasantly surprised.



The group stops for a moment near Times Square. Man that's a lot of lights.



Steak and sweet potatoes can leave one feeling a little heavy, but we still had one more stop for the day,



The Empire State Building!





After going on a skyride (think star tours new york style) on the second floor, we made our way 86 floors to the observation deck. Fastest elevator I have ever been on. Once on top we saw views like this


And this



The wind was blowing hard and it was FREEZING!


Check out the video below




They lit the building up green for St. Patricks Day



Matt and Aimee pose for a quick pic in the chill.



Elizabeth and Jared pose inside the lobby




Our hotel is a couple of blocks from the Empire State Building which we were planning on walking after leaving the building, but this guy (who makes a living off of tourists like us) offered to take for a 30 minute drive around the city for a decent price, so we all jumped in.


We cruised Rockafeller Center, Central Park and Times Square. Being that this was the first limo Jennifer and I have been in together, we felt big time.




Finally, we wanted to say hi to Trevor, Logan, Lizzie and Jackson. We miss you and we'll see you soon!

Couples Trip Day 3

School, Sports & Semeteries

Ok, I know cemetery is spelled with a C, but it just sounded like a cool title. So here we go!

We began our day with a trip to Harvard or "Hahvad". We drove around and around and around until we got to where we wanted to be. (Jared was a great sport while we all gave our back-seat-driver input!)

FIRST we bought our souvenirs.


THEN we visited the famous "Hahvad Yahd". The girls posed first - flashing th letter H in sign language.


The boys posed next with both hands flashing the letter H (H for Harvard of course). If you know anything about my family you will know that this "sign" that the boys flashed is also the official family sign made up by my brothers - it means "Big Fuchi". Classic.



Inside the yard we saw he main Harvard Library - which you cannot enter unless you have a current student ID. It contains 3 million books and has 50 MILES of shelf space for all those books.


Opposite the Library there is a Memorial Church. Jeremy and I tried to make a letter H. How'd we do?


We made our way to Lexington and Concord after we were done with our school tour. Just off the freeway was the Boston Temple. Jeremy stuck his head out the sunroof to get this shot. 65 mph with 42 degree weather makes for about at 25 degree wind chill. He was beyond cold when he popped his head back into the car!


In Lexington was a statue of the Minute Man.


We visited the house where the Minute Men met before the Battle of Lexington.



Our journey continued alongside the same road traveled by those Minute Men that defended our country against the British. In the background you will see Northbridge. This is the spot where "the shot was heard around the world".


We got a little silly as we admired the bridge. Here's Jeremy flexing his muscles.

Ta Da!


We were trying to take a casual romantic photograph here.


Then Robb got into that action. We don't quite know what he was trying to do here...

Matt and Aimee actually DID get romantic. Whew!


There was still snow on the ground - and yes, we did have cold fingers and toes most of the time.


At the end of our visit to the Northbridge Visitor Center Buffy caught Jeremy's silly feeling and showed us her special leaps! Go Buff! She's sooo graceful.


The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts was also on our way and we knew we wanted to see the famous authors that were buried there: Henry David Thoreau Walden Pond, Ralph Waldo Emerson poet, Louisa May Alcott Little Women, and Nathanial Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter. (No, this is not the Johnny Depp, scary, Halloween Sleepy Hollow - that one is in New York.)


Ralph Waldo Emerson the poet.


Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women.



On the way back to Boston we stopped at The Orchard House is the house that Louisa May Alcott grew up in. She wrote Little Women from here.



Matt was in heaven as we made a much anticipated stop at Fenway Park - home of the Boston Red Sox.


This sign is original to the park when it opened in 1912.


After Fenway Park we drove back to the hotel and tried to finish the Freedom Trail that we began yesterday.

We began at the graveyard across the street from our hotel. It is the home to many famous historical graves. Our collective favorite was the grave of Paul Revere. It was a somber moment as we paid our respects to a man that had a great deal to do with our country's history. He was so much more than the man that rode through the town to alert the people that the "British are coming!"



On our way to dinner we passed this lovely statue of a donkey with bronze elephant footprints on the ground in front of him. So we put Matt (the most liberal of us all) on the donkey and Robb (the most conservative) in the elephant footprints. It is a perfect symbol of the Ward family political debates.


We had dinner at Kennedy's Restaurant - an Irish bar and grill - as we all wanted an authentic Irish meal to celebrate St. Patrick's Day the following day. They had a live band playing for us - it was sooo loud, but totally fun. If you look closely at the band, behind Kari and Robb, you can see the lead singer in the pink shirt. He looked so similar to Greg Lambourne - it was uncanny! He was quite the people person just like Greg too! It was almost like he was there with us.

Here's what I ate - Lobster Ravioli. It was good, but not my favorite. Matt had the Corned Beef and cabbage and Jeremy ate the Bangers and Mash (Irish sausage with mashed potatoes).


Here we ended our day, happy and full of good food. Don't forget to wear green tomorrow!