surprise trip today

well, first, i thought i'd recap the last few days before i get to the "good stuff."

wednesday, i went to joann's fabrics with bonnie (i had coffee & pop overs with her one morning not long ago) and i finally found the perfect fabric to line the inside of my knitted laptop case.  bonnie knows how to sew and has a sewing machine, so i'm pumped about getting this thing finished.

that night, the student ministry at calvary videoed an interview with john answering questions about what he loves about me.  aww, right?  :-)  they are putting on a conference in november for girls ages 14 - 24, and it's all about de-emphasizing what the world's standards are for being beautiful.  so they are putting together a video of married men talking about what attracted them to their wives.  after that, we went to the midweek worship service for the first time.  john will be on the teaching rotation and i will be on the worship team rotation for that service.

thursday, we looked at another rental house. uck.

friday night, we went over to the parmer's house (i had lunch with sarah on monday) and had pizza with them and the dougherty's.  jim taught us how to play monopoly deal (monopoly card game) and then learned how to play settlers of katan, which is apparently pretty popular.  we had lots of fun.

SO, today...we sleep in til 10, i throw on a tshirt and gym shorts, eat breakfast, start knitting, and john suggests that we take a trip. so i throw on some tennis shoes and grab my knitting (thank the Lord - it was a long drive) and we get on the road.  an hour later, we pass this sign...

on this stretch, john got flipped the bird by someone for the first time.  hahaha.  we responded like anyone would...we prayed for him.  hahahahaahahaha.  i love my husband!

the nj turnpike has really neat service areas every once in a while that are just like rest stops but have a gas station and some food places, so we stopped and got lunch...

nathan's is the hot dog place that puts on the eating competition every year in coney island.  it was delicious (and EXPENSIVE).

we continued on our way...me still having no idea where we're going...

i noticed how close we were getting to the airport and then my mind starts running like - o my gosh, did john fly a family member in or something?!  he didn't, but that's okay.  :-)

that would be the statue of liberty, ladies and gentlemen.  i was freaking out.  all i could think was - I CANNOT BELIEVE WE LIVE UP HERE!

view from a bridge we were crossing.  i was still freaking out.  and really did when we passed a sign welcoming us to hoboken (i couldn't get my camera ready in time - i was so mad).  the only reason i've ever heard of hoboken is because i watch cake boss on tlc and their bakery is located there.

 this is us driving by - looking for somewhere to park.

this is us standing in line to get in the doors.  we were there in line for about 20 minutes.  wasn't nearly as long as i expected.  once inside, it was sooo crowded.  we only recognized 1 person from the tv show.  madeline, buddy's sister, who is married to mauro and has the terribly irritating son also named buddy.  so, we got our order and walked 3 blocks down to the hudson river to find a bench on which to eat our goodies.

i got a cupcake, and john got a vanilla and a chocolate cannoli. delicious!

the view across the hudson of new york city from left to right...

 tomorrow's my 29th birthday!!!