A Favorite City

We are home but I am ready to go back!  Our first trip to New York City was a success and oh so much fun!  We had good weather and good company!  We saw just about everything on our list of tourist sites and loved every minute.  

We were very thankful to David for inviting us out and letting us stay at his place. THANK YOU!  In the end it all worked out well even with the tight space.  David was a great tour guide of sites and food!  And we did pretty good navigating on our own when he was in class or studying. 

NYC exceeded my expectations!  It was friendly, safe, and fairly clean for a big city.  There was so much to see and do and each thing brought a totally different experience.   Here is a list of the highlights of our trip!  You can click HERE and HERE to see 120 of the 700 pictures we took while there!

What Did We See in NYC?  More like what didn't we see??? :)

• Central Park
• Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• Top of the Rock Observation Deck from 70 stories up
• Times Square (spent a lot of time there and LOVED it!)
• Ground Zero
• Wall Street
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Saw Mary Poppins on Broadway (Great, great show!!)
• Chad and I had a date night with drinks at the revoloving lounge on the 48th floor of the Marriot!
• Natural History Museum
• Rockafeller Center (Chad and Anna went ice skating)
• Today show!  (We were on TV)
• "Shopping" 5th Avenue

For all of you that have said you always have wanted to go to NYC - GO!  Make it happen!!  

Paying it Forward

Today I was waiting in line at the Caribou Coffee drive thru. It was dark and rainy and cold and I needed something to start my day with. It was a long line and moving very slow. As I was waiting I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a lady in her car that looked very sad, angry and impatient that the line was taking SO long. I kept watching her as we got closer to the window. I thought to myself, "that woman needs some cheering up - big time. I think I will pay for her coffee!"

So, I get up to the pay window about to hand my card to the cashier when she says - "The car in front of you paid for your drink!" WHAT? Here I was ready to pay for the lady behind me and the one in front of me paid for mine and apparently the one in front of that lady started it.

There was major pay it forward action going on in that Caribou drive-thru line today. I paid for the lady behind me but who knows how far it went! What a great way to start a cold, dark, rainy day. Oh, and if you haven't had any of the pumpkin products from Caribou - YUMMY!

Couldn't Have Said it Better...

With only two weeks left before the election I was going to do just one more post on why I support Barack Obama. But then I heard Colin Powell speak on Meet the Press on Sunday and realized I could never have said it better. Here is the video if you haven't seen it!

Thankful

We do have many things to be thankful for:

• WONDERFUL friends and family!  It is amazing the love and understanding that we have felt over the last week.  The prayers are appreciated and felt. 
  
  
• Friends and family that have reached out to us and shared similar stories.  Many of these people we had no idea they had been through the same thing.  Their words were especially comforting. 
  
  
• A compassionate doctor.  Like I said in the first post, this whole process would be totally different if we didn't have a dr that slowed down and spent the time with us with the understanding of the difficult time we were having.  And also all the of the nurses that we came in contact with.  
  
  
• We are thankful that Monday's procedure was "easy" and pain free.  Everything went as well as could be expected.  I was feeling fine physically that same day.  The past few days have been fine too.  Emotionally though it has been a roller coaster.  That is where the prayers can be focused on us for sure.  
  
  
• I am very thankful for the Bible.  For written words and promises that I can turn to when I am feeling down.  To find some understanding and solace in this situation.  I also thankful for the 40 day challenge bible study that our church small group started on Monday.  It
  was a great time to really focus on the word.  
  
  
• Chad and Anna.  Chad for being my love and rock and Anna for showing me every day what true and unconditional love is.   And for both of them making me laugh!! :)  
  
  

Sad Update

So, this is not the post I thought I would be writing today......

Chad and I went to a Dr appt yesterday - our first prenatal appointment.  We found out a few weeks ago that we were pregnant.  But our appt yesterday discovered that our baby didn't have a heart beat and it actually stopped growing 3 weeks ago.   We have been going through a range of emotions from shock to sadness.  

Monday will bring another emotional day when they do a D&C procedure.  We decided to go through with that procedure to move on from this stage and hopefully get to a happier time.  

The good news is that the ultrasounds done yesterday found no other issues or reasons why we shouldn't be able to have a successful pregnancy. 

The other ray of light was that our new Dr, who we met for the first time today, was THE MOST compassionate Dr in the world.  Honestly, I have never felt so loved and cared for by a stranger.  He took a lot of time to talk to us and explain everything and answer all the questions.   He was also a Christian who thankfully wasn't afraid to bring that message to his Dr office.  He brought some peace to the situation and was exactly what we needed in that moment.  

So, we are moving forward and we will see what the future brings.  We are optimistic and this has made us realize really what a miracle having children really is.  How everything has to be just right and how thankful we are that we have a healthy child to love on in the first place.  

This Time of Year

The first week of school has been a week full of anxiety, fear and excitement for me for as long as I can remember. From Kindergarten all the way up to my last year of college, the end of the summer and the start of the school year always lead to much anticipation.

After I graduated from college in 1999, I had a good 4 years of just enjoying the change of the seasons and not worrying about going back to school. That was nice. And then Anna was born. And the anxiety came back.

This time it wasn't for me though - it was the anticipation of our little girl growing up and taking the next big step to school! I remember that first year when she was just 8 months old thinking about what it would be like 5 years from that moment. Seemed like a long way off but at the same time those first 8 months of her life flew right by so it wasn't that far off to imagine.

And then the next year there was only 4 more years and then 3 and then 2 and then....Ugh!

Next year she goes to Kindergarten. We will send her on the bus to an unknown place with unknown people with unknown temptations. Have I done my job as parent? Will she be prepared for school and buses and friends and schoolwork and and and...

You know, once they go to school there is no turning back. She is officially not my baby anymore. Because after Kindergarten comes 1st grade and then 2nd and... Well you get my drift!

I just know that once school starts my whole parenting world is turned upside down. I have a really strong feeling that Anna will do just fine. She will love school. She will make friends. But along with all of those things comes a whole new set of parenting issues and problems! So, really the question isn't is Anna prepared - she has already told me she is ready and can't wait. The real question is - AM I PREPARED?

Come and Gone Again

We look forward all summer and practically all year for the State Fair to start. And then it comes and goes and is gone before you know it! We took full advantage of our fair day again this year. Last year at the conclusion of the Fair Chad laid down a challenge to our family and our Fair buddies, the Vosbergs.
The challenge was to open the Fair at 6 am and spend 6 or so hours with the kids. Then take the kids home, take naps, get a sitter and head back to close down the place at midnight!

As the Fair got closer we realized that it opens at 6 am but really there is not much to do at that time. Most of the food vendors don't open until 8 or 9 am and the buildings are about the same. What were we going to do at 6 am? So, we amended the challenge to get there at 8am instead. That worked out great as we could get in line for new bike helmets for the kids. And by the time that was over we could get our traditional first food of the day at the best Corn Dog stand there! Brian hooked us up and we were on our way.

We did all the usual with the kids and about 1:30pm headed for the Vosberg home. We got a short nap in and welcomed the sitter and headed back. We were back by 4:30 and really enjoyed our adult time at the Fair too. It was just nice and relaxing!

We ended the night with the free Leinie Lodge concert of Trampled by Turtles. Jill scored us great second row bench seats! As we waited for the show to start we listened and watched the security guards really crack down on the audience and where they could and could not stand. Apparently the same concert the night before got a little crazy with the audience so they were preventing anyone from being in the area in front of the bench seats. We were told to stay in our seats and not come towards the stage. As the night went on and people got drunker and the music was going it got harder and harder to do that. And finally as one of the security guards went up the aisle to stop someone from coming up, the people on the side rushed in front and then the other side joined in. There was no stopping them! And even though I got beer spilled on me and got crawled over as people rushed to the front, it made for a better atmosphere for us and the band. Fun way to end the night! We left the grounds around 11:00 and headed for home.

The concert before the drunken crowd rushed the stage!

And after!

New things tried this year:

• Big Fat Bacon - not really a big deal, just big and fat bacon on a stick.

• Mocha on a Stick - We had this last year too but it is really good! Worth mentioning again.

• Corn Fritters - they were ok but not something I will have to get every year.

• Dairy Building Malts - I can't believe that we have never had one of these before. I think we usually just didn't go in that building. This will definitely be something we go back for next year. Yummy!

• Juanita's Fajitas - not impressed.
  
  
• The Sky Glider! LOVED IT! This is a new tradition. Again, can't believe we hadn't done it before.
  

And there it was, another year come and gone! Looking forward to next year!