It's up to you, New York, New York!

We decided to go to visit my brother and SIL for the 4th of July weekend, which also happened to be my brother's birthday. He lives in Hoboken right on the Hudson river and as luck would have it, it was the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's travels along the Hudson River so the fireworks took place in front of my brother's apartment building on the water.

One of my favorite things about going to the NY/NJ area is trying lots of amazing restaurants! We went to Cucharamama, a south american tapas restaurant and had the most amazing tamales I've ever tasted. Not that I'm a tamales expert - but it was freaking delish! The weather was perfect while we were there, so we spent a lot of time walking down the main street browsing shops, eating Rita's and catching up. Since Ian has a major sweet tooth, we also checked out Crumbs, which is known for cupcakes! We tried some while we were there and even brought some home - so good! We tried oreo, grasshopper, caramel apple and peanut butter cup.
Then came the fireworks. Ian and I had never seen fireworks together, and I have to say, it was worth the wait. These fireworks were the best I've ever seen! We set up shop on the balcony and took lots of pictures. Here are pictures from our visit: