Wouldn't You Like To Ride In My Beautiful Balloon?

5:20am on Friday, August 22, 2008: Do I really want to get up? Is it worth it? I could sleep for another hour, maybe go for a run in the Park with Cooper... no it's worth it, it's the last day and I really want to do this. I'll grab my chair, the paper, my iPod and a cup of coffee. I can do this.

6am: So glad I did this, this is great, what a beautiful morning, so tranquil, absolutely gorgeous!

6:11am: Nice! There are only 17 people in front of me. So happy I didn't get up any earlier. If four people go up at a time for 10 minutes, we should be flying high by 8am...

6:50am: Oh shoot, line is starting to move, Tommy still isn't here - better call him (he is still in bed at this point, which I find out later)!

7:15am: Tom arrives, line is moving pretty fast.

7:55am: We gear up, fasten the safety belts around our waist which we'll use to latch ourselves in to the interior of the basket and up, up and away! Over the City we go... it's kind of scary, I have butterflies in my stomach, I take deep breaths - even the slightest move of the four of us in the basket wiggles the balloon - but it's really, really cool and the City is absolutely beautiful, the Park is so green, we're taller than the highest building and we can see the Hudson, then Jersey, Hotel Essex, The Boat House, even the Church and the Natural History Museum, the two buildings on either side of our block.

8:05am: Down we go, slowly, slowly! How cool was that? Not scary at all - such a perfect moment! I want to do it again!

ABOUT THE HOT AIR BALLOON:

The purpose of the rides is to mark the 150th anniversary of Central Park, the nation's first major urban park, created by architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and opened to the public in 1858.

Their original 10 foot by 5 foot "greensward plan," as it was called, is mounted on the wall of the headquarters of the Central Park Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization that manages Central Park for the city and has raised $500 million for that purpose over nearly three decades.

"This is a historic event -- it gives people a chance after 150 years to see the real greensward plan, not just the paper version," said Doug Blonsky, the conservancy's president. "We all get to experience the wonders of Central Park on the ground, and now from above."

Last Game ...

THE HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT is going to come tumbling down and the Yanks will have a new home next season! I had to get to a game so I talked Tom into taking another one for the team! We called our friend Caruso (who is a huge Yankees fan) and the three of us had a fantastic time. Not only did the Yankees beat Kansas City 3 to 2 in the 13th inning, we had great weather and even better seats (thanks to Neal)!! I am going to miss the old stadium but really looking forward to the new one. Maybe season tickets are in our future? Hmmm.. probably not after 8.30.08.

Wil and Determination

Tom doesn't know Wil, Wil doesn't know Tom, but I am certain they would hit it off. Wil is my trainer, therapist and friend who I have a "date" with every Tuesday and Thursday night. I've been seeing him for the last year and Tom approves! He's a really great guy who just got married to Julissa in April (we've had a blast swapping stories about wedding planning), is an amazing Dad who adores his son Joshua, ran his first marathon last November, is training for another one in a few months and who has turned my life around. Wil gave me the "wil and determination" (tagline created by Tommy) to get healthy - he and Tom knew that I could do it, even when I had doubts and I can't thank them enough for their support! Let me know if you want his digits, I believe he is taking on new clients! :)

Surprise!

He was surprised, he was really surprised. Most of the time, especially around a milestone, you have a hunch that your loved ones are going to do something special for you, but you never know exactly what. Uncle Joe was turning 50 on the 5th and he knew something was up - he just had no idea that people would travel so far and make such an effort to be there to celebrate with him. Tom and I wouldn't have missed it and Aunt Janet did an awesome job planning the party! The food was fabulous, the slide show of Joe from day 1 until today was so sweet and when she read him George Carlin's "How Not To Get Old" I think I saw a tear.

Boston By Boat

On our way to Melrose for Uncle Joe's 50th birthday party, Tom and I stopped off in Boston to visit my cabin cousin Eric Curtis and his lovely wife Jessica who are expecting a baby (Lilly Louise) in November and won't be able to make it out for our wedding at the end of the month :( We had planned on brunch in town, but they surprised us with sandwiches and an afternoon on the boat - touring around the Boston Harbor and Charles River! Although it was a bit overcast (SF-like weather, actually) we had a great time! It was so much fun to hang out with them and as you can see, Boston is awesome by boat. In fact, as soon as Jessica told Eric that I had a fascination with Light Houses (see very first post), he drove us by a couple - one they say that might even be haunted! Ironically enough, I saw a feature on the Today Show last week that Light Houses are up for sale ... hmmm! How cool would that be? We docked the boat before the storm came in and let's just say that Coop was happy to be on land. The little guy who had tried to find refuge in the cabin at the bow of the boat was walking like a drunken sailor by the time we got off! But I think, even he enjoyed the trip!

Quinn takes on Manhattan

My college friend Lindsay, her husband Matt and fourth baby Quinn came out to visit us from CA this past weekend - and it was quite an eye opener that a baby is a lot of work! A TON of fun, but a little bit more demanding than Cooper and Lucy! Ironically, Matt and Tom both grew up in Rhode Island and played high school football and baseball against one another ... but they're both Red Sox fans and that says it all.

Had a great time showing Quinn around - Cooper fell in love with her and would not leave her side. On Sat., we watched the Yankees beat the Red Sox, had dinner with Coye & Neal and Bobby, Amanda & Steele (who is 5 days younger than Quinn) and got cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. Then on Sunday, Matt and Linds went for a run in the Park while we hung out with Quinn, we all had brunch at the Boat Basin but had to rush home because a NY-summer storm was upon us. Later that day, Matt went to the Springsteen concert and the "girls" snuck out for a night-out while Tommy and Coop watched the baby! He said it was "good" practice! Lucky for us, the transition starts with 9+ months of planning!

Tahoe for the Fourth

I got a call a couple of weeks ago from Liz and Susan who said that before Tom and I got married that he HAD to come to Tahoe, that it just wasn't right that he hadn't seen my most favorite place on earth. And they were right. At first Tom wasn't too excited about a 48 hr. trip to CA (not a big fan of red eyes and can never sleep on the plane) but after expressing how important it was to me, he started to get really excited about the idea! Of course, no flight to CA is ever easy - we left on Thursday night, missed our connecting flight to Reno from SF and somehow I talked Tom into renting a car and driving. I had to be there that night, even if it was 4:30am when we finally arrived. But we arrived and we were there on Friday morning when everyone woke up (even if we were the last to get up)! Had an awesome day at the beach - a few of the famous Chambers punches. Got up the next morning, went out on the boat, drove to Emerald Bay, hiked up to the waterfall and found ourselves back at the house grilling up an incredible dinner. Tom had to leave the next morning but I am pretty certain that he is already planning our next trip to Tahoe - next time we'll take the boat to Sunnyside and bike to River Ranch!