Happy Birthday, Mom!

It took us several days, but we finally got around to celebrating Amy's birthday. Wow, how many candles are on that cake?!


Actually, only three candles. The gang loved helping mom blow out the candles.


Of course, the best part, after singing happy birthday, is eating the cake! Who needs a fork anyway?


Recently Owen made a German Apple pancake.


It was quite yummy!

Dinner at Blue Smoke

While we were in NY, Amy, Rory and I went to dinner with my sister and brother-in-law. We decided to leave the car in our old neighborhood and take the train into Manhattan.


Rory really did not like all the noise.


This was pretty much her pose the whole time.


We went to dinner at one of Winnie's favorite restaurants, Blue Smoke. As usual, the staff was great and they let Rory make her own cookie.


She was very proud of her creation.


And she gobbled it down in now time flat.


After dinner, we went for a walk back towards Grand Central to take the train back home. We just happened to pass by the Empire State Building, off in the distance.


Before heading back to Long Island, Amy & I wanted to stop by one of our favorite places in our old neighborhood of Long Island City, Gantry Plaza State Park. Here's a pic of the newlyweds, Winne and Alan. Congratulations to you both and welcome to the family, Alan!

Citi Field

While some of the gang went crabbing in Long Island, Luke and I headed over to our old stomping grounds (Queens, NY) to take in a baseball game at the (relatively) new home of the NY Mets, Citi Field.


Here's Luke posing outside Citi Field with a relic from the Mets former home, Shea Stadium. This is the original home run apple that would pop out of a hat out in the outfield after every Mets home run.


With the Mets struggling this past year, Luke thought he would take a few swings in the cage to see if he could provide them some run support...


and by the looks of things, the Mets probably could have used him.


One of Luke's favorite things at the new ballpark was the dunk tank.