Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the death of David Rocastle, my all time favourite Arsenal player. He played on the right wing, so when we were attacking the Clock End he was always right in front of where I would stand in the Junior Gunners section. I can clearly remember being a twelve year old there for Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough in 1988. I was right on the touchline and Rocky got the ball in front of me, before beating about seven players and scoring off the post. One of my favourite ever goals. He was my idol and I would spend hours trying to copy his tricks. My favourite was the stepover dragback that he did time and again in front of me, always fooling the defender.
The real reason he was loved so much was his relationship with the fans. The success never went to his head and he always went out of his way to give back to the supporters. When I used to wait in front of the marble halls for autographs he would sign every last one, and chat while doing so. One half term at Arsenal Soccer School we had a trip to the training ground and met the players, and he talked to every single kid. He was a lovely man, and a great player.
Oh Rocky, Rocky! Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocastle!
Depending on your settings you might not see the full screen, so here's a link to the video on youtube.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Mexico
Hello everybody,
We had a lovely holiday in Mexico. It was great to get away from the New York winter and warm up a bit. New York is very cold in the winter and our apartment isn't very insulated. The cold wind comes straight off the river and right through the windows. Going away seemed to mark the end of winter and it was noticably less cold when we returned. March is a strange month here though. Last year the weather forecast oscilated between warm, snowy and floods. This year has been much the same. Last friday it was 25 degrees, but then on Wednesday it snowed!
With the new baby coming along in May we had decided it would be a perfect time for a beach holiday. Little babies and beaches don't mix particularly well, but Sam and Max love the sand, the waves and swimming pools too. We were considering a trip to Mexico, or at least somewhere warm, and then a great deal popped into my inbox and we bought it as our Christmas present to each other.
We went to Cancun for 10 days to a hotel right on the beach. It had beautiful swimming pools, gorgeous looking sea and was right at the bottom of the cancun strip, so far enough away from the really touristy part. We spent most days swimming, lazing around and playing on the beach. It was warm, but not too hot, and there was always a wind coming in off the sea to cool us down. Sam loved the whirlpools, Max loved swimming after his football in the pool, and Lyn and I just loved spending lots of time all together, relaxing. We hadn't had a relaxing beach holiday in about seven years. All of our recent holidays have been exploring interesting places and have had either a lot of time on public transport (pre-kids) or in a car (post-kids). We've seen some amazing places, but it was really nice to just chill out for once.
Having said that we did hire a car for a few days. I had wanted to visit Mayan pyramids for a long time, and the trip to Chichen Itza was amazing. It is such a beautiful, perfect pyramid. I find it incredible that people on either sides of the world decided to make pyramids in days apparently before world travel. Both the Mayan and the Egyptian pyramids are beautiful, and very clever (mathematically, astronomically and logistically) but they are also very different. The settings are different - desert (on the edge of one of the world's biggest cities) vs. cleared jungle miles from anywhere, the purposes are different, the theology is different and the designs are different. But I could sit and stare at them for ages, not alone in finding beauty in perfect geometry.
On another day we drove to Coba, which was one of the biggest Mayan cities in its day. Most of the ruins are today lost in the jungle, but the largest parts remain, spread out over several kilometres. Coba had two large pyramids, one of which at 42 metres high is taller than Chichen Itza's. Although not as well preserved as Chichen Itza you are allowed to climb to the top. It was not an easy climb, especially for Max (although Sam raced ahead), but getting to the top was amazing. From the top you could see for miles around, looking out over the jungle. While we were there we had a drink, watched the iguanas and witnessed a marriage proposal. The climb back down was even harder, especially for a pregnant Lyn in her flip-flops and dress that kept blowing up in the wind! Fortunately we had hired a tricycle to take us back the two kilometres to the car park, stopping off along the way to look at some other smaller ruins. The Mayans played a ball game that seemed to be a cross between football and basketball (except the losers were sacrificed, or the winners, depending on which historian you believe) and we saw some courts, as well as a beautiful observatory.
After leaving the site we found a really nice roadside cafe where we had some of the nicest food of the holiday and then relaxed in their hammocks. On the way back we stopped off at Tulum and saw the Mayan ruins on the cliffs above the sea. This is where I would have lived if I had been a Mayan king. Right on the coast, with my temple looking out over the waves...
Our other great day out was a visit to a crocodile farm and spider monkey sanctuary. We held young crocodiles, stroked snakes and fed wild monkeys. Spider monkeys are the monkeys with big stong tails which are almost like a fifth arm. They have always been Lyn and my favourites at London Zoo and these were free in the wild, hanging out at the sanctuary. We had a small bag of bananas and carrots to feed them, and they would follow us around for a while. At one point I was carrying Max and a monkey took his hat off his head! This gave Max his favourite story, and you will no doubt hear him say 'the monkey took my at'!
After catching a bus back to downtown Cancun we went to a party restaurant with live music, dancers and loads of skeletons. The waiters carried everything on their heads and juggled the condiments. Every so often there was a little skit and one time Sam was invited to chase a burglar around the restaurant and bash him with a stick! Sam is really into bad guys at the moment so he threw himself into the part. We all danced the tequila song and Sam got a dance from a beautiful waitress. On the way back to the bus we crossed a square where they were renting miniature cars to local kids and the boys had a drive - Sam on a dune buggy and Max in a convertable mini. Sam drove really well and even managed to reverse park. Max thought he was driving, but I had a remote control!
We spent the rest of the time at and around the hotel. At the beginning of our stay Lyn was recognised by the lady who did her make-up at our wedding. This was very impressive as they'd only met twice, over two years ago. It was a really nice surprise to meet people from London. Ronit had a daughter who was Sam's age and they played a lot together. Most nights we all went to dinner together and the kids entertained themselves. They both went to the hotel kids club as well, so Sam was very happy. His first holiday romance!
We had a lovely holiday and Mexico is definitely somewhere we'd go back to. The people were really friendly, the food was good, the setting was beautiful and the weather was great.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy.
Lots of love,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max x
We had a lovely holiday in Mexico. It was great to get away from the New York winter and warm up a bit. New York is very cold in the winter and our apartment isn't very insulated. The cold wind comes straight off the river and right through the windows. Going away seemed to mark the end of winter and it was noticably less cold when we returned. March is a strange month here though. Last year the weather forecast oscilated between warm, snowy and floods. This year has been much the same. Last friday it was 25 degrees, but then on Wednesday it snowed!
With the new baby coming along in May we had decided it would be a perfect time for a beach holiday. Little babies and beaches don't mix particularly well, but Sam and Max love the sand, the waves and swimming pools too. We were considering a trip to Mexico, or at least somewhere warm, and then a great deal popped into my inbox and we bought it as our Christmas present to each other.
We went to Cancun for 10 days to a hotel right on the beach. It had beautiful swimming pools, gorgeous looking sea and was right at the bottom of the cancun strip, so far enough away from the really touristy part. We spent most days swimming, lazing around and playing on the beach. It was warm, but not too hot, and there was always a wind coming in off the sea to cool us down. Sam loved the whirlpools, Max loved swimming after his football in the pool, and Lyn and I just loved spending lots of time all together, relaxing. We hadn't had a relaxing beach holiday in about seven years. All of our recent holidays have been exploring interesting places and have had either a lot of time on public transport (pre-kids) or in a car (post-kids). We've seen some amazing places, but it was really nice to just chill out for once.
Having said that we did hire a car for a few days. I had wanted to visit Mayan pyramids for a long time, and the trip to Chichen Itza was amazing. It is such a beautiful, perfect pyramid. I find it incredible that people on either sides of the world decided to make pyramids in days apparently before world travel. Both the Mayan and the Egyptian pyramids are beautiful, and very clever (mathematically, astronomically and logistically) but they are also very different. The settings are different - desert (on the edge of one of the world's biggest cities) vs. cleared jungle miles from anywhere, the purposes are different, the theology is different and the designs are different. But I could sit and stare at them for ages, not alone in finding beauty in perfect geometry.
On another day we drove to Coba, which was one of the biggest Mayan cities in its day. Most of the ruins are today lost in the jungle, but the largest parts remain, spread out over several kilometres. Coba had two large pyramids, one of which at 42 metres high is taller than Chichen Itza's. Although not as well preserved as Chichen Itza you are allowed to climb to the top. It was not an easy climb, especially for Max (although Sam raced ahead), but getting to the top was amazing. From the top you could see for miles around, looking out over the jungle. While we were there we had a drink, watched the iguanas and witnessed a marriage proposal. The climb back down was even harder, especially for a pregnant Lyn in her flip-flops and dress that kept blowing up in the wind! Fortunately we had hired a tricycle to take us back the two kilometres to the car park, stopping off along the way to look at some other smaller ruins. The Mayans played a ball game that seemed to be a cross between football and basketball (except the losers were sacrificed, or the winners, depending on which historian you believe) and we saw some courts, as well as a beautiful observatory.
After leaving the site we found a really nice roadside cafe where we had some of the nicest food of the holiday and then relaxed in their hammocks. On the way back we stopped off at Tulum and saw the Mayan ruins on the cliffs above the sea. This is where I would have lived if I had been a Mayan king. Right on the coast, with my temple looking out over the waves...
Our other great day out was a visit to a crocodile farm and spider monkey sanctuary. We held young crocodiles, stroked snakes and fed wild monkeys. Spider monkeys are the monkeys with big stong tails which are almost like a fifth arm. They have always been Lyn and my favourites at London Zoo and these were free in the wild, hanging out at the sanctuary. We had a small bag of bananas and carrots to feed them, and they would follow us around for a while. At one point I was carrying Max and a monkey took his hat off his head! This gave Max his favourite story, and you will no doubt hear him say 'the monkey took my at'!
After catching a bus back to downtown Cancun we went to a party restaurant with live music, dancers and loads of skeletons. The waiters carried everything on their heads and juggled the condiments. Every so often there was a little skit and one time Sam was invited to chase a burglar around the restaurant and bash him with a stick! Sam is really into bad guys at the moment so he threw himself into the part. We all danced the tequila song and Sam got a dance from a beautiful waitress. On the way back to the bus we crossed a square where they were renting miniature cars to local kids and the boys had a drive - Sam on a dune buggy and Max in a convertable mini. Sam drove really well and even managed to reverse park. Max thought he was driving, but I had a remote control!
We spent the rest of the time at and around the hotel. At the beginning of our stay Lyn was recognised by the lady who did her make-up at our wedding. This was very impressive as they'd only met twice, over two years ago. It was a really nice surprise to meet people from London. Ronit had a daughter who was Sam's age and they played a lot together. Most nights we all went to dinner together and the kids entertained themselves. They both went to the hotel kids club as well, so Sam was very happy. His first holiday romance!
We had a lovely holiday and Mexico is definitely somewhere we'd go back to. The people were really friendly, the food was good, the setting was beautiful and the weather was great.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy.
Lots of love,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max x
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Hi everyone,
It's been ages since we last did a post. We've had visitors, Max's birthday, Christmas, loads and loads of snow, hail, ice and wind since then.
Bob, Tom's dad, came to stay in November. It was great. He went to various New York sporting events with Tom, went to see Gil Scott Heron with me and we all went to museums together. It was lovely spending time with him and watching him playing with the boys. We all really missed him when he left.
My lovely friend Olivia came for the week before Christmas. Unfortunately, her visit coincided with when New York's winter weather started and the snottiest stage of the boys' colds. They weren't at their most beautiful. Inevitably, she got a cold too and spent most of her visit apartment bound - although she did help me with Christmas shopping the day before Christmas Eve in a mall in New Jersey. It was so fantastic to see her. It felt like when she used to come and stay with us in London. I'd really missed her warmth and sense of humour. The thing I still can't get used to about being over here is being so far away from all our amazing friends and family.
Max's birthday was fun, if a little stressful in preparation. I organised my first indoor children's party not in a school. We had 8 nearly 2 year olds and 4 year olds and their parents. I think a good time was had by all - but it was pretty manic.
Christmas was really civilised. The boys woke up at a very respectable 8 o'clock. Sam woke up first and then woke Max up and gave him his stocking. They made present opening last all day. They opened a present, played together with it for an hour and then went for the next one. I know it's not always going to be that peaceful. It was really lovely - just too far away from everyone.
Winter here has been pretty brutal and relentless in its coldness. It was warmer than England for the first part of December. Then on Boxing Day, it snowed all day and night along with with really strong winds. We took the boys out to play in it, but only lasted 7 minutes. Max got blown over and it was no fun at all. It was really beautiful to watch from inside though. The next day it finally settled and Sam and I went out to play Antarctic explorers. He stepped onto a pavement that no-one had walked on and the snow came up to Sam's chest. It still hasn't melted. There are big grey dirty icy piles of the stuff everywhere with dog poo and litter hiding in it which are irresistable to Sam and his friends. We've had 2 snowfalls of more than 20" and lots of this New York phenomenon called 'Wintry Mix' which consists of hail, wind, rain, snow and everything cold and nasty. There was a snow day one day which was lovely. We met up with some children from Sam's class and did sledging and made snowmen and it was great fun. Everywhere we went there were jubilant children and teenagers free for a day.
Winter has been especially hard for the children, because it has been hard to go out and play as much as they would like. We have had loads and loads of play dates with children who live in our building in each other's apartments. Also, Bob very kindly bought us all a year's membership for Brooklyn's Children's Museum which also gets us into other museums and sights around America. We've already used loads including to visit the Intrepid which is a massive aircraft carrier that was bombed by Kamikaze planes in World War 2. We joined a community centre and have gone swimming loads. About 2 weeks ago, Sam discarded his float and noodle and started swimming on his own. It was ever so impressive. We were so proud, I had tears in my eyes.
Tom and Sam went skiing with one of Sam's friends and his Dad for the day at a ski resort 2 hours drive away. Everyone had loads of fun, despite lots of falling over!
Something we forgot to mention in our autumn post was the US Open tennis. Both Tom and I went to an evening session, Tom with some friends from work and me with Karen. Tom saw home favourite Andy Roddick lose in the second round and the next night I saw Novak Djokovic win. During the match, a block away from where I was sitting there was a fight in the seats. It was unbelievable with play stopping as the two rolled down the stands. Here is a video. It changes from an arguement to a fight 1min in. Needless to say the US Open is very different from Wimbledon...
Here are a collection of our winter photos.
Hope you are all well. Roll on Spring!!! We'll be back soon with a post and photos from our holiday to Mexico.
It's been ages since we last did a post. We've had visitors, Max's birthday, Christmas, loads and loads of snow, hail, ice and wind since then.
Bob, Tom's dad, came to stay in November. It was great. He went to various New York sporting events with Tom, went to see Gil Scott Heron with me and we all went to museums together. It was lovely spending time with him and watching him playing with the boys. We all really missed him when he left.
My lovely friend Olivia came for the week before Christmas. Unfortunately, her visit coincided with when New York's winter weather started and the snottiest stage of the boys' colds. They weren't at their most beautiful. Inevitably, she got a cold too and spent most of her visit apartment bound - although she did help me with Christmas shopping the day before Christmas Eve in a mall in New Jersey. It was so fantastic to see her. It felt like when she used to come and stay with us in London. I'd really missed her warmth and sense of humour. The thing I still can't get used to about being over here is being so far away from all our amazing friends and family.
Max's birthday was fun, if a little stressful in preparation. I organised my first indoor children's party not in a school. We had 8 nearly 2 year olds and 4 year olds and their parents. I think a good time was had by all - but it was pretty manic.
Christmas was really civilised. The boys woke up at a very respectable 8 o'clock. Sam woke up first and then woke Max up and gave him his stocking. They made present opening last all day. They opened a present, played together with it for an hour and then went for the next one. I know it's not always going to be that peaceful. It was really lovely - just too far away from everyone.
Winter here has been pretty brutal and relentless in its coldness. It was warmer than England for the first part of December. Then on Boxing Day, it snowed all day and night along with with really strong winds. We took the boys out to play in it, but only lasted 7 minutes. Max got blown over and it was no fun at all. It was really beautiful to watch from inside though. The next day it finally settled and Sam and I went out to play Antarctic explorers. He stepped onto a pavement that no-one had walked on and the snow came up to Sam's chest. It still hasn't melted. There are big grey dirty icy piles of the stuff everywhere with dog poo and litter hiding in it which are irresistable to Sam and his friends. We've had 2 snowfalls of more than 20" and lots of this New York phenomenon called 'Wintry Mix' which consists of hail, wind, rain, snow and everything cold and nasty. There was a snow day one day which was lovely. We met up with some children from Sam's class and did sledging and made snowmen and it was great fun. Everywhere we went there were jubilant children and teenagers free for a day.
Winter has been especially hard for the children, because it has been hard to go out and play as much as they would like. We have had loads and loads of play dates with children who live in our building in each other's apartments. Also, Bob very kindly bought us all a year's membership for Brooklyn's Children's Museum which also gets us into other museums and sights around America. We've already used loads including to visit the Intrepid which is a massive aircraft carrier that was bombed by Kamikaze planes in World War 2. We joined a community centre and have gone swimming loads. About 2 weeks ago, Sam discarded his float and noodle and started swimming on his own. It was ever so impressive. We were so proud, I had tears in my eyes.
Tom and Sam went skiing with one of Sam's friends and his Dad for the day at a ski resort 2 hours drive away. Everyone had loads of fun, despite lots of falling over!
Something we forgot to mention in our autumn post was the US Open tennis. Both Tom and I went to an evening session, Tom with some friends from work and me with Karen. Tom saw home favourite Andy Roddick lose in the second round and the next night I saw Novak Djokovic win. During the match, a block away from where I was sitting there was a fight in the seats. It was unbelievable with play stopping as the two rolled down the stands. Here is a video. It changes from an arguement to a fight 1min in. Needless to say the US Open is very different from Wimbledon...
Here are a collection of our winter photos.
Hope you are all well. Roll on Spring!!! We'll be back soon with a post and photos from our holiday to Mexico.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Yellowstone and Autumn
Hello everybody!
It's been a long time since we last gave you all an update, the last couple of months have been very busy. We had an amazing holiday in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Lyn is pregnant, I've been working hard, Sam has started school and Max is growing up fast.
Lyn is now 13 weeks pregnant, and little Bollen number three is due in the middle of May. We're very excited and looking forward to meeting the next member of our family. The whole US medical thing is a bit scary, but we've found a nice midwife centre and hopefully will be able to have a midwife led delivery in the home-from-home section of the hospital. Lyn is now starting to bloom and we had a 12 week scan last week and everything seems to be going well. We'll be finding out whether it'll be a boy or a girl just after Christmas.
I'm sure you've probably already seen our Yellowstone and Grand Teton photos. If not, here is a link. It is an incredible place. We flew from New York to Salt Lake City and then drove to Grand Teton where we stayed for two nights in a lodge on Jackson Lake. In Teton we did a few hikes, watching out for bears, and hired a speed boat which Sam and Max drove round the beautiful lake with crystal clear reflections of the mountains. We then went on to Yellowstone, where we stayed at Lake Yellowstone Hotel, then log cabins in Mammouth and then Old Faithful. Every day was action packed and we saw bright coloured volcanic springs, bubbling pools, geysers, waterfalls, canyons, buffalo, elk, bears and an eagle. The only slight blot on the holiday was that Lyn fell over on the penultimate day and had to have 15 stitches in her knee. She's fine now and just has a very impressive scar to show for her pains, but it meant that she was immoblised for a few days, and in pain for a few weeks.
There were so many highlights and this would be a very long blog if we listed them all. Seeing the geysers erupt was amazing, as was watching two bears face off over a carcus. It was like watching a David Attenborough documentary. In fact the holiday was like being in a 7 day BBC nature extravaganza. I would strongly recommend it to everybody as somewhere to visit - the world's largest supervolcano and America's serengeti.
Sam started school just after we got back to New York. He is really enjoying it and it seems to have given him a real desire to be independent and more grown up. It's great when he comes home and tells us the things he has learnt and done, or sings American children's songs. It's a lovely sociable school, the children are gorgeous and Sam's teacher seems brilliant- very calm, experienced and warm. The children are allowed to play in the playground (the yard) for 15 minutes after school has finished which gives all the parents a chance to chat. Also, because of the vertical nature of Manhattan living, the geographical catchment area is very small. We live 15 minutes walk away from school and we are at the end of the catchment area. So we bump into Sam's classmates all the time. In fact, about a third of Sam's class live in our building. A lot of them have little brothers and sisters too. This all means that Sam, Max and I are broadening our social circle which was long overdue!
Ann, Doctor's Mum, came to stay for a week in September which was really nice. We did a lot of touristy things with her and she spent a lot of time playing with the boys which they really enjoyed.
Since then we've been enjoying Fall in New York. We went to Bronx zoo with Paul which was fun. The boys loved seeing the animals again. We went out to Long Island to Sam's friend's Khadeejah's birthday party, at her grandparents' house. It's always nice to get out of the city and they put a lot of effort in, with organized activities and farm animals in the garden. Sam and Max had a ride on a pony and we saw a huge preying mantis - very strange animals.
Two weekends ago we took the train upstate and went apple picking. It was fun, although the place was busy and we had to use a pole to get the only apples that were left, high up the trees. We got a big bag and have lots of apple puree in the freezer to make pies with. Also the fresh apple donuts that they make are delicious. The leaves had started to change colour and it was very beautiful.
Last weekend was Halloween, which is a lot bigger here than in the UK. On Thursday evening Sam and Max went to a party in the nursery at my work, while Lyn and I went out for dinner. On Saturday there were parties in the World Financial Center and the park. The boys dressed up, Sam as a fireman and Max as a gorilla! On Sunday we went trick or treating in our building complex and we bumped into a girl from Sam's class and did a bit with her. If you put your name on the "we welcome Trick or Treating list" you can get hundreds of kids visiting as they photocopy it and a six page document gets handed out to all the apartment blocks in the area. There were teenagers walking around with pillowcases full of sweets! You can also trick or treat in shops, fire stations, restaurants and the place goes candy-mad. One corridor in our building did a haunted house, with all the lights out, dead people lying all over the floor and others jumping up out of cardboard box coffins. Sam and Max were probably the least scared, as they had no clue what was going on! After the trick or treating we headed up to the Halloween parade in the West Village. The best bit is getting of the subway and seeing a platform full of people dressed up as everything, not only scary costumes, but also animals, superheros and drag. It showcases New York creativity and is very friendly and entertaining.
This weekend we went to the Bronx Botanical Gardens, which was inspired by Kew. It's another one of the things we can get into for free thanks to my work. The autumn colours were beautiful and the boys really enjoyed running around the trees and kicking the leaves.
The weather has been mostly good, although it's starting to get cold now. New York has a lot of blue sky days. When the clouds build up either the atlantic wind blows them away or there are big thunder storms, which are great to watch (see this photo on the bbc website).
We've put some more photos up on the site and here's a link.
Hope you are all well and planning your NY visits!
Lots of love,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max
Editor's note: Most of this was written by Tom. Some has been written by Lyn, and in these bits she talks about herself in the third person. The longer we've been away from England, the more she's turning into the Queen!
It's been a long time since we last gave you all an update, the last couple of months have been very busy. We had an amazing holiday in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Lyn is pregnant, I've been working hard, Sam has started school and Max is growing up fast.
Lyn is now 13 weeks pregnant, and little Bollen number three is due in the middle of May. We're very excited and looking forward to meeting the next member of our family. The whole US medical thing is a bit scary, but we've found a nice midwife centre and hopefully will be able to have a midwife led delivery in the home-from-home section of the hospital. Lyn is now starting to bloom and we had a 12 week scan last week and everything seems to be going well. We'll be finding out whether it'll be a boy or a girl just after Christmas.
I'm sure you've probably already seen our Yellowstone and Grand Teton photos. If not, here is a link. It is an incredible place. We flew from New York to Salt Lake City and then drove to Grand Teton where we stayed for two nights in a lodge on Jackson Lake. In Teton we did a few hikes, watching out for bears, and hired a speed boat which Sam and Max drove round the beautiful lake with crystal clear reflections of the mountains. We then went on to Yellowstone, where we stayed at Lake Yellowstone Hotel, then log cabins in Mammouth and then Old Faithful. Every day was action packed and we saw bright coloured volcanic springs, bubbling pools, geysers, waterfalls, canyons, buffalo, elk, bears and an eagle. The only slight blot on the holiday was that Lyn fell over on the penultimate day and had to have 15 stitches in her knee. She's fine now and just has a very impressive scar to show for her pains, but it meant that she was immoblised for a few days, and in pain for a few weeks.
There were so many highlights and this would be a very long blog if we listed them all. Seeing the geysers erupt was amazing, as was watching two bears face off over a carcus. It was like watching a David Attenborough documentary. In fact the holiday was like being in a 7 day BBC nature extravaganza. I would strongly recommend it to everybody as somewhere to visit - the world's largest supervolcano and America's serengeti.
Sam started school just after we got back to New York. He is really enjoying it and it seems to have given him a real desire to be independent and more grown up. It's great when he comes home and tells us the things he has learnt and done, or sings American children's songs. It's a lovely sociable school, the children are gorgeous and Sam's teacher seems brilliant- very calm, experienced and warm. The children are allowed to play in the playground (the yard) for 15 minutes after school has finished which gives all the parents a chance to chat. Also, because of the vertical nature of Manhattan living, the geographical catchment area is very small. We live 15 minutes walk away from school and we are at the end of the catchment area. So we bump into Sam's classmates all the time. In fact, about a third of Sam's class live in our building. A lot of them have little brothers and sisters too. This all means that Sam, Max and I are broadening our social circle which was long overdue!
Ann, Doctor's Mum, came to stay for a week in September which was really nice. We did a lot of touristy things with her and she spent a lot of time playing with the boys which they really enjoyed.
Since then we've been enjoying Fall in New York. We went to Bronx zoo with Paul which was fun. The boys loved seeing the animals again. We went out to Long Island to Sam's friend's Khadeejah's birthday party, at her grandparents' house. It's always nice to get out of the city and they put a lot of effort in, with organized activities and farm animals in the garden. Sam and Max had a ride on a pony and we saw a huge preying mantis - very strange animals.
Two weekends ago we took the train upstate and went apple picking. It was fun, although the place was busy and we had to use a pole to get the only apples that were left, high up the trees. We got a big bag and have lots of apple puree in the freezer to make pies with. Also the fresh apple donuts that they make are delicious. The leaves had started to change colour and it was very beautiful.
Last weekend was Halloween, which is a lot bigger here than in the UK. On Thursday evening Sam and Max went to a party in the nursery at my work, while Lyn and I went out for dinner. On Saturday there were parties in the World Financial Center and the park. The boys dressed up, Sam as a fireman and Max as a gorilla! On Sunday we went trick or treating in our building complex and we bumped into a girl from Sam's class and did a bit with her. If you put your name on the "we welcome Trick or Treating list" you can get hundreds of kids visiting as they photocopy it and a six page document gets handed out to all the apartment blocks in the area. There were teenagers walking around with pillowcases full of sweets! You can also trick or treat in shops, fire stations, restaurants and the place goes candy-mad. One corridor in our building did a haunted house, with all the lights out, dead people lying all over the floor and others jumping up out of cardboard box coffins. Sam and Max were probably the least scared, as they had no clue what was going on! After the trick or treating we headed up to the Halloween parade in the West Village. The best bit is getting of the subway and seeing a platform full of people dressed up as everything, not only scary costumes, but also animals, superheros and drag. It showcases New York creativity and is very friendly and entertaining.
This weekend we went to the Bronx Botanical Gardens, which was inspired by Kew. It's another one of the things we can get into for free thanks to my work. The autumn colours were beautiful and the boys really enjoyed running around the trees and kicking the leaves.
The weather has been mostly good, although it's starting to get cold now. New York has a lot of blue sky days. When the clouds build up either the atlantic wind blows them away or there are big thunder storms, which are great to watch (see this photo on the bbc website).
We've put some more photos up on the site and here's a link.
Hope you are all well and planning your NY visits!
Lots of love,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max
Editor's note: Most of this was written by Tom. Some has been written by Lyn, and in these bits she talks about herself in the third person. The longer we've been away from England, the more she's turning into the Queen!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Birthdays and Beaches
Hello everybody!
Hope that you are all well and had a great August. We did! The hot weather has continued and we have been making the most of New York's beaches. When we moved here I had no idea that there were so many really nice beaches. Earlier in the summer we had been to Coney Island a couple of times, Lyn and the boys had been to Rockaway beach, also on the tube, and we'd taken the boat to Sandy Hook on the Jersey Shore.
For my birthday (in case you hadn't guessed this is Tom typing) we had already decided to go back to Sandy Hook on the Sunday. We then had an invitation to go out to Long Island on the Saturday. Lyn's friend Ayako was staying at her parents-in-laws for the weekend and we went and met them there. After a train journey to Bay Shore we went to a splash park (a water park for little kids) where Sam and Max played with Brigid and Oscar. Then after lunch we drove out to Fire Island, which was an incredible beach with really lovely sea. The boys love the beach and like jumping the waves and building sandcastles. As the tide came in we had to build defences to protect our things from rogue waves, which was really fun.
The experience of Fire Island inspired us to try out the other beaches that are close to New York on Long Island. The next weekend we went to Long Beach, which is only just outside of the city. Closer to New York it was a bit busier, but also really nice. Then last weekend for Sam's birthday we went to Jones Beach, which is a State Park and equally beautiful. The south coast of Long Island has spit-like islands just off the coast which are connected at various places by bridges or bits of land. These beaches are on the spits. They are all about an hour and a half away on various train/bus/ferry combinations. Here is a map if I haven't described it very well.
On my birthday we got up slowly and after a delicious pancake breakfast Lyn and I dropped the kids off at the nursery. We then went to a French restaurant called Artisenal where they do a very good fondue. After lunch we went and played mini golf on Randall's Island and then went to Central Park with the boys. It was a fun day.
Sam's birthday was this weekend and after the beach on Saturday he had a great day on Sunday. We spent the morning opening and playing with his presents and then Paul came round. We had pizza, cake and ice cream for lunch and then went to Liberty Park, which is probably Sam's favourite place in New York. He did a lot of cycling on his brand new bike, played on the disused trains and went to the playground. We had a picnic in the park and then got the boat home at sunset.
Last night I went to the US Open tennis. They have floodlights and so have an evening session on the Arthur Ashe court. It's the biggest court in tennis, seating almost 24,000, bigger than a few grounds of recent Premier League teams and 50% bigger than Blackpool! Last night local favourite Andy Roddick went out in the second round to Janko Tipsarevic. It was quite an upset and a really good match. There were some cracking rallies and amazing shots. The surface is slower than Wimbledon's grass, so the points tend to last longer. Lyn is there tonight, watching Sharapova and Djokovic, which I'm currently watching on tv. People sitting near Lyn have just been kicked out for fighting in the stands! It couldn't really be more different from Wimbledon.
We've put some new photos of the the beaches and birthdays on our flickr site.
On Saturday we're off to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons for a week's holiday. Check back in a couple of weeks and we should have some photos of volcanic pools, geysers, mountains and wildlife.
Lots of love,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max
Hope that you are all well and had a great August. We did! The hot weather has continued and we have been making the most of New York's beaches. When we moved here I had no idea that there were so many really nice beaches. Earlier in the summer we had been to Coney Island a couple of times, Lyn and the boys had been to Rockaway beach, also on the tube, and we'd taken the boat to Sandy Hook on the Jersey Shore.
For my birthday (in case you hadn't guessed this is Tom typing) we had already decided to go back to Sandy Hook on the Sunday. We then had an invitation to go out to Long Island on the Saturday. Lyn's friend Ayako was staying at her parents-in-laws for the weekend and we went and met them there. After a train journey to Bay Shore we went to a splash park (a water park for little kids) where Sam and Max played with Brigid and Oscar. Then after lunch we drove out to Fire Island, which was an incredible beach with really lovely sea. The boys love the beach and like jumping the waves and building sandcastles. As the tide came in we had to build defences to protect our things from rogue waves, which was really fun.
The experience of Fire Island inspired us to try out the other beaches that are close to New York on Long Island. The next weekend we went to Long Beach, which is only just outside of the city. Closer to New York it was a bit busier, but also really nice. Then last weekend for Sam's birthday we went to Jones Beach, which is a State Park and equally beautiful. The south coast of Long Island has spit-like islands just off the coast which are connected at various places by bridges or bits of land. These beaches are on the spits. They are all about an hour and a half away on various train/bus/ferry combinations. Here is a map if I haven't described it very well.
On my birthday we got up slowly and after a delicious pancake breakfast Lyn and I dropped the kids off at the nursery. We then went to a French restaurant called Artisenal where they do a very good fondue. After lunch we went and played mini golf on Randall's Island and then went to Central Park with the boys. It was a fun day.
Sam's birthday was this weekend and after the beach on Saturday he had a great day on Sunday. We spent the morning opening and playing with his presents and then Paul came round. We had pizza, cake and ice cream for lunch and then went to Liberty Park, which is probably Sam's favourite place in New York. He did a lot of cycling on his brand new bike, played on the disused trains and went to the playground. We had a picnic in the park and then got the boat home at sunset.
Last night I went to the US Open tennis. They have floodlights and so have an evening session on the Arthur Ashe court. It's the biggest court in tennis, seating almost 24,000, bigger than a few grounds of recent Premier League teams and 50% bigger than Blackpool! Last night local favourite Andy Roddick went out in the second round to Janko Tipsarevic. It was quite an upset and a really good match. There were some cracking rallies and amazing shots. The surface is slower than Wimbledon's grass, so the points tend to last longer. Lyn is there tonight, watching Sharapova and Djokovic, which I'm currently watching on tv. People sitting near Lyn have just been kicked out for fighting in the stands! It couldn't really be more different from Wimbledon.
We've put some new photos of the the beaches and birthdays on our flickr site.
On Saturday we're off to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons for a week's holiday. Check back in a couple of weeks and we should have some photos of volcanic pools, geysers, mountains and wildlife.
Lots of love,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A hot summer in New York
Hello everybody,
New York seems to be showing us its most extreme weather. After a bitterly cold winter which broke records we now have the hottest summer on record, reaching 39.5 degrees at it's peak. Can't complain though. Every weekend feels like a holiday.
The city really comes to life in the summer, with lots of free activities and a two month long River 2 River festival in downtown. There are lots of things for the children to do and they are really enjoying it.
On Lyn's birthday weekend we had the Red Bull Air Race on the river Hudson and from our window we could watch stunt airplanes looping upside down and weaving through obstacles. Later on Paul babysat while Lyn and I went on a wine-tasting sailing boat tour of the harbour. Sitting in the sun, with the wind in the sails and sipping wine was just lovely! We then went for a nice meal and had a lovely time. Thanks Paul!
The next week there was a family festival on the Saturday at the pedestrianised South Street Seaport with various activities for the kids including train rides, music and art workshops. It was another hot day and USA were playing in the World Cup last 16, so lots of bars had outdoor screens and it was a real party atmostphere. At dusk there were some good fireworks, which were Max's first. He liked them at first, but was getting tired as it was late.
That Sunday we went to see Prince Harry play in a Polo match on Governor's Island. It was free to get there and get in, but the catch was that the only drinks were $15 glasses of champagne. We'd taken a coolbag with beer, but had the beer confiscated. In all it was still good value, and quite fun. It made the news because Harry fell off his horse!
The next week Lyn's friend Sarah came to stay. I'll now hand the blogging baton over to Lyn for her to continue.
Hello - Lyn now. My main impression of New York summer is how unbelievably hot it's been. We've spent a lot of it preoccupied on finding somewhere cool. We've been darting from shade to shade, went paddling in some ice (that was glorious!) and have been tracking down air conditioned places. The air conditioning in our apartment is very inefficient and hugely expensive so we've not been using it.
It was so so lovely having Sarah over. She's like the sun - always bright and exudes warmth and energy - so it was a real treat to see her for 10 days. I don't think we've spent that long together since Sunderland. Great as it is over here, nothing quite compensates for being so far away from the people we love.
Despite the blistering heat, Sarah was keen to make the most of her time in the Big Apple and we went out and about seeing as much as possible. There is the added bonus of the subway being air conditioned which was blissful at times. We went to Coney Island which is a bit like Brixton by the sea but with a bit of Blackpool thrown in. The whole place has a definite edge and lots of tackiness - but it has to be seen because it's in so many films for one thing and there's a certain charm to the place. It has a very wierd side too. There's an attraction there called Shoot the freak. There's some poor chap in a pit with a shield in front of his face and the customers try and shoot him with a paint gun. We did learn the very useful art of planting our carosel in the sand in a secure manner. We sat watching other people's umbrellas fly at hurtling speed across the beach, feeling very grateful for our new found knowledge.
A couple of days later, we got a boat to Sandy Hook in Jersey Shore which was a much cleaner and altogether more civilised seaside destination. It was beautiful. It's a State park and nobody really lives there - but there are miles and miles of gorgeous unspoilt sandy beach with the Manhattan skyline on the horizon. We were quite a bit more relaxed there. We made sandcastles, played football and Max discovered the joy of jumping over waves.
Sarah was here for 4th July and I can confirm that the Americans can most definitely put on a firework show. It was very impressive. They are not frightened of a bit of flag waving either.
There are certain weekends we are entitled to free entry to various zoos and botannical gardens around the city through Tom's work. We went to Bronx zoo one Saturday. I think it is the best zoo I have ever been to. There is a little monorail that takes you high up near various animal enclosures which seemed less intrusive to them. Obviously they are all still in captivity, but it seemed better then other zoos I've been to. Also, the whole place is absolutely huge and felt better thought out. Max loved the baboons particularly and Sam was very relieved to see the crocodiles behind a thick pane of glass.
I had decided to try and go to as many different beaches as possible this summer as there are so many relatively close. Rockaway beach is very near to a subway stop in Queens. So, I'd arranged to take the boys and meet Paul (of Is this thing on? fame) there. It's about 1hr on the subway from our apartment. It doesn't feel at all like New york there. It feels a bit like an American version of off season Exmouth. Rain started lashing down while we were on the subway and the signal broke or something like that and we had to get the bus. I always plan to avoid buses on any New York excursion because they aren't very pushchair friendly. To my great relief, people didn't tut or shout at us on the bus as had been our previous New York bus experiences. Everyone was lovely and incredibly helpful. No-one even laughed as our carosel kept falling into the puddles. When we finally arrived at the beach, we were the only ones there except for scores of lifeguards huddled under their umbrellas as far as the eye could see. We had a great time though. Sam loves the rain, the seaside and Paul, so he couldn't have been happier. Paul was a real trooper - he's Californian and not so used to rainy windy beaches as us Brits! He managed to grin through it.
Hi, Tom here again for our next weekend when we went to stay with Uki and Suze, friends of my parents from Finsbury Park. They live in Virginia, just outside Washington DC, in a lovely house in proper American suburbia. It was like you see on the tv - wide roads with hardly any cars and individual houses, all different from each other. They were wonderful hosts and we were made to feel very welcome there. We spent the mornings with them doing countryside things in Virginia and the afternoons doing touristy things in DC. Washington felt more like Europe than anywhere else we've been in the US. There are no high rise buildings - nothing is allowed to be built higher than the dome of the capitol, a rule similar to the one in Florence. The Mall area was laid out by a French architect, and it shows. Parts of it reminded me of Paris, and parts of the garden in Versailles. The memorials are very grand and have a greco-roman feel to them. We also drove through Georgetown, now a district of Washington and the high street felt very English. It's a beautiful place and there's so much to see so it's definitely somewhere we'd like to visit again.
We've put up some new photos for you to see the summer so far on our flickr site. Hope you enjoy them. If you didn't see Sam's acting debut on Paul's online comedy show, scroll down for the link - it's very funny!
Finally, this made us laugh. Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z seemed like the theme tune to our first few months here, playing everywhere. Here's the Welsh version. Chips, cheese, curry make you feel brand new, washed down with Special Brew!
Lots of love from us all,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max xxx
New York seems to be showing us its most extreme weather. After a bitterly cold winter which broke records we now have the hottest summer on record, reaching 39.5 degrees at it's peak. Can't complain though. Every weekend feels like a holiday.
The city really comes to life in the summer, with lots of free activities and a two month long River 2 River festival in downtown. There are lots of things for the children to do and they are really enjoying it.
On Lyn's birthday weekend we had the Red Bull Air Race on the river Hudson and from our window we could watch stunt airplanes looping upside down and weaving through obstacles. Later on Paul babysat while Lyn and I went on a wine-tasting sailing boat tour of the harbour. Sitting in the sun, with the wind in the sails and sipping wine was just lovely! We then went for a nice meal and had a lovely time. Thanks Paul!
The next week there was a family festival on the Saturday at the pedestrianised South Street Seaport with various activities for the kids including train rides, music and art workshops. It was another hot day and USA were playing in the World Cup last 16, so lots of bars had outdoor screens and it was a real party atmostphere. At dusk there were some good fireworks, which were Max's first. He liked them at first, but was getting tired as it was late.
That Sunday we went to see Prince Harry play in a Polo match on Governor's Island. It was free to get there and get in, but the catch was that the only drinks were $15 glasses of champagne. We'd taken a coolbag with beer, but had the beer confiscated. In all it was still good value, and quite fun. It made the news because Harry fell off his horse!
The next week Lyn's friend Sarah came to stay. I'll now hand the blogging baton over to Lyn for her to continue.
Hello - Lyn now. My main impression of New York summer is how unbelievably hot it's been. We've spent a lot of it preoccupied on finding somewhere cool. We've been darting from shade to shade, went paddling in some ice (that was glorious!) and have been tracking down air conditioned places. The air conditioning in our apartment is very inefficient and hugely expensive so we've not been using it.
It was so so lovely having Sarah over. She's like the sun - always bright and exudes warmth and energy - so it was a real treat to see her for 10 days. I don't think we've spent that long together since Sunderland. Great as it is over here, nothing quite compensates for being so far away from the people we love.
Despite the blistering heat, Sarah was keen to make the most of her time in the Big Apple and we went out and about seeing as much as possible. There is the added bonus of the subway being air conditioned which was blissful at times. We went to Coney Island which is a bit like Brixton by the sea but with a bit of Blackpool thrown in. The whole place has a definite edge and lots of tackiness - but it has to be seen because it's in so many films for one thing and there's a certain charm to the place. It has a very wierd side too. There's an attraction there called Shoot the freak. There's some poor chap in a pit with a shield in front of his face and the customers try and shoot him with a paint gun. We did learn the very useful art of planting our carosel in the sand in a secure manner. We sat watching other people's umbrellas fly at hurtling speed across the beach, feeling very grateful for our new found knowledge.
A couple of days later, we got a boat to Sandy Hook in Jersey Shore which was a much cleaner and altogether more civilised seaside destination. It was beautiful. It's a State park and nobody really lives there - but there are miles and miles of gorgeous unspoilt sandy beach with the Manhattan skyline on the horizon. We were quite a bit more relaxed there. We made sandcastles, played football and Max discovered the joy of jumping over waves.
Sarah was here for 4th July and I can confirm that the Americans can most definitely put on a firework show. It was very impressive. They are not frightened of a bit of flag waving either.
There are certain weekends we are entitled to free entry to various zoos and botannical gardens around the city through Tom's work. We went to Bronx zoo one Saturday. I think it is the best zoo I have ever been to. There is a little monorail that takes you high up near various animal enclosures which seemed less intrusive to them. Obviously they are all still in captivity, but it seemed better then other zoos I've been to. Also, the whole place is absolutely huge and felt better thought out. Max loved the baboons particularly and Sam was very relieved to see the crocodiles behind a thick pane of glass.
I had decided to try and go to as many different beaches as possible this summer as there are so many relatively close. Rockaway beach is very near to a subway stop in Queens. So, I'd arranged to take the boys and meet Paul (of Is this thing on? fame) there. It's about 1hr on the subway from our apartment. It doesn't feel at all like New york there. It feels a bit like an American version of off season Exmouth. Rain started lashing down while we were on the subway and the signal broke or something like that and we had to get the bus. I always plan to avoid buses on any New York excursion because they aren't very pushchair friendly. To my great relief, people didn't tut or shout at us on the bus as had been our previous New York bus experiences. Everyone was lovely and incredibly helpful. No-one even laughed as our carosel kept falling into the puddles. When we finally arrived at the beach, we were the only ones there except for scores of lifeguards huddled under their umbrellas as far as the eye could see. We had a great time though. Sam loves the rain, the seaside and Paul, so he couldn't have been happier. Paul was a real trooper - he's Californian and not so used to rainy windy beaches as us Brits! He managed to grin through it.
Hi, Tom here again for our next weekend when we went to stay with Uki and Suze, friends of my parents from Finsbury Park. They live in Virginia, just outside Washington DC, in a lovely house in proper American suburbia. It was like you see on the tv - wide roads with hardly any cars and individual houses, all different from each other. They were wonderful hosts and we were made to feel very welcome there. We spent the mornings with them doing countryside things in Virginia and the afternoons doing touristy things in DC. Washington felt more like Europe than anywhere else we've been in the US. There are no high rise buildings - nothing is allowed to be built higher than the dome of the capitol, a rule similar to the one in Florence. The Mall area was laid out by a French architect, and it shows. Parts of it reminded me of Paris, and parts of the garden in Versailles. The memorials are very grand and have a greco-roman feel to them. We also drove through Georgetown, now a district of Washington and the high street felt very English. It's a beautiful place and there's so much to see so it's definitely somewhere we'd like to visit again.
We've put up some new photos for you to see the summer so far on our flickr site. Hope you enjoy them. If you didn't see Sam's acting debut on Paul's online comedy show, scroll down for the link - it's very funny!
Finally, this made us laugh. Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z seemed like the theme tune to our first few months here, playing everywhere. Here's the Welsh version. Chips, cheese, curry make you feel brand new, washed down with Special Brew!
Lots of love from us all,
Tom, Lyn, Sam and Max xxx
Thursday, July 15, 2010
England photos and Sam's acting debut
Hello everybody,
We had a great time in England! It was lovely to see you all. If we didn't manage to see you, sorry - it was a whistle stop tour, for me at least (Tom). Some days we took loads of lovely photos. Other days we either forgot the camera, or were too busy chatting to remember to take any!
Here are a selection of the photos on our website. Hope you enjoy them.
We've been doing lots of fun stuff since we've been back here in NYC, starting off with Lyn's birthday and this weekend we're off to Washington D.C. Got to pack now, so will try to post an update next week, with some stories and some new photos.
In the meantime have a laugh at this: Sam made his acting debut in Paul's online comedy show and you can watch the five minute episode here. The full series is at stonecomedy.blip.tv
Have a great weekend,
Tom
We had a great time in England! It was lovely to see you all. If we didn't manage to see you, sorry - it was a whistle stop tour, for me at least (Tom). Some days we took loads of lovely photos. Other days we either forgot the camera, or were too busy chatting to remember to take any!
Here are a selection of the photos on our website. Hope you enjoy them.
We've been doing lots of fun stuff since we've been back here in NYC, starting off with Lyn's birthday and this weekend we're off to Washington D.C. Got to pack now, so will try to post an update next week, with some stories and some new photos.
In the meantime have a laugh at this: Sam made his acting debut in Paul's online comedy show and you can watch the five minute episode here. The full series is at stonecomedy.blip.tv
Have a great weekend,
Tom
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