Lady Liberty

One of the main things that I wanted to do in NYC was to see the Statue of Liberty.  I floated right by it when I was there 21 years before, but I wanted to get closer, so I made sure to get the tickets for it before we left for NYC.  I loved the ferry ride over there.  I always love a boat ride, and the views of the city were amazing.  

 Mike was surprised at how manly Lady Liberty is.  He was very disappointed in her lack of lady like attributes.  What a dork...but he does have a point.  She isn't very feminine. 

 Mike and I walked around on Liberty Island, and I went up into the pedestal on my own.  We had to go through security and I couldn't bring my camera bag up there.  Mike valiantly offered to stay on the ground and wait for me :).  There were 354 steps.  I didn't have a ticket to go into the crown, but I got really close!  I thought the whole thing was really cool.

I thought of the kids several times a day throughout the trip.  I took a picture of this penny because I saw it on the ground and there wasn't a cute little Nate or Jason to dive after it.  I picked it up for them and planned to tell them where I got it.

I loved seeing the pieces of the old every now and then.  They have tried to keep things looking nice everywhere, but there is evidence of the old stuff here and there. 

 Inside the visitor center, they had a replica of Lady Liberty's foot.  I thought the kids would like to see how big it is in real life.  And how cool it is that the copper can turn such a beautiful shade when it's outside.

 While we were waiting for the ferry, we saw that people had flipped coins into this trough type thing that ran around the bridge.  I gave Mike the penny that I had picked up and he flipped it.  He missed the trough, which makes me think that someone could probably come up with a lot of cash if they dove down there looking for it. 

 The ferry took us to Ellis Island next.  I was really looking forward to that part of the day.  I have read several books that discuss the Island and I love learning more about that part of history.  I was surprised to know that immigrants went through that area until 1954.  It made me want to research my ancestors to find out if they were processed through Ellis Island.

We went on a self guided tour with these head set things that told us the history of each room.  This picture is of the main hall.  I imagined the awe that it would inspire as people came through and saw that big room after spending weeks and months on a boat. 
We walked around that building in awe of what people sacrificed to come and live the American dream.  I am very grateful for the life that I live because people dared to make a better life for themselves and their posterity in America. 

Day 2

We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express, Times Square.  We thought the 30th floor was awesome, until we realized that it takes forever to get up to our floor on one of the two elevators in the building.  They were seriously sketchy.  Everyone would wait so long that when one opened up, they'd cram on there like a bunch of sardines.  On our first night, the elevator got stuck between two floors.  The power was down and none of the buttons were lighting up.  I was starting to panic (as I was crammed in so tight I couldn't even move).  Mike saved the day when he shoved the doors apart and discovered that he could re-set things that way.  I really didn't want to get back in it after that.  Ugh.

Anyway, here's the view from our place.

That first morning, we bought a metro pass and rode it to the site of the twin towers.

I didn't realize that when they came down, they took 7 other buildings with them.  So there are lots of new things to replace all that was destroyed.  This picture is of One World Trade Center.

There's also this cool building with glass everywhere that houses an underground mall.

This is the memorial for one of the towers...

The symbolism of the water going down into a deep abyss is heavy and sad.  It was surreal to see the place now.  I was there, on top of one of the towers 21 years ago, and it was crazy to see how much it all has changed.  It was a sobering experience for sure.

They put flowers in the names of the people who died there when it is their birthday.  I took a picture because this woman shares my name.

This survivor tree was pretty cool.  It was the only tree left standing and they took it to another place to see if they could nurse it and ensure its survival, then re-planted it in 2010.  It was pretty cool to see.  A kid got in trouble for reaching out to touch it while we were there and I couldn't help but think that Jason and Nate would have been trying to climb the thing if they were there.   

The Sphere was also near the twin towers and even though it was dented and scarred, it holds a place of honor there now.

I loved looking up and seeing so many copper building tops throughout the city.

This cemetery is just across the street from the site.  It's in the courtyard of a church that remained standing that day.  I don't know why I didn't get a picture of the church. 

After walking around there for a while, we went to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across. 

There were spectacular views of the city from there.

I loved the lines of the bridge.  I could have spent all sorts of time there photographing it all, but there were tons of people and Mike was starting to get hangry.

I still can't believe that they could build something so amazing in 1875.

We hopped back on the metro and rode to the end of the line.  We had tickets to get on a ferry to see the statue of liberty.  We were a bit early, so we walked up to Wall street and saw what there was to see there.  We had lunch in a deli and that helped cheer Mike up. :)

I loved seeing the old architecture in the middle of the new.  This church was pretty impressive.

I got pictures of some of the stuff that we saw, but by the time we got to the fearless girl statue by the bull, we were booking it to get to our ferry and I didn't fight the crowd.

I liked seeing the old gravestones.  Some of them were so old that the engravings were gone completely.

Next up...the statue of liberty...

Welcome To New York!

When Mike and I were first married, I used to tell him that I wanted him to give me a box Bronco for my 40th birthday.  Then, they got "cool" and everyone started to buy them up and they became super crazy expensive.  As I approached 40, Mike asked me if I really wanted the Bronco and I reluctantly told him that it wasn't practical (it would never fit the whole family).  Even if we bought a junker and fixed it up, we'd be in it more than a new car, so I said he didn't really have to get me one for my birthday.  We decided to go on a fun trip instead.  He told me I could pick anywhere.  My initial thoughts were to go to Europe.  But, then I remembered that we have kids...and Mike has a job.  It's almost as practical for us to jet off to Europe as it is for me to get a box Bronco.  

I thought of all the other fun places to go, but even as I thought of all my options, I kept going back to New York, or D.C. in the fall.  We settled on flying into New York City and driving to Pittsburgh to fly home from there.  It ended up being one for the books.  We had such a great time. 

We started out our day on October 17th.  We got on a plane and, after a stop in Denver, ended up at LaGuardia at 6 o'clock that evening.  

Mike had accumulated enough hotel points that we were able to stay in a hotel just a few blocks from Times Square.  So, we got settled and went for a walk into the city.

It's crazy how it can be dark, but as soon as you approach Times Square, it is as bright as day.  

We walked around a bit and looked for a place to eat.  We ended up just finding an Italian place a few blocks from our hotel.  

Mike was a bit overwhelmed by all the people, but he did okay.  We walked around a bit and took in the sights, and then settled in at our hotel.  It was a great start to the trip.

Silly Socks

I didn't take many pictures of red ribbon week, but I did have this one of the kids heading out for pajama/silly socks day.  I love elementary school!

Conversation with Jason...

Jason:  I love you Momma!

Me:  I love you too baby boy.

Jason:  I just love you so much!

Me:  I love all of you.

Jason:  You mean all of us?  Even Sam?

Me:  I meant that I love every bit of you, but yes, I do love all of you too...even Sam.

Jason: But how do you love Dad?  He's really big and kinda not handsome.

Me:  (laughing, laughing, laughing...and laughing still).

Bok, bok, bok, bok...(you know...the sound a chicken makes!)

Allie cracked me up when she came out of the piano room looking like this...

 I guess she had been having chicken races with her friends.  I thought it was pretty great. 

So Far Behind...

I was already really far behind...I was posting things from June.  I still want to post about all the months between then and now, but I've got to start somewhere, and I think I'll just start with now.  I'll post the other stuff too, but it will be slow.

Anyway, as I looked through the pictures I've taken recently, they are few and far between.  Mike woke up on Saturday and stared at the same spot on the ceiling that has bugged him for 15 years and decided to change it.  When we first moved into this house, we painted the whole place ourselves.  The vaulted ceilings were hard to reach and Mike didn't do a great job on the lines in our bedroom.  I had been tasked to do the edges, but I couldn't reach that spot, even with a ladder.  Mike did it and it was pretty sloppy.
A little while ago, Jake fell off our bed when he was wrestling with Mike and his foot put a hole in the wall.  All that, combined with a rainy day, meant that it was a great time to paint the room.  I had planned to make applesauce, but I got roped into his project instead.
We planned to do a gray that was nearly white.  It was a drastic change from the darker green that we had for 15 years.  The drying stages of our new paint were horrible!  Both, Mike and I hated it and were just sure that we were going to have to get a new gallon of paint to fix it again.  Mike said "this is like rolling depression on the walls."

Here he is, with a ladder that is tall enough to fix the ceiling that has bugged him for all these years.

Luckily, the "depression" being rolled on, dried into something much happier.  We both really like it now.

But, as we all know, when Mike starts a project like this, it doesn't usually end with just one thing.  We went shopping for carpet. The sales lady convinced him that now is the time to do the whole house.  Not just our room.  So, we've got some furniture tetris and deep cleaning in our future.  There are worse things to have, for sure. To be honest, I'm surprised we've lived this long without replacing the carpet that was here when we moved in.  It was stained in a million places and we always put it on the back burner.  I guess now is as good a time as any.  Yay for fresh paint and carpet!

After Halloween Clearance

Last year, I bought a few costumes on clearance after Halloween, and we were glad to have them.  I went this year and picked up a few more.  Nate requested the Spiderman with muscles, and you can never have too many Spidermen in one family...

 ...or Incredible Hulks...

 Jason wants to be the Hulk next year for Halloween, and he was stressed that Allie would break his costume.  It all turned out okay in the end.
His reasons for picking out the Hulk were pretty funny.  "Sometimes I get angry like the Hulk.  I also like to smash things, so we match!"

The boys like to dress up every once in a while, but if the costumes last till next year, consider this your sneak peak of Halloween 2018.