Man, the pizza is good here.

Yesterday was busy. This will have to be brief, as we have another busy day ahead of us. But, here is a quick re-cap of what we did:

• Try this new breakfast bistro----excellent coffee!
• Go to Time Square and buy theater tickets for tonight. We got our own private box----way cool!
• Take the metro to Central Park.
• Go on a guided tour of the botanical gardens. It was amazing! We learned all about different plants and got caught in the middle of an excellent storm!
• Take the metro South on Manhattan and explore: The World Trade Center Site, The oldest church in the city, Wall Street, City Hall, Stock Exchange and Battery Park.
• Wait in a REALLY slow, long line to take a ferry to the Statue of Liberty.
• Wait in an even SLOWER line to go to Ellis Island.
• One Ellis Island we take an excellent tour by a Park Ranger. We learned that Helene would have been sent home from the United States due to reduced mental skills taking some spacial geometry test. And Jaime didn't really fit in the size of 3rd class bunks for the boat ride over. After the tour we explored the museum and the wall with all the names of those who came through the island.
• Waited AGAIN for ferry back to New York.
• Took the ferry uptown to go to the theater.
• Saw A Chorus Line---AMAZING! And leaving Broadway in two weeks.
• Went to Juniors for dinner. Had egg cream's and NY cheesecake. (Well I didn't eat the cheesecake!)
• TRIED to go to the Empire State Building----closed to Antenna repair??? WHAT.....oh well, something to do tomorrow!

Welcome to the Big Apple!

Jaime and I arrived safely into New York. We took the red eye flight from Portland to Huston, Texas and then another flight from Texas to New York, New York. One flight down, many more to go!

It was wonderful to be picked up by a friendly face---GREG! He has graciously agreed to be our official tour guide to this great city. After a delicious homemade lunch, featuring Greg's famous Kugel, we are about to head into the tourist mode. Today we are going to walk through Central Park and do a loop of the Lower East Side. We will leisurely make our way down to Time Square for dinner. After dinner are seeing our FIRST Broadway show of the trip: Spring Awakening. After the show, depending upon jet lag we will taste some of New York's fine desserts and possibly a night stroll.

We are off!

Tonight Jaime and I leave for our great adventure 2008!

The itinerary is as follows: 4 days in New York City, 14 Days in Israel, 13 Days in Egypt and 3 Days in Jordan. The Middle East portion of our trip will be with two trip providers. First, Birthright International, Sachlav Educational Experience for our Israel portion and then we will be on a private tour our my family through GAT Tours in Egypt & Jordan.

We will (when we can) be updating our blog with all the exciting adventures we partake on. To find our blog simply go to our family website: www.wren-nest.com and on the left hand menu click "blog". I don't think we will have much time to upload photos, so those will wait until we return. But don't fear, in September we will add photos to the website which can be found under "Photo Albums: Picasa"

We hope everyone has a safe and fun filled August and we will talk to everyone soon upon our return!