Sunday, January 4, 2009

Philly~D.C.~New York~..WHEW!

Statue of Liberty in the background! Roadie to NYC! Of course this is the kind of fun the boys would have!

Downtown Stoudsburg with the Beebe's!

Nice window shopping in Stroudsburg!! hahahahaa!
Christmas morning CHAOS!
Downtown D.C. checkin out a favorite 'Bush policy'! hahaha! The Air/Space Smithsonian was a favorite! The Jefferson Memorial! Way Cool!


THE WHITE HOUSE!

The Streets of Philly!....the West Side! Can you say...."ROCKY" ...we just enjoyed the 72steps from top our tour bus!The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in the background!Watch out for the Amish Horse & Buggy while driving! Another cool shot of Independence HallAmish lifestyle anyone????Everyday Amish clothes....only the men got buttons on their clothes...the women had straight pins....ya, ONLY straight pins to hold their dress together & apron on!!!!

Enjoying Amish treats from the Kitchen Kettle Village.....we watched Amish women canning all of these yummy treats! We got to try them all!Getting on the train to downtown PHILLY!....longjohns and all! NBA store on 5th Ave in NYC....Alec comparing hands with SHAQ
Can you reach Yau Mings nostrils????
Kaden with the NYPD on the streets of NY!This beautiful church right in the middle of NYC 5th AveSince Matt was out of town...we had to settle for his pop-up at the NBC store in Rockefeller Plaza Purse shopping on the streets of NewYork!
Broadway! On Time Square!
Taking it ALL in!...Time Sq was amazing!More NYPD and the boys!
The Empire St. Building! AMAZINGOur SWEET hotel on 45th and 6th ave....look where Kaden is! His favorite thing to do in the city!



Kaden and Luke hit EVERY turn door they saw in New York...and there were a lot!Ground O.....tons of construction going on.Coming out of Essex Cafe....you can see Ground O across the street...this is the cafe that was used for the medical station! Awesome pics inside the cafe.Looking IN the cafe...the right drink fridge was all medicine during 9-11Pics in the Cafe of 9-11, very sad but so neat!Well, 2008 has come to a close! It was a HUGE year of change for us! Many exciting and memorable events have happened to our family! I don't need to go into details bec most of you know about job changes and starting a new life in Texas! For the most part, things are going great, not too many bumps in the road! ....Anyhoo, we decided that we needed one more fun event to end the year with a BANG! And what could be more fun than going to freezing-butt-cold Philladelphia to see my sisters and their families for Christmas!??
We flew out on the 18th of Dec and hit the Vernies 1st! Jami and Jason were SOOO excited that we were coming to take over their house for 4 or 5 days! Their two little ones, Cole & Miles, didn't quite know what to think of ALL of us, however, after a little warming up, they played and wrestled and sang and had a great time with Alec, Mckall, Ry and Kaden! Jam and jas loaded our heads with all the tourist information and what and when and where to go. We rode the train into downtown Philly and took a tour bus all over the city. You could get on and off whenever you wanted and do whatever you wanted. It was AMAZING! I don't know how much Ry and Kaden got out of INDEPENDENCE HALL (Where the Decleration of Indep..was signed) or seeing the LIBERTY BELL.....but, Dan and I and the big kids LOVED it! Really, ALL of our AMERICAN HISTORY started in Philly! Very Cool!
We went to Amish Village, ....that was very interesting. They are such simple people who want nothing to do with the modern world and it's technologies. It was raining that day and we were driving on the roads next to an Amish horse and buggy! We toured an amish home and learned about their culture and dress and traditions. The kids wore some of their hats and dresses and ate some of the food the Amish women were preparing. My kids said that they feel lucky to be living the way we are and that they were grateful Dan and I were not part of that Religion! hahahahaaa! Really! Me Too!...I kind of think I would be a rebel!
Driving to Washington D.C. was another exciting adventure! What did we ever do without GPS? Getting around in Philly with all those winding roads through the forests was unnerving! But with Garmin...we got everywhere...and with NO problems!
D.C. was awesome! We did a lot of walking and saw everything we could! More History to see and more learning for our kids! They loved it! ....well, kind of! hahahaa!
After 5 days with Jami we hit the road and headed north to East Stroudsburg to see Stacey & James and their 6 wild indians! We packed in their house and had the greatest time! The kids played non-stop and Christmas morning was insane! 10 kids, 500 presents, scooters, lip-gloss, and Guitar Hero World Tour.....we were all entertained for hours!
We toured downtown Stroudsburg, went to movies, and our highlight....driving to New York for 2 days to see the sights! We were there Dec 29 & 30th, 2 days before New Years Eve.....& you know what that's like in NY's time square!! I think EVERY other HUMAN BEING was there too! It was insanely crowded! .....BUT....just being there was amazing and the kids absolutly LOVED everything! WE saw GROUND O and ate at the Essex Cafe that was right across the street from the twin towers and was used as a Medic Station while trying to save the victims. There are pics inside the cafe of that terrible day.
We saw the Statue of Liberty....she was a lot smaller than I thought she would be.
We saw the Lincoln Tunnel, well drove though it, and the Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridge.
We drove up 6th Ave...all the way to Midtown Manhattan, parked our car, and started walking. Seeing The Empire State Bldg, Time Square, 5thAve, NYSE, Broadway, Central Park, Rockefellar Plaza, Today Show, NBC studios, Radio-City-Music-Hall, and shopping galore! We walked and walked and walked and had an amazing time!
I could probably go on forever about the things we did....but this blog is already too long! So, enjoy some of the 1,236 pics I took of our amazing EAST COAST vacation! And if you would like to see or hear more........come and visit!!!

7 comments:

jami v. said...

i love the pics and i LOVED having you guys! please come back ... soon! :) we'll find more crazy things to do -- maybe summer/spring would be better so you wouldn't have to be in longjohns every time you went out.

very fun to read and fun to see all we missed when you headed north.xoxoxo

Rebecca said...

That is so cool. I'm glad you documented so much of it. Maybe our family should do the east coast tour soon. So much to see, learn, do, and enjoy. Glad your back.

amberjill said...

looks like fun! next time you'll have one more stop to make! :)

Julie said...

What an Awesome trip!! I am so jealous, but not too jealous to be happy for you guys. Your pictures look great. It looks like you might be growing your hair out. I would love to see closer pics of that. Way cute.

The Peterson 5 said...

It looks like a great trip! I can't wait to go to NYC some day!! Happy New Year!!

tifaniwilliams said...

Steph I love the pictures It maybe the closest I get to NYC -- I hope not but I'm jealous. It looks like it was so much fun!!!

PS Cute hair it looks like its getting long - Love IT!!

Unknown said...

We went to NYC for New Years last year...amazingly fun place! We have also been to that same Amish Village you went to...I recognized it from the photos! I didn't realize Jami was in Philly?! So Stacey and Jami are both in Pennsylvania then. You looked like you had a blast with all the cousins...too cool! I wish I'd known you were in D.C. I could have done the tourist thing with you for a moment...I'm only 25 miles outside of D.C. but Christmas is a crazy time. We actually didn't go anywhere this year for a change and vegged!