10.22.12
Monday was our first day to head out on our own, and we did ok! I think. My sister had us well versed on the amount of pushiness required to ride the subway. We had a pretty full schedule planned (we were going to take the subway to Times Square, walk to the River and get on the Water Taxi, take it to the 9/11 memorial, Brooklyn Bride, The South Street Seaport, etc...but somewhere between getting off the subway and making it to the Water Taxi, we were given a convincing sales pitch to buy tickets for the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour instead of the Water Taxi. And thus, we fell victim to the dog-eat-dog sales tactics the city is known for. But that's ok. It was fun!
Ah, the excitement of Times Square!
And the HOBBIT!! So exciting!
(we just saw that two nights ago!)
And WICKED!!
Which we were hoping to see, but alas it did not work out.
The sights on our bus tour:
On the top left, going clockwise: the Flat Iron Building, the city building, the Empire State Building, NYU, some protesters wanting to stop Obama from starting WWIII, building details, open air bus, random building and church, and Milo.
We hopped off at the World Trade Center stop and visited the St. Paul's Chapel, which is right next to the World Trade Center Site:
After walking around a little bit, trying to orient ourselves on which direction we needed to go to get to the World trade Center Site...we were lucky enough to notice a small store front where you pick up the free tickets for the 9-11 memorial, which was blocks away from the memorial. We ducked inside and waited in line for tickets, which did not take long...HOWEVER, the next available entry time for the memorial was an hour away! NOT quite enough time to see anything else before, and TOO MUCH time to stand around waiting! So we decided to walk across Lower Manhattan during that hour, through the Financial District and over the the South Street Seaport. A note of advice: you can reserve tickets over the phone or online, to save time. Wish I had thought of that before! Also- we were hoping to visit the African Burial Ground, across from The World Trade Center Site...but it is closed on Mondays. Bummer! We read several recommendations for that place.
 |
| OK, that picture on the top left is the only picture we took in the Financial District. It is a statue of George Washington, erected on the location where he was inagurated as the first president of the United States. Pretty BIG deal! The rest of the pics are at the Seaport. The middle pic on the bottom is the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse. |
A panorama of the Seaport and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background .
The World Trade Center, and 9-11 Memorial:
There are two huge fountains in the footprints of the original Twin Towers, with the victim's names engraved all around the outsides. The water is separated into individual streams before it cascades over the large drop off, where the individual streams once again become one with the water in the pond below...before it drops off into the square hole in the middle, of which onlookers cannot see the bottom. We were thinking the individual streams represented the individual lives lost in the tragedy. Once they were killed they became one with the rubble of the buildings and ashes of the other survivors. And the bottomless hole represents the finality of death.
It is a somber place.
Not only is it the location where the attacks took place, and many lives were lost...but it is essentially the final resting place and cemetery for their loved ones to visit. I know how sacred and special Elsa's final resting place is to me. This location held a great spiritual resonance.
a rainbow of hope. Yes, there is still hope, even here.
The lone tree that survived the attacks.
The One World Trade Center Tower that is being built to replace the Twin Towers.
After leaving the 9-11 Memorial, we had planned to walk across the Brooklyn Bride and get pizza at Grimaldi's (famous pizza), but instead we decided to take the Hop on Hop off Bus back uptown to visit the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) before it closed for the day. We could always see the Brooklyn Bridge after museums are closes, after all. We had City Passes for the MOMA and wanted to make sure to use them!
Here are our pics from the ride back uptown:
Top left, going clockwise: Some tenement housing that immigrants would live in upon arriving to America, the details on a church, the Rockerfeller Center, a father back view of the church, a closeup of the statue, Brent and Kate with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background, a Gaudi building (very interesting architecture), Milo on the bus.
When I first saw this picture, I thought "what a dumb picture," but when I realized what it was I had to laugh. This is a picture of Brent (on the bus) looking at the United Nations Building. We were disappointed that none of the flags were up...thus the frowny look. I guess they only fly the flags when they're in session. Sad for us!
We got off at the Rockerfeller Center stop and ran over the the MOMA, with one hour to spare before they close for the day...and went straight up to the fifth floor, to see my absolute favorite art in creation:
Some of my favorites:
Clockwise from top left: Cezanne fruit, Cezanne trees, Van Gogh trees, Van Gogh Starry, Starry Night (the original!), two of my favorite Picasso's, Brent in front of a Mondrian, a Gaugain, a Mattise, a Monet, and to the right of the Monet is a detail of the brushstrokes in the Monet.
The Great Hall of Monet
Henri Mattise "The Dance" has been a favorite of mine since my sophomore year in college
The other floors had some cool more modern art, which I did not know much about, except for a few Matisse sketches and such, but it was fun to see!
We left the MOMA pretty hungry, having skipped lunch trying to pack everything in! We had heard the cafe at the MOMA was fantastic, and were hoping to eat there, but alas, it closes when the galleries do. We wanted to spend our precious hour there looking at the art, not eating. So we wandered around the city for a little bit, looking for a place to eat!
We passed "Jonny Utah's" which we thought was funny since Brent has a brother named Jonny who lives in Utah! We passed the Radio City Music Hall and the Library with the lion statues. And finally, just off 5th avenue, we stumbled upon a street sign that said "Little Brazil!" Yay!! How fun! Brent served his mission for our church in Brazil, so we walked down the street and found a restaurant. Brent said it was very authentic to the area he served his mission, in Bahia. We ordered a Fejuada (beans and meat), and a delicious fish stew (my favorite).
OUR FINAL STOP FOR THE EVENING:
We had city passes for the Empire State Building as well, and it is open LATE! So no problem fitting it in our schedule.
When we stepped out on the observation deck, it was really windy. Milo really hated that, so we didn't get to spend much time up there, but quickly took pictures from every side.
Then we rode the subway back up to my sister's place. Milo did really great all day! In exception to the Empire State Building observation deck.
October 21, 2012
Sunday came with a chance to take a break from all the running around. We got to sleep in a bit, and take our time to get ready for 11:00 church with my sister and brother-in-law.
This was our "plan B". Our "plan A" had been to drive to Palmyra, NY on Saturday and spend all Sunday going to church, and to
church history sights (Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith had his First Vision, and The Cumorah Hill, where the Brass Plates were found). I still really wish we had stuck to "plan A," but the drive was 6 hours each way...and it felt really strange to drive 12 hours round trip for one day. We will get to Palmyra on another trip...soon, hopefully!
As consolation, we got to go to church in NEW YORK CITY! We love going to church in other places, and seeing what the congregations are like in other parts of the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ, according to The Mormon Church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the official name of the Mormon Church) is the same everywhere in the world, no matter which city you attend church in...but the culture of the congregations can be vastly different! We love people and cultures and learning, so this is a really fun part of traveling for us. And the church building! In NYC...I've never seen anything like it!
This is a NYC Church Meetinghouse
It's so funny, because it looks just like a regular meetinghouse from the inside and out, except it has an elevator. The typical church stuff is spread out onto 5 floors: a parking garage and church history library make up level 1; a chapel and a few classrooms make up level 2; more classrooms around the outside on level 3 (the chapel is two levels), and levels 4 and 5 are the gymnasium and classrooms around the outside (the gym takes two levels as well)
The people were very nice!
After my sister's ward, there was a young singles' ward, and Brent just happened to bump into a young adult from our Oregon home ward, who is now attending Columbia University in NYC. It was quite a surprise for the young man to see Brent from Oregon at church in NYC!
the parking garage
After church and a nice meal, we took the subway down to the Chelsea Neighborhood at dusk to go take a walk along the High Line. The High Line is one of the newest parks in NYC, in a very newly fashionable part of town. It is a walking path which was upcycled out of one of the City's first train lines. The line was built above the ground, before the subway...and after the subway was built, it was no longer in use. The citizens worked together to transform it into a park.
Top left: The sign describing the Highline, next picture going clockwise: a view of the Meat Packing District, which is a neighborhood full of meat stores of yesteryear...which are now being transformed into clubs and restaurants where the new rich like to hang out. All of this is very over my head, but my sister tried her best to explain it to me! Next picture going clockwise: a viewing area with stadium seating and windows to watch the traffic below? Very interesting... Top right: an all-glass hotel on the High Line. Bottom right: a car storage garage. We stopped and were gawking apparently, because the locals were laughing at us. Well...I guess the taking the picture part helped. The next picture clockwise: fancy schmancy shoes! at one of the many designer boutique windows we passed. Next picture clockwise: me on one of the streets of nearby Greenwich Village. Bottom Left: Milo passed out in the Moby wrap. I had been wearing him forward facing so he could see but then there is no support for his head when he fell asleep.
A family picture on the High Line
{I love Milo's face in this picture!}
Brent in Greenwich Village, at night. LOVE the road paving.
I am thankful for:
Apples, avocado, autumn, animals, America, Annika, art
Brent, babies, bread, beach, butter, blankets, bikes, body, birds, bed
Cats, cars, cellos, carrots, chickens, Christ
Dishes, dancing
Elsa, Easter, evergreens, empathy, elephants
Frogs, friends, Frodo, forever, family, forest, flowers, foxes, fabric, faith, food
Green, galoshes, grandparents, giving, guitar
Home, heaven, hope, holidays, Heather, horses, happy
Irises
Joshua, jumping, joy, Jesus
Kate, kisses, kids
Lemons, life, Lara, lakes
Milo, monkeys, mushrooms, moon, meadows, mom, millennium, mountains, music, mentors
Nostalgia, nectarines, Nutella
Oliver, owls, ocean, outside
Popcorn, pillows, piano, paths, people
Quail, quiche
Rest, resurrection, rivers, running
Sky, summer, spring, Savior, squirrels, sun, skiing, sad, sleep
Toby, Tara, turtles, time, temples, trees
Umbrellas
Vegetables
Water, whales, walnuts, winter, weather
Xylophones
Yellow, yarn
Zippers
Happy Thanksgiving!
October 20, 2012
A sublime Saturday morning found us at Central Park with the rest of residents of the borough of Manhattan. There were people
everywhere...biking, jogging, working out with personal trainers, doing yoga with a group of cohorts, kids playing soccer, tourists riding in pedi-cabs. Central Park is
clearly the place to be on Saturday. Riding bikes in Central Park is one of my sister and her husband's favorite things to do on their day off, and it is a really great way to see ALL of Central Park and do a lot of people watching at the same time! So Brent and I rented bicycles and joined the citizens of Manhattan on their favorite Saturday past time.
There are many things you have to know about riding bikes in New York City. It is a great way to get around. You CANNOT ride on the sidewalks, unless you want to get chewed out by very verbal elderly women. When riding through Central Park, you ignore the pedestrian stop lights or you will get plowed over by the serious roadies. The only exceptions to that rule would be if an actual pedestrian is waiting to cross, or if a police officer is nearby...although I'm told they don't often pay attention to the minor infractions to the law. The New York way of life is very different than the west coast, indeed, as I have been told by many people.
What a beautiful autumn Saturday!
The Bethesda Fountain has to be the most beautiful place in Central Park. LOVED it!
I had to put these cute pics of my sister and her hubs in bigger so they can see them better!
Click play to see a sweeping 360' of the Bethesda Fountain, and as a bonus(!)
you get to hear a talented family sing "You Raise Me Up"
Milo was such a great sport on this whole trip and just loved being packed around all over the place!
4 months is an easy age to travel!
Strawberry Fields is the little corner of the Park right by where John Lennon used to live and where he was assassinated. It is said that he used to hang out in this part of the park, as it was right by his penthouse. Brent is a great fan of the Beatles, so this was particularly fun for him.
This imagine circle was a really fun place to watch tourists from all over the world. There were British, French, German, etc, etc, lining up all over the place to take a picture in this circle. When someone moved out, another person or group would jump right in. Brent had to be quick! A large group of German teenage girls took a picture laying on their backs all around the circle. It was so cool, I wanted to take a picture...but I wasn't quick enough!
After our bike ride, we drove up to Little Italy in the Bronx and ate Italian dinner and Italian pastries! So fun! And then after that, we drove up out of New York City for about an hour to Sleepy Hollow for a Halloween Pumpkin Blaze! It was really awesome! There were thousands and thousands of carved pumpkins lit and arranged into displays all around the Sleepy Hollow manner. It was very festive, and not too scary...which is exactly what I like! My only wish is that we could have spent a little more time up there around Sleepy Hollow to see a little more of New York, out of the city.
October, 19 2012
With rain in the forecast, we decided that Friday would be our museum day. We had 4 museums on our agenda to see in New York City: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), The Modern Museum of Art (MOMA), and the Nation Museum of Natural History. These four museums were included with our
City Pass, which we purchased for $89 each, and also included the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building Observatory. Totally worth it!
It was a little hard to get up as early as we wanted to Friday morning because it was still 3 hours earlier than our time zone, and we were still pretty tired from our red eye flight...so we got a little later start to the day than we wanted...but I was EXTREMELY excited when we finally made it to the Guggenheim! The Guggenheim Museum has been very first on my list ever since I was a senior in high school and checked out a book of the works at the Guggenheim from the library. I've wanted to go there since I was 18, and finally getting there felt like Disneyland
used to feel like to me when I was a kid.
I found out pretty quickly from a security guard that photography was not allowed inside the art galleries, so that's sad since I really wanted to document this experience. But the building by itself is a work of art. An architectural masterpiece by Frank Lloyd Wright. The building is a giant spiral ramp with the art and galleries off of the ramp. It was amazing, inside and out. I enjoyed seeing the Picasso Matisse, Gauguin, Kandinsky, and all the great artists I learned about in art and humanities classes.
Inside the Guggenheim, looking out the window to the trees in Central Park.
After taking this panoramic picture of some of the building levels from the very top, I was told I better stop taking pictures again! Sorry! You can't see any of the art in any of my pictures!
Leaving the G with my sis.
After the Guggenheim we walked through the edge of Central Park on the way to The Met.
The trees were just starting to turn. The weather the entire time we were there was very warm...in the low 60's. New York City is a beautiful city, with a lot of green park space. The two pictures of the water on the right are the Central Park Reservoir The two bubble pictures on the left were the first time I saw someone "creative panhandling". I never saw anyone just asking for money in NYC. They were always doing a performance or a trick of some kind, and if you wanted to take a picture of it you should give them a dollar.
In Central Park, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there is this obelisk called Cleopatra's Needle. It was a gift to the City of New York from Egypt. We sat down and had a breastfeeding and diaper changing session, as the rain had gone away and the weather was very pleasant.
normalizing breastfeeding around NYC!
We walked past this children's park on the way to The Met, and wanted to take a picture of it to show our kids. This is how the children's parks all look in NYC. They are fenced in, and have signs that say no adults or teenagers allowed, unless accompanying a child.
The Met.
The BIGGEST museum I have ever been through. I can imagine the Louvre in France is about the same size, but I wouldn't know since I didn't actually go through the Louvre. I know! What a travesty that I was in France and didn't go to the Louvre! It would take DAYS to see everything in this museum. We really should have left more time to see it. It is A LOT more than just paintings. It is artifacts from all over the world! It was fascinating!!
Here we are, about to go in...with the Met buttons on our collars.
The inside of the Met.
Some of the most interesting things we saw in the Met (we were allowed to take non-flash photography in most of the galleries...all of the galleries except the Bernini sculptures):
A Tiffany stained glass window. They had several Tiffany windows, and I thought they were all stunning!
I loved the expression of this mama and baby!
We spent the most time in the Egypt exhibit. It was INCREDIBLE! These statues, buildings, artifacts, mummies, and panels were all brought from Egypt.
But in retrospect, we should have hurried along so we wouldn't run out of time before seeing China!
My sister and brother-in-law were a big help with Milo! And I think they loved it.
We quickly strolled through the European paintings...and saw lots of lovely ones. The left, on the bottom is Bruegel. I love this painting. He is painting commoners at a time when most paintings were commissioned to paint the elite. I love that. The pics on the top left and just to the right of the big painting are details from the big painting. The other two painting are two Rubens. Brent and I both really liked the one on the right, bottom. It's called the Glorification of the Eucharist. The top right is detail from the painting, in which Jesus is crushing a skeleton and a snake, representing death and sin. It was interesting looking through our pictures afterward. Brent and I both had a camera, and we ended up taking pictures of almost the exact same paintings. Hehe!
The Persian Gallery was perhaps the most interesting because I love the art and I really think it's a time and part of the world that gets skimmed over in History class. The top left statues remind me of the Neverending Story, no? Don't they look like they're about to shoot lasers out of their eyes? And the picture on the top right is cuneiform, one of the earliest known forms of writting.
I LOVED these lions! Favorite!
After spending all day at museums, it was very late, and we were very hungry. We powered through the whole day without eating any meals, just so we could see as much as possible. So we walked around and found a Persian restaurant, which was AHH...SO delicious!! We were trying all kind of foods that we have never tried before, and that was SO fun. The ultimate end of the day was the rose ice cream we ordered for dessert. OK! Seriously SO YUMMY! If you ever get the chance to eat rose ice cream, DO IT!
This is us on the bus, finally on the way home. We were SO tired, and my eyes were hurting me...I think I was starting to get conjunctivitis! Crap! I went home and squirted some breast milk from Milo's bottle in my eyes and went to sleep...and in the morning, ALL BETTER!
It seriously sounds weird, but it works! Just FYI.
*I started this blog post weeks ago, but never had time to finish it...and wasn't really sure I was going to until today. I had been having the desire to lighten up the blog a little, as it's been heavy with my thoughts lately, and I was worried that my friends and family have not been enjoying that. But today as I was trying so hard to get the computer to upload my pictures from day 2 of our New York trip...they just wouldn't upload...they still have not (something is seriously wrong with our internet). So I took that as my nudge to finish this post instead. I know it is what I needed to write today.
NEWSFLASH: I have changed positions since I wrote this blog entry, two years ago: {i need a girl}.
Immediately after we lost Elsa, I
knew we were going to have another girl. I pictured in my mind exactly how beautiful our story would be in the end...mother looses daughter, mother grieves honorably, mother puts all her trust in God, and finally mother gives birth to another healthy, living daughter. Perfect. Everyone in the land rejoices. And they live happily ever after.
Perfect, in my eyes...but as we soon come to learn, that is NOT how the Lord's timetable for our lives will proceed. And I knew it even before Elsa was gone, that we were having another boy. I prayed, I pleaded, and I bargained for another girl first. I promised we WOULD have another baby boy if He wanted us to, if He would send another girl first. I THOUGHT it was what I NEEDED to help me heal.
Before we were pregnant with Oliver, I had this perfect, peaceful feeling that God was sending us a boy and that he was going to be wonderful. We were going to love him so much, and he would be everything that we needed. As the pregnancy commenced and proceeded, I pushed away those feelings and convince myself that of course God would send us another girl.
It took a while after we had Oliver to be happy with him. I'll be honest there, but once I did wonderful love entered into my life. And then I thought "if I start praying now, surely my next baby will be a girl." So I would pray and ask for a girl every morning and every night. And then I would ask if He was going to send me a girl. I always get the answer "yes". But then I would ask if my
next baby would be a girl {because heavens knows I am impatient and have already waited through two pregnancies for a girl when I
thought I was already getting one...I can't wait anymore!}. But my answer always felt like boy next, boy next. I had a hard time accepting that and would push that feeling away and only dwell on the good feeling I got when I prayed about a girl. {Enter Milo, whom we adore. It only took one instant for me to be happy with him-it was the instant I caught him in the birth tub.}
Truly I have wearied the Lord with all of my prayers on this subject. I had heard of other women praying for the gender they wanted, and then getting it...and I thought if it worked for them, it should work for me. But the thing I didn't get was that the Lord knows each of us, sees the big picture and knows exactly what we need. But everywhere I look, the spirit is teaching me to "ask, and ye shall receive." And I believe that with all of my heart. So I continue to pray. I had this experience a couple of months ago where I was asking the Lord if I was going to have a girl, or if we could expect to have all boys...when suddenly I received a different answer than before. The spirit told me that we would have all boys until we get Elsa back. I fought that answer in my heart. NO! How could that be! But then something changed within me: after only a few moments, I
accepted that answer. Ok. We will have another baby and it will be another boy...if that's what we need to do, that's what we'll do. And we
will be happy. For quite a few years I have felt a fraction of what Mary, the mother of Jesus must have felt: I have willingly become a vessel for the children God wants me to have, no matter the cost to my heart. "Be it unto me, according to thy will."
As soon as I accepted that answer, almost immediately I felt a burning in my chest that we
would have another girl, and that previous answer was just a test to see if I could let go of my will and trust the Lord. Wow! So now I feel like I'm setting myself up for a win-win situation on my next baby because if I get a girl, great! But if I get another boy, I know with all of my being that it will be the Lord's will and we WILL love it. Before I went to Oliver's ultrasound, I remember telling someone the line from Elder Wirthin's talk a few years back "come what may, and love it." I said it, but I had no idea that I didn't really mean it. But
now I mean it. I really do.
Just about a few weeks after this experience we watched general conference. There were several amazing talks that caught my attention, which I already wrote about...but one talk I didn't write about was President Henry B. Eyring's "
Where is the Pavilion". This talk was like a follow up message from the Lord to me, about the above experience...reinforcing that yes, I had created a pavilion between the Lord and I by fighting His answers previously. But by accepting them, I was removing the pavilion giving me direct access to God. President Eyring's daughter in law removed the pavilion by finally giving up her desire to have another baby, and leaving it in the Lord's hands. I removed the pavilion by accepting,
truly accepting the baby that God needs us to have.
Then, if that weren't enough, last Sunday a friend on Facebook posted a link to a blog by CJane (which I have never read before) about her
experience with infertility. It was amazing how it corresponded with the experience that I have had. Even though I have never had fertility issues, I could relate to exactly what she was saying. It's like I've had girl fertility and girl loss problems. I don't mean to mock anyone who has gone through fertility problems, because I only gained a glimpse of what that must be like when Elsa died and I had to wait another frustrating year without a baby. But when CJane shared that although she experienced 5 years of infertility, she always knew she would conceive a baby, AND
before she conceived she was finally able to be happy and to accept her life. Wow. I GET that.
Ok, one more thought...I'm sorry if this post is perfectly boring. It is helping me so much to get all my thoughts out. Today I stayed home from church with two sick babies. I wanted to review last month's conference talks during church time, but my toddler just wouldn't have that! He was grouching at me for doing anything that didn't include paying attention to him. So we decided to pick out a living scriptures dvd to watch together instead...cuddled on the couch. That was acceptable to him. First we watched The Lord's Prayer, and the spirit cemented my earlier thought in this post about prayer...that you can never pray too much for something you are asking the Lord for. I won't give up until I die. But the second movie we watched was I think The Signs of the Times, and it was about the last days of the Savior before His sacrifice.
I saw that story in a new way today:
The Jewish people were in bondage to the overbearing Roman Empire. They were hoping for a miracle, a Messiah to deliver them. Even the apostles just a few days before the crucifixion were wondering when He was going to pronounce himself King, and deliver them from the Romans. And
truly that was what they needed!
Truly that was not a wrong thing for them to desire. They believed that He was the Son of God, and the Messiah, and that He could perform miracles. Then the next thing they knew, He allowed Himself to be taken and crucified. It must have felt like a punch in the gut to them. But they could not see the
whole picture. They could not see that IF He threw down the Romans and was not crucified, all mankind would be lost forever. They could not see what a HUGE frustration to the plan of salvation it would have been, if He had given them the temporal deliverance from their earthly bondage.
Likewise, I know that when my prayers were not answered like I thought they were going to be, and when I did not receive the
good things that I so greatly desired and prayed so hard for...I know there is a bigger picture. I MUCH bigger picture, that I cannot fully see. I know that God has a great purpose for me, that I cannot always see. But like the original Apostles, I still believe in Him. I still know He loves me. And little by little that bigger picture is being revealed. But it probably will remain somewhat of a mystery to me until after I die. And that's ok.
The question may come to anyone who reads this (as it has come to my mind, and also to my husband's) of why I want a daughter so badly. Why do I put myself through this? Why do I go to all the trouble to pray and think all of this through? Why go to all of the trouble to write this all out? And the answer is simple: I have ALWAYS felt I was going to have a daughter. Always. Sometimes I ask myself the question: was Elsa
that daughter I always felt? But the spirit tells me, there is another. "Faith in the Lord includes faith in His timing." -Elder Neil A. Maxwell
Yet, I know we will have one AMAZING life if we have all boys. Because if we do, I know the Lord's plan is SO MUCH bigger than mine. So although I would
greatly like another girl, I do NOT need another girl.
