SuperGreatAnn: Start Spreading the News, I'm Leaving Today......

Normally when you hear the song being sung in this house, it has something to do with the Yankees. This time it's just to tell you about our weekend in NYC. Andy has a great friend named Morgan Powell. To use Andy's phrase, Mo is one of the Best Guys Ever. He really is. He and Andy were neighbors, then roommates in Pacific Beach years ago. They have remained close friends and see each other pretty regularly, considering Mo lives on the East Coast now...and has for while. Anyway......Mo got married to a really nice girl, Janice, whom we met a year ago when they came out here on vacation, got engaged and went to the JETS / Chargers game with us. (The Chargers won that game, for anyone wondering) They live in Manhattan, and so off we went to share their special occasion with them.

Usually Andy goes back to NY alone as I'm home with the kids. This time we made arrangements so I could go too. (Aunt) Helene came down to stay with the kids for the weekend. We left EARLY Friday morning, so Helene had to get the kids up, ready for school, scoot Rose out the door to walk to school, then take the boys to drop David off at school. I got a good report back from a mom in David's class that she handled it with flying colors! Andy and I flew without incident to NY. We got our nifty rental car, a Jeep Compass, and headed out in the rain to meet Roz (Helene's sis)

and her step-daughter, Jamie, for dinner. We went for Chinese food.....because the Chinese food here just isn't any good, just like our pizza, pastrami or bagels. (I'm sure I'm forgetting something......EVERYTHING is better in NY.) Anyway, we ate dinner and Andy and Roz watched Derek Jeter get his hit to pass Lou Gehrig as the all time hits leader for the Yankees. It was nice to visit with Jamie who recently got engaged to her fiance, Dave.....good name. She has a ROCK for a ring. It's BEAUTIFUL! I digress..... After dinner we headed to Roz's house where we spent the night. We had bagels for breakfast the next morning... REAL bagels according to Andy, got to visit with Roz for a little while, then headed to Manhattan for the rest of the weekend. Driving with Andy was a running commentary on his entire life. He got off at this exit for this, used to get off that exit for that, St. John's is over there, so-and-so went to some place off this street to pick up whatever for whatever reason.... I'm sure he rattled off every friend he ever had regarding an event in relationship to an exit or area we were passing at the time. We stopped at the Roosevelt racetrack (where he used to go with so-and-so MANY times to bet on harness racing, and where he went w/Jeff Cooper the night before his 2nd SAT's) which had turned into a shopping center so we could hit up Target. We had to get a present for a 4 year old's birthday party Saturday afternoon.

As soon as we saw the skyline for the city, I saw the Empire State Building and told Andy I wanted to at least go there and to the top as we had no time to really do anything touristy over the weekend. We headed to the hotel, the W on Lexington Ave. right across the

street from the back of the Waldorf Astoria. It was a nice place, but sort of funky and very minimalist. For the longest time we couldn't figure out how to turn lights on. We got ready and headed off to some fitness club for Sydney Kaufman's 4th birthday party. Sydney is the daughter of Mike Kaufman, one

of Andy's old NY friends he has known since elementary school. If you don't know Andy well, he makes a friend and keeps them forever. He is still close friends with so many guys he went to school with, from elementary school through college. We got to see Mike Kaufman and Jeff Futoran and family, another old friend. Jeff was Andy's best man at our wedding, and he and his wife Sandra share our anniversary. We visited for about 2

hours, then headed off the Empire State Building. It was raining, so I didn't get any pics of the outside of the building. We took a virtual skyline tour of the city (like a helicopter ride) then went up to the top to the observation deck. It was socked in with clouds, so we didn't get a whole lot of good viewing of the

city, but now I can say I've done it. We headed back to the hotel, got ready and were off the wedding. The reception was in an old warehouse converted into a cool / trendy event place overlooking the Hudson River. We had a great time. Mo and Janice have a lot of great friends, so even though I didn't know very many people, I had a great time. After the

reception, we headed to a bar where we met even more old friends. We were early, so we went to a deli right down the street. For the first time in a long time Andy had good pastrami. I had a pretty good Reuben sandwich. We then went down to the Black Sheep to meet everyone, including cousin Eric Stitzer. We had a lot of fun. I know Andy was happy to hang out with his friends...and it was nice for me to get a chance to spend some time with the guys. I really

don't know Andy's friends (who don't live out here) very well. As a stroke of good luck, Andy's first beer was served in a JETS pint glass which later some how slipped into my purse. (I don't know how that always seems to happen to me.) A good time was had by all and we all headed back to our hotel. Eric came back with us and spent the night on our floor.

Morning came all too soon (for a drunk girl) and we got up and said goodbye to Eric. Andy then took me on a driving tour. We drove over the Brooklyn Bridge through Brooklyn....then I don't know the specifics of everywhere else. We saw the Statue of Liberty from across the water from many different angles. Even from far away, Ms. Liberty is pretty impressive. I am determined to see her up close next time I get to NYC. We went to Rockaway Beach and saw the old houses where Andy grew up. He pointed out every house he knew in Rockaway. I got to get out of the car and see the beach very briefly....then headed off to the local diner, which was torn down and turned into a bank, so we went to the diner in the next town over instead. It was all so relevant to Andy, but was lost on me. After that it was time to head to the airport. We got there in plenty of time to watch the JETS beat the Texans in their first game of the season. We lucked out and were asked to take an earlier, direct flight to San Diego, so we got in a few hours earlier than we were supposed to. Helene did a GREAT job with the kids, but was out the door about 2 seconds after we came in. Well, she lasted a little longer than 2 seconds, but she did tell us as we walked in the door that she was done. The kids had a great, busy weekend and really didn't miss us at all. I take that as a sign of success! Helene is the BEST!! We couldn't have gone without her! I understand she is sick now.....a parting gift from the kids. You are welcome! We really had a good weekend. It was FAST....but a whole lot of fun!