Hershey

When we got to the Ronald McDonald House last Sunday, we noticed that the outing scheduled for Saturday the 14th was a trip to Hersheypark in Hershey, PA! 🙂 The House had arranged for a huge charter bus to take a bunch of families to the park where we enjoyed passes that allowed us to bypass all lines. It was worth more than gold that day as we immediately jumped on rides that had 2 hour long lines! It was a lot of fun and you could tell the kids had a real blast. The weather was fantastic until we pulled up to the Ronald McDonald House. At the point we were ready to unload the bus, the sky opened up and it rained buckets. Good timing, even though many of us got soaked!

Sunday was Father’s Day, and I probably lived out many dads’ idea of a perfect day. We got free tickets to the Mets vs. Rangers game and it included an invitation to join the New York Athletic Club for a pre-game lunch at noon! Two other Ronald families got on the Subway with us and we all went to Shea stadium together. When we found our seats in the Press Box area, we were greeted with a buffet of chicken strips, hamburgers, brats, cookies, fruit, and all the soda we could drink. Our seats were indoors and right on the third base line. We didn’t have to worry about sunscreen and had plenty of room for our strollers, it was great. A day at the ballpark with my wife and boys and none of the inconveniences or expenses!

After we got back to the Ronald, I went across the street to Petaluma where they were treating the dads of the House to a Father’s Day dinner. I had the seafood ravioli, which would have been an $18 plate, and it was really good. The ravioli was stuffed with crab and lobster and there were shrimp on top. The steaks looked really good as well and they brought out a dessert sampler for everyone afterwards. They had Tiramisu, Cheesecake, and Chocolate Cake. The Tiramisu melted in my mouth and the Cheesecake was also top notch. The Chocolate Cake was a bit more bitter than I prefer, but darker chocolate lovers would have really enjoyed it. So there is your food review for the day. 🙂 Honestly, I would encourage you to support Petaluma on 73rd and 1st Ave if you come to NYC because they are good friends to the families at the House.

MANY people in NY have been asking us if our house has floated away yet. With some reassurance from Jeremy who checked on our house for us, I tell them that our basement is still dry and we’re nowhere near a river, so we’re ok. I feel for those in Cedar Rapids and especially for Iowa City where I saw a CNN reporter standing yesterday up to his waist in water on the street. I know some of our friends still have to make trips to the hospital there and the roads being closed make that challenging. Here is a picture of where I-80 was closed last Friday due to flooding:

That’s it for now. We appreciate everyone that continues to track our progress. Eli has been feeling great at night, which is a real blessing. I will chalk that one up to everyone being so faithful to pray for him. Happy belated Father’s Day to all of you dads out there as well. Especially to those of you that are celebrating your first Father’s Day after losing a child. Take comfort from your Heavenly Father who is taking care of your baby. In truth, you were really taking care of them for Him while they were here, right?