NYC

Kari and I made it back from NYC safe and sound. It was a great trip and we both had a lot of fun. We flew into New Jersey on Thursday night, and took a cab to her friend Allison's condo in Hoboken, NJ. That was where we would shack up for the weekend.

Friday, Kari and I went into the city with Allison in hopes of catching some of the today show, however, we departed later than expected. By the time we arrived, Neal Diamond was getting ready to perform on the outdoor stage, neither of us cared! So we headed over to Rockefeller Center (across the street) and went to the NBC Studios. We took a tour and got to see the sets of Saturday Night Live, Conan O'Brien, and The NBC Nightly News.

Following our tour of NBC we jumped on a tour bus and rode around the city. The bus was like a double decker, with seats on the top. It was one of those deals where you could get off and on the bus whenever it made stops if you wanted to visit something specific.

We jumped off around 1-2 for lunch at Lombardis, the "best pizza" in NYC according to a few online resources (scouted out by Kari!). The food was good, and sadly, one of my favorite pictures of the entire trip was from this location, but didn't download properly onto my computer (corrupted or something). It was Kari taking a huge bite out of an even huger piece of Pepperoni Pizza.

We also jumped out at a couple other locations, including Ground Zero, Times Square, and some other spots. After our tour was done, we met up with Allison and my friend Mike Edwards (came up from Washington D.C. to attend the game). We went to dinner at Mickey Mantle's restaurant. The food was good, and the Martini's were expensive! If there isn't a price on the menu, take it as a hint. We went out after dinner and met a couple of Mike's friends for a couple beverages and to watch Allison try and make a tent out of her coat to sleep under at our table.

The next morning we went back down to Rockefeller Center because we had tickets to take us to the top of the building to get a view of the city. We had intended on doing it on Friday, but the foggy conditions meant very poor visibility, so we waited it out as long as we could. After that, we took off for Grand Central Station where we were meeting Mike to catch a train to Yankee Stadium.

Once we arrived at the park, we walked around the outside of the stadium. I was surprised how "plain" it was. I've been to many other ballparks, and almost all of them looked a lot nicer, and had more "fanfare" surrounding the entrance. At one point, I actually asked a police officer where the front of the stadium was, thinking they would have statues of Yankee Greats (Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Don Mattingly!) or World Championship Pennants, and the officer informed me that I was actually at the front gate. I would have never guessed...

Once we got into the stadium, and found our way to our seats, it was almost game time. One of my friends (that works for the Pittsburgh Pirates) was able to help us purchase some good seats. When we had searched months in advance the "best available" seats were in the second deck in right field. With Matt's help, we sat behind home plate, in the "Main MVP Box" in section 202. The game was really fun, the Yankees won 6-1. Highlights included a monster home run into the second deck of right field by Johnny Damon, and two RBI doubles from Derek Jeter. Following the game, we picked up a few souvenirs and headed back to the city.

Here are some photos

Anyhow, the trip was an excellent time. I would write more but my eyes are starting to hurt from looking at the screen so long! Hope everyone is doing well!

I'd like Kari Johns to be the Interview-eee

I know some of you have met my favorite Daughter-in-Law, but most of you have not. She's been part of our family for (in December) 5 years. If you knew her, you'd love her. Ben: How about getting her onto this site? Love, Mom/Rachel

Long Time No See!

Hello fellow bloggers! I apologize for not putting more posts on the site. I've been really busy lately with work, training for the Dam to Dam, preparing for our trip to New York City to watch the beloved Yankees crush the Seattle Mariners and take in some sights, and some other general house maintenance issues. On top of that softball and sand volleyball are now starting up, which will eat up a lot of the other "free" time I would otherwise have.

Things in Waukee are going well. Kari and I fly out on Thursday for NYC, and fly back Sunday. Kari has a friend (Alison) who lives in New Jersey who we are going to stay with. Kari loves planning all the activities for the weekend. If she wasn't a physical therapist I am sure she would be an excellent travel agent. Kari is dropping the dog off with her parents tonight after work and I'm sure that will make the cat very happy. When we get back from NYC I will try to post some pictures up.

Hope everyone is doing well! Again, I apologize for my lack of input lately, I will try to be more dedicated. Without it, I'm not sure what Steph will do :).

Daniel Johns new contact information

Hey everybody....Dan has moved to a new home, temporarily. (Until the end of June, I think.) His e-mail address is the same as before. He's living in a ladies house who's name is Leslie. Her phone # is 707-443-4433. Address: 4569 Campton Rd., Eureka,CA 95503

Rachel

Hi everybody.

I just thought I'd write a little as I was gone and didn't even have a chance to check in lately. I went to see Aleisa in Texas March 10 thru sixteen, I had to leave early Sunday morning which was her birthday. We had a good time celebrating the night before as I and Aleisa, Amy (her roommate), Jordan, and six friends of theirs, all went to a Mexican restaurant called "Jo T's." They only had two items on the menu, fajitas and burritos. However, they were good and the restaurant was set in a walled in patio with fountains and open sky overhead and lots of flowers. We all enjoyed ourselves and everyone was invited over to Aleisa and Amy's for cake afterwards. Aleisa and I went to buy the cake and trimmings and just before we got back to her apartment Jordan called and said the dog had had a major accident and the place reeked and needed cleaning up. Not up to snuff for company.:( (I had made the mistake of feeding it ham bones when I was making pea soup the day before and it wasn't used to anything but dog food.) Anyway, being the normal Mom (and it was really my fault) I went with Aleisa and had cake at Jordan's apartment and then went and cleaned up the mess. Most of it was contained in the kennel so that was a good thing. No more ham bones for Geoffry! Other news, Robben"s team got to the final four at the NAIA bball tournaments at Branson. Robben played only a couple of minutes due to his still screwed up foot. He's got one more year at this college basketball and we are praying for an injury free one. Believe me, he can play well when he's in his zone and it's a lot more fun than nursing an injured body part. Robben is also trying to make up for missing 25 days of school with Basketball tournaments, Easter and spring breaks. I talked to him this morning and his voice was weary. He is looking ahead to the end of May when he"s scheduled to go on a Summer of service project which Luke Society sponsors. He'll be working with a Dr Martin Luther, a black man who grew up in the area and is now a Dr. to seven villages in Benin, Africa. I bought him a sleeping bag with a pad built in while in Texas as the last guy Robben knows who went on a service project like this only slept in a bed three nights of the six weeks he was gone. That's hard on the bones! If everyone could keep him in their prayers while he's there I'd appreciate it. Well, I think I've written enough. Who else is out there? I hope you're well in every way. Love Laura