"Backtracking" Continued

My birthday month celebration continued the following weekend

Jared worked the weekend of my actual birthday so we

celebrated the following weekend with my children

and grandchildren and Michael

My family planned a "surprise" day in the city

Jared drove up from Delaware in the morning and then me, Jared

and Michael drove into New York and this is who we met

along with their parents

and this is where we were going

a cruise around Manhattan complete with lunch and entertainment

it was fabulous!!!

This is me with my "boys"

and the whole family

Noel, Michael, Me, Ellie, Jared, Danielle and Marlie

"Me" on the boat - decorated!!!

The weather was one of the nicest of the summer

and the views were spectacular

Lady Liberty stood in all her glory

and the girls were loving the day!!!

They were being very cooperative with pictures

the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

Where I lived growing up in Brooklyn I actually saw the towers of the

bridge "go up" when it was being built

Some Verrazano Bridge facts....

The bridge opened in 1964 and took only five years to be built

At that time the toll was 50 cents in each direction

(a toll increase was just approved last week -

as of 12/30 it will cost $13.00 to cross the bridge both ways)

When it opened it was the longest suspension bridge in the world

(we took that title away from the Golden Gate Bridge)

In 1981 The Hummer Bridge in the UK took that title from us

It still remains the longest suspension bridge in the US

When the planning of the bridge was being done,

Staten Island was thrilled - Brooklynites fought it desperately

Over 7,000 people had to be displaced from their homes

in Fort Hamilton (I never knew this)

Each of the towers has 1,000,000 bolts and 3,000,000 rivets

Because of the curvature of the earth's surface the towers are

1 5/8" farther apart at their tops than at their bases!

and the Brooklyn Bridge were just a few of the sights

there was LOTS of dancing

(and they played "Dancing Queen"!)

We all had a wonderful time - it was a fabulous surprise

After, we walked around outside Chelsea Piers and took a ride on...

We love carousels and this was a fun one!

Afterwards we walked all over Chelsea Piers

These cupcakes were in "Eleni's" - a great cupcake place

Eleni's (http://www.elenis.com/) is now a nut-free bakery

Then we walked over to Chelsea Market

We also walked underneath the "High Line"

This is 1.45 miles of NYC park built on a section of the former

elevated freight railroad spur called the West Side Line

Eventually it will go up to West 34th Street

We all came back to our house and everyone slept over

I taught the kids how to play "left, right, center" - a really fun game

The celebration continued on Sunday with a family barbeque

My brother, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and

Michael's family all came over

It was another great day

This picture is Noel, Michael and my brother Philip,

cousin Jonathan is in the background

at the table is Sari and Jeffrey (Sari was 8 1/2 months pregnant

in this picture and the baby, Addison, is 7 weeks old, today)

the person's back is my sister-in-law, Liz and then my

brother-in-law, Alan

this is my niece, Christine and my great-niece, Avery

and great-nephew, Luke

this is my nephew, Jeremy and his son Luke

my girls just playing

a delicious dairy queen blizzard cake and

"my" homemade chocolate chip cookies topped off the day!!

we all blew out the candles and ended a month-long celebration

that I will cherish forever

As I look back on my celebrations there is not one thing I would change

I am blessed with family and friends that showered me with

good times, laughs, parties, gifts, accolades and more than that -

they showed me love, respect, friendship and so much more.

I am a lucky "girl"!!!

Hugs and More,

Peggy

P.S.  My celebration really continues next year when we go on

our "family vacation" so stay tuned......