There and back again

We had such a great time last weekend visiting with my mom's family at the "Bogart Brunch" in Columbus. My wonderful grandfather hosted all of us at the Ohio State University Faculty Club. They were having a Santa brunch and after we stuffed ourselves with amazing food - we were showered with gifts, including some Santa cookies larger than our heads.

The trip was tiring, but worth it. And now we are back here in the promised land where it will be in the upper 60's tomorrow, so to celebrate the kids and I spent some fun time at the Gardens this morning.

Looks like we won't be sending out Christmas cards. Instead we'll aim for Happy New Year cards. How does that sound? Maybe I can get them to you before Valentine's ...............

The Perpetual Twenty - Nine

You may have guessed - or received a reply email from me - that the reason I am not posting is that our camera is once again out of commission. I dropped it. Again. Surprise, surprise.

But no fixing it this time, no sirree. Guess what I'm getting for my birthday? And have no fear, my friends, after I receive this gift I will once again post with diligence.

In less than a half hour I will be the eternal 29.

If my life is half this good 29 years from today as it is right now, I will be one very happy person.

Thanks for the memories.

Oh Christmas Tree

Every year we hike through the Christmas tree farm in search of the perfect tree. This year it was slim pickins. With the drought, etc. there were very few of our favorite variety available, but we found one that we loved and brought it home and made it our own.

Here are a couple of pictures of our adventures. Hope your holidays are merry and bright!

December 6

It's St. Nicholas Day. Did he fill your shoes with candy?

A Walk in the Park

Carousel in Central Park

The Dakota - Where John Lennon was shot.

Strawberry Fields - Central Park

Central Park - View from Top of Rockafeller Center

Empire State Building in the Foreground and Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Thanks for the memories New York!

Lady Liberty

The kiddos had fun playing in the park while we waited to get on the Ferry.

Ellis Island

The Bronx is Up and the Battery's Down

Battery Park ..... at the south end of Manhatten, where you catch a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and where this sculpture below now resides.

"The Globe" once sat in the center of the courtyard between the World Trade Center Towers. After 9/11 it was discovered in the debris and moved to Battery Park.

The now famous 9/11 Firefighters Memorial. Beautiful and moving.

Once, the picture above would have been looking directly at the Twin Towers.

Flag at Ground Zero

Wall Street

New York, New York It's a Wonderful Town

Parade Day!

Mary Lynn on Daddy's sholders

We had a great view of the balloons from the street!

But we could only see the top half of the floats and the kids were getting ansy and it was really crowded, so......

We went up to the apartment to watch the parade. The view was awesome! (better than in pictures) and we were seeing things way ahead of the TV coverage.

Here comes Santa Claus!

After some turkey dinner, we went down to Battery Park and thought about visiting the Staute of Liberty, but it was getting late and the line was long and do these kids look like they want to wait in line? Nooooo.....

Here she is from far away.

Thanksgiving - Day One

First thing, JR fell asleep on the subway

After checking out the apartment, we headed to Times Square - been there done that!

Not a very good pic, but this is the Rockafeller Christmas tree that will be lit up Wed. night.

The nighttime view from my aunt's apartment. Isn't it amazing?

The intersection in the foreground is Broadway. Hang a right and walk 2 blocks to Times Square. The next intersection up is Radio City Music Hall w/ the Rockettes. You can just make out the Christmas Tree (white lights) above their marquee.

New York State of Mind

Well........................ we brought the laptop. We brought the camera. But did we bring the cord that connects the laptop to the camera?

NOOOOOOO.

So you'll just have to wait to see our fabulos pictures of NYC. The parade was awesome, the food is great and so far we've seen a subway rat as big as our cat and someone throw up in an alley.

We've seen some other really awesome things too, but you'll have to wait for the pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll. We are thankful.


Oh and Times Square? No thank you. Central Park? Thank you, thank you.

Fall Fun

Ah Sugar

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Either way you look at it...

Paul Tibbetts died this morning. If you haven't read his biography, you should. If you don't know who he is, you should. You can read a msnbc.com article (copy & paste link below)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21578185/
The moral dilemma of his life went far beyond himself and yet was an extremely personal thing. Somehow he managed, for over 70 years to keep what society would say was the defining moment of his life, from being just that. He refused to let what would cripple most of us - tear us apart spiritually- cripple him.

It still amazes me.

Childhood

Wrigley

First day of cold and already I long for summer, so here's a look back.

There's no other place like Wrigley Field. Summer personified. Next year is THE year............

It's root, root, root for the Cubbies.