A Little Rewind

I'm going to pause and rewind a little bit to the rest of the trip we took at the beginning of the month.

We took one day to visit the Statue of Liberty. We figure the kids are old enough that we should try to do some sight-seeing too when we go back to visit family; there's so much to see in that part of the country!

We kept commenting on how perfect the weather was when we visited the Statue of Liberty...warm but not hot and no humidity to speak of. The day after we flew home, the temps shot up to about 100 and the humidity returned; we were seriously so lucky with our timing!

On our ferry ride to Ellis Island, I kept looking up the Hudson and thinking about how miraculous the Miracle on the Hudson was.
This was the first time I'd seen the Manhattan skyline in person post-9/11. Pretty powerful, to say the least. And while I certainly don't wish injuries on anyone, having someone on crutches in our party conveniently zoomed us to the front of the security lines and up the elevator at the Statue of Liberty. :) (My niece sprained her ankle a few days before our trip.)
Enjoying lunch on Ellis Island. (On a side-note, shout out to the National Park Services! Talk about an opportunity to gouge your eyes out with their food prices, but they don't. We visited the Grand Canyon last year and found their prices reasonable as well. Ski resorts and football stadiums should take note! :) )

We found my great-grandfather's name and Andrew's grandfather's name on the walls honoring the immigrants that passed through Ellis Island.

This is the Registration Hall, where immigrants spent a lot of time waiting to be processed, all their worldly possessions in hand and children running around.
And I don't think this picture really needs any explanation. Love the boys' Statue of Liberty poses!
Benjamin "You Can't Make Me Smile."
This is the original torch from the Statue of Liberty. Apparently it let rain in though, which caused a lot of problems, so it was replaced.
This is some of the scaffolding structural stuff (yes, that's a technical term) on the inside of the SOL.
These views are from the top of the pedestal on the SOL. Views around New York Harbor. Looking north, Manhattan on the left, Brooklyn on the right. Beautiful...
Looking south, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the distance. You can also see the barges setting up for the big 4th of July fireworks show.
In case you were wondering what the back of the SOL looks like. :) Then it was a short ferry ride back to the car and then we had another day or so visiting with the family and playing in the cousins' pool. On our last day, Uncle Ed, Aunt Polly and Matt (who happened to be visiting from CA) stopped in for lunch, so here's a pic of the whole gang. All in all, a wonderful trip...great weather, great sight-seeing, and, most importantly, great to spend time with the family! Kinda makes you wish you could live in two places at once. :)