Once we finally got on the ferry over to Liberty island it was a nice ride. We decided to stay below instead of being out in the sun on the upper deck. We had just about enough sun while waiting for the ferry.

This french chick was much larger than she looks. I was surprised.

In the picture below it looks like she is about to give that cloud some freedom.

Long story short we walked around the statue a lot, took a lot of pictures, and were basically exhausted. We skipped Ellis Island, we will see it when we go back for Jennie’s 60th birthday.

Once back in the city we had lunch and then headed back down to ground zero. We took a few more pictures and visited the 9/11 memorial center. I also saw Steve Nash walking down the street with his kids.

Our hotel was about a block from Wooster St. Social Club, which is the tattoo studio for the TLC show New York Ink.

We walked down to it, but then chickened out about going inside. Jennie wanted to get a pretty sweet UK tattoo, but I wouldn’t let her.

The next day was our final day in NYC.

Once we got to Central Park, we found the concert and walked right up to the front.

We stood around for a bit until the anchors got there and started to do their thing.

I will have to admit it was a lot of fun just watching how the whole show worked behind the scenes. It seems like a ton of work to throw that together every morning. George Snuffleupagus did a segment in which we were right behind him.

So that was our moment to shine!

Oh yeah, some country girl played some country music at some point.

After the concert we decided to head over to Rockefeller Center and head up to the Top of the Rock. It was a lot of fun and some great views of the city.

Unlike the Empire State Building, this outdoor observation deck had some glass all the way around it. So it also made for some great photo ops.

After our fun on the Top of the Rock we got some tickets to the NBC studio tour. This allowed us to see the SNL stage as well as where they tape Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. They didn’t let us take any pictures, but it was awesome to see those sets. It was pretty awesome though, I did get my picture with Matt Lauer of the Today Show. All those TV guys are shorter and flatter in real life.

We wanted to squeeze one more thing in before we called it a night. It started raining pretty bad so we thought maybe a museum might be in order. So we head to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). With all the rain and the fact it was free on Fridays, we weren’t the only ones going there. It was very close quarters, but we enjoyed seeing the art.

Tomorrow we check out some huge french lady.

The lines weren’t long and it seemed like we made it through pretty quickly. We had great views of the city from all angles.

Our tour guide, a cab driver from the city, told us about everything we were seeing. He was pretty small and actually fit inside a small plastic phone looking thing. Jennie is holding him up to her ear below.

The next stop on our trip was Times Square. Want to know why it was called Times Square? Me too.

We were heading to Times Square to hit up the TKTS ticket booth for some discount Broadway tickets. We had hoped to see Wicked, but that wasn’t happening. The only tickets for that show were about 250 bucks each. So we ended up getting tickets to Sister Act.

We also had the chance to get our names, faces, torsos and what not in lights. If you bought something at American Eagle they would take your picture and throw it up on their huge screen in Times Square. So Jennie got a couple discount t-shirts and we got our picture taken. After signing a couple autographs we moved on.

After some rest back at the hotel it was time to head to our Broadway show. See it even says it on the sign, BROADWAY.

The show was good. I think we both were expecting some of the songs from the movie, but it was all new music. Still very fun to watch. After the show we got some pizza from one of the pizza places they featured on last season’s celebrity apprentice.

After the pizza I answered a couple questions from a random teacher on the streets. While doing that a cab came by and picked us up. We headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

It was the greatest birthday Jennie has ever had ever. Tomorrow we make our national television debut.

We headed out on Wednesday morning about 10.

We got to the airport and scanned the credit card to check in, it asked if we wanted to upgrade to first class,  it wasn’t that expensive, so we did it. It’s vacation!

Then we enjoyed a little breakfast, hopped on the plane and headed to NYC.

The flight there was uneventful and no one famous (other than us) was in first. Flights that short, the upgrade to first probably isn’t worth it. I am sure longer flights are more expensive though.

We took a cab from the airport to our hotel, the Sheraton Tribeca. Something I was wondering was what TriBeCa stood for. Anyone here know? Anyone? It stands for “Triangle below Canal Street”.

We rested for a bit then took a walk down to the WTC site. The new tower is big and almost looks complete. The memorial is set to open this Sept. You couldn’t see much of it, but it does look like it will be very nice.

From there we walked on down to a dock area and took a look at the Statue of Liberty.

From there we walked on down to Bowling Green park which is in the financial district.

The north end of the park has the famous Charging Bull sculpture.

That was it for day 1, we did quite a bit of touristy stuff for just getting in the city about 2 pm.

Jennie did an excellent job with my birthday this year. It was pretty darn awesome. It could only have been better if there had been some WWIAFTM on the front yard.

Well 30 is a big milestone and this year she didn’t disappoint.

The celebrating started on Monday, when my mom and dad stopped in Bowling Green on their way back to Louisville from Atlanta.  They showed up at my door with a balloon and cupcakes.  It was so sweet…literally! The cupcakes were delicious.  We met Chad at Mariah’s for lunch and then came back to the house where they gave me some nice gifts.  It was a good visit, even though it was short.  I will see them again this weekend when I go to Louisville.

Tuesday (my actual birthday), Chad woke me up by bringing me breakfast in bed.  The menu was the same as last year, but this year he brought me two dozen pink and red roses.  They were beautiful, and it is the best way to be woken up.  During Chad’s lunch break, I met him at AT&T to get my birthday present, an iPhone.  Now I can have something to play with when Chad’s on his.

That evening, I had a couple girls over for a bible study.  My friend, Jaclyn, surprised me with a cookie cake.  She didn’t even know that I like them.  I thought that was very sweet.  We enjoyed our study and talking over cookie.

After the girls left, Chad pulled out a Blizzard ice cream cake that he had ordered for me.  It was Tagalong flavor.  Can you tell that I like sweets?  Even Quiznos sent me a coupon for a free cookie.  We decided to wait until after dinner to dig in.  Then, he surprised me with another gift, a makeup mirror.  I thought it was precious because he was able to remember that I have wanted one from a long time ago.  It was months ago that I told him how, if I don’t do my makeup in the closet, I have to move my full length mirror to another room or use a tiny little compact mirror.  He actually wrote it down, so he could remember to get it for me.  How sweet!

Next, Chad and I went to Red Lobster for dinner.  Chad doesn’t usually want to go there, so I took advantage of getting to choose.  He loved it, though.  He really likes the lobster pizza.  We came home and enjoyed the blizzard cake.  It was sooooooo good.  I really liked it.  The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing with my hubby.  It was a wonderful birthday!  Thanks, everybody!

I better get to the store.

Jennie and I exchanged gifts Saturday morning for Valentine’s day. I got her some glass salad plates and a pink apron that she is going to get embroidered with her initials (I guess in case I try to wear it, she will know it is hers). She got me a game for the DS (I am 29 with the mind of 11 year old) and a Wood Wick candle. After that we went to First Baptist to coach some basketball. The girls got me a cake and $25 gift card to Best Buy, so that was pretty sweet too. They even iced it with a basketball and “Happy Birthday Coach Chad.”

Next, we headed to Nashville. Jennie had a birthday surprise for me, but hadn’t let me in on it yet. We ate lunch at Cheddars, which I think is our new favorite restaurant. At lunch she let me in on the surprise- we were going to a Predators game! I do love me some NHL, so that was pretty exciting. After lunch we went to see a movie, and then over to Dad’s to wait until it was time to head to the game.

We got to the game and we had EXCELLENT seats. It was pretty awesome. I am sure we would have gotten hit in the face a few times with a puck if it hadn’t been for those nets they put above the glass on each end of the rink. Jennie had gotten a Valentine’s day package, which included the two tickets, two food vouchers (small soda and a hot dog), and a Valentine photo that says Hockey Love. It is worth noting that Ted’s a cappella group from SCRUBS sang the national anthem, so that was cool too.

It was Jennie’s first game, and I really think she enjoyed it. I know I had a blast. We were sitting next to this band stage thing, so during the intermissions they would focus on the band, and who was on the jumbotron half the time they were playing songs…yeah this guy. That’s us on the left side of the screen taking the picture. Jennie is in pink, and I’m wearing my hat.

After the game Jennie gave me my B-day gift, which was a label maker and a puzzle. Both of which I really wanted…for some odd reason.

I can’t tell you what a great job Jennie did getting my birthday together. I really appreciate it and I actually thought it was the best birthday I have ever had. Thanks darlin, I love you!

Weezer has a 6 song Christmas EP available on iTunes and Amazon. Support them, they need your money. And they need to put out a good album…burn.

Happy Birfday Jeff. Yes your birfday always comes second to the weez, but atleast I gave you your own category on the blog.