Rust Renion - Sunday, June 12 - Day 1

I started blogging about the reunion a few weeks ago, so I decided I should blog the rest of the trip. I left NYC for Grand Rapids, Michigan early on Sunday morning, June 12. I had a short layover in the Cincinnati airport (which I learned is not actually in Cincinnati, OH - rather, it is in northern Kentucky). This was my little plane for the short flight from CIN to GRR.

The rest of my family arrived in Michigan on Saturday night, so Mom and Dad picked me up from the airport. We made a stop at Costco in Grand Rapids to stock up on food for the week, and then we drove through Dad's old stomping grounds of Muskegon on our way to Ludington.

This was the house on Creston where Dad grew up. I had been here before...definitely in 1988 and maybe in 1994.

My Grandpa Lyle was in the TV business and built that antenna...I think everyone is surprised it is still standing.

Dad's high school.

Our first night at the reunion...the nightly volleyball has begun!

Surfing!

Since we are in the middle of a massive heat wave (it was 104 in Central Park yesterday, the second hottest day ever in NYC), we decided to go to the beach. I thought it was just going to be me, Joe and Jessica Joy, but when we got there we found out there was a group of people there from the Chelsea and LIC TGC locations. A few of them had rented surfboards and so Joe and I borrowed two of them and went out surfing for a bit. I am good at catching the wave, standing up is another story. It was still fun though :)

10k and Rockaway Beach

Last Saturday (July 9), I had signed up to run a 10k in Central Park with New York Road Runners. I was hoping to get more running in than I did prior to the race, but I ended up finishing with a time of 1 hour and 23 seconds, which is a 9:45/mile pace. This was a little faster than my half-marathon pace, so I was happy with the run.

After the run, I was just going to hang out at my apartment for the afternoon, but Jillian called and said that they were headed to Rockaway Beach if I wanted to go. I quickly got my beach stuff together and met the Nelson's at the 86th and Lex train station. Rockaway Beach is in Queens, almost at the end of the A train. For a portion of the ride, the train tracks are completely over the water.

At the beach...Joah fell asleep on the long subway ride.

Our first spot. We moved about 4 times throughout the afternoon because the waves kept getting too close.

The Nelson family - Jillian, John and Joah.

I love this kid!

The Cohen's also met up with us.

Joah and Azariah...two sweaty beach babies.

Their matching hats were so cute.

Joah loved climbing on my cooler.

Mike and John after we moved into a shady spot.

Beach days are always great. I came home from the beach, put in Blue Crush and called it an early night.

Kellyn's Trip to NYC

Kellyn came to NYC to visit me from June 29th to July 6th. We had a packed and fun-filled schedule while she was here, which included the following:

Mamma Mia on Broadway on Wednesday night. This was my third time seeing this show, and it was just as fun as the first.

On Thursday I left work a little early. We went to the Chelsea/West Village area, and our first stop was the Chelsea Market.

We also went in the Apple store.

And we walked on the High Line. This was a new part of the High Line...you could cool off and get your feet wet.

A good shot of the Empire State Building.

This was a new portion of the High Line that opened in the last year (it wasn't open at the end of last summer, which was the last time I was there).

On Friday morning, we woke up early to go to see Beyonce in the Good Morning America concert series. But, our 5:30am arrival time wasn't early enough. We stood in the overflow line for a little over an hour and we realized we weren't getting in. We heard that people started lining up 24 hours early for this concert. If I wanted to see Beyonce that bad, I would just buy a ticket to her concert. We came home and watched the concert on TV, and took a nap.

On Friday afternoon, we went down to Soho and walked around there, Washington Square Park and Union Square.

This is Washington Square Park.

On Friday night we went to the Mets-Yankees game at Citi Field with Lauren and Adam Midkiff, and Adam's brother, Drew.

Since Dave Hudgens is the hitting coach for the Mets, we get to pick up Mets player tickets.

Kellyn and I in our great seats.

Unfortunately, the Mets lost, but it was still a fun game. Below is Kellyn and I with Dave.

In order to go wait for Dave after the game in the Family Room, we had to wear bracelets that said No Photos, No Autographs - just so people wouldn't ask us :)

On Saturday we went with a group of friends from Trinity Grace to Long Beach on Long Island.

We played a best of 3 volleyball game...this team won the first game, my team won the second game, and then we got beat in the third.

Yeah team!

On Sunday morning we went to church. It was a rainy day so we decided to come home and take a nap. Otis didn't mind.

On Sunday afternoon, Kellyn was nice and went to Costco with me. We bought two bags of cat litter...a total of 84 pounds. Usually I will just buy one at a time, but with two people, it is easy to lift the cart on the bus and down the stairs of my apartment. So, I bought two bags to save me a trip. Those will last for about 5 months! Since it was still raining on Sunday night, we saw Larry Crowne at Lincon Center Theater. It was a good rainy day movie, but not one I would see again.

On Monday morning we went to the gym, and then walked around Central Park for a while.

Monday afternoon we headed down to the West Side Highway (we were at 41st Street) to see the Macy's Fireworks. This was my third year doing this.

A nice sunset while we were waiting for fireworks.

I really needed a tri-pod to get good pictures of the fireworks.

On Tuesday night we went to Athena Nails for a manicure and pedicure, and then Kellyn flew out on Wednesday morning.