Thanksgiving in New York

Our Thanksgiving holiday was filled with adventure. We visited our son in New York City! We stayed in a fantastic bed and breakfast in Harlem. The kitchen was stocked with breakfast food. Other amenities included a flat screen TV, computer and sumptuous bed.

The manager greeted us with a bouquet of flowers and Godiva chocolate!

After getting settled in, we connected with Jacob's friend, Jini, and then took the subway to meet up with Jacob near his work. It was great to see Jacob! He was excited to show us his city. He loves living and working there. We did a lot of walking that first night. We ate dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant. We visited the beautifully renovated Grand Central Terminal and....

...saw the glowing Empire State Building.

After a much needed good night's sleep, we took photos on the front steps of our bed and breakfast....

...and then headed to Central Park with Jini to ride bicycles. We explored the whole park trying to find landmarks from the movie "Enchanted". We were amazed at the fall colors still evident.

We discovered a statue of Christopher Columbus, the Bandshell,

Bethesda Fountain and Terrace,

an Obelisk (erected in Egypt in 1500 BC and moved to the US in 1881),

the original compost pile (according to Jim),

the beautiful Harlem Meer and, surprisingly, rock cliffs,

Jim's smile,

the Ravine in the North Woods, several cathedrals....

...and stunning buildings on the perimeter of the park,

an ornate bridge,

a marionette theater (the Swedish Cottage) in the Shakespeare Garden (dedicated in 1961, the 300th anniversary of his death),

the Belvedere Castle (belvedere means the lookout)....

...from which the views of the Turtle Pond and Great Lawn in Central Park and of New York were breathtaking,

and the beautiful Bow Bridge over The Lake. A light rain started falling as we concluded our tour and made our way back to the rental place (a parking garage). What a grand adventure our bicycle ride through Central Park had been!

Lunch at a delicious bakery revived us and we continued our tour. We saw Carnegie Hall where we stepped in the foyer to let Jim sing. Now he can say that he sang in Carnegie Hall!:) We found the Metropolitan Opera....

...giant pumpkins at the entrance to a bar, and the LDS Temple.

We discovered an ancient church with red doors.

We walked back through Central Park--taking a short cut to our destination, the Apple store, to run an errand for Jacob.

It was interesting to watch the carriage drivers texting and talking on cell phones!

The Apple Store was actually underground. The entrance was covered by a glass box. I wish we had gotten a picture! We completed our errand and returned to our accommodations to prepare for a night out on the town. Our Mexican dinner was fantastic! As we made our way to the Gershwin Theater on Broadway to watch "Wicked", we stopped for photos in Times Square.

What a great way to end a perfect day. "Wicked" was FANTASTIC!

We couldn't wait to see what the next two days of our stay in New York would bring.

The Mysterious Marauder?

We think we may have discovered the mysterious marauder. The night before we left for New York, we heard cats making a commotion in the back yard. It was late, we were tired and, thinking it was cats making whoopie, we ignored the noise. Our phone rang at 11:30 pm. It was the neighbor wondering whether the chickens she heard squawking their heads off were ours. Hers were sleeping peacefully. Jim ran out to check. He found a fox dragging off one of the chickens. A quick inspection showed that the fox had dug a hole into the coop. He had dragged out both chickens. Jim grabbed the closest weapon on hand, a pitchfork, and chased the fox away. He returned both chickens to the coop. One seemed to be injured but still alive and the other already dead. Jim went back to bed.

We left the house before 6 am the next day to catch a plane wondering what had happened to our poor chickens. It had been too dark to investigate and time had been limited. Jim sent a message to our caretaker who later informed us that the fox had evidently returned and eaten one of the chickens. The other was dead. We haven't seen hide nor hair of the fox since. The rest of the chickens have been safely secured.

So Thankful for Family

The hardest part of having an empty nest is that we are so far from family! We are thankful for every opportunity that we get to spend with family members. I had the chance to take a trip to Utah the week before Thanksgiving week (while Jim was traveling in China and Japan on business) to get my family fix.

When I picked up my grandchildren at their other grandma's house, I was greeted with cherished hugs from Maggie, Nathan and Matthew. When Becca, the youngest, saw me her face lit up in recognition. She ran to me. I picked her up and got a cuddle that would melt any grandma's heart. It made my day.

Dinner the first evening was at a Chinese restaurant with three of my daughters. Since their Dad was in China on his birthday, we decided that we were appropriately celebrating his birthday. We wished he could have been there to celebrate with us! We called Tori and told her that we had a seat for her and that we would be thinking of her on our girls night out. We spent two wonderful hours visiting and laughing.

Elly dropped me and the four kids off at the library while she ran an errand. She was concerned about leaving me alone with the kids in the library for a half hour. I assured her that all would be well. There is plenty to keep one busy in the library! Little did I realize.... The minute we entered the library, the kids took off in four directions. Maggie pointed out "Mom's books" (the biggest reserved section that I have ever seen). I noticed the sign as we entered the children's section of the library reminding patrons to be respectful of the library experience of others. Becca ran to the window and started calling for mommy, at the top of her lungs. I quickly helped Maggie pick out her books and then tracked Becca down. Maggie picked out books for Becca while I helped Nathan and Matthew find their books. I chased Becca down again and then sat down to look at books with Maggie. Becca disappeared again. I found her trying to put an unchecked out book on the return book ramp. She screamed when I took the book away and tried to run out the front doors. Matthew offered to watch her. I sat down to look at books with Maggie again. I soon noticed that Matthew was pushing Becca around the library on a reading chair. Although this was not a quiet library activity both were occupied and I ignored it for a while. Soon Maggie joined the activity and the disagreements started. The time to leave had come. As I was gathering up the books, I heard Becca crying. I found a concerned librarian hovering over the three children. I think we had caused more commotion in the fifteen minutes we had been in the library than the library had seen all year! I'm sure those librarians were happy to see us walk out that door.

Elly forgot about Maggie's preschool class. The teacher called to remind us that it was picture retake day and that she hoped Maggie could come. Elly was at work. When I told Maggie it was time to get ready for picture day at preschool she wanted to know if that meant she got to wear makeup. I told her "no" but that we did need to wash her face, comb her hair and change her shirt which was streaked with the hot chocolate she had had for lunch. She let me wash her face but refused to let me comb her hair or change her clothes. Elly will remember the day she forgot preschool every time she looks at that poor ragamuffin, Maggie, in the preschool picture.

I tried to fix dinner that night. The simple meal of cheese sauce, broccoli and potatoes took much longer to prepare than anticipated. Although there had been several interruptions, I couldn't figure out what the problem was! To add to the chaos, the kids decided to start playing in the kitchen to remind me that they were hungry. Elly came home and saved the day. She recognized that the burner was malfunctioning. After changing burners and still getting a watery sauce, she deduced that I hadn't put in the full amount of flour after doubling the recipe. Of course, trying to add the extra flour resulted in a lumpy sauce but I was supposed to be walking out the door to make my appointment with Cami and everybody was starving. We ate the lumpy sauce and the overcooked broccoli and potatoes. I left the house wondering how I ever fixed dinner with five hungry children at home!

I was happy to drop Brian off at the car dealership to pick up his car that had been repaired but was late meeting with Cami for her birthday shopping spree. Happily, Cami and I discovered that the store didn't close until a half hour later than anticipated. We had plenty of time to do all of our shopping and had a great time doing it. I spent a short night in Cami's apartment before returning to Elly's home the next morning.

I promised to take the girls to play on the merry-go-round while their mom ran errands. Matthew decided to join us. Nathan was not in the least bit interested. The traffic was slogged down by construction and it took us forever to get to our destination. We arrived about lunch time, decided to take a quick ride and then return home where we were to meet Elly before she went to work. Thankfully, Elly joined us at the mall. We had time to not only ride the merry-go-round but to eat lunch, play on the playground and do a little shopping as well. We had so much fun together that Matthew couldn't wait to get home and raz Nathan about missing out on a fun activity.

Later, after Becca's nap, I took the kids to a warehouse filled with trampolines. How crazy can a grandma be? I managed to get a few pictures but soon realized it was practically impossible to take them and keep track of the little girls, too.

I honestly can't say who was more exhausted by the time we left that place an hour later but I'm thinking it was probably grandma.