The Holidays

For the first time in three years the family was all together again for Christmas. Everybody was able to come home this year. Jared arrived on the 18th. Erin, Justin & Bennett arrived on the 20th. And Brett actually arrived on the 21st, even though he was supposed to arrive on the 20th too.

We had so much fun being together and getting to know Bennett.
It took a little while for him to warm up to us,
but then he was great.
Erin and Justin were even able to go away for the night
to celebrate their anniversary and he was just fine.

Everyone, including my mother-in-law
Helen, came over for dinner on Christmas Eve.
As you can see by Bennett's face,
we had chocolate mousse for dessert.

After dinner we all got out our musical instruments and played Christmas carols. It was a blast. Many of us hadn't played in awhile, so it was an adventure. We had a great time. And this time Lauren could play any song in the book. Amazing what three years can do for your skill level.

Here's a four generation photo. Erin, Bennett, Helen, and Glen.

Here's a picture of Erin, Bennett and Justin with Helen.

And here's a picture of all of us together. Wow!

These are all pictures from Christmas morning.
Here's Michelle showing us her loot.

Here's Bennett playing with what he wished were his toy.
He LOVED Glen's air compressor.
He loved the dials and knobs and was really cute playing with it.
Never mind that if Glen had turned it on
he would have been afraid of it.

Erin with the things she got from our family here.
She, Justin and Bennett had had their own
Christmas at home before flying out here.

Justin with his stuff.

Glen with Bennett.
I think Glen's best present was getting to spend time with Bennett!

Our college Freshman with his stuff.
Notice that it's all mission related.
White shirt and tie, dark suit,
new dress socks and black dress shoes.
Hair clippers from Erin and Justin
so he can cut his own hair.
OK, not too much that's fun,
but all stuff that a missionary needs.

You'll have to look closely at the picture to see Lauren's Santa gift. She has been wanting to go to Utah for a long time. She has even been saving her money, but the price of plane tickets just kept going up. What she didn't know was that she was getting a plane ticket to Utah during Regents testing week. She's holding the glass Southwest airplane ornament and the note explaining all that that she found on the tree. But not before looking all around the living room and wondering if Santa had forgotten her. She later told me that she wondered if the fact that she hadn't really had a specific thing that she wanted from Santa meant that she'd gotten nothing. But once she realized that she was going to Utah,
I think she was the happiest of all.

Brett with his loot.
One of which was an electric blanket
that he was really excited to use up in
freezing Rexburg, ID where he's going to school.

Bennett's dressed in an outfit that he got from us. What a cutie!

Somehow a tradition has developed in our family. Each Christmas season we get a puzzle. I think it started one year when we went to a Christmas party where there was a White Elephant exchange and we got a Christmas puzzle. Anyway for the last seven or eight years (maybe more) we've worked on a puzzle. They're at least 500 pieces, and we prefer the ones that are 1,000 pieces. It sits on the kitchen table (I know, a little inconvenient) until we finish it. And here we are with it done. I'd just gotten home from the gym and there was a flurry of activity as all the last pieces were quickly being put in. And then, in a flash it was done.

I'd purchased poppers (the kind from England) for New Year's Eve,
but couldn't fine them. So on Sunday when everyone was
gathered around for dinner we popped them.
Then all had little trinkets in them along with
the "cute" tissue paper crowns we all had.
Confetti went everywhere and it was a little loud, but fun.
I think made Brett a little nostalgic for England.

Everyone at the dinner table.

Erin with Bennett.
We tried to get him to wear a crown too, but he wouldn't.

Lauren and Erin.

Glen and Michelle!

Jared!

Justin and Brett!

It was so fun to have everyone at home for Christmas.
And we know that it won't happen for at least another two years
because Jared will be on a mission (we hope)
for Christmas 2011 and 2012.
So look out Christmas 2013. Hopefully we'll do it all again!

Thanksgiving 2010

Since our last posting was on Columbus Day, it's only fitting that this posting involve Columbus Circle. That would be where we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.

For the first time in many years we went to the city for the parade this year. We were concerned that it might rain, but the weather held out for us. In fact, we didn't see any rain until we were walking from the train to our car for the ride home. ***Whew!***

We drove down on Wednesday, parking on 68th St. and enjoyed the day in the city. Half of the fun of going to NYC is driving in it, getting lost, getting cut off by other drivers and trying to figure out how to get where you're going as you drive in the madness.

We walked and we walked and we walked around the city. We had lunch in Central Park in Sheep Meadow. Then we walked to FAO Schwartz, then down 5th Avenue to the Empire State Building. There we went up to the observation level. It was fun, beautiful and cold. Seeing the city at night from that height was really fun, but did I mention it was windy and COLD?

Back at ground level we walked to Macy's, then Times Square for a Jamba Juice and dinner at the Roxy Deli. For anyone going to the Roxy, plan on huge portions. Next we took the subway back up to Central Park West and 81st St. where we waited in and enormous line with a huge crowd of people to see the balloons that would be used in the parade on Thursday. That part was ok, but to anyone else making the trip, I can't say it was worth the wait at the end of a very tiring day. Finally we walked - again - to our car and drove to our hotel in Secaucus, NJ.

On Thursday morning, we drove to the Secaucus Junction station and took a train into the city. I don't mind driving in NYC, but not on Thanksgiving day when all the roads are re-routed. We then took the subway to Columbus Circle where we watched the parade. It is very difficult to find a good place to see without arriving at 4AM. The spot from which we watched was actually across Broadway from Central Park West where the parade was marching. However, it was close enough to see and we had no one in front of us. It's possible we saw more from there than we would have up close with a dozen people in front of us.

Riding the subway on Thursday was an experience in an of itself. The trains were packed so full that there was nowhere to move. I mean nowhere. "Packed like sardines" only begins to describe it. What a riot!

After it was all done we took the subway, train and van home, stopping at the Ramapo rest stop for our sumptuous Thanksgiving feast of Quiznos and Dunkin Donuts. Now we're home and hope to rest our aching feet. It's the stuff that memories are made of.

It was fun but we missed having our other kids, and grandkid, with us. Of course our family is what we are most thankful for on Thanksgiving.

Columbus Day

On Columbus Day Glen, Lauren and I went to Lake Placid. It was an absolutely beautiful day, we couldn't have asked for a nicer one. Our first stop was the "Cloudsplitter" gondola at Whiteface Mountain. It takes you to the top of Little Whiteface. The view from there was amazing. The pictures can't quite capture it like your eye can - but trust me, it was awesome. At the top there were picnic tables where we ate our picnic lunch. It was cold and windy at the top, so that's why we're in parkas. After that we went into Lake Placid to a bike trail that went down to the lake. It was a great ride, and not too long. Then we went and parked on Main Street and walked up and down, ducking into the cute little shops along the way. Glen especially liked the Adirondack Popcorn Factory stop we made for caramel corn. While we were looking out at Mirror Lake there was a man on what looked like a surf board standing up paddling with an kayak paddle. It was the funniest thing. It looked like he was walking on water. I have no idea how he kept his balance. It was funny to watch. On the way back to the Northway we saw where they do ski jumping and the bobsled runs, but they were already closed. It was the perfect day and the perfect way to spend it!

GE Global Research's 110th Anniversary Celebration

Saturday there was a party at GE Global Research celebrating their 110th anniversary. Glen, Lauren and I went (since we're the only three still in NY). It was fun. When we got there they had a bunch of things to do. There were bouncy bounces, jumbo slides, bands, a rock wall, and a Velcro wall. There were cooking demos and all kinds of fair food - pizza, fried dough, popcorn, cotton candy, caramel and candy apples, and ethnic snacks.

There was also and big tents - one had their technology showcase and the other had a history showcase in it.

Lauren and I jumped on the Velcro wall. It isn't as easy as it sounds because the thing you jump on to get some altitude onto the wall is like a big air pillow. So where ever you step it sinks in and it is hard to get a good bounce. But we tried!

When we were done Lauren's hair had gotten stuck in the Velcro suit that she was wearing. She had to crawl off the thing and I had to gently try to pull her hair out of the Velcro. Poor kid!

Then we tried the rock wall.

Glen was the first to try -
he went on the medium difficulty part of the rock wall and got pretty far up it.

Lauren and I went up the easy side of the rock wall. She got up pretty far too.

Here's me at the top of the easy side of the rock wall ringing the bell. I think the guy working at the bottom of the rock wall was surprised that I made it to the top.

There were five different bands that played and then we had a BBQ dinner - hamburgers, hot dogs, and BBQ chicken with sides. It was yummy. They had apple crisp and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

After dinner we rode our bicycles around the grounds of the center. We went down by the river, and then to the Lodge. We rode up and down some really big hills. We were trying to work off a little bit of the food we'd eaten all afternoon. I'd say we probably worked off at least one slice of pizza. Ha ha!

The night ended with an awesome fireworks display choreographed to music. They were the best fireworks I've seen all summer. We had a great time!

How about THEM apples!

No, this is not some optical distortion from the camera lens, these are actual apples we picked at an orchard near our home today. These are the apples you don't see in stores, but you will see in a pie in our home soon!

Today started with mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom... You know, Labor Day stuff. Then we went to the ward picnic (thank you activities committee!) where we enjoyed good food with good friends. After that we went over to the pitch and putt, which is a local par 3 golf course. We won't mention scores, but we did have a good time. It was the first time in about 10 years that Michelle and I had golfed. The first time ever for Lauren. Here we are on the 5th green.

That's Michelle putting.
Shhhhh!!! Lauren's putting!
After golfing, we went apple picking where we got the aforementioned apples. We picked some Honeycrisp and Cortland apples. The big ones above were Cortlands. The Honeycrisps supposedly had some frost damage, but our mouths couldn't find it. To top off our day we had waffles for dinner.

All in all, a very fun Labor Day!

The Rockets' Red Glare, The Bombs Bursting in Air...

So let’s say you're thinking of doing something patriotic for the 4th of July weekend. You want to feel patriotic and hear patriotic music. And you want good fireworks, so you want to go somewhere where people are trained to blow things up. West Point Military Academy rolls all of this into one, so that’s where we went on July 3rd. They held their Indepedence Day Celebration at Trophy Point yesterday and as usual it was very enjoyable. They started with their jazz band, the Jazz Knights, then marched in hundreds of new cadets. Then their concert band played a long list of John Williams pieces. It ended with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture which of course was accompanied by cannon fire, and firework salutes. Lauren and Jared each brought a friend along to share the fun. It was very hot to begin with (a lady next to us was carried off with heat stroke), but once the sun went down it was very pleasant.

Marie, Katie, Jared, Michelle and Lauren
(The shade has almost reached us!)

The new cadets filing in. Lots of new cadets.

The West Point Concert Band.

A word to the wise: If you’re planning on doing this someday with your family I advise you get there very early. For a good spot of grass you’ll probably need to be there by 4:00PM or earlier. We arrived around 5:45 PM and got a patch of rather steeply pitched grass. Too steep for our lawn chairs.

The Wilsons Come to Visit

Erin, Justin and Bennett came out to visit a few days after Brett got home from his mission. None of the kids (including Brett) knew (for sure) that they were coming. Glen went to the airport to pick them up. Meanwhile Brett, Jared, Lauren, and I all went to an open house for a family friend who was leaving on his mission. Glen brought the Wilsons there - that way the kids would be surprised. And boy, were they ever!

While they were here we took some family photos. We didn't do a very good job or arranging us, but here's the best of what we took.

Justin and Erin holding Bennett.

The cutest baby boy ever!

And all of us together. (In real life Lauren is not as tall as Justin. Darn the slope of the lawn. We didn't notice they were all like this until it was too late.)

It was wonderful to have them visit and to be all together again after such a long time. We can't wait until Christmas when they come again.