Merry Christmas!

It's been a month since my last post, which I very much dislike not posting more regularly....however our life has gone from the every day busy & crazy to all out, over-drive crazy!

We are moving to SLC, Utah in 5 days - we are packing the POD in 4 days. Life right now is in a holding pattern of Christmas magic for at least two days as we enjoyed a Christmas Eve & Christmas without packing any boxes. It was wonderful to just focus on the children and this important holiday - that was the deal from the beginning of last week when Bryson came home with an offer after his trip to Salt Lake. We talked about possibilities - he needs to work on January 3rd, but should I just stay here with the children while he travels back and forth, should we all just make the move & be ready for the New Year in a new state? We decided to take the opportunity to just jump - I've realized with our moves that whatever time frame we have, we'll take the full amount right up to the end in getting ready, saying goodbyes and preparing in whatever way we can on the moving side. There was no need to wait anylonger --- we knew that this NYC chapter is closing and it's time to open a new chapter in our life.

We have many feelings about this move and change at this time - excitement, sadness, anxiousness & relief....finding a job right now has been a huge blessing and we are really grateful that this job fits so many of the points Bryson wanted.

I have more thoughts - so many more & I didn't even touch on the drama and craze that was the PTA the last two weeks. It wouldn't be the school & PTA if I wasn't living in the middle of one of the most craziest times in that organization that I have every seen! I have told everyone I am writing a book on this experience there - I think it will mix the genres of comedy and tragedy, and it will be epic. I am not kidding when I say that many of us have stood with our mouths open many times this year at some of the scenes playing out, knowing that they can't write day-time drama like this....it's too real and golden for something to think this up!

As much as I want to write now - I need to pack. I'll continue to mull over my thoughts and feelings and get them ready to write down when I have some time after our move. We aren't sure quite yet where we will be living - we will stay with my mom and look for a home to rent in that area....because true to our life this adventure will most likely pave way to the next adventure which would be that we move to Logan with this company in the summertime. We were in shock when we heard that the owner of the company wanted to relocated up to Logan in about 6 months - however, the thought has really grown on us and if that is where we are to be than we will go there.

We are grateful that prayers were answered, and doors have continually be opened as we are preparing to move. We have been blessed and we know that we are watched over. We are thankful that the Lord has been mindful of our prayers and the prayers of our loved family & friends on our behalf. Those experiences as well will be written down - until then we will be packing, moving & trying to settled and unpack in a new place.

It has been the most wonderful and definitely the busiest time of the year!

i like to ride my bicycle...

Bicycles!

Since our stay in Hawaii - the children have been begging to ride bicycles again. They love any sort of bike and ask all the time if we move can we get a bike. They ask if they can have one in our place too - but they usually say very quickly, "I know, I know - we don't have enough room". Which we don't - so that is why it's fun to find a place where we can ride together as a family & get some of the cravings out for a bike ride.

Since Bryson's schedule is somewhat open right now with work, I had a feeling he would be off today as it's the last holiday weekend in the summer. I hoped that work might stay a little calm, so that we could go back to Governor's Island! We went there exactly one year ago today when Nana & Papa Lord were in town - which I just went back to my old blog and realized I posted a 'Coming Soon' post with a few pictures & hardly any descriptions of what we did. I can't believe a year later and I still haven't finished that --- and OTHER projects!

Well, a year ago to date, we went out to Governor's Island. It's a natural island that is out in the New York Harbor - it's a short ferry ride from Manhattan or Brooklyn - you can see the Statue of Liberty close at hand from the north shore of the island (we must really have a thing for North Shores! That's where we stay in Oahu, we live on the Northern tip of Roosevelt Island, and we loved the Northern part of Governor's Island....funny to think about actually!

We did miniature golfing and walking around the island last year, however the one thing that we had told the children we would do was bike riding and by the time we got to the rental hut on the island they weren't letting any more bikes go out for the night. The kiddos have not let us forget that we need to go back to ride bikes!

We took the ferry over from Brooklyn since I was already there on Thursday @ Pier 6, and realized a ferry left right from that Pier. I also needed to take back some items to Ikea which is only about 10 minutes away from the Pier. We decided to drive and make a morning out of the errand before we took the ferry over to the island. By the time we parked (which luck is usually on my side, as I've been able to find street parking this entire week when we go out for an adventure!). When we got to the end of the Pier, the boat was just leaving and we had 20 minutes to pass until the next ferry came along. Thankfully - the Pier is full of the different playgrounds that we had discovered on Thursday - that way it was a playtime until we needed to load up.

We hoped on the ferry & some gentlemen we were standing next to offered their seats - which I gladly took, however Madeleine was rather keen to stay right by Dad as much as possible today :)

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After walking through the island to the family bike rental shack - we made our choices and then were off to explore the biking paths around the island. It was a little bit muggy outside - however look past Bryson Sr. on the first bike - and you can see a glimpse of Lady Liberty from this vantage point.

Our view from where we stopped for a snack and to refuel with water. Speaking of fuel - little Bryson saw a dial on the front part of Bryson's bike and asked him if that is where we needed to put the gas in!

This bench was over by the tire swing, and I decided to move it closer so I could watch the kiddos. Have you seen anything so clever and functional as this bench? It was so easy to move - if we ever get a backyard I'd love to put some benches like this back there.

Last year it was the Unicycle Conference or meet-up on the same day/weekend. We enjoyed watching a few tricks each time we saw them!

What a fabulous day! I'm so glad the kiddos reminded us that it was definitely time to go on a long bike-ride together as our family. We all had a really, really good time!

Until next time Governor!

Oh, the places you'll go!

Pier 6 ~ Brooklyn NY.

I love finding new places around the city that we love.  Today, we ventured down to Pier 6 in Brooklyn - it's an area that they have slowly been converting, and now there are 6 Piers dedicated to being part of the Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Pier 6 opened last summer, and I heard rave reviews about the space and it had a water feature -- -which we love water features! --- so I knew that we needed to try it out.

It has been a little tricky to actually get to many of these places to try out their water features.  We have left the previous 2 summers right when school gets out and then when we return there is a frenzy to get ready for back to school.  This year is busier than ever - PTA could easily consume my life, and some days there has been a lot going on.  Tuesday for example - we finally got out of the apartment around 6pm.  That was a long day.
                                                     





















I knew that the kids deserved a break & to help me stick to the plan of getting out on an adventure - I signed up to host a playgroup for today in our ward.  It turned out that there were only 4 of us that showed up...but those kiddos played, and played to their hearts content.

And we now have a new favorite place to go!

Thankfully one of the other moms sent me all the pictures from today, because I did not take my camera out once!  I actually had to leave early from the playdate - I had a meeting back at school with The Trio - I finally found a nickname that works for our Principal, Assistant Principal and Test Administrator - which I think she has another official title, but I can't remember what it is...and since it is obviously so long to type out all their titles I realized today I shall refer to them as 'The Trio'.  So much easier!  The amazing thing, is that my friends offered to let the kiddos stay with them, and then they would bring them back to the island.  Seriously - that is a wonderful offer and I was a little nervous about leaving them in a place crawling with children...but then I realized they would be bored if I took them back to the meeting....because in meetings you can't be as goofy as one can be walking from the park to get ice cream!!!

 The crew - not sure how she got this group picture - but look how fun!  I'm at the meeting - so these are the amazing moms that are watching my kids...and the crew of kids.  Madeleine was in heaven that another girl showed up --- whew!

I had thrown out the idea of stopping at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory - however there was another amazing ice cream shop they walked to where everyone got a nice cold treat.  What a perfect day!  The sun was out - it as warm.hot - but not too hot.  And to spend with friends --- I think we need to balance life with a few more of these outings!

Thanks Brooklyn.....we'll be back for another day in your area!

p.s. remember how I was excited to come back to consistent Internet access?  That will happen NEXT week.  The past 2 weeks we have been home, I have to sit in a chair and be connected to the router - wireless is a thing that is not working at our place for whatever reason.

I don't know who is more excited ---- me for wireless internet again, or Bryson for the Cable T.V. that he decided to sign up for --- because after all, why just get wireless internet when you can get the BYU Football games for fall season?!

Hopefully when wireless is on, and once our big school supply fundraiser is over and the kids are all in school full time (yes - all 3!  hooray!) --- I'll be back to posting more regularly.  There is still summer to post about you know! :)

On a Sunday afternoon

Central Park Conservatory Gardens

We loved this place so much when the tulips and spring flowers were out, I wanted to take my mom to visit while she was in town.....because "people with extensive grounds, love others with extensive grounds" ---or something along that line from 'Emma'.  My mom has an amazing garden in her backyard, so I knew she would love these gardens.....and I was right & even more - we all loved these gardens! 

A quiet Sunday afternoon after church we drove up here to pass some time - Bryson had to go into the office to do some work after church, and I knew this would give us the perfect Sunday activity.

I love taking pictures of these three ---- I can't imagine how many rolls of film I would go through if we did not live in the digital age.  How lucky for me that we are in the time we are, and I can rattle off hundreds of photos from one day!

These are some of the favorites from our little impromptu photo shoot - my mom and were hilarious trying to get these three situated.  I noticed there was a girl behind us on a bench reading her book while we were there for the 10 minutes or so that we took the pictures.  I wonder how much she actually read or if she was more interested in the comical people watching act that we were putting on!  I felt a little bad after we left and noticed we were in a part of the park where they requested that you are extra quiet.  Big oops!

Now I can see how it might have been a tempting choice to partake of the fruit in the Garden.  Look at that face and this yummy fruit!  Wouldn't you want to take a bite?  Hmmmm.....I should have thought in the moment and had a little Sunday lesson about the Fall of Man with Jacob & his fruit as the object lesson......

Jacob told me he was trying to get the penny out of there --- oops!  I just thought he was being cute :)

Stairway to.....heaven?!  Well, almost.

We happened upon the stairway after walking out of the garden - it took us up to a little look-out point on top of a hill that overlooked one of the ponds in the park.  The view was nice, especially with the cute boys in the foreground.  They make any picture that much better....at least I think so :)

All in all - another lovely afternoon in Central Park - and particularly our favorite place of the Conservatory Garden to spend a nice Sunday afternoon.