After we left New York and spent a few days in Missouri with family we made a little detour on our drive home to Nauvoo, IL and also made a trip over to Carthage jail. It was really cool being in these places because their history and significance.

Outside Carthage Jail

Beautiful scenery in Nauvoo After a summer of traveling and play we are back to Michigan AND real life. Dustin starts up his second and final year at MSU next week and I started Cosmetology school this last week. (I had all my school hours transferred from Idaho so I only have about six months left). Life is busy and will get busier as the semester goes on. But I think we are starting to see what looks like a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

So long, farwell...

We didn't think it would come so soon, but we are leaving Manhattan for good tomorrow morning. Dustin finished his internship on Friday and learned a lot from his experience at Pfizer. It finally sank in today while packing that we are really leaving and we got pretty bummed out. This has been a once in lifetime experience and we wouldn't trade it for anything. We were just feeling like we were starting to "fit in" here and now we have to leave. We were to the point where tourist asked us for directions. We loved when this happened because that meant we looked like locals and knew what we were doing!

We are going to miss:

- The food! Champs blueberry muffins and peach smoothies, great Cuban food at Cafe Habanas in SoHo, Shake Shack, Pinkberry, and a good hot dog is never too far away.

- The endless possibilities of entertainment and things to do. Broadway shows, concerts, going to new restaurants, going to the park or just walking around somewhere new.

- Our great apartment. Dustin's work definitely treated us well with a fully furnished, great place downtown

- Our maid, again another perk. We got used to that pretty fast. She will truly be missed.

- The overall excitement of this great city. The people who live here love it and the people that visit love it just as much.

- The great people we have met at work or church and being able to meet a lot of interesting people.

Goodbye Manhattan!

Finally Home...for now

I'm baaaack. It's been a busy and fun two and half weeks of traveling. I went to Seattle to spend a few days with my family and went to my cousins wedding, and then off to Hawaii with my sister and her two friends. I was sent as the "adult supervision" but I'm pretty sure I had just as much fun as they did. Maui was beautiful, warm and relaxing. Highlights of the trip included parasailing 800 feet in the air, flying over to Honolulu and staying overnight in Waikiki, multiple spa treatments, laying on the beach everyday and shopping entirely way too much. Only downsides - a few sunburns, being away from Dustin way too long, and getting seasick twice and throwing up overboard (too much information?). Anyways, it's great to be back in New York and Dustin even had pink roses waiting for me when I got home. Now all we have to do is sit back and enjoy our last week in New York City. Sad!