Home Sweet Home

We are home! As a welcome home homage to myself I made my favorite dish, Zuppa Toscana soup. Inspired by Olive Garden and created by me, thank you Recipe Bazaar. Sometimes it takes eight days, four planes, 3 time zones and enough McDonald's to feed a small country to appreciate the comforts of my own bed and the chore(blessing) of a home cooked meal. I'm not the best traveler under the most ideal circumstances and with this trip I took with me a sinus infection from hell, how Raechelle put up with me I will never know. This trip was without a doubt the most amazing whirl wind of a vacation(why do they call them that anyway? Especially when you come home so tired you really need a week of non-stop sleep to catch up and feel human again?) The girls were amazing! I couldn't believe what good travelers they were. Off the top of my head I can remember that we:

1. Went to a Broadway Play in NYC
2. Saw Saint Patrick's Cathedral
3. Visited FAO Schwarz
4. Took a Carriage ride through Central Park
5. Met Laura and Brendan at The Statute of Liberty
6. Met other L-mom friends(non blogging) for lunch(we took the subway there and hailed a cab after--I couldn't live in NYC I am too much a princess for subways)
7. Took the kids to Sesame Place
8. Visited Betsy Ross' House and grave
9. Saw the Liberty Bell
10. Saw George Washington's house and Ben Franklin's grave
11. Visited Constitution Hall
12. Ate a Philly Cheese Steak off a cart in Philly
13. I almost visited a working Amish farm, but sleep won--I had to settle for a in-door open air type market below our hotel *harrumph*
14. Visited the Atlantic Ocean
15. Celebrated Christmas in July at Fantasy Island on the Jersey Shore
16. We spent 3 great days with Raechelles family in NJ

I realised that no matter how GREAT a vacation is it is truly wonderful to be able to go home! I am sure I am leaving so much out. Somethings like how we missed our plane on the way there and ended up having to fly into Chicago to catch a connecting flight and didn't arrive at our destination until 3am. There's that and the story about Emily falling down the escalator and about how when we got to the top after Id picked her up that the smoothies and cinnabons that Id dropped met me at my feet. How I felt when we drove into NYC and it really looked like a movie set and I couldn't believe that steam was really rolling out along the streets. The tears that welled up in my eyes when I saw the Statue of Liberty or about how it poured rain the morning of and how we were drenched and cold and the water was so choppy that I had to take me and my kids off the the ferry before we made it to the statue and spent the next two hours throwing up in the battle castle bathroom while my kids warmed themselves under the hand dryers. Or about the look on Maggie face when she realised that Sesame Street is a REAL place and not just on TV or how Emily insisted that she wanted to go on this huge water slide and finding out she can go if I go with her and all about how she loved it and that led to her going on her first roller coaster. There is that and the possibility(I couldn't be 100% sure) that we stood right next to Molly Ringwald(I am so bad I pretended to take pictures of Rae and the kids and really took pics of her) So much more that I am leaving out, I am sure Rae wont forget a detail though in her post...when she manages to create one that is! Did I say we were tired? Yah that was an understatement, well that and Rae is getting the sinus infection from hell that I am still not completely over. I'm not going to attempt and pick out any of the 600+ photos we took on this trip, instead I will upload them to flickr in the coming days.