USS Winston S Churchill (DDG-81)

So this post is a couple of weeks late. But, hey, at least I'm finally posting something. We had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend, which was kicked off on Saturday by a ship tour of the USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81). The gang included Alec, his parents, his aunt Ursula & Uncle Bart, and our friends Dianne, Leslie, Ruth & Richard & Richard's girls, Allison & Jessica. Those last four aren't in this picture, as they were off touring another ship at the time we snapped this little beauty. Touring the ship was awesome, as expected. It really gave everyone a good idea of what life for some of America's finest & bravest must be like. I think everyone walked away with a renewed appreciation for our soldiers and sailors. One of the best parts of the tour was our very special tour guide, LCDR (SW) Steve Murley. It was awesome to see Steve again. He's so enthusiastic! He was very kind to give the gang a private tour of the ship.

After the tour, the younger crowd all went to lunch at a great little restaurant in Manhattan called Vespa. The food was very fresh & the backyard garden made me feel like we were in a special secluded little hideaway.

After lunch, Steve & the girls went for a tour of Dianne's fantastic new office in the Time Warner Center building at Columbus Circle. (Alec had to go get his haircut - too bad!) What a view of Central Park that girl has! Amazing. She's a very lucky woman.

That evening, Alec & I had dinner with Alec's family (those mentioned above) and good friend Bob Surace. It was a fantastic day, all around.

Di had so much fun that she and Deb met up w/Steve the next day for the sunset ceremony on the USS Wasp (LHD-1), which is an altogether different kind of ship. I would have loved to have gone, however Alec & I were off celebrating our first anniversary.

We spent the afternoon at the La Prairie Spa at the Ritz for couples workouts & massages - which makes for very happy munchkins! Alec & had a wonderful dinner at Bar Americain (Bobby Flay's most recent of his NY restaurants - which I'd been wanting to go to for over a year now). We stayed the night at the Ritz & then came back north the next day to play tennis at the Mount Kisco Country Club.

So... life ain't bad! Hope your weekend was as much fun!