Oh my, how time flies!

I really did not realize that the last blog posted was when we were in New York with Ryan last spring. So here is a little catch-up blog for the summer without pictures because I am using Dan's Ipad and don't have pictures on it.
After our trip to New York we had a busy time getting ready for our family gathering at the cabin for the 4th of July. One of the big highlights of the year for us is to gather together to play, eat, and enjoy each others company. This year-unfortunately-Angie and Mike and the kids couldn't be with us. We missed them and wished they could have been there for the festivities. The fireworks were amazing as usual, even though we missed Barb and Rick Franklin and their spectacular show of fireworks because of other plans for the evening.
Next we had a visit from my sisters Simone, and Christiane. Chris's daughter Julie Defa and her husband Todd, and children Allan and JC came also. We also got a visit for the first time with Tami Dissel, our sister Marie-Jose's daughter who was sick of missing out on fun family time and left husband to get children to school and she flew up to join us for a few days. We had a great week of play during which Julie and Todd set up a new computer Dan bought for me and switched over my old files. Now if they were just closer so they could help me with the situations I get myself in it would be perfect. I don't think there is anything they can't do between the two of them.
After Tami and the Defa's left the girls and I drove to Lebanon, Ore. to visit our sister Rachelle. We had a great visit together for just a couple of days and got to know her family better. Carrie and David Franzwas and their children: Nia and husband David with baby Evelyn, Houston and Danny. What a cute group!
It was so sad for the sisters to go, but after a couple of weeks I drove to Utah and had a great time with Aaron celebrating his birthday. I stopped at Linda and Earls first and Aaron and Bree met me there for dinner and after we went to the Peach Days Carnival that is only a couple of blocks from the Harpers home. We had such a good time walking around and eating carnival food.
I helped celebrate Aarons birthday by going out to a movie and a show with him and Bree. We had a good time visiting. He has a new apartment and roommate. Both of which I approve.
I had a chance to visit with the Tuckers only for a couple of evenings. But had another couple of days to visit with Chris and Wes and Defa's in SLC. Julie had Tami and her husband Scott and two girls over for dinner. It was good to see them all.
And since the driving is so much fun I decided to just pop on over to Colorado Springs for a visit to the Adam Conlin family. Even though it was short, it was very fun and we went to 3 soccer games on Saturday.
Sunday I went back to see Chris again. Monday I went to visit Aaron again. And I drove home on Tuesday so I could rest Wednesday and watch Cami and Parker on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alea an Zack left them for the firs time to go to a good friends wedding in Las Vegas. Ashley was there with me to help (OK, Ashley is a serious baby whisperer and I was the one there to help). I would be happy to go back as long as Ash is with me the whole way.
Since I had so much fun the first time I visited Rachelle I drove on back to visit with her and her family again for a couple of days.
A short hop skip and jump over the beautiful Samiam Pass and I got to spend a couple of days with Skip and Jan Madsen. Jan and I talk, shop and sew our heads off while we are together and Skip shops, cleans and cooks for us. What would there be to not love about this situation?
Back over the pass to Rachelle for another day and home I drove again.
Fall is a bitter sweet time for me. Sweet because I love the colors of Autumn. The glorious leaves turning and harvest celebrations are so much fun. But the shortening days and worsening weather really bother me. I love to drive, drive, drive but not in snow. About any other kind of weather is ok, but in snow i turn into a little old lady driver that is too nervous to have fun.
But the weather didn't keep Dan and I from flying to Denver to spend Halloween with Adam and his family. We got into the spirit of it by helping Colleen who was in charge of the ward Trunk or Treat night. A chili cook-off, a costume parade, and games and prizes for the kids. Adam and Colleen and the boys were a group of zombies from the game Plants vs. Zombies. My job was to pack up the make up kits and zombify the lot of them Even Tommy was great and wanted to fully participate in all the ghoulish fun. Dan and I were vampires and we really got into it. All too soon for everyone we left Colorado and red-eyed to NYC to visit with Ryan for a few days.
Whew! Sorry for the long blog. It turned out to be not so little after all. But there is so much to say about this NYC trip I will need to end this blog and start the rest of the story tomorrow.
We love you all

Last Day of NYC

Ryan, thank you so much for hosting us for another week of laughing, walking, touring, watching, eating and all around fun. 
Today I am wrapping up this trip blog with a list: Morrocan, Peruvian, Italian, Texas BBQ, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Pizza, Mexican, Southern, Polish, Sports Bar, Mediterrian...these are all different restuarants and the types of food we had on this trip.  This amazes us because except for Bubba Gumps in Times Square, all these places were in a 3 block walking range from Ryans' apartment. You (ok, I) gotta love the type of vacation that lets us go from place to place and pick so many types of food.  Some were very surprising flavors, the Peruvian place had the most delectible roasted chicken flavored with a sweet cinnamon  spice mix.  Never would have seen it coming.
Oh the plans for the family vacation food are changing all the time, but this year I plan to have a couple of really different meals.
We hate to see this trip end, we had so much fun we are exhausted.  Good times!
Miss you already Ry.  Looking forward to seeing all who are coming to the cabin this year.  Love you all.
Da Mama and Da Papa

Lazy crazy Monday

When we left Ryans' apartment this morning I tried to get a picture of his window from the street.  His window is third from the top, just covered in shade.  It is on the 3rd floor of his building and is a great, east village apartment.
We had a very lazy day today.  After having breakfast (really it was lunch) in a Polish restaurant today Ryan had a conference call so he came home and Dan and I walked a few blocks looking at the shops, people, Thompson Square park, tons of street people in the park today, and general interesting things.  After a while we came back to take a nap.  Yes Nap!  Ryan went to his mixed martial arts class and Dan and I napped a couple of times.  Our busy schedule caught up to me and I couldn't drag around for most of the day.
After the class was over and we were ready to go out and about again we decided to wander around and find somewhere for dinner.
We found a fun place just on the corner of the block that Ryan has passed by dozens of times thinking he would like to try it.  It was Peruvian food and was such a hit.  Plenty of Tapas to try and Dan ordered roasted chicken.  It was so moist and tender, and was seasoned with cinnamon and lime.  Soooo good!.

For a little after dinner stroll we decided to hop on the subway and go to Union Square Park. It was so pretty walking with the sunset in front of us we couldn't resist a picture.  Of course it doesn't come close to the colors.

There was lots to see once we got to the square.  Tons of people were hanging around, talking, playing games, eating and doing some people watching like we were doing.  We found this LULU store and in the picture was a fun reflection of two buildings behind us.

What a lovely evening to be out.  How sad we are it is our last one.  We will be packing and traveling home tomorow.  Ryan will be at work. And the real world will be faced by us all. It's not all a sad ending.  I will be able to get home and kiss on those babies again!
I love you all and wish you a great good night.
Ma and Pa

Sunday in the city

Today we started off sitting on the stoop watching people on the street go by.  It is so much fun!  I love being with Ryan! I love being on vacation with Dan! I love being in New York! And this week these three things were wrapped up together, what a lucky girl I am!

 I tried to talk Dan into a haircut in Chinatown this morning, but for some reason he decided to wait until we got back to Bellevue so I could do the cutting.  He as a little afraid I think.

Out breakfast/lunch in Chinatown was a great success for Ryan and I.  We ordered way too much food and managed to eat almost all of it.  Dan would take a bite or two to try a few things, but was seriously glad he ate a slice of cold pizza left over from last night.  I love walking around the streets here.  You never know what you will find in the shops.

 We found beautiful Dragonfruit here in this corner market, and we bought enough for me to bring a couple of them home in my suitcase.

 Here we could have bought live frogs, eels, jelly fish, carp, shrimp, or a large variety of fresh fish and seafood still unrecognised in their crates.

Here is a window full of roasted ducks, chickens, game hens (maybe pigeons) and other things I didn't recognise all cooked, hot, and ready to go.

After shopping we went to see a show with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette called "How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying".  It was great!  And yes,,, Harry Potter can sing and dance.  He and Larroquette were hilarious playing off each other in their characters, the singing and dancing were done very well, and I can see why they got such good reviews.
I really wanted to see "Book of Mormon, the Musical" done by the same creators as did Southpark and Avenue Q.  It is a smashing runaway success, (as the signs so say).  But sold out....unless you wanted to pay great large sums of money to someone scalping tickets.  The cheapest tickets we could find were for $540 each ticket.  For that amount of money we will wait till fall and fly out here again and spend a reasonable amount for each ticket.

And after the show we wandered around times square for a little bit again.  Again seeing interesting people do interesting things.  Look at the face on the girls as they walk out for pictures with the Naked Cowboy at times square.  Ryan said he has been doing the same thing for years.  I think you are supposed to put his tips in...um...his boots! Yeah that's right, I said boots!

After finding our way back to the East Village we....stopped to eat again.  OK, any of you that know me know that's what I think is fun when I travel.  Eat in good places, look for good places, try unusual places, stop in odd places to try odd food, ask strangers about their favorite places, and making plans for the next place to eat. We all enjoyed the meal we had tonight.
Dan headed off after dinner to find somewhere to watch some of the NBA playoff game tonight and Ryan and I strolled around the block to buy an ice cream cone and look at a few interesting buildings as we went along.

These are pictures of two different buildings.  Beautiful vines growing on each.  But look at the size of the one growing across the front of the door on the second picture.  It must have been growing there for 20 or more years.
Such is the uniqueness of this crazy island.
Love you and wish you all a good life, good health, and good night.
Dan and Nic

Saturday's Activities

I got this picture of the stairwell of the apartment building this morning on our way to breakfast.  I am truly glad the apartment is only on the 3rd floor.  I don't think I could walk up and down to the 5th floor every day. 
After breakfast Ryan went back to his apartment to get ready for work today and Dan and I set out in a cab to visit the Museum of Natural History.  It is about 4 square blocks and 4 floors tall.  We managed to cover a good portion of it today.

These great animals were displayed in the entryway of the museum.  We bought tickets and in we went to see....

Even more dinosaurs.  One of the special exhibits were of the largest animals to have ever been on the earth and had some great displays showing how the heart worked to keep the blood pressure to the brains of dinosaurs that had long necks, and how they could digest the tons of food needed to maintain those enormous bodies on a daily basis.
Next on the list was a visit to the space and stars wing of the museum and we got information on the "Big Bang" creation of the universe.  There was a half hour film in the planetarium which made it seem like you were flying through space and time.  It was a great film. 
The third special exhibit was one on "Frogs of all Colors"   Dan wasn't so thrilled about this one, but it was very interesting and he seemed to be having fun while we learned some fun facts.  The frogs really were all colors.  The most colorful of all are the poisonous ones, of course!

After we left the museum we walked across Central Park. We did have to ask directions and change course a couple of times.  The paths loop around and cross over each other so many times it is hard to keep your directions straight.

No, we didn't walk all the way to the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.  It only seemed like it.  This was in the park and it had heiroglyphics on it. We walked along the street in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as we worked our way south and the map information says it is a mile long.  I believe it.  It will be a great stop for our next trip do NYC.

I couldn't get all of the building in one picture, but this should give you an idea of the size of the front of it.
At this point I gave out and we hailed a cab to go back to the east village to the area close to Ryans.  We found a pizza place for dinner and sat right in the window to watch people on the street.  That is always one of the most entertaining things to do in this city. And after a leisurely dinner and a sauntering walk back home we are in for an early night. 
We hope everyone has a good night. 
We love you all!
Nicolle and Dan

Oh What a Fine Day

What a beautiful day it was today.  As we left the Apartment and started walking around it was gorgeous and sunny, but if the breeze sliped by it was just cool enough that being in the shade was too cool.  It was perfect!

After having breakfast in a new place for Ryan we split up this morning and Ryan went to work for a few hours with Luke...and Dan and I headed across town to the United Nations building.

This is a fun piece of art in the courtyard of the United Nations.  It looked like an abstract earth.  The inside of it was filled with interesting layers of shine and pieces looking like locking gears.

These are two of the rooms used by the delagates of the United Nations.  The first one is the General Assembly room.  Here, all 192 member nations sit in conference.  The second picture is where the 11 member of the Security Council meet.  In fact, they met here just yesterday and it was closed for visiters during yesterday's tour.  We signed up for a tour and it was a good one.  Just enough information to be interesting but not so much that you felt like a test was coming.
After leaving there we took a cab to St Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Ave.

I love the way the inside of old cathederals look.  Graceful and strong lines run from such high ceilings and seem to fill such a large space with peace and space at the same time.  I love sitting in them and looking at the beautiful art that is in every nook and cranny. 

Our next stop was to go on past Trump Towers and on towards the Plaza Hotel where Ryan works. We had a great tour of where Ryan works and met a couple of other employees and two of Ryans bosses.  The Plaza is a old, elegant hotel and the rooms that are available for functions are definately beautiful ones.
Across the street from the plaza is the famous Manhatten Apple store to make all other stores jealous. Of course we had to do a short visit there also. The glass part you can see is only the entry way, stairs to go down  and an elevator that is, of course, glass also.  The whole store is underground.  It is a large, busy, busy, crowded place.

And after the Apple Store visit we managed to flag a towncar that gave us the second craziest ride we have had so far in the crazy driving capitol of the US. This driver scared us silly.  But managed to let us out safe and sound by Ryans apartment where we walked across the street and had a really good meal of Indian food.

After our delicious dinner we walked halfway down the block and had dessert at another Indian resteraunt that had live entertainment.

But more entertaining to us was the look on Dan's face when he tried his dessert.

With that we decided to come on home, blog and get ready for bed.  Not being quite as ready for bed as the old fogies, Ryan went to a Yoga place that is quite close for a night time class of Hot Yoga that they lovingly call "Night Sweats".  I don't know why anyone would volunteer for that.  It is just uncomfortable and crazy, but you can't always make people behave sanely.

Another busy, crazy day in New York. We love you all.

Nic and Dan

Guess What We Did Today!

But I guess I need to start at the beginning instead of at the end.

We didn't say how fun it was to see Ryan all dressed for work at the Plaza.  Here he is showing us how he uses the earpiece and mic like the FBI guys do.  It makes the communication so much easier in so large a facility. This was an evening event and he worked while Dan and I were walking around and having dinner last night.
Today we had a more relaxed day than yesterday was.  It was a little cooler and not near so humid. Dan got up (not too early) and went for a run down to the water and along the east river.  Ryan got up at the same time and left for a session of Hot Yoga.  I had the apartment to myself for a lazy long shower and got a little more organised as I got ready for the day today.
After Dan and Ryan got back and were ready to go we walked out around the block and stopped in this little place called Frankie's.  It was tiny, and we started the lunch outside, but all too soon we moved to an inside table because the shade had completely deserted us and we needed to change.

This is a picture of the lunch I ordered.  Black Lunguine made with squid ink and tossed with calamari.  It was Delicioso!  Dan ordered a meatball and sausage sandwich, and Ryan had garlic and broccoli spaghetti.  Both said their meal was the best of the three (but mine really was!).
After the meal Ryan got tickets for Spider Man so we decided not to do any more walking around and we came back to take naps and rest up for tonight.  We took a cab to the times square area and had dinner at Bubba Gumps.  It is a huge resteraunt.  I think there were 3 bus groups seated just before us and they managed to seat and feed everyone.  We had no problem eating and making it to the show on time.  Here is a picture of the view we had from the resteraunt.  Notice how many cabs are on the street.

After dinner and a short walk around the corner we arrived at the theatre where we were going to see Spider Man.  Here is a picture of my nice boys going into the theatre.

And here are my spidy wannabe's coming out!

I guess I don't need to tell anyone what a good time we had. 
It was a great show with fun effects and spidy's and badie's flying all around the theatre.  The music was good and it kept you interested watching where the action was going to be coming from at any time.  Sometimes he would be right on the railing in front of us and we were on the mid balcony.  He had a couple of landings on the upper balcony and plenty of fly-by's.
After taking the subway back to the NYU district it was just a short pleasant walk back to the apartment.  We are talking over plans for the next couple of days and will let you know how it goes.
Happy Birthday again to Luke from Gramma, Grampa and Ryan.
We love you all.