Hi all,
As promised, here is a video of Max walking. Very cute.
Today we are putting the boys into the emergency childcare at work and Lyn and I are going Ice Skating in Central Park, then lunch somewhere nice followed by Avatar in 3D at the Imax cinema. In the UK you can only use the work childcare if you're at work, but here it's different. It should be a lovely day and we're very excited!
Hope you're all having a great Christmas week!
Lots of love,
Tom
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Max's 1st Birthday!
Hello everyone,
It's all snowy, cold and beautiful here at the moment. New York suits snow, especially with all the twinkling christmas trees and lights. We went to Central Park today and it was magical. We saw people trying to sledge down snow covered rocks in a canoe. Then they tried unsuccessfully to drag it back up to the top again. I love snow. It seems to bring out joy and nutters! I have to say though, the snowmen in Tooting Common last year completely thrash the Central Park ones.
Last Wednesday was Max's 1st birthday. To mark the occasion, Max started walking on the monday before. He looks very proud of himself and gives himself a round of applause each time he walks. On the morning of the big day, we played with Max's new toys and balloons, went swimming and then went into town to meet Tom and Paul for pizza. After lunch, Paul took us to a brilliant toy shop where children are allowed to play with the toys. There is a huge piano there from the Tom Hanks film 'Big' that children are encouraged to play on. Sam bought Max some building bricks and then we went home and played a bit more. I think Max had a fun day. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.
Calv and Isa came to visit the weekend before and we had loads of fun. We went out and played Beer Pong again. Then we went to a restaurant where a guacamole expert come to our table and prepared it in front of us. It was almost like performance art, but we had a huge incredible bowl of guacamole to show for it. Calv, Isa and Tom went to a huge local derby NFL game between Philadelphia Giants and Eagles. Isa got loads of great photos of topless fat blokes when it was -4 degrees. Big thanks to Isa who kindly imported, stamped and posted all our christmas cards, meaning for the first time in years our friends and family got Chrismas cards.
We're really looking forward to Christmas in New York, but I'm going to miss everyone back there in Blighty and those of you in Oz. I feel a long way away from you all.
New York doesn't hold back on celebrating holidays and Christmas is no exception. So, I'm sure it's going to be an experience. Sam and I went to our local fire house's christmas party a couple of weeks ago. It was for the firemen's and Sam's families. We felt very honoured indeed.
Sam and Max are decidedly unconvinced by Santa which is a shame beacause he's everywhere here. He came to the lobby in our building. When Sam saw Santa, he needed to keep a good distance. One of the much less scary elves, threw Santa's sack of toys to Sam, so Sam would not need to get too close. Max was braver until Santa laughed. Then Max screamed and Sam was rooted to the spot with fear. The next evening, we were in Little Italy and there was some kind of drunk Santa convention which didn't really help Sam and Max's opinion of the celebrated man in red.
We've put some new photos on our flickr site. We'll put a video of Max walking very soon. Have a lovely lovely christmas. We miss you all very much and will be thinking of you.
Lots and lots of love
Lyn, Tom, Sam and Max (now 1!)
It's all snowy, cold and beautiful here at the moment. New York suits snow, especially with all the twinkling christmas trees and lights. We went to Central Park today and it was magical. We saw people trying to sledge down snow covered rocks in a canoe. Then they tried unsuccessfully to drag it back up to the top again. I love snow. It seems to bring out joy and nutters! I have to say though, the snowmen in Tooting Common last year completely thrash the Central Park ones.
Last Wednesday was Max's 1st birthday. To mark the occasion, Max started walking on the monday before. He looks very proud of himself and gives himself a round of applause each time he walks. On the morning of the big day, we played with Max's new toys and balloons, went swimming and then went into town to meet Tom and Paul for pizza. After lunch, Paul took us to a brilliant toy shop where children are allowed to play with the toys. There is a huge piano there from the Tom Hanks film 'Big' that children are encouraged to play on. Sam bought Max some building bricks and then we went home and played a bit more. I think Max had a fun day. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.
Calv and Isa came to visit the weekend before and we had loads of fun. We went out and played Beer Pong again. Then we went to a restaurant where a guacamole expert come to our table and prepared it in front of us. It was almost like performance art, but we had a huge incredible bowl of guacamole to show for it. Calv, Isa and Tom went to a huge local derby NFL game between Philadelphia Giants and Eagles. Isa got loads of great photos of topless fat blokes when it was -4 degrees. Big thanks to Isa who kindly imported, stamped and posted all our christmas cards, meaning for the first time in years our friends and family got Chrismas cards.
We're really looking forward to Christmas in New York, but I'm going to miss everyone back there in Blighty and those of you in Oz. I feel a long way away from you all.
New York doesn't hold back on celebrating holidays and Christmas is no exception. So, I'm sure it's going to be an experience. Sam and I went to our local fire house's christmas party a couple of weeks ago. It was for the firemen's and Sam's families. We felt very honoured indeed.
Sam and Max are decidedly unconvinced by Santa which is a shame beacause he's everywhere here. He came to the lobby in our building. When Sam saw Santa, he needed to keep a good distance. One of the much less scary elves, threw Santa's sack of toys to Sam, so Sam would not need to get too close. Max was braver until Santa laughed. Then Max screamed and Sam was rooted to the spot with fear. The next evening, we were in Little Italy and there was some kind of drunk Santa convention which didn't really help Sam and Max's opinion of the celebrated man in red.
We've put some new photos on our flickr site. We'll put a video of Max walking very soon. Have a lovely lovely christmas. We miss you all very much and will be thinking of you.
Lots and lots of love
Lyn, Tom, Sam and Max (now 1!)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A Third of a Century
First of all - happy sort of birthday to me. Today I am 33⅓ - a third of a century!
The week after we got back from Arizona was Thanksgiving, which meant a day off work and a national celebration. On Thanksgiving eve I got off work early and we all went to the "Macy's Inflation Celebration". On Thanksgiving there is a huge parade, paid for by the department store Macy's, which has lots of huge balloons of cartoon characters, which are controlled like puppets from below. The day before they fence off a few roads to blow the balloons up. It was extremely overcrowded, but there was a real buzz in the air, and people had traveled for miles to see the inflation and then the parade the next day.
On Thanksgiving itself we got up and watched the parade on television. Paul came round and I made some pumpkin pie and we ate that with hot apple cider (non-alcoholic), which I had heated up with cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and rum for the adults. Yum. After the parade we watched the (American) football, another thanksgiving tradition, and played with the kids. Paul headed off, and in the evening we went round to the parents of one of Sam's friends from pre-school. We had been hoping for a Thanksgiving invite and were really pleased when it arrived two days before the day. We ate lots of food and drunk lots of wine and had a really nice evening.
This weekend we had Anna & Phillip to stay, which was really nice. On Friday we put the boys into the childcare at my work and Lyn, Anna & Phillip spent the day going round art galleries in the Village, getting their hair cut and eating and drinking. It sounds like they had a lovely day. On Saturday we lazed around in the morning and then went to the Christmas market in Union Square, but the weather was horrible, so we found ourselves a nice pub and had a great dinner, washed down with Pumpkin beer. After lunch we went to Grand Central station, where there is another Xmas market, and then walked to the Rockefeller Centre. By now the rain and turned to snow, and it was beautiful seeing the huge Christmas tree in the snow, while people ice skated below. We then headed back to the subway via Times Square, which is always crazy but the snow gave it something extra.
By Sunday the clouds had gone and it was a beautiful cold crisp sunny day. We walked along the river down to the bottom of Manhattan and had a lovely Italian lunch, before getting the ferry across to Liberty Island to look up at the statue. The ride on the boat was nice, but the most special thing was looking back at New York from the island. We can see the statue from our apartment, and to look back and see our tower as part of the Manhattan skyline was great. Have a look at the photo here. It's the smaller one right in the middle that has a square on top. That is one that we need to crop, enlarge and frame. It's amazing to think that the Statue of Liberty was taller than any of the buildings in New York when it arrived here. Now there's not many shorter....
Anna and Phillip left yesterday and Calv and Isa arrive tomorrow, so we have another fun packed weekend coming up. Christmas is fast approaching and we need to buy a tree and some lights soon. Hope you are all well and looking forward to the festivities.
Best wishes,
Tom x
The week after we got back from Arizona was Thanksgiving, which meant a day off work and a national celebration. On Thanksgiving eve I got off work early and we all went to the "Macy's Inflation Celebration". On Thanksgiving there is a huge parade, paid for by the department store Macy's, which has lots of huge balloons of cartoon characters, which are controlled like puppets from below. The day before they fence off a few roads to blow the balloons up. It was extremely overcrowded, but there was a real buzz in the air, and people had traveled for miles to see the inflation and then the parade the next day.
On Thanksgiving itself we got up and watched the parade on television. Paul came round and I made some pumpkin pie and we ate that with hot apple cider (non-alcoholic), which I had heated up with cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and rum for the adults. Yum. After the parade we watched the (American) football, another thanksgiving tradition, and played with the kids. Paul headed off, and in the evening we went round to the parents of one of Sam's friends from pre-school. We had been hoping for a Thanksgiving invite and were really pleased when it arrived two days before the day. We ate lots of food and drunk lots of wine and had a really nice evening.
This weekend we had Anna & Phillip to stay, which was really nice. On Friday we put the boys into the childcare at my work and Lyn, Anna & Phillip spent the day going round art galleries in the Village, getting their hair cut and eating and drinking. It sounds like they had a lovely day. On Saturday we lazed around in the morning and then went to the Christmas market in Union Square, but the weather was horrible, so we found ourselves a nice pub and had a great dinner, washed down with Pumpkin beer. After lunch we went to Grand Central station, where there is another Xmas market, and then walked to the Rockefeller Centre. By now the rain and turned to snow, and it was beautiful seeing the huge Christmas tree in the snow, while people ice skated below. We then headed back to the subway via Times Square, which is always crazy but the snow gave it something extra.
By Sunday the clouds had gone and it was a beautiful cold crisp sunny day. We walked along the river down to the bottom of Manhattan and had a lovely Italian lunch, before getting the ferry across to Liberty Island to look up at the statue. The ride on the boat was nice, but the most special thing was looking back at New York from the island. We can see the statue from our apartment, and to look back and see our tower as part of the Manhattan skyline was great. Have a look at the photo here. It's the smaller one right in the middle that has a square on top. That is one that we need to crop, enlarge and frame. It's amazing to think that the Statue of Liberty was taller than any of the buildings in New York when it arrived here. Now there's not many shorter....
Anna and Phillip left yesterday and Calv and Isa arrive tomorrow, so we have another fun packed weekend coming up. Christmas is fast approaching and we need to buy a tree and some lights soon. Hope you are all well and looking forward to the festivities.
Best wishes,
Tom x
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Arizona
Hi all,
Arizona is just too beautiful for words. The vastness of the Grand Canyon, the beauty of the iconic Monument Valley, the red rocks, desert landscape, volcanos, mountains, trees, and Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
I won't try to describe them - have a look at the photos.
Love,
Tom x
Arizona is just too beautiful for words. The vastness of the Grand Canyon, the beauty of the iconic Monument Valley, the red rocks, desert landscape, volcanos, mountains, trees, and Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
I won't try to describe them - have a look at the photos.
Love,
Tom x
Monday, November 16, 2009
A long journey
Hi everybody!
It's six thirty a.m. and I am sitting in a hotel reception in Flagstaff, Arizona, as I'm unable to sleep. Max was awake a few times in the night and after finally getting him back to sleep, I couldn't.
Yesterday was quite an epic day. We flew over 2,100 miles and then drove another 150. Getting up early we got a taxi to Newark airport, checked in and had some breakfast. Security was a nightmare, and as always seems to happen, we were the last onto the plane, after they called our name out (you know that family in the fast show?.....). You could see the look of trepidation on everybody's faces as we walked down the aisle - hoping that we weren't sitting near them! The stewardess asked us which seats, and said "what all four of you there?" as we didn't pay for Max, so we had three seats for the four of us. Somebody else lauged but probably more out of fear for six hours of hell. Actually the boys were amazingly good on the flight and lots of people at the end of the flight said how good they had been.
After collecting our bags we went to pick up the hire car. As part of our journey will be on bumpy dirt tracks we had decided to hire an SUV (Chelsea tractor). Everytime we've hired a car before they have just given us one. This time they said we had a choice. We went down into the car park and there were about 20 different cars/trucks to choose from - 4x4s and pickup trucks, Fords, Dodges, Chryslers, Chevies, Kias etc. After not much sleep and a long flight we were a bit lost. Sam sat in a few and tryed out the hazard lights and we chose a Chevrolet Traverse. Mainly because it looked nice, and Adrian - our most petrol-headed friend - drives a chevy.
We then set off on one of the most amazing drives of my life. Starting in Phoenix in 26 degree heat, and ending in Flagstaff at below zero. Phoenix is in the middle of the desert and shouldn't exist really - all the water for the million residents is piped in from over 1000 miles away. The road out took us uphill, past big red rocks and hills covered in huge cacti. Some of the cacti were at least 20 feet tall. Amazing. We kept going uphill, then across desert plains, then uphill again past amazing scenery, with big red mountains and rocks in the distance. Then as we went higher the landscape completely changed into forests, with huge snow covered mountains in the distance. Flagstaff is 7000 feet above sea level - almost twice as high as Ben Nevis.
We then had a really nice meal and an early night. Today after a swim at the hotel we're driving to the Grand Canyon. I'm very excited. The first view of it is meant to be completely breathtaking, and I can't wait.
Talking of swimming - Sam sam his first length without a float this week. He wears a jacket with floats in it, so not unassisted, but a big step for him, especially overcoming the fear.
The day before heading off to Arizona we went to see the Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall, which is America's most famous christmas show. Paul's girlfriend is a Rockette - the troup of dancers that do most of the show - and got us really good reduced price tickets. The boys loved the show, and it was loads better than I had expected. The dancing and overall production was fantastic. Max was on my knees jumping up and down and clapping. Afterwards we went backstage, met the camels, and saw how the stage works.
We'll have internet access as some of the hotels we're staying at, so we may post again. Have a good week.
Tom x
p.s. I can't believe Robin van Persie got injured playing for Holland again. Really bad timing as he's been playing really well and we have a big game against Chelsea in two weeks. At least everybody has been scoring, so we should be ok, but he's done really well in the central striker role and will be a big loss. Bloody international friendlies - what a waste of time.
It's six thirty a.m. and I am sitting in a hotel reception in Flagstaff, Arizona, as I'm unable to sleep. Max was awake a few times in the night and after finally getting him back to sleep, I couldn't.
Yesterday was quite an epic day. We flew over 2,100 miles and then drove another 150. Getting up early we got a taxi to Newark airport, checked in and had some breakfast. Security was a nightmare, and as always seems to happen, we were the last onto the plane, after they called our name out (you know that family in the fast show?.....). You could see the look of trepidation on everybody's faces as we walked down the aisle - hoping that we weren't sitting near them! The stewardess asked us which seats, and said "what all four of you there?" as we didn't pay for Max, so we had three seats for the four of us. Somebody else lauged but probably more out of fear for six hours of hell. Actually the boys were amazingly good on the flight and lots of people at the end of the flight said how good they had been.
After collecting our bags we went to pick up the hire car. As part of our journey will be on bumpy dirt tracks we had decided to hire an SUV (Chelsea tractor). Everytime we've hired a car before they have just given us one. This time they said we had a choice. We went down into the car park and there were about 20 different cars/trucks to choose from - 4x4s and pickup trucks, Fords, Dodges, Chryslers, Chevies, Kias etc. After not much sleep and a long flight we were a bit lost. Sam sat in a few and tryed out the hazard lights and we chose a Chevrolet Traverse. Mainly because it looked nice, and Adrian - our most petrol-headed friend - drives a chevy.
We then set off on one of the most amazing drives of my life. Starting in Phoenix in 26 degree heat, and ending in Flagstaff at below zero. Phoenix is in the middle of the desert and shouldn't exist really - all the water for the million residents is piped in from over 1000 miles away. The road out took us uphill, past big red rocks and hills covered in huge cacti. Some of the cacti were at least 20 feet tall. Amazing. We kept going uphill, then across desert plains, then uphill again past amazing scenery, with big red mountains and rocks in the distance. Then as we went higher the landscape completely changed into forests, with huge snow covered mountains in the distance. Flagstaff is 7000 feet above sea level - almost twice as high as Ben Nevis.
We then had a really nice meal and an early night. Today after a swim at the hotel we're driving to the Grand Canyon. I'm very excited. The first view of it is meant to be completely breathtaking, and I can't wait.
Talking of swimming - Sam sam his first length without a float this week. He wears a jacket with floats in it, so not unassisted, but a big step for him, especially overcoming the fear.
The day before heading off to Arizona we went to see the Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall, which is America's most famous christmas show. Paul's girlfriend is a Rockette - the troup of dancers that do most of the show - and got us really good reduced price tickets. The boys loved the show, and it was loads better than I had expected. The dancing and overall production was fantastic. Max was on my knees jumping up and down and clapping. Afterwards we went backstage, met the camels, and saw how the stage works.
We'll have internet access as some of the hotels we're staying at, so we may post again. Have a good week.
Tom x
p.s. I can't believe Robin van Persie got injured playing for Holland again. Really bad timing as he's been playing really well and we have a big game against Chelsea in two weeks. At least everybody has been scoring, so we should be ok, but he's done really well in the central striker role and will be a big loss. Bloody international friendlies - what a waste of time.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Baby, Halloween and NFL
Lyn's post
Hello everyone,
Firstly and most excitingly, Mandy has had a baby. Beautiful Bella was born on Monday 2nd November. I've only seen her on skype but she looks gorgeous. Can't wait to meet her in the flesh and see her Mum, Dad and big brother again.
Halloween
There have been decorataions and hype up for halloween since september, so our expectations for it were pretty high. It did not disappoint. Sam had been to 2 halloween parties the week before and there was a general party atmosphere and people dressed up in mad get ups all week. It felt a bit like the week before christmas except much more American.
On Halloween itself we all dressed up in our fancy dress costumes - Max was Winnie the pooh, Sam was Darth Vader and a Ninja type hero, Tom was a chef and I was a fairy. We went to a children's halloween festival in our local park. There were bubbles, music, big art activities and haystacks to jump around on. It was loads of fun and very cute, seeing all these fairies, ladybirds, witches, astronauts, spidermen jumping around and playing in the hay. Then we went to Central park and went to a pizza restaurant. Michael Douglas came in, ate a pizza and sat on his own at the bar. As we were leaving, a firework display started in the park to celebrate the marathon. We love our fireworks. Then we decided to go and watch the big halloween parade that goes through the Village. The parade was fantastic with brilliant floats and music and truly amazing costumes. The thing that really struck me from the whole day was the absolute enthusiasm and complete lack of self consciousness shown by everyone. I expected the parade to have great costumes, but everyone on the subway train and in the pizza restaurant had obviously put huge amounts of effort into their costumes. The atmosphere at the West 4 subway station was really something. I've never seen so many adults in fancy dress in such a small area in my life - all as happy and excited as can be. I can't imagine anything like that ever happening in London because we would all be too self conscious.
Sam had a lifetime's worth of candy in 1 day. Shops, firestations and just passers by were just giving it to him. He ate toffee for the first time and said, "This sweet is making my mouth work very hard!"
He was a bit disappointed when he went to shops in the days following and no-one was giving out sweets.
Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets
On Sunday, Tom and I went to our first NFL game with Tom's colleague Preston and his lady, Kristin. Preston played American football at school and he was very helpful at explaining the intricacies of the game to me. Tom has been a Dolphins fan for years and was excited to get his first chance to see them live. I was a complete novice. It was loads of fun but felt a lot more serious and passionate than the Yankees game. The ground was full was noisy. The first half was very defensive ending 3-3. The second half even I could follow with touchdowns galore and 49 points scored. The highlight was a 7 minute period of three touchdowns, including two kick off return touchdowns for the Dolphins. Both times he caught the ball and ran 100 yards past every player on the pitch, something that is very rare, and for it to happen twice in one game was an NFL record. You can see it here - even if you have no interest this is worth watching, just for how much fun the man is having! The game was close right up to the end and it could have gone either way, but the Dolphins held on to win 30-25.
Sam and Max
Max is a very sociable little boy. He's recently got very excited about waving and says, "heyho". He likes to wave at people down the street and photos. He also likes Row row row the boat and shouts Wo Wo Wo and rocks back and forwards when he wants to sing the classic. He's desperate to walk and pulls himself up on anything that stays still for longer than a second which can be a bit irritating. He really loves swimming and splashing in the bath. He's beautiful.
Sam quite likes school. The teacher said he is immaculately behaved, very quiet but confident. I'm very proud of my Sam, but I wouldn't call his behaviour immaculate! She recommends play dates so he can make more friends. I've lined him up a list of prospective suitors. Tom and I went to a school parents' pot luck party where we met all the parents of Sam's classmates and we took their phone numbers. Sam loves his teacher too and told me he wants her to come and live with us. He likes it here and loves the fire engines, the lifts, the playgrounds, the towers and the dogs. He does miss people from England though.
We're off to Arizona next weekend. Have a lovely week. Talk soon.
Lots of love
Lyn and Tom xx
p.s. Tom also put a post up today with photos, so keep reading if you haven't seen it yet.
Hello everyone,
Firstly and most excitingly, Mandy has had a baby. Beautiful Bella was born on Monday 2nd November. I've only seen her on skype but she looks gorgeous. Can't wait to meet her in the flesh and see her Mum, Dad and big brother again.
Halloween
There have been decorataions and hype up for halloween since september, so our expectations for it were pretty high. It did not disappoint. Sam had been to 2 halloween parties the week before and there was a general party atmosphere and people dressed up in mad get ups all week. It felt a bit like the week before christmas except much more American.
On Halloween itself we all dressed up in our fancy dress costumes - Max was Winnie the pooh, Sam was Darth Vader and a Ninja type hero, Tom was a chef and I was a fairy. We went to a children's halloween festival in our local park. There were bubbles, music, big art activities and haystacks to jump around on. It was loads of fun and very cute, seeing all these fairies, ladybirds, witches, astronauts, spidermen jumping around and playing in the hay. Then we went to Central park and went to a pizza restaurant. Michael Douglas came in, ate a pizza and sat on his own at the bar. As we were leaving, a firework display started in the park to celebrate the marathon. We love our fireworks. Then we decided to go and watch the big halloween parade that goes through the Village. The parade was fantastic with brilliant floats and music and truly amazing costumes. The thing that really struck me from the whole day was the absolute enthusiasm and complete lack of self consciousness shown by everyone. I expected the parade to have great costumes, but everyone on the subway train and in the pizza restaurant had obviously put huge amounts of effort into their costumes. The atmosphere at the West 4 subway station was really something. I've never seen so many adults in fancy dress in such a small area in my life - all as happy and excited as can be. I can't imagine anything like that ever happening in London because we would all be too self conscious.
Sam had a lifetime's worth of candy in 1 day. Shops, firestations and just passers by were just giving it to him. He ate toffee for the first time and said, "This sweet is making my mouth work very hard!"
He was a bit disappointed when he went to shops in the days following and no-one was giving out sweets.
Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets
On Sunday, Tom and I went to our first NFL game with Tom's colleague Preston and his lady, Kristin. Preston played American football at school and he was very helpful at explaining the intricacies of the game to me. Tom has been a Dolphins fan for years and was excited to get his first chance to see them live. I was a complete novice. It was loads of fun but felt a lot more serious and passionate than the Yankees game. The ground was full was noisy. The first half was very defensive ending 3-3. The second half even I could follow with touchdowns galore and 49 points scored. The highlight was a 7 minute period of three touchdowns, including two kick off return touchdowns for the Dolphins. Both times he caught the ball and ran 100 yards past every player on the pitch, something that is very rare, and for it to happen twice in one game was an NFL record. You can see it here - even if you have no interest this is worth watching, just for how much fun the man is having! The game was close right up to the end and it could have gone either way, but the Dolphins held on to win 30-25.
Sam and Max
Max is a very sociable little boy. He's recently got very excited about waving and says, "heyho". He likes to wave at people down the street and photos. He also likes Row row row the boat and shouts Wo Wo Wo and rocks back and forwards when he wants to sing the classic. He's desperate to walk and pulls himself up on anything that stays still for longer than a second which can be a bit irritating. He really loves swimming and splashing in the bath. He's beautiful.
Sam quite likes school. The teacher said he is immaculately behaved, very quiet but confident. I'm very proud of my Sam, but I wouldn't call his behaviour immaculate! She recommends play dates so he can make more friends. I've lined him up a list of prospective suitors. Tom and I went to a school parents' pot luck party where we met all the parents of Sam's classmates and we took their phone numbers. Sam loves his teacher too and told me he wants her to come and live with us. He likes it here and loves the fire engines, the lifts, the playgrounds, the towers and the dogs. He does miss people from England though.
We're off to Arizona next weekend. Have a lovely week. Talk soon.
Lots of love
Lyn and Tom xx
p.s. Tom also put a post up today with photos, so keep reading if you haven't seen it yet.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Connecticut in the fall and Yankees win the league
For the second weekend of my Mum's stay with us we had hired a car to drive north, get out into the countryside and see some more leaves. I picked the car up on Friday night and we set off early. People at work had recommended going to Sheffield in Berkshire, but we had been watching the "fall map" which shows where the leaves are the best colours, and instead that area was "past peak", so instead we headed to the Cornwall and Kent area in Connecticut. It has to be said that the British settlers weren't very original when they set about naming the places in New England! (Although just south of Kent and Cornwall is the fantastically named Gaylordsville).
After a nice lunch in Kent we stopped to look and some great sculptures, and then went for a nice walk by some waterfalls and through a forest. The weather wasn't great, but it was still beautiful. We stayed at a small motel and got a good night's sleep and on Sunday we woke up to a really clear sunny day. In the cornwall area a lot of the leaves had already fallen, so we headed south to a place on the Appalachian Trail, with a nice river, canal and covered bridge. We had a nice walk and then found a lovely pie shop for lunch. The apple and pumpkin pies for pudding were delicious. After lunch we went to a state park on Lake Candlewood and had fun throwing stones in to the water and looking at the beautiful colours in the trees surrounding the lake. We have now put some more photos on our flickr site, including some of the amazing leaf colours.
After the drive back to New York my mum babysat so that Lyn and I could go and watch the NY Yankees against the LA Angels in the American League Championship Series. If the Yankees won they would win American League and qualify for the "World" Series - kind of the baseball equivalent of the Champions League. I had been to three baseball games before and the atmosphere had always been a bit flat, but the new Yankee Stadium was absolutely rocking, for this big game. The Yankees hadn't been to the World Series for 9 years. Even though we were on the top (fourth) tier we were standing up for half of the game, and I was surprised by the fact there were chants for a lot of the players. The Angels took an early lead, but the Yankees fought back to win 5-2 and the stadium erupted to celebrate winning the league. Lyn and I had a great night, and one of the good things about american sports is you can drink beer in your seat. The game finished at midnight and we stayed to watch the celebrations before heading home.
Right - Sam and Lyn are making pancakes and I need to go and buy some lemons. Lyn will be writing soon, and we have Halloween and an NFL game to tell you about. Feel free to comment at the bottom. Love to you all,
Tom x
After a nice lunch in Kent we stopped to look and some great sculptures, and then went for a nice walk by some waterfalls and through a forest. The weather wasn't great, but it was still beautiful. We stayed at a small motel and got a good night's sleep and on Sunday we woke up to a really clear sunny day. In the cornwall area a lot of the leaves had already fallen, so we headed south to a place on the Appalachian Trail, with a nice river, canal and covered bridge. We had a nice walk and then found a lovely pie shop for lunch. The apple and pumpkin pies for pudding were delicious. After lunch we went to a state park on Lake Candlewood and had fun throwing stones in to the water and looking at the beautiful colours in the trees surrounding the lake. We have now put some more photos on our flickr site, including some of the amazing leaf colours.
After the drive back to New York my mum babysat so that Lyn and I could go and watch the NY Yankees against the LA Angels in the American League Championship Series. If the Yankees won they would win American League and qualify for the "World" Series - kind of the baseball equivalent of the Champions League. I had been to three baseball games before and the atmosphere had always been a bit flat, but the new Yankee Stadium was absolutely rocking, for this big game. The Yankees hadn't been to the World Series for 9 years. Even though we were on the top (fourth) tier we were standing up for half of the game, and I was surprised by the fact there were chants for a lot of the players. The Angels took an early lead, but the Yankees fought back to win 5-2 and the stadium erupted to celebrate winning the league. Lyn and I had a great night, and one of the good things about american sports is you can drink beer in your seat. The game finished at midnight and we stayed to watch the celebrations before heading home.
Right - Sam and Lyn are making pancakes and I need to go and buy some lemons. Lyn will be writing soon, and we have Halloween and an NFL game to tell you about. Feel free to comment at the bottom. Love to you all,
Tom x
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A catch up post
Hi everybody,
Sorry we've been absent for a while. Been pretty hectic here, with both my parents staying (this is Tom typing, by the way). Work has also been very busy with quarter end followed by various external communications and board meetings which I have been producing slides for. The weekend after our last blog we hired a car and drove upstate to the catskills, which is a mountain range about 90 miles north of new york. Autumn here is beautiful and the leaves had started to change colour. We went apple picking, which we all really enjoyed. It was great for Sam as they had tractor rides and an old fire engine that drove around the farm, and the apples straight from the trees were delicious. The shop there sold pretty much every conceivable apple product, including fresh apple donuts, which were amazing.
The next day we drove around the mountains, saw a nice waterfall, went to a big reservoir and just enjoyed the beautiful trees and leaves. Then we drove home and Dad headed off to JFK for his flight home. We then had four days to ourselves before my mum arrived. Unfortunately Sam managed to cut his hand badly by grabbing the blinds to stop himself falling off the heater that he likes to stand on to look out of the window. There was blood everywhere and Lyn spent the next five hours in ER at the NY downtown hospital (sponsored by Lehman Brothers!). They glued Sam's hand back together and it is nearly healed now, but it was a pretty horrible experience. Somehow I think we'll spend a lot of time in casualty with the boys over the next few years...
Mum arrived on Thursday evening and I met her at JFK. She also enjoyed the pleasure of ER when Sam's cut opened up again while swimming. The doctor had forgotten to tell Lyn that the glue holding Sam's hand together would disolve in chlorine. Useless. I thought the arguement was that healthcare would be better if you have to pay for it.
Across the road from our apartment is a fire station and Sam has made friends with the firemen. By this time Sam had already been shown round the fire station twice and on our way out the next day Sam gave them a picture he had drawn and a thank you letter. It was a different fireman this time and they offered if Sam would like to look round again - a question that only has one answer! They are so good with him, letting him turn on the lights, pretend he's driving, spray them with the hoses, try on their helmets and turn on the sirens. Fireman Mike even bought Sam an FDNY t-shirt out of his own money (L - the smallest size they have over here). We've got some good photos that will be up on the site soon.
When we could finally drag him out we went for a walk across Brooklyn bridge. It's only about 10mins from our flat and the views from the bridge are great. Something I'm sure we'll do again and again. On the other side, under the bridge is the other famous New York pizzeria - Grimaldi's, which sell really good pizza, although you have to queue outside to get a table. On Sunday we continued the firefighing theme and went to the fire department museum. Lots of old fire engines and clothes for Sam to dress up in, as well as the very moving September 11th memorial.
Right, it's getting late and there's a lot more to write, so the rest will have to wait until next time. By then we should have the next batch of photos up as well. Hope that you are all happy and healthy!
Love Tom x
Sorry we've been absent for a while. Been pretty hectic here, with both my parents staying (this is Tom typing, by the way). Work has also been very busy with quarter end followed by various external communications and board meetings which I have been producing slides for. The weekend after our last blog we hired a car and drove upstate to the catskills, which is a mountain range about 90 miles north of new york. Autumn here is beautiful and the leaves had started to change colour. We went apple picking, which we all really enjoyed. It was great for Sam as they had tractor rides and an old fire engine that drove around the farm, and the apples straight from the trees were delicious. The shop there sold pretty much every conceivable apple product, including fresh apple donuts, which were amazing.
The next day we drove around the mountains, saw a nice waterfall, went to a big reservoir and just enjoyed the beautiful trees and leaves. Then we drove home and Dad headed off to JFK for his flight home. We then had four days to ourselves before my mum arrived. Unfortunately Sam managed to cut his hand badly by grabbing the blinds to stop himself falling off the heater that he likes to stand on to look out of the window. There was blood everywhere and Lyn spent the next five hours in ER at the NY downtown hospital (sponsored by Lehman Brothers!). They glued Sam's hand back together and it is nearly healed now, but it was a pretty horrible experience. Somehow I think we'll spend a lot of time in casualty with the boys over the next few years...
Mum arrived on Thursday evening and I met her at JFK. She also enjoyed the pleasure of ER when Sam's cut opened up again while swimming. The doctor had forgotten to tell Lyn that the glue holding Sam's hand together would disolve in chlorine. Useless. I thought the arguement was that healthcare would be better if you have to pay for it.
Across the road from our apartment is a fire station and Sam has made friends with the firemen. By this time Sam had already been shown round the fire station twice and on our way out the next day Sam gave them a picture he had drawn and a thank you letter. It was a different fireman this time and they offered if Sam would like to look round again - a question that only has one answer! They are so good with him, letting him turn on the lights, pretend he's driving, spray them with the hoses, try on their helmets and turn on the sirens. Fireman Mike even bought Sam an FDNY t-shirt out of his own money (L - the smallest size they have over here). We've got some good photos that will be up on the site soon.
When we could finally drag him out we went for a walk across Brooklyn bridge. It's only about 10mins from our flat and the views from the bridge are great. Something I'm sure we'll do again and again. On the other side, under the bridge is the other famous New York pizzeria - Grimaldi's, which sell really good pizza, although you have to queue outside to get a table. On Sunday we continued the firefighing theme and went to the fire department museum. Lots of old fire engines and clothes for Sam to dress up in, as well as the very moving September 11th memorial.
Right, it's getting late and there's a lot more to write, so the rest will have to wait until next time. By then we should have the next batch of photos up as well. Hope that you are all happy and healthy!
Love Tom x
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
A Ball Game, a Boat Trip and a Balkan Brass Band
Hi everybody!
Bob arrived on Friday to stay with us for a week. It's really nice to have him here and the boys are very happy. After an early night on Friday and a Saturday morning trip to the riverside park we headed to CitiFields for an end of season baseball game. Unfortunately both teams were out of the playoffs, so their seasons were over. It meant easy tickets for £4 each and a chance to see the Mets at their brand new home. The first few innings were good fun and we were very high up, but then the rain started. By the time it had stopped Sam was soaked and we had lost Bob! Lots of people had left though, so we got good seats for the last four innings. The Mets won 5-1.
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day and started with an early morning Arsenal 6-2 victory followed by a nice swim at the pool. After lunch we headed down to the South Street Seaport to go for a sailing trip on 19th century replica Tall Ship. It was an lovely trip, sailing out round Governor's Island, up to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and then back round the bottom of Manhattan. Lyn and Sam helped put the sails up, in exchange for a free beer - Lyn enjoyed hers, and I enjoyed Sam's!
The port was in full throng with Diwali festivities. It seems that every week here there are streets closed for a different festival/street party, which is really fun. There was a bhangra dancing competition on a stage at the pier and then a road closed full of mouthwatering food stalls. Unfortunately the boys were hungry by then and didn't fancy a curry, so we had some great samosas before heading off to Little Italy for some pizza.
Tonight I'm at home with the boys while Lyn and Bob have gone out with Danka to see Slavic Soul Party play at a bar in Brooklyn. Dad has been trawling through the Village Voice to find some interesting music and settled on New York's official #1 brass band for BalkanSoulGipsyFunk! Bizzare. I'm sure Lyn will tell you all about it in her next post.
We've posted some new photos up on flickr - have a look here. We're having problems with the voip phone at the moment, so if you'd like a chat try us on Skype - our username is Tom and Lyn Bollen (Lyn's old Lyn Sybil Redmond address no longer works). If you don't have skype and can get your hands on a cheap international phone card give us a call on 001 646 596 7132. It would be lovely to speak to you!
Until the next time,
Tom x
Bob arrived on Friday to stay with us for a week. It's really nice to have him here and the boys are very happy. After an early night on Friday and a Saturday morning trip to the riverside park we headed to CitiFields for an end of season baseball game. Unfortunately both teams were out of the playoffs, so their seasons were over. It meant easy tickets for £4 each and a chance to see the Mets at their brand new home. The first few innings were good fun and we were very high up, but then the rain started. By the time it had stopped Sam was soaked and we had lost Bob! Lots of people had left though, so we got good seats for the last four innings. The Mets won 5-1.
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day and started with an early morning Arsenal 6-2 victory followed by a nice swim at the pool. After lunch we headed down to the South Street Seaport to go for a sailing trip on 19th century replica Tall Ship. It was an lovely trip, sailing out round Governor's Island, up to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and then back round the bottom of Manhattan. Lyn and Sam helped put the sails up, in exchange for a free beer - Lyn enjoyed hers, and I enjoyed Sam's!
The port was in full throng with Diwali festivities. It seems that every week here there are streets closed for a different festival/street party, which is really fun. There was a bhangra dancing competition on a stage at the pier and then a road closed full of mouthwatering food stalls. Unfortunately the boys were hungry by then and didn't fancy a curry, so we had some great samosas before heading off to Little Italy for some pizza.
Tonight I'm at home with the boys while Lyn and Bob have gone out with Danka to see Slavic Soul Party play at a bar in Brooklyn. Dad has been trawling through the Village Voice to find some interesting music and settled on New York's official #1 brass band for BalkanSoulGipsyFunk! Bizzare. I'm sure Lyn will tell you all about it in her next post.
We've posted some new photos up on flickr - have a look here. We're having problems with the voip phone at the moment, so if you'd like a chat try us on Skype - our username is Tom and Lyn Bollen (Lyn's old Lyn Sybil Redmond address no longer works). If you don't have skype and can get your hands on a cheap international phone card give us a call on 001 646 596 7132. It would be lovely to speak to you!
Until the next time,
Tom x
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Starting to get sorted...
Hi everybody,
Sorry it's been quiet for a while, we have been busy getting sorted, but we have put some photos on Flickr. Sam started pre-school today, and he seemed to really enjoy it, so that's a big step. He's been singing American versions of "The wheels on the bus" and other songs! Not long before he has an American accent - he already says "good jaaaaaaab"! At the weekend we bought a cot and a highchair for Max and I had to go to deepest Brooklyn to collect it. We also did a lot of shopping on amazon for kitchen stuff, and on Saturday went up to midtown and I bought two suits and Lyn got a new US mobile. I'm trying to sort out getting my iphone to work here - all the people in the shops keep telling me to unlock it, but it sounds a bit risky to me. We've also got VPN sorted, which makes websites think we have a UK IP address, so Sam can watch his CBeebies and Lyn can watch her Strictly Come Dancing on the iplayer.
On Sunday we did the paperwork for the gym and pool downstairs and then had a swim. It's lovely - not very big, but usually empty. The four of us had a great time, and by the end Sam had got his confidence up. Lyn and the boys have been back everyday since, and on Monday Sam did four lengths, holding on to a float. Pretty impressive stuff. In the afternoon we went for a walk down to Wall Street. We passed City Hall and there were lots of people protesting for a new inquest into 9/11, handing out some interesting conspiracy leaflets. On Wall Street we saw loads of police cars and policeman pinning a man to one of the cars. They were all surrounded by a red car that had its windows smashed and was riddled with bullet holes. Apparently they were filming a scene for a new Samuel L. film called The Other Guys. Unfortunately the security was tight and we couldn't take any photos or see Mr. Jackson - one of our wedding table heros.
Work has been going quite well, although it has slowed down for me a bit as everybody is busy with quarter end approaching and they don't have time to give me any projects. One day I had to cope with a phone call at work from Lyn telling me how much of a wonderful time her, the boys and Danka were having on the beach! There is an amazing beach in New York, just take the subway to the end of the line and then get a bus. Hopefully we'll have a sunny weekend so I can go and enjoy it before it gets cold. The next day I had a worse call - Sam had fallen off a chair and cut his head, which was bleeding a lot. It seems we only have health insurance for emergency medical care, which is insufficient. I now have to struggle with work to get cover to take the boys to the Doctor. Sam was ok and recovered quickly, but it was a bit of a scare.
Today was the third Arsenal game when I've been at work. The weekend ones are ok as there are a lot of games on tv here, and I've got Arsenal TV Online to keep up to date. Midweek games kick off at 2.30-3pm here, so I'm at my desk or in meetings. The first two I half-followed on the BBC minute-by-minute which wasn't much fun, especially as the first game we were 2-0 down inside five mins. We turned it round though. Today the game is being shown as live at 10pm here, and I've managed to avoid all talk of the game, so don't know the score. The players are just walking out onto the pitch, so I'm off now. Heather, Doctor, Danie, Roger and others were there tonight - hopefully I'll hear them sing loudly! Come On Arsenal!
Speak to you all soon. I'm sure Lyn will have something to say in the next few days. We are also now taking hotel bookings and already have eight weekends booked up, so if you are thinking of coming to stay, have a think about when and let us know.
Lots of love,
Tom xxx
Sorry it's been quiet for a while, we have been busy getting sorted, but we have put some photos on Flickr. Sam started pre-school today, and he seemed to really enjoy it, so that's a big step. He's been singing American versions of "The wheels on the bus" and other songs! Not long before he has an American accent - he already says "good jaaaaaaab"! At the weekend we bought a cot and a highchair for Max and I had to go to deepest Brooklyn to collect it. We also did a lot of shopping on amazon for kitchen stuff, and on Saturday went up to midtown and I bought two suits and Lyn got a new US mobile. I'm trying to sort out getting my iphone to work here - all the people in the shops keep telling me to unlock it, but it sounds a bit risky to me. We've also got VPN sorted, which makes websites think we have a UK IP address, so Sam can watch his CBeebies and Lyn can watch her Strictly Come Dancing on the iplayer.
On Sunday we did the paperwork for the gym and pool downstairs and then had a swim. It's lovely - not very big, but usually empty. The four of us had a great time, and by the end Sam had got his confidence up. Lyn and the boys have been back everyday since, and on Monday Sam did four lengths, holding on to a float. Pretty impressive stuff. In the afternoon we went for a walk down to Wall Street. We passed City Hall and there were lots of people protesting for a new inquest into 9/11, handing out some interesting conspiracy leaflets. On Wall Street we saw loads of police cars and policeman pinning a man to one of the cars. They were all surrounded by a red car that had its windows smashed and was riddled with bullet holes. Apparently they were filming a scene for a new Samuel L. film called The Other Guys. Unfortunately the security was tight and we couldn't take any photos or see Mr. Jackson - one of our wedding table heros.
Work has been going quite well, although it has slowed down for me a bit as everybody is busy with quarter end approaching and they don't have time to give me any projects. One day I had to cope with a phone call at work from Lyn telling me how much of a wonderful time her, the boys and Danka were having on the beach! There is an amazing beach in New York, just take the subway to the end of the line and then get a bus. Hopefully we'll have a sunny weekend so I can go and enjoy it before it gets cold. The next day I had a worse call - Sam had fallen off a chair and cut his head, which was bleeding a lot. It seems we only have health insurance for emergency medical care, which is insufficient. I now have to struggle with work to get cover to take the boys to the Doctor. Sam was ok and recovered quickly, but it was a bit of a scare.
Today was the third Arsenal game when I've been at work. The weekend ones are ok as there are a lot of games on tv here, and I've got Arsenal TV Online to keep up to date. Midweek games kick off at 2.30-3pm here, so I'm at my desk or in meetings. The first two I half-followed on the BBC minute-by-minute which wasn't much fun, especially as the first game we were 2-0 down inside five mins. We turned it round though. Today the game is being shown as live at 10pm here, and I've managed to avoid all talk of the game, so don't know the score. The players are just walking out onto the pitch, so I'm off now. Heather, Doctor, Danie, Roger and others were there tonight - hopefully I'll hear them sing loudly! Come On Arsenal!
Speak to you all soon. I'm sure Lyn will have something to say in the next few days. We are also now taking hotel bookings and already have eight weekends booked up, so if you are thinking of coming to stay, have a think about when and let us know.
Lots of love,
Tom xxx
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Pizzas and deep fried oreos
Hi
We've been here a week now and it's still beautiful. I'm getting a bit more to grips with the everyday things like washing and shopping etc - Sam's potty training still isn't massively successful, so I've spent a lot of time at the launderette. I still get quite confused with the shopping because everything costs so much more than I think it does because tax isn't included. Americans must be good at calculating percentages in their head. Also everything is full of sugar. Sam is starting pre school on tuesday for the 6 months. So that will be intersting.
Last week we didn't do much outside our area. We just spent the week going to the local parks, playing by the river, visiting preschools and just trying to work things out. I've just been ogling at how beautiful it all is. We've done a bit more exploring this weekend. Yesterday we went to central park with Tom's ex colleague Lucia. It's a park and a half indeed. Sam was really happy climbing up the rocks, collecting sticks and racing the horses. Max smiled and clapped at everyone. We had great pizza. Afterwards, we went to Times Square which was a sensory overload - noisy, bright comletely mad and not massively pleasant. It reminded me of Blade Runner. I was expecting to see flying police cars. There was some kind of incredibly noisy motorbike meeting there which didn't help. Sam said he liked all the televisions but the whole place was a bit silly. Max, meanwhile managed somehow to nod off.
Today we went to Little Italy for the festa di San Gennaro. This was also completely crazy but amazing. There were loads of stalls selling gelato, home made pasta, beautiful pastries and all manner of the lovely Italian food that you would expect. Right next to them there were stalls selling deep fried orios. There was a very wierd section where they were charging 50c to go and see a woman with the body of a snake and a further $1 to see an elephant woman. We went to Lombardi's which is America's first pizzaria and had more great pizza. If we carry on like this, we'll waddle back to the uk twice the size we left.
All the bits of new york I've seen have been so different to each other and intriguing and exciting. I just can't wait to get to know more of it.
I'm off now as Tom is trying to educate me in the intricacies of American football. Tom has fixed the voip phone, so you can ring us on our old home phone number (not before 1pm uk time please - 8am here). You just ring it and it is the same price as if you rang us in streatham.
Take care.
Love Lyn
We've been here a week now and it's still beautiful. I'm getting a bit more to grips with the everyday things like washing and shopping etc - Sam's potty training still isn't massively successful, so I've spent a lot of time at the launderette. I still get quite confused with the shopping because everything costs so much more than I think it does because tax isn't included. Americans must be good at calculating percentages in their head. Also everything is full of sugar. Sam is starting pre school on tuesday for the 6 months. So that will be intersting.
Last week we didn't do much outside our area. We just spent the week going to the local parks, playing by the river, visiting preschools and just trying to work things out. I've just been ogling at how beautiful it all is. We've done a bit more exploring this weekend. Yesterday we went to central park with Tom's ex colleague Lucia. It's a park and a half indeed. Sam was really happy climbing up the rocks, collecting sticks and racing the horses. Max smiled and clapped at everyone. We had great pizza. Afterwards, we went to Times Square which was a sensory overload - noisy, bright comletely mad and not massively pleasant. It reminded me of Blade Runner. I was expecting to see flying police cars. There was some kind of incredibly noisy motorbike meeting there which didn't help. Sam said he liked all the televisions but the whole place was a bit silly. Max, meanwhile managed somehow to nod off.
Today we went to Little Italy for the festa di San Gennaro. This was also completely crazy but amazing. There were loads of stalls selling gelato, home made pasta, beautiful pastries and all manner of the lovely Italian food that you would expect. Right next to them there were stalls selling deep fried orios. There was a very wierd section where they were charging 50c to go and see a woman with the body of a snake and a further $1 to see an elephant woman. We went to Lombardi's which is America's first pizzaria and had more great pizza. If we carry on like this, we'll waddle back to the uk twice the size we left.
All the bits of new york I've seen have been so different to each other and intriguing and exciting. I just can't wait to get to know more of it.
I'm off now as Tom is trying to educate me in the intricacies of American football. Tom has fixed the voip phone, so you can ring us on our old home phone number (not before 1pm uk time please - 8am here). You just ring it and it is the same price as if you rang us in streatham.
Take care.
Love Lyn
Friday, September 18, 2009
Lyn's bit
I'm still overawed with how beautiful new york is. I knew it would be exciting and an experience and exciting blahdy blah but I hadn't realised it would be beautiful. So, I've spent the week trying to get to grips with our area and flat and sorting out stuff like preschool and shopping, washing etc. All of which has been a bit of a mission with potty training not going as well as I or this poor carpet would like and Max going through a bit of a hard time with teething and nappy rash and general frustration.
Anyway - it's lovely here. Miss everyone though and can't wait for you to visit. Must dash and attend to my mothering duties.
Our Voip phone isn't working yet, so skyping is the best form of contact at the moment.
Love Lyn x
Anyway - it's lovely here. Miss everyone though and can't wait for you to visit. Must dash and attend to my mothering duties.
Our Voip phone isn't working yet, so skyping is the best form of contact at the moment.
Love Lyn x
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Start Spreading the News....
We arrived very tired on Saturday night with mountains of bags. Got a truck to our apartment and made our way upstairs to our 47th floor apartment. Wow. The views are amazing. Five days on and it still feels like a dream. We can see the Hudson river to the west, Manhattan Bridge crossing the East river to the east (no kidding) and Mrs. Liberty in the bay to the south. It is truely beautiful. Just south of us is the beautiful 1913 Woolworth Building, which was the tallest building in the world for it's first 17 years.
We had US Open final tickets for Sunday, but due to rain this was moved to Monday. Instead there was a harbour festival and we watched power boats racing on the Hudson from our window, with Helicopters chasing them, filming from only metres above the water. We then went down to the river and walked down to Battery park, where there was a concert for kids and some street food. The weather was baking and there were lots of boats sailing on the water - tall ships, yachts, naval ships, and speed boats. On the way back we stopped off at a great playground and Sam had fun.
On Monday I started my new job and Paul kindly came round to babysit at short notice so Lyn could go to the tennis and watch the Williams sisters thrash the pants off two other women in the doubles final. Serena was fired up after being disqualified from the singles, and they were a duo of power and elegance in pink, on a half empty Arthur Ashe court. The men's final started at 4pm and by then the 25,000 seats were almost full, except mine as I was at work. I got there half way through the second set, with Federer a set and a break up. At this point it looked like it would be a quick final. Del Potro broke back and then won the set on a tie break. Then Lyn had to leave as Paul had a gig to compere. I stayed to the end as Del Potro won his first slam in five sets. Quite a game, and an upset.
Anyway, probably bored you by now (he says, kidding himself that somebody may read this far down), so gonna go to bed. The idea is to blog a bit so people can see what we're up to, as with work and the boys taking up a lot of time we won't be able to email you all as much as we'd like to. We'll both do a bit, here and there, and we'll also try to post some photos up on our flickr site. Hope you are all well, and that we see as many of you out here as can make it.
Lots of love from us all.
Tom
We had US Open final tickets for Sunday, but due to rain this was moved to Monday. Instead there was a harbour festival and we watched power boats racing on the Hudson from our window, with Helicopters chasing them, filming from only metres above the water. We then went down to the river and walked down to Battery park, where there was a concert for kids and some street food. The weather was baking and there were lots of boats sailing on the water - tall ships, yachts, naval ships, and speed boats. On the way back we stopped off at a great playground and Sam had fun.
On Monday I started my new job and Paul kindly came round to babysit at short notice so Lyn could go to the tennis and watch the Williams sisters thrash the pants off two other women in the doubles final. Serena was fired up after being disqualified from the singles, and they were a duo of power and elegance in pink, on a half empty Arthur Ashe court. The men's final started at 4pm and by then the 25,000 seats were almost full, except mine as I was at work. I got there half way through the second set, with Federer a set and a break up. At this point it looked like it would be a quick final. Del Potro broke back and then won the set on a tie break. Then Lyn had to leave as Paul had a gig to compere. I stayed to the end as Del Potro won his first slam in five sets. Quite a game, and an upset.
Anyway, probably bored you by now (he says, kidding himself that somebody may read this far down), so gonna go to bed. The idea is to blog a bit so people can see what we're up to, as with work and the boys taking up a lot of time we won't be able to email you all as much as we'd like to. We'll both do a bit, here and there, and we'll also try to post some photos up on our flickr site. Hope you are all well, and that we see as many of you out here as can make it.
Lots of love from us all.
Tom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)