Latitude 40

Hi TZ !. .this post is for you. :) Thanks for letting us know you're looking forward to the updates! I'm glad you're checking in on us.

After spending 3 days in New Jersey training, yesterday we headed to New York City with Lee and Chrystle for the day. We had a so much fun! These are just a few of the things we experienced. . .

• 93 degrees with high humidity. . .LJC had to go commando!
• Madison Square Garden
• Times Square
• A rain downpour like we've never seen in Seattle! (the umbrella street vendors came out of the woodwork!)
• Empire State Building
• Shepard's Pie, Burgers, and Crabcakes at Joe Dempsey's Grill
  
• Battery Park (view of the Statue of Liberty nestled in the humidity)
• Ground Zero (the quietest spot in NYC)
• Greenwich Village (the Gay Pride Parade. . .crowds and police everywhere)
• Subway stops (we got pretty good at reading the lines map after missing our first stop and ending up in Brooklyn!)
• Starbucks (of course!)
• Roasted almonds, cashews, and peanuts from the street vendor. . covered in a brown sugar and vanilla glaze. . .it was definitely the sweetest smell on the streets of NY!
• Taxis, taxis, and more taxis

This was Lee and Chrystle's first visit to New York. . . .
it was fun taking pictures of them.

Check it out > > >

Times Square . . .just before the downpour

Times Square ~ 42nd St.

The Empire State Building ~ 34th St.

Strong dude!

Outside Joe Dempsey's Grill ~ 34th St.

Battery Park, end of Manhatten (see our Lady in the distance?)

Subway ride uptown to Times Square

New car on the red line. . .clean, clean, clean!

Back where we started

We are amazed every May when this "gigantus" Rhody blooms. . .it's directly across from our front yard. . .our mailbox and newspaper tube are below. (That'll give you perspective!) Some of the neighbors that have lived here decades guestimate the age of the beauty to be over 50 years. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy it everytime we look outside. Thank goodness we don't have to prune it!

Ryan. . .this one's for you.

Does it look familiar?

During one of our first visits to Ryan's home town of Ashland, OR, he shared that when he was in high school, he and friends took their kayaks down this creek in Lithia Park, which runs in town. Rebellious in nature. . .they didn't get caught!

Taylor took the picture of the creek last weekend when we detoured for gelato in Ashland and took a walk through the park.

Avery, Taylor, Madison

Lithia Park

Fashion Statement

Avery loves shoes! We've read about it on her Mom's blog. . .she likes to wear them, stack them, organize them and we soon discovered hide 'em too! She really liked G'pa Doug's tennis shoes and we were impressed that she remained upright walking around in them. . .just try to relate walking in a pair of gunboats that much bigger than your feet! YIKES! We spent the better part of Saturday afternoon trying to find one of Doug's shoes. It was a mystery until we asked Avery to find G'pa's shoe. . .viola! She knew right where she put it. . .under the cupboard in the laundry room. . .does she look guilty or what?!