Vacation Part 2: New Jersey Hike & Night 1 in NYC

We hiked around a lake near Elena & Michael's house. We thought the trail went right around the lake, but we definitely got lost and the trails weren't marked very well. Thankfully we got to a place with cell service and downloaded a map and found our way out. We met a few others who were lost too. At least the scenery was nice!

Drove up to North Jersey & parked the car then took a ferry over to NYC. 

On the ferry.

There was a lion statue, just like the ones here in CR!

An air/space museum with a Star Trek exhibit. 

This flag is made up of patches of other flags from different places around the US.

Actual stairs that people used climbing out of the building.

These are all from the 9/11 museum. It was a place I think everyone should go to. 

Reflecting pool.

The new WTC. We didn't have time to go up to the top on this trip.

Someone left a flower by this name. There were other names that had flags on them, too.

So many cool buildings in NYC!

This is the view from our apartment we stayed in. We were in a really great location!

A few blocks down we found ice cream and brownies!

And we accidentally got off the subway in Times Square, which was 3 blocks from our apartment. We got to be masters of the subway system, which is much easier in NYC than other big cities I've been to. Thank God for Google maps--we didn't ever get lost!

Vacation Part 1: A Trip to Philly

Views from our flight into Trenton.

We played bags--this ended up being a funny setup!

These pictures above are all at Hammond Park, right along the Delaware River. They had food trucks, hammocks, boat rentals, park games, and all sorts of fun!

These pictures above are at the park around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at the Rocky steps.

Projects & Summer Fun

I am feeling guilty about leaving P for 10 days, so I got him this dog waterer. He can't handle the cat fountain, so I'm trying this. He's already spilled most of it...

Did some reading while I got my oil changed today. Problem is, they do it so fast I only read a chapter!

Went kayaking at Lake Macbride on Tuesday. Was perfect weather. The pictures below are pictures from our little hike. We jumped out of the kayaks and hiked by the spillway that goes into the Coralville Reservoir. 

Been working on painting my table. I stenciled the left side first, and it turned out pretty good. However, the right side bled and I spent about 3 hours touching it all up with a tiny little brush. 

The fireworks downtown on the 4th weren't too shabby! Not as good as in DC or over the Atlantic Ocean, though. That's kind of hard to beat.

Here's the almost finished table. Thinking about painting the ends or sides red. We'll see. 

My final cabinet! 

What it originally looked like.

Helped Molly celebrate her birthday!

The table before... 

All the paint!

Went to hear author Matt de la Peña speak at Kirkwood as part of the CRPL Author Out Loud series. His picture book won the Newbery and was a Caldecott runner up this year.

Peaches just aren't as good from the store...

I haven't even touched the chairs yet!

This was quite the project...