September Labor Day

In working to get caught up a bit from the months without having a completely functioning blog - here is a rewind for the past few months.  I'll try my very best to be brief...so that I can actually catch up on all the pictures and stories of life. New beginnings all the way around :)

As we were doing a lot of things over Labor Day weekend - I decided to divide and conquer with posting the updates & pictures. Here are some of the highlights from activities on Monday (9.6) & Tuesday (9.7) while we had Nana and Papa Lord visiting us.....

It seems each day we got going a little bit later than planned or in my mind of when we would - which ended up working out as this was a vacation after all! I tend to be high-wired so in my mind had a running list of things to do and when we needed to be out the door to do them...in the end, it was so nice to have the kids just enjoying time with Nana & Papa that it wasn't like I could rush the crew. In the end - we did the high points of what we talked about, and realized that this gives ample reason to come back (as if there were more reasons needed!) and visit us again.

On Monday we planned to go for a water tour around Manhattan. Bryson needed to go into work for "a few hours" (loose interpretation - this usually means most of the day I have come to learn) - so as the morning was open we planned to go into Central Park for the zoo and maybe a playground before we needed to be on our way to catch the boat. I found out there was a free shuttle over to the Pier/waterway where we would leave, and as a bonus we could catch the shuttle on different routes around the city - lucky for us one stop was right by Bryant Park which is across the street from Bryson's work. As we left the house and got to the subway stop I realized it was already 12noon - and there wouldn't be a way to see more than 15 min. of Central Park if we were to get to the bus stop by Bryson's work by 2pm so that we could catch the shuttle over to the Pier, which would not even be easy to get in and out of the park in 15 min. so I asked if we could just go to Bryant Park and have lunch there while we waited for Bryson - even the kids were easy going and agreed. Maybe it was because I told them we'd have enough time to squeeze in a trip to Toys 'R Us as it's around the corner from the park/Bryson's work.

Win - Win!

Little Bryson has had a gift card to use from his birthday so he was very excited to go! Inside we hit the Lego section - which I don't know why I didn't get a picture. The mini-replicas of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty were awesome! We found the Lego set little B wanted, and then the boys decided to take a look at this tall and rather amazing friend....

We lunched in Bryant Park next to the fountain, and again I forgot to take any pictures....oops! Oh well, once we got over to the boat I started to make up time and snapped away ~

Jacob came up with this on his own - he kept putting his hand in the air and tucking his arm under and saying "See - I'm just like her!". This was a statue on the dock where we were waiting and between this and the pigeons the wait went pretty fast & soon we were up on the top deck of the boat ready to head out to...sea? I still don't understand where it turns from the river to sea!

The boys looking out to the Jersey side....

We were cruising along and the tour guide for the boat was talking fast and giving so many great facts about the area and what we were seeing....it was a much better tour than I thought it would be! He told us not to get too excited about seeing Lady Liberty the first time that we would swing around and see her again and a bit more close - but how can one not be excited to see her? Each time I catch a glimpse I'm in awe...
It's hard to put the pictures in order as we saw many of the sites twice - we went down the Hudson River so we saw lower Manhattan and Jersey and then swung down to the tip of Manhattan and saw Downtown/Wall St. & Batter Park area then came up the East River (which is where Roosevelt Island sits). We passed under 3 bridges and I realized they are on here in reverse order to how we saw them...but I suppose they are in the right order if you are coming back down the East River!

We almost made it under the 4th bridge - which to us is our "home bridge" as it's the one we see out our window and the one that runs from Queens over to Manhattan so how we get over if/when we drive. A new fact I learned is that the people in Manhattan call it the 59th St. bridge and the people in Queens call it the Queensboro Bridge (short for Queens Borough - one of the 5 boroughs of the city)....the tour guide said that the name of the bridge changes depending on if you are talking to someone from Manhattan or Queens - each group wanted the bridge to depict their area....funny, but true? I don't know - I didn't read anything about it on Wikipedia (link above), but I can see that happening...I'll have to pay closer attention to how Manhattan'ites refer to it in the future :)

The Williamsburg Bridge - I'm pretty sure that the tour guide was trying to pull our legs when he said that the architect from the Eiffel Tower wasn't busy and used his design for this bridge as well. Makes a nice story to the design of the bridge - but not quite true!

These are some old buildings on the side of Queens - and it struck me what a difference between the 2 sides of the river....

Queens

Manhattan....
Queens...

Manhattan....
Queens....

The 2nd bridge coming up the East River is the Manhattan Bridge - it's actually quite close to the Brooklyn Bridge, so sometimes I wonder why there are 2 bridges to do the same thing. However, I did learn that this bridge goes into the DUMBO area of Brooklyn. DUMBO? I could never figure out what the name was for, until the tour guide rattled off Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Oh - that makes sense now!

Manhattan Bridge (onto the Brooklyn side...the Brooklyn Bridge is just past it...see how close they are?!)

As we live by so many bridges and they have become a part of our NYC life, I've thought about doing a wall of bridge pictures in the apartment somewhere...problem might be, finding the wall!

Brooklyn Bridge

Looking back from whence we came you can see the 3 bridges that we went under...so if you were to travel UP this East River you would come to the 4th - which would be the Queensboro Bridge, which part of it sits on Roosevelt Island.

The first bridge in the foreground is the Brooklyn, then the Manhattan and lastly the Williamsburg in the distance. I found it a fantastic site....love our bridges!

Jacob was excited when Madeleine brought back a t.p. roll from the restroom so that he could be on the lookout, and right away 'AHOY! A pirate ship!' He was not disappointed & some day we will tell him there really aren't Pirates in NYC - for now it's his favorite little tale when he sees this ships out in the water!
The view looking into Downtown/Finance area of NYC - Battery Park is at the very end with all the green trees....

Some of the people on the cruise....US! Madeleine catching a closer glimpse at the beautiful beacon out in the water...

Side note: this jacket of Madeleine's was a great find at one of my Gifts of the Heart Exchanges that we had back in Provo. I would find some of the greatest shirts/sweatshirts that had to do with where we were going - this sweatshirt for Madeleine, there is a t-shirt that Bryson has worn this year that is a NYC shirt that lists the 5 boroughs which we all love, and then last year when I took Madeleine to Disneyland there was a jacket that had Tinkerbell on it....how lucky is that? Actually more like tender mercies and you realize even down to some of the littlest things like a shirt Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. We are so blessed...

These glass buildings at the end of the river are part of the World Financial Center. The glass building that looks like a rainbow is the Winter Garden and it has a beautiful area inside the glass that is used for free concerts as well as a mini indoor shopping area. We discovered this building last year on 9.11 as they were giving out roses on the 2nd floor to take and put around the area of Ground Zero....Papa and Bugaboo (he has requested me to call him that when he and Bryson are together - love that boy!)

I loved the look of this old building...it supposedly is going to be having a major renovation for a new green space of a floating mall. I hope that part of the old look stays - it reminds me of the Golden Era of the 20's & 30's...hopefully I got that time frame right, although probably not! I also read that it was used as a detention center for protestors during the 2004 Republican National Convention...a bit unusual, but I suppose any space that is open in the city is considered fair game....
A newer more updated Pier along the way with the Empire State Building in the background. Empire refers to the nickname of New York State, which was given due to its prominence as the new Empire, also it's size and wealth when first settled...and well, maybe the wealth part still remains for a few of those people that live places within this big city!....
Chelsea Pier - this HUGE cage is the driving range for golf. See the building behind? There are 3 floors that golfers stand on to drive the ball out to sea - er, the cage...

Which of these 3 buildings with the spires houses Bank of America/Merrill Lynch where Bryson works?
answer: Building on the right, which has a diamond shape on top is the answer! His building, Bank of America Tower is the 2nd tallest building in NYC, the 4th in the U.S. AND is one of the most ecologically friendly buildings in the world. We think he works at a great space and we really love to see it from around the city - the downside, is that we can't see it from our apartment, but perhaps if we went to a higher floor some day we would....

We got back to the Pier and shuttled back over to Bryant Park where Bryson went back to work and we went home to relax and enjoy some dinner. Bugaboo was super excited to have Papa around to help him put together his new Lego set...

The final day Papa & Nana were here was Tuesday - and technically we were up earlier than in the days past, but we were still on vacation mode. So, by the time breakfast was eaten, bags were packed and then lunch/snacks for the kiddos were packed away it was after 10:30am when we went to get the truck.  Since we would be driving Papa & Nana out to JFK airport, I thought we might as well take the opportunity to hurry in and see a few sites in Central Park, and then drive out to the airport. Finding parking is not exactly ideal around Central Park....at least the lower sections. It does happen - one just has to be patient - and I was a little patient and kept telling myself that this was going to work.  I tend to try to make all things work out, even if they seem unrealistic.