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
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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
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