Fence...

Pearl and I have been furiously working on a fence for our backyard, thus one of the main reasons way I have not blogged in a while. We are both really excited about how it’s turning out and surprised that we, 2 kids who have never really built anything, have built a fence that has stood straight and strong for 5 days so far.

This may be presumptuous and a little arrogant, but I’ll say it anyway. We feel like we are making our street better, which was a huge reason we wanted to move into the city to begin with. This silly fence has allowed us to talk with both our neighbors a ton more than normal, and I feel like they are now not only trying to make their house and yards look a little better but I hope they are seeing some reflections of who God is in how we live and love others. I know it’s only a fence, but I feel like it’ strengthening our relationship with those around us.

Here's some pics...

First of all we are both exhausted!

I don’t know why or how but we have both been drained today. I think yesterday took a larger toll on us then we had expected. But needless to say, today was still great!

After leaving the Hotel, which we total veg’ed at this morning, we hit the subway. We realized last night that our choice of shoe for the weekend was not the best for extensive walking so both our feet have been a little tender.

We had a mixed bag of stress, frustration, and laughter but over all a lot of fun exploring and guessing our way through the subway, we some how managed to get on countless wrong trains only to ride a stop and realize we were not going where we wanted.

We eventually made it to Time Square
And returned to our meandering around town.
I have wanted a pair of TOMS for a while now so we explored through the city until we found a retail store that carried them. In case you’re not familiar with what a pair of TOMS is, it’s more than a shoe, it’s a cause. Every time a pair of TOMS are purchased in the States a pair is donated to a child in need. (www.tomsshoes.com)

Due to time we decided to not go to the MET (I felt bad for Pearl cause I think she really wanted to do that, but there’s always next time), and instead to take a carriage ride through central park

(PS – like my new hat? Only $5! This one’s for you Kris and Shamus!)

Our horse was named “blacky” and he seemed to want to race the other carriages through the park. Here is a picture of us going neck and neck.
One thing interesting about “blacky” was that he was originally from Lancaster.
“blacky” took us by the building that Ghostbusters was filmed in, and our driver had tons of stories about all the films he had seen being filmed in the park. He was an interesting man from Ireland, although I can’t remember his name for the life of me.
After our racing through Central Park with “blacky” we continued our meandering in search of an Irish pub. We turned left where we should have turned right but in our misguiding wonderings stumbled across some interesting artifacts in the city.

Like a piece of the Berlin wall
A massive statue of a pregnant woman (this thing had to be at least 50 feet high).
And some really funny wall art
We finally came across what we were in search of, “an authentic Irish Pub” on St Patties-day weekend.
Pearl ordered a Magner’s cider thinking she would receive a glass, but got what seemed to be a gallon in a bottle, needless to say she had some left over.
We are now on the train, at least that’s where we are at the time of writing this; it may be a day or so before this is posted.
The weekend was wonderful. We both had a great time and are so thankful we got to do this.

An amazing night

What an amazing night.
Here’s the scoop:

Walking around the city was amazing, from the time we left the train and eventually made our way to the hotel around 11:30 we had meandered for roughly 5 miles, but those five miles where packed with sites and astonishment.

Here's some of what we saw...

Broadway, this is where we totally missed our turn and walked an extra half mile,
we missed it because of these guys

They where proving PI (3.14....., the thing you use with Circles) on Pi day, March 14th, it was very interesting and they were fun to talk to

But we did enjoy standing in Union Square

The blue man group was freakin unbelievable.

We made it!

We did not realize this going in but the Astor Theater was the first theater they ever performed in. They were originally street performers, who moved to the Astor, who are now millionaires.

Here are the three original blue men

The show was amazing; the stage could not have been wider than 35 feet and from the back row to the stage was within 50 feet, so there was a very intimate feel. We were in the balcony in the front row, which in my option are the best seats in the house, you feel close and apart of the stage, and you can also see everything, all the layers.

The use of creativity, lights, color, technology and amazingly timed humor was mind blowing. All I can say is, it’s an absolute must see, and one of their acts will one day be twisted into a promotional piece for Saturate, hopefully.

We were able to get a quick picture with one of the guys, he was surprisingly nice

After BlueMan, we headed in the two mile direction towards our hotel, and “accidentally” made our way into Chinatown, where we enjoyed some great General Tso’s Chicken, fired Wantons, some of the best fried rice we’ve ever had,


and a little Chinese Beer.

This is where we ate

We finished dinner around 10:30 and continued our trek. The streets where quiet, which really surprised me, but it was peaceful walking through the squares and towering gentle giants holding hands with my babe.

As we turned the corner to our hotel we discovered an eerie truth, we literally are across the street from the world trade center site. The hotel is one of the nicest we’ve ever stayed in, thank you Hotwire.com, with luxury that we are not accustom to,
but when we made it to our room it was not the amazing furniture, massive flat screen TV, or even the mini bar that drew our attention, it was the view of the WTC from the 41st floor.

It was poetic. Stories and faces of friends who experienced that horrific day, memories from how the nation experienced that day, a day of such evil filled my mind, yet, in the midst of those stories stories of amazing love, faithfulness, and bravery arose. Stories of the public servants who selflessly rushed into the smoke, stories of a city that rallied around each other, stories of how a nation stood together, stories of where love was shone to strangers. A symbol of great Evil and yet the triumph of good.

That was last night.

This morning we slept till our bodies woke us up, ordered house robes, sat in a Sauna and are now relaxing in the room before we began our meandering again through the streets.

On a side note, the Sauna was at a 180 degrees F. I was astonished that we could function in such heat. It felt relaxing, refreshing, cleansing.

Pearl’s now out of the shower, and it’s time to get ready for the day.

pictures alone the way...

Finger prints of God in the mess and confusion of humanity

Stair way to "the apple"

The view from the Apple store

What amazing looking bread

Welcome to the big apple!

Lunch

Chicken pizza!

Thinking of Kris Smith