On Loan To NYC: The Dyers take Manhattan

The Dyers are visiting........where do I start.......

We are very lucky to have Mummy and Daddy Dyer and Joanne and Gary over staying with us this week. 8 of us in a two bedroom is certainly cosy but were all coping ok and Ben and Katie are loving having them over, although Katie not too taken to Gary (screamed every time Gary went near her) but have made friends now and is happy sitting in his lap.

As anyone who knows the Dyers knows where ever they go, carnage ensues..... so lets start at the beginning:

On arrival to Newark Airport queue jumped through security and customs with Freddie leading the way in wheelchair, Noreen following behind with her broken wing and Gary and Joanne bringing up the rear. Look out U.S.A. Lou and Andy have arrived....

Taxi to Hoboken then took a wrong turn and ended up Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel, quick detour later and they are back in Hoboken and Ben goes crazy to see them with his wee face lighting up and the hyper scale turns up to 11.

Next up was a run in with the law as Freddie and Noreen are nearly arrested for J-walking in their first outing in Hoboken. The conversation went something like this:

Officer: What are you doing? Why would you try and cross the road when the traffic light is green?
Freddie: Im sorry i didnt realise it was green. Do you want us to go back?
Officer: Well your in the middle of the road now!
Freddie: OK then ........potters on across the road

Next day we order a mobility scooter for Freddie and head over to Bens football at Maxwell Park, Noreen and Freddie order a taxi over......taxi goes to wrong Maxell Park. Luckily another taxi pulls up and they jump in that and get to the correct park. $12 to go 1 mile, cant beat it. While we are there we get a phone call to see the scooter has arrived and Gary nips over to meet them and get it. Gary comes zipping down the road on it (much to his own embarrassment!) and hands over the reigns to Freddie. This is where the real fun starts....

After football we head to Gigis for brunch and on the way there the Scooter starts beeping....then stopping, then goes again, then stops, then goes, then stops....in the middle of crossing Washington Street at which point Andy Pipkin gets off the scooter and starts walking! Gary has to drag the scooter off the road and we eventually make it to Gigis for Brunch.

After lunch we head back to the apartment with multiple stop starts on the way and in the end i end up dragging the scooter back on its transport wheels and the bloody thing has died. We figured they hadn't charged the battery properly before giving it to us so we stuck it on charge and hung around the apartment for a while. We later head out for dinner and afterwards the lads headed out to a bar for a few drinks during which Freddies tells some American girls that hes a widower...... followed by later zooming up the street, away from Gary and me, to 2 different american girls to offer them a ride home on the scooter. They gracefully declined and we "assume" the scooter is back firing on all cylinders........big mistake....

Next day we head over to Manhattan via the ferry and the fun starts. We miss the first ferry by 2 mins and then on the next ferry Freddie (and the scooter) get stuck getting through the 90 degree turn onto the ferry and then some crazy attempted manoeuvring on the ferry, with us having visions of the scooter taking off and flying into the water via the emergency exit at the back of the boat, with me eventually having to lift the scooter and turning it 180 degrees so were set to get off.

We get off the ferry and start towards Times Square......we make it 5 blocks and the scooter dies, trouble. We go to the nearest bar at Port Authority Terminal where they rearrange the bar and move an oak barrel to allow us access to a power socket, scooter on charge...

After a couple of hours we start off again towards Times Square. Of course we didnt factor in the environment protest with 300,000+ protesters all marching through Time Square! Place was rammed but eventually we got across and into the square much to Mickey and Minnies delight, and of course the naked women :-)

Now we decide to go into Toys R Us. After 10 mins we'd lost Noreen and she had lost us. After this the great glass elevator journey began. Freddie decides it would be best to reverse into the elevator so he comes out forwards. Makes sense, but there were 2 elevators and we were on the 2nd floor of 3.

He reverses up to elevator 1, it stops but its going up.
He reverses up to elevator 2, it stops but its going up.
He reverses up to elevator 1 again, it stops but its going up.
He reverses up between elevator 1 and elevator 2, 1 stops and its going down, he gets in
Somewhere between the 2nd floor and ground floor (i dont know how) but he comes out facing backwards! Gary and Joanne are in fits of laughter at this point, thankfully Leigh and I had gone down first!

Next up we decide to head back to Hoboken so Gary and Joanne head off to do some shopping and the rest of us head back....or so we thought. We get to the Path station at 33rd street and theres a track fire so the Path is closed. We start heading towards the ferry and the scooter starts dying again. Into another bar for a charge. Unfortunately though we soon realised that on a Sunday the last ferry was at 20:10, we left the bar at 19:30 and made a rush for it, half way there the scooter starts dying again, we miss the ferry by 5 mins. :-(

Next up is a taxi and with he Path out its a 30 min journey to go 1/2 mile into the Lincoln tunnel. We eventually make it home about 9.30ish, knackered and straight to bed. What a day!

Next day a replacement scooter arrives and Katie shows Granda how to drive it

Followed by a trip to the park where they take over the pirate ship

After that everyone was very tired....

Gary and Joanne decided to head up to Boston for a couple of nights at this point and had some shots while they were there, back in Hoboken the crazy couple go shopping.

Leigh and Mummy doing their fair share of drinking at home

Laziest swing pusher ever!

Your interupting an important meeting Mummy!

At this point Leigh and i managed to escape for a night on the town to celebrate our 3rd anniversary (yes only 3, seems like much longer!). We headed over to Manhattan and went for a lovely couples massage, followed by booking into our hotel at World Trade Centre. Before heading to the Meat Packing District for a meal in Catch we had a dander around downtown Manhatan and found some cool shops. After dinner it was out for a few drinks in the very trendy TAO (no ive never heard of it either but apparently its quite cool (although i found it a bit pretentious)) and then to The Bodega for the most horrible cocktails ive ever tasted. After a lovely lie in on the Sunday we headed back to the Meat Packing District to browse the Chelsea Market and then walk the Highline. Highline was lovely although a little busy. Still very nice all in all. Pics below sum it all up:

Our spa

I WANT YOU.......to be taller.....

View from the hotel

Brooklyn Bridge

Back to Front Street

Sashimi

Lobster

Cant spell Enniskillen!

After Dinner fireworks

Tao

Our night out for our Anniversary in Catch in Meat Packing District

Our reserved seat (stolen)

Leigh and Ross immortalised in iron

We seen Stu and some buddies

The Highline

The Dyers decided to brave Manhattan one more time and went in search of a cobbled steet with some shops on it.......yes that was all. Needless to say 6 hours of walking later they still hadnt found it but had a lovely lunch in Greenwich Village instead.

Lunch in Greenwich Village

The happy couple

NEW TOYS!

Swing slaves

Racing!

Mummys happy cos my hair clips finally fit!

A picture says a thousand words!

Unfortunately though all good things must come to an end and it was an emotional fairwell on their last day (and for the next few days as well in Hoboken). They are crazy and 8 in a 2 bedroom was a squeeze but we wouldn't have changed it for the world. It was lovely to see our family again and will sorely miss them now they have flown home.....although the carnage doesnt end here.....

The Dyers left for the airport with plenty of time for the flight, had a nice glass of wine in the airport and boarded the plane.....unfortunately the plane had other ideas and they were left sitting on the tarmac with no aircon for 2 hours until they were told the flight was cancelled and they would be shipped to a hotel to get a flight the next day. Of course that would all be relatively normal but this is the Dyers were talking about. So while they are sitting on the plane Joanne looks over and sees Noreen holding a backpack and asks her whos is that to which Noreen replies "I thought it was yours......" oh dear god....... They notify the stewardess who takes the bag and asks the entire plane is it theirs........its not........no one knows where the bag came from and who owns it.......we still havent heard this entire story in full so watch this space for exciting updates about Noreen the drug mule!

We'e all really looking forward to my Mum and Dad arriving in 2 weeks time (they are currently sunning themselves in Florida at the minute) so are counting down the days until then although have been ensured it will be a lot less of a crazy affair and i dont doubt it!

For now though ill leave you with some nice pics: