Atlantic City--Ghettofabulous Vacation

A few weekends ago, we went with our amigos the Stevenson's to Atlantic City. You know, the Las Vegas on the East Coast but with a beach. Why Atlantic City since none of us are gamblers? Well it's one of the cheapest places to get a hotel next to the beach around here and relatively close. So there you go. Ghettofabulous vacation it is. 

Where we stayed at was about a block away from the boardwalk. We got there Friday night and walked up and down. There's a little carnival type thing where you can do silly rides and games for ridiculous prices. 

Saturday morning I went for a run on the boardwalk (so much better than a smog filled bridge!), we had breakfast and then we went to see The Dark Knight in Imax (awesome!). When we got out it was pouring rain, so we went back to the hotel and took naps/waited it out. Then Ashley and I had to hit up the outlets. There was definitely some damage done. 

That night we went to the "best buffet" in town and went crazy with the food. This buffet had crab legs--that's how you know it's a real classy joint : ) 

The next morning we got up, checked out, and walked around the boardwalk. It was nice weather again, but we didn't want to go out to the sandy beach when we wouldn't be able to clean off for the long car ride home. 

So we walked around and then sat and ate ice cream and funnel cakes while we chatted the morning away. 

We then started our drive home which included a 30 min detour to find a Chick-fil-a only to remember once we pulled up that it's not open on Sundays. Sad trombone. But it was a fun and relaxing weekend and nice to get out of the city with friends!

Take me out to the ball game...

 We got to go to a Yankee game a while ago. A couple of Dan's friends have season tickets and they were out of town for the game. We were the lucky beneficiaries.

 It was a perfect "Maddie baseball game." Meaning, weather was decent, game went quickly (around 2.5 hours I think), I got garlic fries, and we won.

And Dan thoroughly enjoyed himself of course.

Dan's Mini-Tri

Hello all of Maddie's blog-stalkers!  I'm here, making my blog debut as a guest blogger, to report on my mini-triathlon race on July 29th, in my hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut.  The race began at 6:30 AM at Tod's Point.

Honestly, I really didn't know what to expect.  I haven't raced competitively since my Glenville Elementary School 5th Grade Field day three-legged race relay.  (Go Team Gator!)   I kinda trained.  I ran a little and biked a little.  But I didn't swim, because I didn't have time to go out to the beaches here in the city.  So I was pretty nervous about the whole thing.

Here's the deats:

Prep: I had an old gift card and I bought pair of really nice triathlon trunks.  I don't know if the investment was worth it, but it made  me look a little more legit nonetheless. I also got a pair of googles from target (great pick up!).  But game day, I showed up and I saw full body wet suits, Olympic-grade googles, and aerodynamic bike helmets that look like they're right out of a Sega game. I saw energy drinks, beverages, Camel Baks, and various ways to hydrate yourself.  Surveying all this opulence, I thought one thing to myself: Welcome home to Greenwich, CT.  However, I had two things NO one else had the cojones to rock: A "USA" temp tattoo on my left calf, and a shark one on my back left shoulder.  ROAR!  Who needs to look like Megaman when I look like this!

 

Swim: We waded into the water (low tide), being 29, I was in the first group comprised of the 29 and under group with the "elite" racers.  Needless to say, I had this Sesame Street song stuck in my head as I looked over the field.  As we got off I'm pretty sure I pulled a triathlon faux-pas: I rocked the breast stroke while everyone else was doing the crawl.  I must have kicked about 15-20 people as I used my sweeping frog kick and arm stroke.  Whatever, haters, that's my stroke.  I don't care how much space it takes up.  Eat my foot!

Transition #1: I was pretty worried here.  I wanted to make sure I was dry before I hit the bike because, honestly, I didn't want to chafe.  I thoroughly dried myself and then thoroughly doused myself with Gold Bond Medicated.  (Mid way through the bike I stood up and let the wind blow down there and I was immediately relieved!  Great investment!)

Bike: I borrowed my friend's bike (Ginormous shout outs to Casey Manrique Gonzalez!).  This thing is sweet.    It's super light and made for triathlons (I'm not really sure what that means, but I believe it).   Palmer Hill Road is a brutal hill towards the end of the leg and because was using bike that must be half NASA, I was passing bodies left and right.  To be honest, I wasn't really pushing myself throughout the race, I was just taking it in.  There was a guy that kept passing me going downhill, and then I'd pass him going up hill.  We went back and forth for a while until I passed him for good around Innis Arden Country Club with about 2 miles to go. (Deuces!)  

 

Transition #2: Legs = Jello.  I started running right after the bike and I needed a couple dozen yards to get my legs under me.  Also, seeing my mom and my wife was pretty cool.

Run: I was listening to two podcasts from the Grantland Network during the bike/Run.  Then, half way through my run, I switched to music.  I repeated one song because of its power.  This may take you back a bit, but I downloaded it after catching a small clip of it from the Opening Ceremony.  Go ahead.  Try to listen to this after 17 miles of pushing yourself and don't get totally amped.  That's about when the endorphins kicked in.   Bodies. Got. Passed.  The amount of trash talk storming in my mind was both obscene and gratuitous.  I was on another level.   That's when it got real fun.  I passed a greenwich time photog at the far point and gave him my serious face.  Seriously, I could not have felt better until.....

the sand.  Brutal!  I couldn't believe they would finish on that!  Really?!?!?  I trudged through--i felt like Frankenstein with every step was more of a clumsy stomp--and got myself to the finish line. Again, seeing Mad and my mom was heartening and gave me a last bit of push.

I'm not too pleased with my time of 1:51:36 but I finished, and finished strong.  I know I can shave some minutes off that.  So there's hope for the future.

Obviously, I couldn't have done this without Maddie so I am so grateful for her love and support and I'd like to formally invite her out next year.  Whadya say, Babe?

Updates

It's summer time and I am just too busy/lazy to update. But here's a super quick run down of what's been going on:

--Dan got a job at a new school where he'll be a 6th grade science teacher focusing on formatting the class within an ESL framework. He's very excited to go to a new school and to be working with his new principal. I am very excited to hear about the science experiments. 6th grade science is the best!

--With Dan's new position, it means that instead of moving out of the city next summer like we'd planned, we'll probably be leaving in 2 years at the earliest. I'm mostly okay with that other than the fact that all of our friends are leaving and I'll have to make new ones. I'm not good at friend making usually...

--We watched Olympics non-stop and now that they're done, I don't really know what to do with myself in the evenings...

--Dan did his first mini triathlon and was awesome! Full post on that coming soon.

--I went to see Bring It On The Musical on Broadway with my Ashley friend. It was amazing, I highly recommend it!

--We saw our first live Yankee game of the season

--I started training for the Fresno Half Marathon (running it Nov 4, everyone in Fresno should be there!!!)

--Went to Atlantic City with the Stevenson's for a ghettofabulous vacay. Full post later.

--Dan just got back from a week at Scout Camp. He loved it but is real excited to be back with adults for a bit.

That's just a little of what we've been up to. We're trying to live up the summer until the last drop is gone.

Governor's Island

For my birthday, we went with my amiga Ashley out to Governor's Island. It's a little island off the tip of Manhattan and it's shaped like an ice cream cone. It is this magical place full of empty buildings, food carts, large outdoor art and perfectly flat bicycling paths. And it was absolutely gorgeous on the day we went. 

We of course got bicycles. Some day when we move to the suburbs, I want a bike just like this. With only three speeds and you peddle backwards to break. Perfect!

We took the bike path around the island and had lots of gorgeous views.

The bike had a bell= necessary on any future bikes.

Ashley pondered the sea

I hung out again with Lady Liberty--I think this is three weeks in a row now!

Dan said silly things while getting extreme closeups.

Tender NYC amigas times.

Dan-o looked super cool riding around with his matching sunglasses

Old castle building thing

It was an absolutely perfect way to spend the day I turned 26.

3 years part II

Since our anniversary was on a Wednesday (so romantic), we went out on Saturday night for our legit celebration. I saw on a random blogger about going on a sunset cruise through the Classic Harbor Cruise line here in the city. We stopped at Chelsea Market and got some delicious lobster rolls and Jacques Torres cookies to munch on picnic style on the boat and headed up to Chelsea Piers.

Then we boarded the boat.

And started sailing around Manhattan

That man of mine was lookin mighty fine!

We got to see the lady again

And enjoy some romantic time, which was only interrupted by the hilariously loud and drunk group we happened to be sitting next to.

Yet again, another highly recommended activity in NYC!