On Saturday we visited Northport. First we briefly stopped by Northport High School where Patty and I first met. (No, we never dated back then.) Then we had lunch at Shipwreck Diner on Main Street and walked around the docks and Northport Village Park.

Our trip to Northport made us a bit late for our plans for the rest of the day. We met up with my fraternity brothers, Flintstone (Mike) and Steve in Port Jefferson. I pledged with Flintstone in 1991 and we have 1001 great stories. Steve pledged in 1992, we were roommates our senior year, and he was the best man at my wedding in 1997. The last time I saw either of them was when I traveled up for homecoming in 2003, so it's been five years - and we didn't skip a beat. It was immediately like old times like we had seen each other just last week. Aside from some gray hairs, the boys haven't really changed much.

All the wives and all the kids were all there. Patty's known Flintstone and Steve as long as I have but she didn't go to homecoming in 2003 so she hadn't seen them since Maegan was one year old in 1999 (aside from a few minutes at my dad's funeral). Maegan's now 10, and all the other kids were 4 or younger. Maegan spent hours playing with the kids and pulling them around in a wagon. It was great to see all of our kids playing together but who'd-a-thunk this scene 16 years ago.

Back in the day we wouldn't have even gone out before 9:30pm, but with wives and kids and just being older (out of shape, not wiser) 9:30pm was now staying out late, so we had to head back to Queens. It was great to hang out again, even while having to watch the kids. I hope we don't go another five years before doing it again.

Labels: Alpha_Sigma_Phi, friends, New_York, vacation

On Friday we went into the city and acted like tourists. We went to South Street Seaport with my sister Amy. We enjoyed walking around Pier 17 and got great photos of the Brooklyn Bridge but we were completely disappointed to discover that the historic Fulton Fish Market is now just one big Gap store. Apparently Fulton Fish Market moved to The Bronx in 2005 but it never crossed our mind that it could not be there after 188 years. That's like Quincy Market leaving Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Then we hopped on the Circle Line Liberty Zephyr for a boat tour around lower Manhattan. The one-hour tour brought us under the Brooklyn Bridge (which currently has a cool waterfall beneath it), around Battery Park, and past Ellis Island. Then we came up on what Maegan's been wanting to see her whole life: The Statue of Liberty. Phenomenal views of the statue from the harbor, even better than visiting the island (especially since you can't go inside anymore).

Labels: New_York, vacation

I'm back in New York, Queens to be precise. We flew in to LaGuardia this morning. We had nothing in particular planned for today, but the most exciting moment of our trip so far was when my mom picked us up from the airport. As I was about to put our luggage in the car, I looked up and saw the Google Street View car right next to us! I recognized it immediately and started waving at the car. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able to find myself waving at LaGuardia airport in the next Google Street View update.

Labels: cool, New_York, vacation

• Darah's home-based childcare notified us that they're suddenly shutting down. We had to find a new child care pronto and were lucky to find an ex-teacher who just received her license to open up a new home-based childcare. Darah begins going to her new child care on Monday.

• Since last year we've been planning to make a trip to New York to go to a game at Shea Stadium before it's torn down at the end of the season. This week we finally purchased our airline tickets (we already had the Mets tickets lined up). So now it's official that we'll be in New York this August. This will be the first time I'll be in New York in several years, and the first time during the summertime in ten years.

• Today I played my first full game of disc golf all year. Perhaps my first game all year shouldn't have been in a tournament. I started poorly but finished strong so maybe that's a good trend for next time.
  

Labels: Darah, disc_golf, New_York

Yesterday ESPN reported that Yankee Stadium will host the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in its final year before being replaced by a new Yankee Stadium in 2009. Just like Yankee Stadium, 2008 will also be the final season Shea Stadium before the Mets begin playing at their new stadium, CitiField, in 2009. By no means am I suggesting that Shea deserves the same send-off honors as the historic House That Ruth Built, but it occurred to me that the last All-Star Game held in New York in 1977 was also at Yankee Stadium. Shea last hosted in 1964, so Yankee Stadium is the New York host twice in a row. What a jip. Plus, since I don't see MLB returning to the same city too soon, this will most likely delay the likelihood of the Mets hosting an All-Star Game in the near future. It took 30 years for the mid-summer classic to return to the big apple so I hope I won't need to wait another 30 years before I see the Mets finally play host in my lifetime.

On a side note, I saw a list of Major League Baseball ballparks listed by their age and noticed something odd. I never realized that the recent trend of new stadium construction has been overwhelmingly dominated by the National League lately. An astonishing 50% (8 of 16) of National League stadiums have been built since 2000. In comparison, Detroit's Comerica Park which was built in 2000 is the only American League stadium built during that same timespan.

Labels: baseball, New_York

Patty, Maegan, and I all went up to New York this Labor Day weekend for the wedding of Patty's sorority sister Janet LaMagra. The wedding was in White Plains / Purchase and we all had a great time. Patty was the Matron of Honor and Maegan was the flower girl.

We also managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Queens to visit my mom, sister, and aunt on Saturday morning.

Labels: friends, Maegan, New_York, Patty