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.

Hot, hot, hot, New York!

On the evening of May 30th Dan and I were finally packed and ready to get on the Jet Blue red-eye flight to JFK airport.  We had dinner with Ashley and Ryan Osher, a delicious curried shrimp dinner Ryan cooked.  And they drove us to the airport to catch a plane to come visit New York and Ryan again.
After a night flight and a couple of hours of sleep we arrived at the airport at 6 am. It was a beautiful day and just over 70 degrees when we walked out of the airport. We were safe and sound so far, the scary part started with the taxi ride into town.  And surprise of all surprises we had a very careful and reasonable driver in this cab. 
We arrived at Ryans apartment at about 7 am and walked down the street for a lazy breakfast.  I should have started to worry when the airconditioning felt good to us already in the resteraunt, but no worries yet and a great breakfast was had by all.
We then decided to do a little touring so we wouldn't fall asleep and wreck our bio clocks and waste a whole day.

We did a little walking around town and decided to go to the Statue of Liberty.  Ryan hadn't been there yet either.  So off we headed for Battery Park.  Stood in line for about 25 minutes for the tickets and walked, and walked and walked to the end of the waiting line for the ferry.  Just over an hour, (hot, standing in the sun hour) we were packed like sardines onto a tour boat and spent 20 minutes getting to Monument Island.  What a sight it was, and beautiful monument to visit.

And oh the amount of humanity that was traveling out to see her!

Next up was a shorter ride to Ellis Island.  I texted Aunt Chris and asked her if they came through Ellis Island when they reached the US.  She said they did, "And I remember it very well.  It was an impressive sight to pass the statue and finally be able to touch American Soil."

They had a rather impressive wall of assorted trunks along the length of the main building.  I noticed that 3 of these trunks were very much like some of the ones I own.  It made me think of how it must have been to have traveled from everyone and everything you knew.  Pack all you owned into a couple of small containers, and travel to a place where you didn't know how to read, speak, use the money, or trust anyone in your travels.  Just to fulfill a hope for a better life for your family than you had before.  How brave,(crazy? determined?) would you need to be to try that with one hopeful father, one heartsick and homesick wife, and 3 little girls that barely understood what they were experiencing.  And this was at a time (1952) when there were reliable ways to send letters and pictures to keep in touch, not when it was surely the end of every contact like it was for so many earlier travelers.
With a tight throat and high emotions already we saw many pictures and read some very touching stories of other emigrants as they tried to make better lives for themselves and their families.  If any one comes even close to this part of the country I sincerely hope they all come and experience this the way I did.  I put myself in their shoes for just a moment and came away with a great appreciation for my life and circumstance as it is now.
As we left to go back to the city we were weary, hot and tired, sweaty and sunburnt, but having a very good time still.

And here is party animal Ry with a smile to prove it!
After a bite to eat we went back to the apartment where Ryan cleaned up and went out to meet friends at a pre-opening run through of a new show.  Dan cleaned up and went out to watch some of the NBA playoff game and grab a late slice of pizza.  And good old mom face planted and slept on and off for a good 12-13 hours. What a day!

Today we had a much quieter day.  We did a little sight seeing, including some interesting art installed along the L line of the subway.

How cute they were all over the stations. The little figures are about 7 or 8 inches tall and doing all sorts of fun things.  I hope I get a chance to take pictures of a few more.
This afternoon, after Ryan left for work, Dan and I rested for awhile...then we set out walking from Ryan's appartment to find a Thai resturant someone had told us was a great place to eat.  It was hot and humid and we walked and walked for almost 2 miles before we found the resturant...which ended up being only a half block from Ryan's appartment. 
We are still a little sunburnt and hot and sweaty but are all safe and sound again tonight waiting for Ryan to get off work and come back home. 
We miss you and love you all and hope you are all healthy and doing well.
da mama and da papa

Story without pictures

Here is a little catch up of the trip without pictures because the internet is sooooo slow.  Takes too long to upload pictures.
On Saturday morning we sadly left beautiful Sedona and drove out across the mountains to Snowflake,  a cute little town.  We headed there to go to the temple.  It was built nine years ago and was quite lovely.  Another little temple, but everyone was so nice and helped us get clothes together since we mistakenly thought they had rentals.
On Sunday we drove to Casa Grande where we thought we were going to go to Baccalaureate.  Instead we went to Skip and Jans house for a surprise birthday barbie for me.  Steaks, veggies, baked potatoes, and cream puffs for dessert.  Yum!
Today I ran errands with Angie and helped prepare food for a graduation party for Kylie.  Dan worked at the hotel until mid afternoon catching up on work and stake clerk work.  The party was at Skip and Jans and was real fun.  About 20 people showed up and at the very end Kylie and a couple of friends went swimming in the pool they have.
A really nice day and evening, good dinner, catching up with friends and family, what a way to spend a sunny day.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Love, love, love!
Dan and Nic

Traveling in Style

Today was a good day in Sedona.  We left our room about 9:45 and drove to Jerome to look around some more.  It is so cute and worth a visit.

After a little more than an hour we drove to Clarksdale to take the Verde Canyon Railroad trip.  It was a 4 hour total ride.  Two hours into the canyon and they moved the engine to the other end of the train, and than it pulled us back for two hours.

We had sparkling cider and a little snack buffet available on the ride.  Here are a couple of the scenes along the ride including the front and back of the train from where we were.

Here the train is going over the SOB trestle.. No it doesn't mean that! It stands for Superintendent Of Bridges, you silly peoples.

This was a lucky shot of the Verde River.  It is surprising how such a little bit of water can bring life to a whole valley.  It is not quite as much water as the canal that ran through Logan.  Only about twice the water that usually goes through Woods Creek by the cabin. 

After the train ride we drove back to Sedona and went to see The Chapel.  It is a very spiritual little place and in a most beautiful spot.  Built into the rocks it almost has to be seen to be believed how it was done.

And the views from the Chapel, how many times can amazing still be an effective to discribe anything?  The two rocks standing together are called the Nuns, and the rock formation at the left is Cathedral Rock.

On the right of this picture is bell rock, and the left in Montezuma's Castle.
We had dinner at the Cowboy Cafe again.  A fun local place with good food. and took a stroll down the street again to finish off the day.
What a good day it was. Thank you all for your texts, calls, messages, and the love I felt today from friends and family alike.  It was a great birthday and I love you all.
Ma and Pa say goodnight.

Adventure in Sedona

On Tuesday the 17th of may we rousted Ashley out of bed early so she could drive us to the Airport.  We were on our way to Phoenix, where we rented a car and drove to Sedona.  What a gorgeous drive it was.  And then we got to Sedona and found how really gorgeous the scenery could be. 
    Tuesday was a long travel day so we just went across the street to the Cowboy Cafe for dinner.  Cowboy it was, but it was good food.  Dan had a hamburger that he had to send back because it was too raw.  I had a pork loin chop with sweet potato mash, fresh steamed vegetables and a reduction of onion, apple and bacon as a finish on the meat.  You all know I love my meals and this one was good.
     Wednesday we went to check out a time share in the valley.  Interesting hour and a half.  We had lunch in a little local place and drove to Jerome.  It is a little mining town perched on a hill. Steep windy road and steep hill.  There were lots of windy little streets to walk with dozens of little shops to see.  All sorts of things, antiques, papers, books, clothes, gifts, and more.  One of my favorite stores was a giftshop that specialised in Kaleidescopes.  I spent at least an hour in there playing with their toys.  Finally Dan told me to just buy something already so we could just move on.  I found a beautiful wood teleidescope made out of black walnut and maple.  A teleidescope is a tube with a clear lens on the outside so that anything you see through it is multiplied by the mirrors inside.  Great fun to play with. On the drive home we stopped for mexican food,(ok) and ended up in our hotel early.

     Today we had breakfast at the hotel, (good!) and hit the streets for a little walking before our activity of the day.  Pink Jeep Tour.  It was so much fun.  They really are pink jeeps decked out for sight seeing and it was such a good, fun ride.  We took the Broken Arrow tour and it was hard core country four wheeling. 

Here I am on submarine rock with the tour guide, Dan.

And here was the first of the stunning views of the tour.

Dan is standing on Chicken Rock.  It was so named because the early jeep drivers would drive around the point to scare everyone in their cars.  Thank goodness they don't do that any more.

And these are the before and after shots of a 45 degree grade.  We had a quick explanation of what a controlled slide was and off we went.

This was so much fun that I can't wait until we get another chance for a ride.

We should have further tales tomorrow.

Love you all!