You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘NYC’ category.
Way back in May we visited NYC with a group from CMU where our days were filled with seminars and exploring the city. The last morning we were there we hauled all the students out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It made for a long day but we couldn’t pass it up. We barely made it on the first boat out and after wrangled everyone on board Lucas and I ducked off to a quiet corner to sit by ourselves. We sat down and about 30 seconds later I see someone look over at us. I glance over and then kind of start freaking out…it was our friend Andy White!
A little back story…I first met Andy when I was 15 at a Christian retreat. He was a student leader for the weekend and I remember thinking he was one awesome guy! Lucas met him around this time as well through the same retreat and each of us were friends with him through high school. Once college years hit, we all went our separate ways and reconnected recently through facebook. So long story short…we hadn’t seen Andy in almost 10 years!
He was visiting NYC with his wife (and they have a son and are expecting another!) and of all the days and all the boats to be on we happened to see each other! We walked around Liberty Island together reminiscing and eventually said our goodbyes. It was crazy to see him in NYC when in real life we live about 4 hours apart.
So here’s to old friends and chance meetings…Lucas, Me, Andy, Jennica
I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since our trip to NYC! We had a great but somewhat overwhelming time learning about current immigration issues in the US and trying to figure out as Christians what out response could be. Whew! It was a lot to take in but our students were great through it all! So a little recap of our trip…
We started by meeting in KC to fly to NYC. Here we are in the KC airport…
We made it to NYC but flew into La Guardia so we had to take a bus, then a subway and then walk a few blocks to the Alma Mathews House in Greenwich Village. Here we are at La Guardia waiting to get our Metro Cards to take us all around the city…
Finally we made it to our home in NYC. Lucas and I had a great room!
Even though we didn’t get down to the Village until 9:00 or so at night we still had to see some of the city. We headed down to Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan.
The next day I was able to enjoy the view from our room before heading off to our seminar.
We spent two days in seminars hosted by the United Methodist Women in a building directly across from the UN.
After lots of information we took the night off. Lucas and I spent a good chunk of it on a pier in the Hudson River.
New York……………………………………………………………………………………………New Jersey
The following morning a group of students went to the Today Show and we saw a couple of them on tv! Liz is right behind Matt Lauer’s right shoulder…
More seminars…
We also took a few field trips to different places around the city to learn more about immigration and get some hands on experience helping out. Along the way we tried to play it cool like we weren’t a giant group of tourists.
Our final full day we spent some time at the General Board of Global Ministries. This is where Lucas worked for a summer while we lived in Princeton.
That afternoon we split up into two smaller groups and took turns serving at a food bank for immigrants. Here is my group during our time off…
After all the information we learned we had a final debriefing time in Central Park. A nice shot of the group…
And a silly shot…
The next morning we woke up to leave NYC. But instead of simply heading to the airport we squeezed in a quick trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You can’t take a trip to NYC to learn about immigration without going to Ellis Island and it was great to spend some time there learning from our past. We finally made it back to KC completely exhausted. And for Lucas and me we turned around 2 days later to fly to Florida with my family! More of that to come…
Thanks again to all the students who came on this trip and made it great!
-Shannon
On Tuesday we headed into NYC one last time. And this time we only aimed for a day trip. Our only plans were to get lunch at a Jewish deli on the upper west side and then head to the park. We accomplished both of those things and only had minimal amounts of fussing from Owen or us. We decided to wait until the morning commute cleared up before we hopped on a train to the city but finally we were on our way…
Once Owen woke up from his nap he was excited to find out we were heading into the city…
Along the way O spent lots of time looking out the window at the land of his birth (we have entire blog post to follow with all of Owen’s thoughts on New Jersey)…
Finally we arrived and we headed uptown…
We stopped at Lansky’s to pick up some sandwiches and other yummy delights and then headed into Central Park to enjoy the day. The sandwiches were so big, we probably only needed to get one…
And here’s a shot of The Amsterdam sandwich and a spinach knish…
After lunch we found a nice place to sit by the water and so we stayed there for awhile. Of course we had to have a little photo shoot with Owen. First, O and Daddy…
Lucas loves to do this with Owen and each time he does he says, “Simba!”
Then it was time for some kisses from Mommy…
Finally it was time to say goodbye to NYC…
When we first came here we took a picture like this so we thought it was only fitting to take another one in the same spot…
And of course Owen had to get in on the action…
I know it sounds weird but the thing I’m going to miss most about New Jersey is being so close to New York City. I have always love NYC and I’m so glad I’ve been able to live so close to it for a time. Lucas and I have lots of great memories in the city and I’m glad we were able to bring Owen along for our last few trips. As we sat on the train pulling out of Penn Station I had a few tears welling up in my eyes. I don’t know when I’ll be back to this great place but hopefully someday I will. It makes me realize that life is quickly changing and soon I’ll be trading Central Park for the Missouri River. And there are great things about both of them. For now I’ll mourn the fact that I had to say goodbye to NYC but soon I’ll begin rejoicing for our new life in Missouri.
-Shannon
It all started with an evening walk around the golf course behind our apartment. I wanted to take a few pictures of Owen with the Bob (our stroller) and Lucas decided the pictures should only be of Owen and the Bob.
Now it has turned into our standard picture of Owen out and about. Neither one of us want to be in the picture so we just take it with Owen and the Bob…
…in Princeton…
…in NYC…
Who know where else Owen and the Bob will go…
-Shannon
…except try to take a 2 month old on an overnight trip!
Last Sunday we headed into NYC to enjoy a final trip to the city. We had booked a hotel months in advance and thought this would work. After having gorgeous weather on Friday and Saturday, rain and cold greeted us for Sunday. We headed off to church and then raced to the train station to head into the city. We were supposed to arrive in the city by 1:00pm and planned to go to the Natural History Museum. At 3:00 we finally arrived! Our train broke down, we had to wait for another one, board the new train and pick up every person along the way. Needless to say we were tired before we even got started. The museum was out of the picture at this point since it closed at 5:45 but we thought we’d try to make the best of the evening.
We stayed in a cheap Holiday Inn on the edge of midtown and immediately took a break in the room.
After our quick rest we decided to walk to dinner at a Greek restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. As we were walking along we crossed a street and who should be walking towards us but Tracy Morgan! Lucas and both slightly turned to each other to confirm that we were in fact seeing Tracy Morgan and it was true. We just passed him on the street and kept walking. We are both big fans of 30 Rock so this was quite the NYC surprise.
On the way to the restaurant Owen fell asleep in the stroller and pretty much stayed settled throughout dinner. We were able to enjoy a nice meal with some great Greek food at Uncle Nick’s…
Owen enjoyed Hell’s Kitchen…
…and after dinner we walked around and headed toward Time’s Square because the boy has to say he’s been in Times Square.
He was really impressed with it all…
We debated whether to go downtown or up to the park and we decided on the park.
It was around this point that the evening took a turn for the worse.
Owen decided he had had enough and so we headed back to the hotel room so I could nurse him and hopefully settle in for the evening. We filled his little belly up and started to wind down but he was having none of it. He had seemed pretty content in his stroller so we put him in there and rocked him back and forth in the room. But no relief came. He was pretty much inconsolable and it was at this point that we began to think about going back home to NJ. Lucas tried to find out when the last train left Penn Station but he couldn’t find the information. He even went down to the front desk to find out and when he did he could hear Owen screaming down the hall, by the elevators and even on the elevator! We couldn’t decide what to do…our hearts said, “It’s your last time in NYC! Don’t let this kid ruin it!”…and our minds said, “This could be the worst night of your life ever! It will take days to recoup from!” In the end we decided to head back home and made a plan to come back to NYC for a day trip. When we finally arrived back in Princeton Owen essentially passed out and slept for 7 1/2 hours straight! Although we all loved the sleep, I wouldn’t recommended bringing your baby to the brink of exhaustion. :)
So next Tuesday we are heading into the city for one last trip. This time it won’t be 55 degrees and raining…we should have gorgeous weather and we plan to spend the day in the park and have a picnic basket delivered to us from a local deli…heaven! Hopefully it will turn out better than this last time and we can leave with good memories of NYC.
-Shannon
Recently Lucas kept singing a song that he thought I would know. He said he thought it was a newer song but he wasn’t sure. He would try and try to sing the chorus but I had no idea what he was trying to sing. After lots of laughing we finally figured out he was singing “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys. Since then I have pretty much become obsessed with this song. It is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine but I can’t deny it…I love it! I think the main reason I love it so much is we’re so close to NYC so I really fell legit in loving it. :) So for your enjoyment, welcome to your new guilty pleasure…
-Shannon
P.S. I meant to originally post this as well but Abby reminded me of a great remix of the song…
Last year in our Christmas cards we included a letter that looked at the highlights from the previous year. Granted 2008 was filled with lots of changes with Vancouver to Missouri to Princeton and this year hasn’t been quite as exciting but still there are lots of things to remember. So I thought I would continue the tradition by looking back at 2009.
January
After having spent the holidays with family in Missouri we settled back into our normal schedules and enjoyed the winter weather.
February
In February I ended a 2+ year journey and cut my hair.
March
We enjoyed some local Philadelphia flavor when we headed down to Philly with some friends from church.
April
Lots of traveling happened in April. First to Ithaca, NY to visit some college friends, Matt & Tracy, along with their new baby Nadya…
And later in April we headed off to Vancouver…
May
May began our summer in the city with the visit of Lucas’ parents, Bonnie & Larry. We headed into NYC to show them around and explore some new things for ourselves.
At the end of May we headed back into NYC to meet up with my Aunt Dodo and Uncle Mike and to stay the night on Times Square.
June
Easily the most exciting thing of the year…
We found out we’re expecting! Granted the real event happened in May but the excitement began in June. :)
Also my Aunt Shirley and Cousin Carrie came for a visit…
July
More visitors in the form of my sister, Megan; my friend, Allie; my parents, Craig & Pat…
August
In August Lucas and I celebrated 6 years of marriage by taking a little vacation up to Vermont to get away from New Jersey for awhile.
September
Besides celebrating my birthday we also enjoyed a visit from Mandi & Jesse.
October
In October I headed home to Missouri to enjoy a wonderful Baby Shower with family and friends.
November
We bought a house!
December
The belly continued to grow as we await the arrival of our little one in February. We celebrated Lucas’ birthday and then enjoyed the holidays by ourselves in New Jersey by heading into NYC on Christmas Day.
-Shannon
After enjoying Christmas morning at home we headed into NYC to spend the night. We made our way to our hotel and then headed out to wander around and enjoy the day.
A random Christmas tree along the walk…
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree…
Another shot of Rockefeller Center…
Radio City Music Hall…
Into Central Park…
After our walk around the city we headed back to the hotel to warm up. But later that evening we had to stop by Rockefeller Center one more time to see all the lights…
(P.S. I took the following three photos with my new Nikon L20 Point and Shoot camera I got for Christmas. I had wanted something I just have in my pocket and this little camera seems like it will fit the bill.)
The day after Christmas we thought we might head over to the Natural History Museum. After seeing the lines we decided to go next door to the New York Historical Society. There weren’t as many people there and the main exhibition was on Abraham Lincoln and New York. Lucas loves Lincoln and was really impressed with it all. I love a good museum as well so we both enjoyed ourselves.
Besides the exhibit on Lincoln there were also other New York history items. Of course I was drawn to this map of New York in 1667…
I never knew the name Wall Street came because that used to be the wall of the city.
After enjoyed a quick lunch at the cafe in the museum, we headed back to Princeton and out of the freezing rain. Now we can say we were in NYC for Christmas…although I’m not sure we’ll ever do it again. :)
-Shannon
This year is the first year we won’t be with family on Christmas Day. Since I can’t really travel we will be staying in New Jersey throughout the holiday time. This actually works out well since I’ll be needed at church to lead a Christmas Eve service and we’ll then have plenty of time to relax while we’re off from work and school. Plus if you remember last year, we hopped in the car right after the Christmas Eve service and drove 20 hours straight to Kansas City. Fine for one year, but not something I want to do again.
We are looking forward to waking up in our place on Christmas Day and celebrating Christmas with just our little family. However, after the morning ends we are going to head into NYC to stay the night at the Metropolitan Hotel!
We decided it would be nice to have one last getaway before the little one comes and we found a great deal on the room. Plus there is nothing like Christmas in NYC. So off we’ll go for a few days in the city…
-Shannon
This past Sunday Lucas I decided to head into the city after church. Earlier in the week Lucas looked at the forecast and saw that the rain was going to go away and a bright fall day would be surrounding us by Sunday. Turns out the forecast was right and with perfect 60 degree weather we headed into the city.
We didn’t have much on the agenda besides enjoying the day together. First we headed over to the library so Lucas could take some pictures of the woodwork in the study areas. He already has dreams for his study in the new house although his dreams might have to be a little less intricate than the NYC library.
From there we headed up 5th Ave and I snapped a few shots of St. Patrick’s Cathedral…
Our destination was Serendipity on 60th & 3rd and as we headed that way we passed the Friar’s Club. Lucas got really excited when we saw this place although I had no idea why he was so excited.
*10 bonus points to the person who can guess why Lucas was excited about it :)
As we were walking along we also stumbled upon a movie being filmed! We were coming up to Park Avenue and as we tried to cross the street they asked us to stay back because they were getting ready to shoot a stunt. After a few minutes of waiting we finally heard “Action!” and a black SUV started driving the wrong way down the street with a man laying on top of the car. It was pretty exciting for the 10 seconds that it lasted. :)
Finally we made our way to Serendipity where we were going to enjoy some frozen hot chocolate. I had never been there before but Lucas thought I would like it. We had decided that we would put up with a wait of 30 minutes but no more. When we got there Lucas stepped inside and found out the wait was an hour to an hour and a half…on a Sunday afternoon around 3:00! Ugh! So no frozen hot chocolate. But thankfully just down the street was another place I’ve been wanting to go to…Dylan’s Candy Bar!
With some candy in tow, we headed to the park to enjoy the fall colors. We sat on a bench and enjoyed our candy.
After the park we headed down to Little Italy for dinner. Lucas picked the restaurant which once we stepped inside was set up kind of like cafeteria style seating. We were hoping for something a little more private. After a quick attitude check for me we settled in to enjoy some fine Italian. We were enjoying our meal when one of the staff turned on a karaoke machine and started singing along! Granted she was singing Little Italy type songs…”When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s amore”…but it was ridiculously loud and she wasn’t that great. We ended up just laughing about it and chalking it up to another experience in NYC.
Some after dinner strolling finished out the evening. We hopped on the train and were home by 8:30. It was a great day in NYC and I can’t wait until Christmas when we head back to enjoy the holidays with just the two of us. Until then…bye, bye NYC.
-Shannon
