House Sold and Other Tidbits

So we had another offer on the house, this time it was for real and we have now signed contracts and have a band of our loved ones helping us out of the house- it is all very quick and we are set to close on Aug 22- not much time to get things done! Yes our prayers are answered, and yes the timing is right. Thanks everyone for your prayers and help!

We have been keeping busy here, this last week has been eventful- I can hardly remember all of the activities. We took a ride on the tram to Roosevelt Island, which was the quietest mode of transportation we have been on since being here. We took the bus around the island for 25 cents, which was rather dull. But the view at night is really lovely. Allegedly this tram is in many films including Spider man.
We have also done some exploring in Brooklyn which has led us to Ikea of course. We had another day over there after taking a nice stroll through Chinatown and the financial district. We found Joe a great pair of polyester pants for church because the suit he brought is way too big for him now- he felt really uncomfortable wearing pants that were cinched into ruffles by his belt.
I am sure that we will go back to Chinatown for the whole experience again- perhaps not on a Saturday though!!
Anyway, we enjoyed walking down through that area and ended up at City Hall and the park there. From that point we took the subway into Brooklyn so we could walk back across the Brooklyn bridge. We found a great little restaurant there called The New Apollo diner, the people were so friendly-we will definitely go there again! The walk across the bridge is quite spectacular at night- the skyline is just amazing, you just have to watch out for the kamikaze bikers who haul across the bridge with their bells and whistles. The waterfalls are really lovely along the river- it was quite a trip to look down on the waterfall through the bridge.... we have some more exploring to do there; so more to come on that highlight later!
Let me think... one night (after the tram ride) we were wandering about and happened upon Johnny Rockets so we had a shake and some fries. I ate at Johnny Rockets in Tokyo and I remember it was a really pricey hamburger, something like $12 just for the burger and that was 15 years ago (hard to believe)- the price was surprisingly not so alarming here.
We have been back to toy stores for all of our viewing and entertaining pleasures. We love to check out the window displays at Bergdorf Goodman, among others. Shopping is just such an experience here- we are really enjoying it and loving the fact that we can just walk most everywhere, it just depends on how much we want to carry.
We made it up to Riverside church and to Grants tomb where they have a cool community art project all around the building. Mosaic benches with all kinds of wonderful designs! We had a great time looking at all of those and trying out each seat!
Today I took the kids to the Children's Museum of Manhattan which isn't too far from us. We hooked up with some of the gals from the ward and that was really great. I don't ever feel like I am "alone" while exploring the town with the kids, but it is fun to have women to talk with. The kids are doing so great here, I am really proud of them- they are making friends at the parks and at church and where ever we go, and are enjoying playing with many diverse people.
We have started our homeschooling experience and it is quite fun- we are just having a great time learning together and having some amazing experiences everyday, lots of good laughter going on which I cherish!
After the museum today we went to the Riverside park at 83rd and the kids wanted to stay forever, Zach and I had a good time on the teeter totters and the girls were living it up in the cool sand pile and Eli was making his rounds, but was really enjoying the little river that goes from the fountain down through the park. Such fun to be had there; Joe met us there and we made our way back to Broadway and found a nice little place called Europan where we had a bite to eat, then it was on to Fairway for our grocery stop and home to catch up on a bit of the Olympics- pretty amazing stuff. We have decide that this is a good time to have cable!