Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We are now basking in the 85 degree weather. We are at Mam Mam and Pop Pop's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone have a wonderful Thankgiving and be careful going back home. And we hope you find that great sale on black Friday , we will be still sleeping unlike you wild and crazy people that live for the Friday after Thanksgiving, and you know who you are. We will be updating the blog once or twice a week for a few weeks. Then we are off to another adventure, we are off to Peru. Keep posted so you can find out where Johnny is when we set off to Peru.

Day Fifteen Part II

We stopped by the Tovar house which is the oldest house in St. Augustine.

We opted to do the tour ourselves instead of getting on a trolley. It was a good idea because we could get out and take pictures and drive to the next site as fast or as slow as we wanted. The sites are all really close and very easy to find.

We also went to see the Indian village that Ponce de Leon met when he landed in Florida. The chief stood seven feet tall and the average height was over six feet 7 inches.


Our last stop was the Castillo de San Marcos. This is the largest fort in St. Augustine and was used by the Spaniards.
This was our last stop for this adventure, we had an eight hour drive to Miramar.

Day Fifteen

The Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, Florida


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After Savannah, we crossed into Florida and spent some time in St. Augustine - which is the oldest settlement in the United States (founded by the Spanish in 1565). As we were exploring the town, we came across the location of the Fountain of Youth - the legendary spring in which explorer Ponce de Leon was attempting to locate when he discovered Florida.

After we paid our admission, we quickly learned that we would not be able to leave without hearing about 27 lame jokes on the Fountain of Youth. For example, as we approached the site of Ponce's landing, a group of people passed us and one of the men pointed to Johnny and said, "There he is. He comes here every week....he's 58 years old!" Yuk-yuk-yuk.

In keeping with the spirit of these "jokes", we decided we would have a little fun too. As part of the tour, everyone gets a sample of the spring water (Incidentally, it tasted like warm well water and, ironically, it probably took a few years off of you after drinking it). John posed for a picture while drinking the water, then took off his shirt and hat and put them on Johnny for the "After" shot. Oddly, the tour guide and some of the other tourists were not amused by this. John suggested they were in a state of shock after seeing his amazingly sculpted pectoral muscles - but somehow I don't think that was the case.

After completing the tour and hearing someone say, "Hey, is that your Dad?" (pointing to Johnny) - we were off to the next site.

Day Fourteen

The next state we went to was the "Peach State"...Georgia. This town is home to Paula Dean, we were able to go by her restaurant she owns with her two sons.
Savannah is so beautiful with all the mansions and history. Therefore, we had to eat in a mansion. We ate at 700 Drayton. It is located across the Forsythe Park. The food was delicious. John had an open steak sandwich in a Burgundy onion sauce. The steak was soft and juicy and the sauce was just and explosion of flavor. I had the green fried tomato BLT. It was perfect. Here is John and Johnny in front of the restaurant.
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While seeing the sights we were able to see the bench where Forest Gump said his famous line, "Life is like a box of chocolate". The white mansion is where the movie In the Garden of Good and Evil was filmed with Kevin Spacey.

Day 13

Yesterday we were in Manassas, Virginia and walked the Battlefield. The actual battlefield trail is eleven miles, we took the three mile trail. We said good-bye to Aunt Luisa and continued going south. Time didn't permit us to stop in North Carolina for more than a few hours. We made it to South Carolina and stopped to see the commemoration of The Tuskegee Airmen.
Johnny was able to go on the tar mat and see some of the private luxury airplanes that leave from this airport.
The weather here is so much warmer than up North.

Day Twelve

We had a really nice time in Washington D.C, along with all the monuments we visited we were able to go in the Holocaust Museum. I recommend everyone visiting the museum, it very sad but it is history we should never forget. We also went to the Native American Museum and they have a restaurant, the food is delicious. Try the buffalo steak.

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The next city we went to is where the "The First Battle of Bull Run" took place. This is also where Stonewall Jackson got his name. Johnny is standing in front of Stonewall Jackson's statue.

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This is the home of Mrs. Henry, who was the first civilian casualty of war. She was an elderly woman who refused to leave her home. Unfortunately, her home was smack in the middle of the battlefield and the union soldiers had invaded her home. When the gun battle began confederate soldiers riddled the house with gunfire and canons.

Day Eleven

Day 10

Yesterday's trivia was the word Pennsylvania which is misspelled on the Liberty.
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We entered this city last night and met up with Aunt Luisa. She has lived in this area for about five years and hasn't toured the city. We are taking her with us. There are about 4 tour bus services. I recommend the two day pass tour. There is so much to see, and a lot of the buildings close at 5:30 p.m.. You can use the subway system to get around but find out if they are under construction the waiting time for a train can be about 45 minutes. Usually the subway runs every 15 minutes. The tour bus was great, especially with Johnny because we started our tour about 1:30 and around 1:45 Johnny took his nap for the next hour and a half. He would of slept longer but the tour finished.

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This was taken in front of the Union Station. It is a well known bell. But for the life of me, I cannot remember what the significance is. If anyone knows let us know. This was taken just before we boarded the tour bus.

Washington National Cathedral it is beautiful from the outside but more beautiful from the inside. There are 25 tour stops and we noted which ones we will see tomorrow.











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Day Nine

Philadelphia had the largest city title from 1800-1830 beating out L.A and New York.


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Philadelphia was laid out by William Penn and he
had no idea that this estabishment would be the birthplace to democracy. There is a lot to see in Philly, like museums which are nice but you can't go by this city without stopping by and seeing the Liberty Bell. Does anyone know when the final expansion of the crack happened? What is the only word that is misspelled on the bell? We enjoyed Pennsylvania and its history but we were sorry that we weren't able to visit Hershey Penn. I hear you get to take home free chocolate samples. So after touring this city we were off to the next city.

Day 8

Johnny was so excited to go visit this lady -mainly because he got to ride on a ferry to do it.
















Yes, we were one of those people who had to do it when we thought we would never do it. Guess what we thought we
would never do.

Click on the link and find out. Watch the video and tell me if you would have done it.

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http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&brand=msnbc&fg=rss&vid=ea456067-0127-4f42-8f72-e043223e7ac8&from=05

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Halloween Day Part 2

Halloween in New York City

Spiderman begins to scale the NewYork City subway walls

Spiderman will need to wash his hands!

With great power comes great responsibility.... to ensure all neighborhood gates are locked tight.

Spiderman mistakes this civilian for the Green Goblin - as he jumps on his shoulders and proceeds to beat him into submission.

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As Halloween approached, we asked cabdrivers, police officiers, and anyone we came across what we could do that would be fun. The consensus was a landslide...the Halloween parade in Greenwich Village. I asked if it would appropriate for a 2-year old. "Oh yeah, fuggetboutit....he'll be fine" was the reply. I'm thinking... "Isn't that where they made that movie with Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts"? Perfect, what better place to show Johnny a true slice of New York?

So off we went to The Village. Apparently, this event is the nation's largest Halloween parade - with over 2 million participants each year. It is also listed as one of the "100 things to do before you die." Little did we know that the area has a large gay following (not that there's anything wrong with that). Therefore, a number of the costumes were drag queens. Another large portion of costumes were scantily-clad women....right up Daddy's alley, not so much for Spidey/Johnny.

We did met a number of other kids trick-or-treating in the many Village stores. We had to laugh since about half of the stores consisted of tattoo parlors and S&M shops. Everyone was very friendly - even the Wolfman being walked a leash by the Cavegirl with a goatee. After we had filled half of a pillow case with candy, we decided to make our way back to Times Square - before the crowd got too risque.

**The movie being filmed from the previous day was "Sex and the City". The sights were Rockefeller Center and Times Square.

Day Six

Did you figure out yesterday's adventure. We were in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. We stayed in the following town for three days. Can you guess the sites we saw on the first day? And guess what movie we saw filming?

Day Five

Our next stop Johnny and John were so excited to visit. But first did you figure out yesterday's city... Niagara Falls. It was so beautiful, the only attraction I wanted to go on was the boat, the Maid of Mist boat tour. They had just closed for the season. I would recommend the ride so you can see the falls up close. If you go to the Hershey store they give you free fudge samples. The best flavor for me was the Rocky Road Fudge. The Guinness Book of World Record Museum is incredible and a lot of fun for the kids.

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We head for the east, this state has some of the most touristic sites. The Dutch settled here permanently in 1624. They ruled for 40 years over the colony of New Netherland. When the English conquered the colony in 1664, they named it after a Duke. This state declared its independence on July 9, 1776 becoming one of the original 13 states of the Federal Union. The Battle of Saratoga was fought on this state.

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The first stop was in this town that is famous for its museum. John and Johnny had a great time touring the museum. Let us known if you can figure out the town and the name of the place. The pictures will be your clue.

Day Four

Did you guys Day Two City? Toledo Ohio. What about Day Three? First city was Detroit, Michigan and the second city was Windsor, Canada. Yes, we are in the land where they say "zed" for the letter "z", "aboot" for "about", "oot" for "out". It is a little surreal over here. The picture above give you a big clue about where we are today. Everything is in french as well as in english. I get to practice my french and Johnny is learning french. Today we head toward one of the countries best known tourist attraction.

This beautiful site were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation and water from the newly formed Great lakes carved a path. This site is also a valuable cource of hydroelectric power.

We had a great time here. Besides one of the most famous site there are so many tourist attractions to see. There is one of the largest ferris wheels in Canada, which we weren't about to try because it was windy... yeah windy. We had a great time here.

Day Three

We had a late start today, the next stop is just over a hour away. And today we make two stops. It's great going to all these restaurants. Johnny has his ordered ready to go as soon as the waitress comes by, it's always the same thing..."May I have of fries please?" We can go to a fine restaurant or McDonalds it is always the same order.

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The first stop is an European settlement which was begun by French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac who founded a fort and settlement at a site, where this modern city currently stands. Originally this place was called Fort Pontchartrain du __________ after the Comte de Pontchartrain. The British took control and shortened the name to what we have today. One more clue...in 1889 this famous automobile mogul built his first factory here.

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We contiued our travel and reached our hotel and were turned away because no children under 19 allowed. We attempted to put a mustache on Johnny but the car seat he was sitting on gave him away. We just went to the hotel next door and visited the sites. This is the city where hockey originated. This city was originally known as Pesaquid. The city also had two major fires: the first on October 17, 1897 and the second on January 6, 1924 which destroyed several areas near the towne center.

The picture of Johnny shows him looking out the window at the city we were in early and from the hotel we stayed at across the river.

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Need more hints????? Scroll down ...

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The first city is known as the "Motor City"

The second city you can reach via a tunnel and they will request an i.d. to enter this country.