The Coyers and the City...the adventures continue...

Greetings from New York City!!! As part of the Coyer's whirlwind tour of the Northeast we are happily in New York. Having only been here once when I was 10, I was so excited to experience this city as an adult. After just a short 4 hour drive we found ourselves smack dab in the midst of this amazing city and immediately started walking around. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the financial district and for the next 2 days proceeded to walk our little feet tired in an attempt to see everything we could. We can definitely see why this is such a beloved city. Todd and I spent most of the trip daydreaming about how fabulous our lives would be if we lived here. Of course we would have to figure out how to grow a money tree but hey a couple can dream right?

Our view from our hotel window. Gorgeous.

Ground Zero. This picture was taken from our room on the 37th floor as our hotel was literally across the street. This was a very surreal experience. So many thoughts, emotions, memories and feelings come to mind when looking at this.

We stumbled across a cute bar called Mudville9 on our quest for dinner. They sold these towers of beer. We stopped.

Umm, honey the camera is that way.

Time to start sightseeing! On the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

Listening to my audio tour at the Statue of Liberty

Us with Lady Liberty

Brian and Sandra with the New York skyline in the background

Off to Ellis Island

Todd in the Great Hall

Empire State Building

Central Park

Hanging on a rock in Central Park

After walking 6 miles to get to Central Park we decided to lay down on our little rock. We were pretty comfy. The sun was out, you could see the skyscrapers through the trees, this was a little slice of heaven.

After Brian and Sandra peeled us off our rock we went on a carriage ride around the park. This was really cool.

Riding around.
Good horse.

Me and Sandra in Times Square.

Todd and I are planning a trip back asap. We are definitely in love New York. ::scampers off to plant her money tree::

The adventures of Sandra, Brian, Shannon and Todd...

This week we are so fortunate to have Todd's brother, Brian and our sis-n-law, Sandra, visiting us. Yay! When we get together it is just non-stop laughs, we have the best time. Since its summer and there is so much to do in Newport during the summer we thought it was time to do some seriously touristy New England things. We ate many things from the sea prepared in a breaded and deep fried way, drank the local brew, toured mansions, lighthouses and even did a lobster boil and sailing trip. Why is it that you seem to only discover your home when you have visitors?

Todd and Brian walking around the rocks off the Ocean Road

The fabulous Sandra in front of the Castle Hill Lighthouse

Time for lobster! I needed a few lessons on how to crack into these little buggers.

Brian and Sandra were pros


Time to sail around the harbor

Very stuffed with lobster


We are on a boat!

Hello!

cute family

watching the sunset, we always seem to make time to take pictures of ourselves though. :)

We were so lucky, we had rain the day before and the day after, this day though was perfect

The fabulous Coyers

The other fabulous Coyers

You really can't go wrong with lobsters, wine and sailing can you?

Mom's Homemade Chicken and Dumplins'

Todd's favorite meal, hands down, is chicken and dumplings. Not just any chicken and dumplings, his mom's chicken and dumplings. Every Christmas, birthday, random Tuesday, you ask Todd what he wants for dinner and this is the answer every.single.time. Growing up this was a specialty in the Coyer house and Barb would spend hours making this for her family. The kicker is Barb didn't just make her chicken and dumplings from scratch, she actually made her own homemade noodles to go with it. Yes, homemade noodles, it bears repeating. Somewhere between 3 kids, a husband, a nursing career, endless boy scout/soccer/wrestling/football/baseball events, she found time to make homemade noodles, the woman is a saint.

Since my last attempt at making chicken and dumplings ended with a perplexed Todd asking where the noodles went ::remembers his sad, confused face:: , I decided to humbly ask Barb is she wouldn't mind sharing her recipe with me and to my delight, she was happy to. :) You know a recipe is good when it is just explained to you without anything written down. Though I know that even following this recipe to a T it could never be exactly like Barb's (moms always add a little something) but by golly I'm going to try to come close.

The Cooking Components

The ingredients

The excited yet nervous cook :)


The tester and his loyal sidekick, Thunder Cat

The Experiment


Boiling the chicken, onions and carrots. I have never boiled a whole chicken before, I was shocked how easy it was.


Chicken done and shredded


My homemade noodles. I'm pretty darn proud of myself. Next time, I'm making them thinner and shorter.

Noodles in!

Chicken and Dumplings in!

Finito!

Time to eat!

The Reviews

Shan: This recipe was awesome. I think this will just get easier and better each time I make this. My noodles were a little thick and a bit too long but I can fix that next time. Thank you so much Barb, we will be making this over and over and over again and passing this along.

Todd: He was very happy. He gave me some tips between mouth fulls for next time to make it a bit more like mom's but he loved this. He ate his whole bowl, half of mine and was last seen hovering over the stove shoveling in the leftovers. I would say he liked it. :)

Thunder Cat: She prefers food of the canned variety and chose not to sample. Her loss. :)

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today my fabulous parents celebrate 35 years of marital bliss!

Todd and I are both so lucky to be products of long and happy marriages ::Todd's have been married over 40!:: and we could not have been more fortunate to have both sets as role models.

Hope you both have a wonderful day and we wish you many more happy years! We love you!

cute folks. :)

Goodbyes...

One of the hardest things about the military is that we seem to always be saying goodbye to good friends. There is just a constant flow of awesome people coming in and out of our lives as we all move around the country to where the Marine Corps needs us. The positive thing about this is that the Marine Corps really isn't that big so the possibility of bumping into these amazing people somewhere down the line is always great and welcome. Regardless saying goodbye is rough.

Tonight we had our final farewell to our dear friends, JP and Jennifer, as they packed up their car to head to a new life and duty station in North Carolina. Since these boys have been stationed and deployed together for nearly 8 years, it really is a sad day. Though this is by far not goodbye forever, their departure will not only be a change in their life but also in ours and it will be an adjustment not having them here. We wish you both the best of luck and can't wait to bump into you next time. :)

Rob, JP and Todd doing what they do best.

Jennifer and me.

The ladies and little Miss Mary

Todd and JP

Sunset from the O Club deck. Newport will miss you guys!

Happy 4th of July!!

For as long as I've known Todd, he has talked about the Coy-ay family 4th of July. Started when Todd was just a wee one they have had a tradition of going to a Rainier's baseball game followed by a fireworks show and then on the actual 4th they have a big bbq celebration. Since baseball and bbqing have always ranked high on my list of fun things to do coupled with the fact that I love family traditions, I was hoping one of these years we would be able to go. Lucky me this year the 4th fell on a long weekend and I got my wish. I love Washington and hanging out with the Coyers...we always have the best times.

Hanging out in Todd's hometown, Port Orchard.

Walking around downtown. We had the best weather, 85 and sunny. The best part was no humidity. Isn't Washington beautiful?

Sweet hubs in front of the Port Orchard VFW.

So I had to include these pictures. Though Todd left for the Marine Corps nearly 12 years ago, you would never have guessed it by the looking at his old bedroom. You would have thought he left yesterday. It looks exactly the same! The walls still have all his prom pictures, football pictures, banners and posters that all the cheerleaders had made for him, its awesome. I loved seeing this part of his life.

Yep folks, I married one of the South Kitsap High School star football players. The nerdy high school girl in me is so proud ::blushes::

Todd's Eagle Scout medal ~ I'm still crazy impressed that he did that.

Who are all these ladies? :) Apparently Todd was quite popular on the prom circuit.

Off to the Rainier's Game with the fabulous Sandra

Todd, Sandra, Brian and Barb excitedly wait for the game to start. Go Rainiers!

hello! My sis-n-law Sandra pointed out that we have developed quite a hat collection in the recent years. Invite us to a sporting event and we will probably show up in a corresponding hat. Hey we try.

Dave, Kara and Sandra on the 4th of July at Brian and Sandra's beautiful home.

What is it with boys and firecrackers? Here Brian and his friend Mark are showing us that grown professional men still enjoy risking limbs in the name of 4th of July celebration.

Dave, Kara, Barb and Don watching the fireworks. This was crazy. Brian bought a ton of legitimate mortar fireworks which totally blew my idea of home fireworks (sparklers) out of the water. It was amazing.

It was so hard to go home the next day. Thank you everyone for such a wonderful time!