Andi's 2 year old pictures

This morning, my Dad & I photographed Andi for her 2nd birthday. I could not be happier with them!!! They turned out exactly like I wanted. My sweet Dad, I found out later, had even taken a vacation day to be able to do this!!! We took her to the Chocolate Bar & Candylicious to coordinate with her cute outfit. This outfit is her Daddy's absolute favorite, so I knew we had to take pics in it! She had a wonderful time...only problem was the sugar overload...no nap happened today!

New York Trip!!!!

Derek & I got to take a 3 day trip to New York this last weekend. Derek has a job site close to New York City that he was already scheduled to be at, so then I joined him from Thursday-Sunday. We knew it would be the perfect time to view the Fall scenery. I did my research & found the best places to go. The next couple of blogs break down the trip. We squeezed SO much into three days it is unreal, and I took over 1000 images! But, it was a trip of a lifetime...

New York in the Fall

This was by far, the highlight of my trip. In fact, this is something I have wanted to do my entire life. Those of you that know me well, know that I LOVE leaves & trees. Okay, Okay...so I might be obsessed with them & taking pictures of them. We drove all around the Hudson Valley Territory stopping everytime I saw a beautiful tree. I even got teary eyed several times over how beautiful it was. Here are some of my favorite images from the day.Me enjoying the trees...one the rare moments I put the camera down. Derek snapped this picWOW!! The colors were amazing!!!When we walked up to this tree, Derek told me he felt like he was in a Willy Wonka movie. It just looked way too UN-realistic.A self timer photo: oh, to have Derek on video propping the camera up on rocks & sticks, running over to me across a log over water, then trying to look as peaceful as the scenery!This was where I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a Thomas Kincaide painting

Bear Mountain Bridge

I could have spent days here...I will be back, however.

Barry

WARNING!!! The next series of images are Derek & I being really silly. The first night, Derek took me to this lookout point so I could see the city at night. We we turned to head back to the car, I jumped 5 feet up in the air & screamed in terror!!! What had scared me? It was Barry. Derek gave him the nickname. Barry- short for 'Barry the binoculars'. Of course Derek is cracking up laughing at me. In my defense, they really do look like faces peering at you...especially in the dark!

The original Barry that scared me.

I was hiding in the grass from this one...

We caught this one peering at me from the tower...

AHHH...they are everywhere!

Me & Barry having a staring contest on top of the Empire State Building. We wanted to take one last pic for the 'Alyssa & Barry' series but we ran out of time. It was going to be a pic where I put my arm around him...like we had become friends. So, even in New York, Derek & I are complete goofballs! I warned you...these were silly.

New York City

Okay...here are the some of the best pics from the city. We did not have near enough time here...so it was a CRAZY whirlwind! We arrived around 6pm on Friday. Friday evening we went straight to the empire state building, then we took the subway to canal street & ate dinner in Little Italy. We also did our souveneir shopping there. We were both wearing the wrong shoes for walking so we headed back to the hotel relatively early. Saturday was crammed full: 3 hour boat tour around Manhattan in the morning, Times Square, 1.5 hour 'lost in the city' time, Yankee Stadium tour, Central Park tour by bike, & then dinner. We were both so exhausted...we called it a night at 9:30! Whew!Derek turned on his 'texas charm' to the lady at the reception desk to score us this corner room. Views from the top of the Empire State BuildingOur first subway riding experience. Derek adamantly wanted to ride the subway everywhere! I was all about the taxi's...even if they were more expensive. However, we did see some EXTREMELY interesting people & things!On the boat tour. It was in the 30's when the tour started...so with the wind chill on the boat, it was booty cold!!! But, I loved every minute of it. I especially loved wearing my big winter coat that usually collects dust in my closet.Manhattan skyline...The UN building (green one) & our hotel Millenium UN plaza on the rightStatue of Liberty & the moonThe twin towers were right behind these buildings. The building on the left is having to be torn down one story at a time because it did not survive the attack.View of the Manhattan & Brooklynn bridgesTimes Square. I decided that times square is equally as interesting as it is scary. It was just a little too much for me, not being a city girl.This guy with the feathers on top of his head, kept imitating bird noises REALLY loudly while walking around. Not something you see in Friendswood everyday...The 'Friends' fountain at Central Park. The buildings in the background are the ones from the Ghostbuster movie.

Another fountain at Central Park. It was getting really dark by this time, so I was not able to take very many pics. So, I had to put the camera down & just enjoy central park at dusk...it was lovely. You really need a full week to do New York city justice & not kill yourself trying to see EVERYTHING in a day & a half!

Yankee Stadium

Visiting Yankee Stadium was definitely the highlight of the trip for Derek. Even how we got into the stadium was entertaining. We got lost in the city, easy to do, and were delayed arriving at the stadium by almost 2 hours. We knew they stopped doing tours at 4 & we got there about 2:45. We arrive to find out that the last tour of the day was already sold out & they had already been turning people away for several hours. I immediately begin thinking of cash bribes I could offer because Derek was absolutely CRUSHED! We were leaving the next morning at 6:50am & they are only doing tours of the stadium for two more weeks before they tear it down. We basically told the lady that NOT going on the tour just didn't work for us. We were there from Texas & had to be on the tour...what could they do? She told us to stand at the front of the line. When she started letting everyone in the stadium, she took us up one ramp & had us pay her $20 cash each for sneaking us in! It was too funny...hiding around the corner...discreetly handing her cash...like we were some thugs doing drugs or something! ANYWAYS...we got in!!! And, that meant the rest of our trip was enjoyable since the husband was happy. He even got a little teary eyed during this part of the vacation. The only bad part of the tour, was that they would not let you take pics in the locker room...which was one of the coolest parts to see. But, they did let us go in & see it so that was cool.

I loved seeing the worn-out seats...everyone one of them was duct-taped together

The line up from the last game played in the stadium: September 21, 2008

Derek sitting in the dug-0ut.

View of the field from the press box.