I Love New York!!

New York!

The students were bursting with excitement as we headed into the Big City. We arrived at Battery Park around 8:30 and got on the boat for Liberty and Ellis Island. We went to Liberty Island first. Many of the students seemed disappointed in the lady's height -- they were expecting it to be much taller! Jalen seemed especially disappointed -- he was expecting her to be much prettier and ... ahem ... thinner! Apparently Lady Liberty is no Cindy Crawford (maybe Cindy Crawford is no Cindy Crawford these days ... uhh Kate Moss?)

After taking several hundred pictures in front of the statue we got on the boat for Ellis Island. Here the students were able to tour the museum. As we walked up to the second floor we heard a very familiar voice over the microphone (at least the adults recognized the voice). Candace Bergen was a speaker at an Ellis Island event! Joe Namath was there speaking as well!

Some of us decided to look up our family members to see if they had come through Ellis Island -- which is why some of you received random phone calls asking for family names. Justin Coats and Michael DeMeester were able to locate some of their ancestors on the museum database. We then walked to the Wall of Honor, where we found their names engraved on the wall!

Next we headed to 5th Avenue for shopping!! This was the day they had all been waiting for! The students were able to walk up and down 5th Avenue ducking in and out of all of the stores. There was a mad rush to the NBA store (where several of your kids bought new shoes -- shoes that they refused to wear -- they might get dirty!). The girls all made sure to browse Tiffany & Co. There were a few shiny necklaces on the bus at the end of the day. And of course there was Juicy ... lots of Juicy. A few of the students decided to give some of their money to the poor that were wandering the streets, foregoing the Juicy bag for the sake of these individuals.

Brianna, along with her shopping pals, saw Tony Hawk while they were shopping! Brianna snapped a photo of him with her cell phone - there was much "oooing" "aawwwing" and drooling.

Once we had dropped our shopping bags onto the bus we walked to Time Square. Time Square is difficult to maneuver when you are all alone -- now imagine it with 57 8th graders ... it was great! I suppose New York is the one place in the world where it is okay that our students are completely oblivious and in the way while they walk ... no one seemed to notice!

While we waited in line for our show, "Shrek", Coach Pirozko and I saw Melanie Griffith walking with her husband Antonio Banderas! All my dreams came true right at that moment -- okay no they didn't, but I am pretty sure all Coach Pirozko's dreams came true!

The students absolutely LOVED "Shrek" -- it was ridiculous, crude, and hilarious; the perfect combination for 14 year-olds! At one point in the play there was quite a bit of "bathroom humor" and the sound of the student's laughter was echoing all throughout the theater! There was nothing to do but laugh with them!

The ride back to the hotel was very quiet -- except for the sound of growling stomachs! Once at the hotel Mr. Orr made a trip to McDonald's to get everyone a hamburger and fries. They all had a quick midnight bite in their rooms and dropped quietly off to sleep .. no really, this was the first quiet night of the whole trip! Ah the sweet sound of silence.