Strange encounters of the human kind

Let's just say that we have met some of the most incredible and interesting people while we have been here in NY; and it really runs the gamut. I can't even say how many different people have stopped us to comment on what a beautiful family we have and "God bless you" for having 4 children in the big city. It just seems normal to me, I don't know anything else!

We have had some interesting encounters these last few days. Most recently, while shopping at Fairway last night, a fellow approached Joe and Zach and said that Zach looked exactly like Ricky Schroeder, and that Zach looked just like his dad. From this we guessed that he thought Joe was Ricky Schroeder???? Not sure! (Perhaps it is the eyebrows?)

This guy's claim to fame is that he saw Barbra Streisand there at Fairway haggling the butchers about the price of Alaskan crab legs or something.

It was, for us, a very strange conversation and a lengthy one at that. We have found that the life long New Yorkers are the ones that stop us to chat about who we are and why we are here. They think we are fascinating, we think it is weird; I just love being the oddball!

Sunday after church we walked home through Central Park as we do quite often and we were approached by an older gentleman in front of "the Dakota" (for any of you unfamiliar with this apartment building (on 72nd) it is where John Lennon lived, and died, and where Yoko still lives) I was waiting with Zach, Kaija and Bella; then a certain Mr. Mandel, as we later learned, came up and said that Zach had a nice hair cut, then Joe came along with Eli and our conversation went to the standard, who are you and why are you here and led a great conversation about organs and family and his life in NYC as a firefighter. He was one of the Firemen on call the day that the B25 flew into the Empire State building in 1945. He said we should come and visit him at his apartment next door and wanted to make sure that Joe went to Radio City Music hall to listen to the organ there; he also worked there as a fireman! Wow, it really is just amazing to talk with people here, we learn so much!

We have an actor named Jeremiah who lives on our floor with his family and I had a great chat with him while we both folded laundry downstairs. He thinks Joe's job is cool too (everyone seems to think this)! In this case he had a book to recommend for Joe since he is connected to the bizarre organ world.

And last piece of gossip of who lives where in NYC, allegedly "Klinger" aka Jamie Farr, from M.A.S.H. lives in our building-I have yet to see him!

Living Weird and Grateful

You know things are weird when I am in New York and Joe is at "home" in Warrensburg! He had a spur of the moment trip back home so he can get things ready for the next load of organ parts to come back here. He flew out yesterday and will be home Saturday.

You know it is funny that this is home now-I guess for the time being it is, since Joe will sign the papers and hand over the keys to our house tomorrow! So, it sort of worked out to have him there this week-I signed the documents today and overnighted them so he could sign them there--again a weird concept for me to think about, the fact that I am the one out of town- not that I mind one bit. I have no problem with having a really great place to hang out. Today we went to the park with our friends and played with water balloons, hit the library, cleaned the apartment, had smoothies and granola bars for dinner; what could be better?

We send our love and thanks to everyone who made this move out of our house possible!

Central Park

The Central Park Zoo where Bella Rules

And Eli became a turtle

We went to the Swedish Cottage Marionette Puppet Theater
with our friends Kristen and Matias Delellis (and the Zoo)

It was our pleasure to see:

Jack and the Beanstalk

We laughed and were amazed by the special effects

Amazing Puppets

And a silly Giant named Milford

We can't wait until October when we can go see Peter Pan!

NY Fun

And who should we see......

Well we have been fortunate to make some nice friends from church and yesterday we went to the Zoo at Central Park. We were walking along and who should we see......but Rod Stewart (and his wife and child, we think). It was all so sudden and he was not waiting around for us to figure out that he was there and stop for a photo shoot with us. Oh well, the kids thought he was some kind of crazy grandpa. That pretty much sums it up!

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!

To be or not to be!

That is truly the question!! So this whole thing about the house selling......let's just say that we are struggling with the results of this last weekend. It was golden until it all took a different path, which it seems to do more often than not. Who knows really, I guess it saves us some major worries about having everyone else pack and clean our house (that part of the whole thing still makes me feel a little nerve wracked), now we are just feeling let down in a big way!

Well, it is a dog eat dog world out there it would seem. We are considering ourselves eaten for today! Not for long though........ it is all about the right timing, right???

So, does anyone want to buy a great house in Warrensburg Missouri?