Abigail and Lindsey

Riding on the Staten Island Ferry

July 30, 2006

On Sunday we drove from Baltimore to New York. Linnette and the kids got the true meaning of traffic jam. Our three hour trip quickly turned to four as travel in summer time on I-95 is often a bear. We finally made it and checked into our townhouse in Staten Island. We unloaded and made our way to the city, Manhattan of course. We met up with Pam and took a walk to Times Square. After seeing some of the busy sights we were all hungry and decided to look for a place to eat. I had planned many places for us to try and we happened to find one by accident, John's Pizza. It was great food and after that we called it a night and headed back to Staten Island.

July 29, 2006

On our first full day in Baltimore we spent the day in the Inner Harbour. Of course we had a really hard time finding a place to park the SUV since we had a luggage carrier on the top and could not fit it in most parking garages. I actually pulled into one forgetting that the carrier was on and the attendant ran out and caught me before I drove in. Once we finally found a place to park I forgot my bag in the car (which had my camera) so no pictures of Baltimore, close your eyes and use your imagination. We got a bite to eat and then we went to the ESPN zone for the kids to play games. We walked a bit outside around the water, bought snowcones and watched the kids run around for a while. We decided to go back to the hotel for a swim. We ended the day with a nice dinner at the hotel. The Sheraton at BWI had excellent crab cakes if you are ever staying there!

Picture: The girls having fun in the tub at the hotel.

Jerry's U.S. Coast Guard Retirement

Well we survived our summer trip. I really can not call it a vacation because there was absolutely no restful activity. We did see and do more than we could have imagined. Well I am sure Jerry would say he did more than he ever wanted all squeezed into one week. It all started on Friday, July 28. We had a great time visiting with all our family, friends and Jerry's co-workers at the retirement ceremony and reception . The retirement ceremony went really well and Jerry received many appreciation awards, farewell wishes, and even some advice on how to be successful in his new career at Microsoft. After the retirement reception we drove to Baltimore and arrived in time for just a few hours of rest before Jerry, Linnette(my sister) and her four children (one borrowed) went to the Orioles baseball game. I took Hannah, Abigail and Olivia to the nice big outlet mall for several hours of walking and shopping. We headed back to the hotel and were surprised to hear that the rest of the group was headed back by 9:30. When they returned they received a lecture from me about leaving the ball game early and they were sure the Orioles had won the game. While watching television the following morning I was surprised to see that the Orioles had indeed LOST the game and by leaving early they didn't see the White Sox ralley in the 9th and hit a grand slam to win the game. NEVER leave a majors game early, NEVER!!!!!