Coney Island

On Saturday, April 19th, I again convinced Bryant to do something he didn't really want to do.

(He's a good man.)

This time the item on my agenda was CONEY ISLAND!!!

We don't exactly live close to Coney Island. Well, we DO in Utah terms of distance (15 miles), but that can be a LIFETIME on the subway. And by LIFETIME I mean a little over an hour each way.

But we did survive the commute and finally arrived!

This is the location of the 

"July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating Championship."

(It's as gross as it sounds.)

Here are some stats for you:

(I think Joey Chestnut and Sonya Thomas are going to die of a heart attack.)

We arrived at the boardwalk:

Inside the Brooklyn Beach Shop Bryant was able to get some Saltwater Taffy 

(also known as 'old people candy'.)

and I bought myself this creepy looking glass:

We were walking out on the beach when this pudgy, adorable little kid came shuffling up to us and said, "Hi!...The water is FRRRREEEEEZING. Bye!"

And off he went!

(Below you can see him in the distance behind Bry)

My number one goal was to ride The Cyclone Roller Coaster

(I can now say I've ridden the same ride as Beyonce.)

 After we rode The Cyclone we opted for some delicious food:

 I can't get over how creepy that guys face is.

 Before we ventured back home I insisted that we get a hot dog from Nathan's.

(Tradition, right?)

 I was obviously more excited about the food than Bryant was.

 Coney Island was a BLAST and I'm super excited to go back there when Bryant's parents come out at the end of the month!

Billy Joel Concert

I love Billy Joel.

A LOT.

I mean look at that handsome devil:

AND he somehow convinced Christie Brinkley to marry him, so...he's pretty awesome

So what better time to see one of the most famous New Yorkers perform than when Bryant and I are living in New York City?

Billy Joel has been doing a sort of "artist in residence" monthly concert series at Madison Square Garden. 

I begged and pleaded and finally convinced Bryant to take me to the April 18th show.

This was hanging on the wall inside Madison Square Garden.

 After the attacks on September 11, 2001, there was a benefit concert held.

This ticket was signed by:

President Bill Clinton, Governor George Pataki, and Major Rudy Giuliani.

Gavin DeGraw was the opening act

Paige met him once before they both flew to Europe. I sent her a video of him from the concert and she had no idea who he was. BOO to you, Paige!

After Gavin DeGraw performed we had to sit around for a while until Billy Joel finally came out

 He finally started!!

This was the setlist:

I looove Uptown Girl.

The music video kills me:

Thanks again to my sweetheart Bryant for tolerating the show with me!

Ryan & Megan's Visit

Two of our most FAVORITE people came to visit us from Logan a few weeks ago!

Ryan and Megan Jones flew in on April 3rd and let Bryant and I drag them around the city!

We visited the City Hall area in Lower Manhattan

(That gold statue at the top of it is 25 feet tall to give you an idea of its size.)

 Next was the Brooklyn Bridge

 Later that night we ended up in Times Square, but the rain put a damper on things.

The next day we toured a few midtown places and ended up at the corner of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel.

Bryant stopped at a food truck to grab us some hot chocolate. While Ryan, Megan, and I were waiting, one of the guys that gives PediCab tours of Central Park decided to come and pester us. After I repeated "NO!" about a dozen times, Ryan and Megan got to see the sassy side of me.

After the bike man left, Ryan's keen eye spotted Leah Remini inside one of the carriages in the middle of filming something.

Incase you forgot who she was:

 Back to people we care about...

These two handsome guys!

You can see from the evidence that we had to hit Dylan's Candy Bar:

Saturday, April 5th, we went to Chinatown and boarded a bus to take us to Washington, DC.

It was about a four hour bus ride that dropped us off at Union Station.

We then walked over to the Capitol Building and hung out there while we waited for more of our FAVORITE people to arrive: Dave, Becca, and Tessa Lee!!

We really just lounged on the steps and munched on Dylan's Candy.

 We wandered through a few of the Smithsonian Museums.

(Becca was very proud of the dinosaur from Utah!)

Inside the Natural History Museum we were able to see The Hope Diamond.

(45.52 carats, worth $250 million)

 

 Washington Monument

The White House

(How adorable, right?!)

The golf picture was taken during the Fall of 2002.

Since this was my THIRD official visit to Washington, DC, I had to post my side-by-side pics:

Left: July 2011               Right: April 2014

 Back to Dave being our amazing tour guide in-action:

 Later that evening the boys rode the Metro out to where Dave and Becca live and the girls rode with Becca in the car.

Tessa and I were buddies...until she woke up.

(Story of my life.)

We ate dinner at a yummy restaurant at the Tyson's Corner Mall, then zonked out for the night.

Sunday, April 6th, Dave picked up Ryan, Megan, Bryant, and I and drove us to Arlington National Cemetery.

Left: 2006        Bottom: 2014       Right: 2011  

Dave decided to meet us at the Lincoln Memorial while the four of us walked across the Arlington Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River.

Lincoln Memorial

We asked some random lady to take a picture for us with my phone. The poor thing kept hitting the 'home' button so we were lucky after a few tries to get a picture with her finger covering 1/4 of it.

At least she tried(multiple times)!

We had to catch our bus back to NYC and had to say goodbye to Dave.

(Thanks again, Dave!!)

The drive back to New York took quite a bit longer (closer to 5 hours) so once we arrived, we were starving.

We took Ryan and Megan to Greenwich Village so they could experience some real NYC Style Pizza.

After eating, we parted ways. Ryan and Megan went to Washington Heights to visit more friends and we went back to Brooklyn. 

We were able to see them one more time before they flew back home on Monday.

We had SO much fun and are so glad they were able to visit (and that we were able to visit Dave & Becca too!)

MISS YOU GUYS!!